IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/cwk/eafjke/2025-07.html

The Mediating Role of Innovation in Strategic Management Practices and SME Performance: Insights from Emerging Markets in Zambia

Author

Listed:
  • Ndila L. Yanda

    (Institute of Distance Education, The University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia)

  • Austin Mwange

    (Graduate School of Business, The University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia)

  • John Moose

    (Institute of Distance Education, The University of Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia)

  • Clement Mwaanga

    (School of Business, Mulungushi University, Kabwe, Zambia)

Abstract

This study examines the mediating role of innovation in the relationship between strategic management practices and the performance of small and medium enterprises in emerging markets, with a specific focus on Kabwe District, Zambia. Grounded in the Resource-Based Theory and Dynamic Capabilities Theory, the study analyzes how innovation mediates the relationships between environmental scanning, strategy formulation, strategy implementation, and strategy evaluation and control, and SME performance. Data were collected from 202 SME owners and managers using Likert-scale questionnaires and analyzed with IBM SPSS and Hayes Process version 4.2. The findings reveal no significant mediation effects of innovation between strategic management practices and performance, indicating that strategic management practices independently influence SME performance. The study recommends fostering a culture of experimentation, creativity, and continuous improvement, as well as promoting the adoption of digital technologies to strengthen strategic outcomes within SMEs.

Suggested Citation

Handle: RePEc:cwk:eafjke:2025-07
DOI: 10.59413/eafj/v4.i1.7
as

Download full text from publisher

File URL: https://ijcsacademia.com/index.php/eafj/article/view/158
Download Restriction: no
File URL: https://libkey.io/10.59413/eafj/v4.i1.7?utm_source=ideas
LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
---><---

More about this item

Keywords

;
;
;
;
;
;
;

JEL classification:

  • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
  • M10 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Business Administration - - - General
  • O32 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Management of Technological Innovation and R&D
  • O12 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Microeconomic Analyses of Economic Development

Statistics

Access and download statistics

Corrections

All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:cwk:eafjke:2025-07. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Dr. Charles G. Kamau (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://ijcsacademia.com/index.php/eafj .

Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.