The Effects of Entrepreneurs’ Perceived Risks and Perceived Barriers on Sustainable Entrepreneurship in Algeria’s SMEs: The Mediating Role of Government Support

Abstract

Sustainable entrepreneurs launch businesses to meet social and environmental needs while advancing the interests of the larger community. Sustainable entrepreneurs encounter particular difficulties when starting their businesses because of the distinction between creating and appropriating personal and social values. This study examines the effects of perceived risks and barriers on sustainable entrepreneurship through the mediating role of government support in SMEs in Algeria. This study used a quantitative research methodology that combined primary and secondary data to gather the necessary data from 230 small and medium-sized enterprise entrepreneurs through purposive sampling techniques and simple random sampling to estimate the requirements in Oran region clusters, Algeria. The proposed research model applied a structural equation model, growth path modeling analysis, correlation matrix, and analysis using the SPSS and AMOS software suites to ascertain the causal relationship between perceived risks and barriers and business performance. The main result revealed that perceived barriers impact sustainable entrepreneurship more during business startups. Likewise, perceived risk significantly affects sustainable entrepreneurship. Instead, government support has substantially mediated the relationship between perceived risk and sustainable entrepreneurship and perceived barriers. Furthermore, the diverse and complex stakeholder relationships make sustainable entrepreneurship more likely to challenge perceived risks and barriers during business startup. These results might be an essential cue for governments and private capital providers to enhance the environment for entrepreneurship.