An Examination of Entrepreneurial Marketing Dimensions and Firm Performance in Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to test the impact of entrepreneurial marketing dimensions on firm performance in small and medium enterprises. Required data was gathered using the quantitative research approach. Particularly, the primary data was obtained through a structured survey from 153 SMEs operating in Saudi Arabia. The obtained data was then analyzed through SPSS and partial least square (PLS-SEM) approach to calculate the validity and reliability for the measurement items, and also to verify the impact of entrepreneurial marketing dimensions on firm performance. The results showed that customer intensity and value creation have positive effects on firm performance. The findings also confirmed that innovativeness and resource leveraging are positively correlated with firm performance. However, the effect of risk taking on firm performance was found insignificant. Finally, it was found that proactiveness and opportunity focus have significant positive effects on firm performance. This paper contributes to resource-advantage theory and empirical literature by addressing existing research gaps between the selected dimensions of entrepreneurial marketing and firm performance. It also contributes to the theory by bringing new insights from a Middle Eastern country owing to the lack of research on this topic, particularly in this region.