Abstract

The objective of the study is to examine the mediating effects of organizational culture on the relationship between knowledge management (KM), entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and business performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. The role of SME toward the economic growth of Nigeria is enormous; it is a major source of employment, a means for poverty alleviation, an avenue for upliftment of living standard as well as making available different goods and services. Based on theoretical consideration, a model is proposed to examine these relationships, which is intended towards resolving the inconsistencies found in the contemporary literature regarding the relationship between KM, EO and business performance. A structured questionnaire adopted from the previous studies to ascertain the responses of the respondents. A survey research design was adopted and self-administered questionnaires were used to collect the data from 640 owner/managers of SMEs. The analysis was conducted using SPSS version 20, the major findings of the study indicated that knowledge management and entrepreneurial orientation has a significant and positive relationship with business performance, and organizational culture is found to partially mediates the relationship between knowledge management, entrepreneurial orientation and business performance. The owner/managers, regulatory agencies, government, and other stakeholders will benefit from the study findings, and future research suggestions provided.

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