Do innovation and proactiveness impact the business performance of women-owned small and medium-scale enterprises in Vietnam? A study using the PLS-SEM approach

Purpose: This study aims to identify and evaluate the relationship between factors and the business performance of women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Vietnam focusing on the dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation factors such as innovation, risk-taking and proactiveness.

Design/Methodology/Approach: Data were obtained from 350 female entrepreneurs of SMEs in Vietnam using a structured questionnaire. The partial least squares structural equation modeling method (PLS-SEM) was applied to find the cause-and-effect relationship between exogenous and endogenous variables.

Findings: The results show that the business capacity of business owners, the quality of human resources, access to finance, social capital, entrepreneurial orientation and government policies positively impact the enterprise's business performance. The relationship between the three dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and business performance is examined. In detail, proactiveness and innovation have a positive relationship while risk-taking negatively affects the business performance of women-owned SMEs.

Conclusion: The study has shown the factors affecting the business performance of women-owned small and medium-sized enterprises in Vietnam and at the same time   proved that EO is a multidimensional concept when the dimensions of EO tend to have different effects on business performance.

Research Limitations and Implications: The research may lack a comparison in the field of SMEs to deeply understand the cause-and-effect relationship between exogenous and endogenous variables. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the proposed propositions further.

Practical Implications: Research results provide insight for businesses, state management agencies, credit institutions and associations on policy-making and appropriate solutions to support and develop the enterprise.

 Contribution to Literature: The important impact of proactiveness and innovation on SMEs' business performance opens a new door to more research in business orientation.