ENTREPRENEURIAL MOTIVATION AND FIRM PERFORMANCE OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SCALE ENTERPRISES IN THE NEW JUABEN MUNICIPALITY

ABSTRACT

Despite entrepreneurship being regarded as a driving force in the development of many countries, few studies have been conducted to investigate the various motivational factors that influence performance. This dissertation therefore attempts to examine the relationship between various motivation factors and firm performance of the entrepreneurs in the New Juaben Municipality. Descriptive research design was employed in this study. Simple random sampling was employed to select 205 SMEs from 434 registered members of NBSSI. However, only 70 SMEs responded adequately due to closure, change in address and relocation of some sampled firms. The instrument used for data collection was an interview schedule. The bivariate correlation and regression analysis were used to analyse the data. The results indicate that there is an insignificantly positive relationship between the motivational factors such as entrepreneurial traits, pull factors and push factors and firm performance of the entrepreneurs. For instance an increase in pull motivational factors leads to an improvement in firm performance of entrepreneurs in the New Juaben Municipality. However, resource availability motivational factors had an insignificant negative impact on firm performance of the entrepreneurs. It is therefore recommended that less reliance must be placed on resource availability since it influences firm performance negatively. Again, government must make SMEs look attractive by providing educational support to entrepreneurs for them to perceive settingup SMEs as a lifestyle but not out of frustration.