Programme: Business Administration

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EFFECTS OF ENTREPRENEURIAL EMPOWERMENT AND INDIGENOUS APPRENTICESHIP ON SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE OF WOMEN-OWNED SMEs IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA
(Covenant University, Ota, 2026-07) MICHAEL, ROSE OFEM; Covenant Universirty, Dissertation
This study examined the effects of entrepreneurial empowerment and indigenous apprenticeship on the sustainable performance of women-owned SMEs in Southwest Nigeria. It investigated how financial, educational, social, and technological empowerment influence sustainable performance, and whether indigenous apprenticeship moderates this relationship. Anchored in the Resource Based View (Barney, 1991; Penrose, 1959) and Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977, 1986), the study adopted a positivist, quantitative, cross-sectional design. Structured questionnaires were administered to 384 respondents across Lagos, Ogun, and Oyo States using stratified and convenience sampling. Data were analysed using PLS-SEM in SmartPLS 4 with 5,000 bootstrapping subsamples. Findings confirm that financial empowerment (β = 0.381), educational empowerment (β = 0.403), and technological empowerment (β = 0.360) each significantly predict all four sustainable performance dimensions: economic, environmental, operational, and social. Social empowerment significantly predicts three dimensions but not economic performance (p = 0.208), revealing a structural conversion failure rooted in the dominance of bonding over bridging social capital. Critically, indigenous apprenticeship significantly and negatively moderates the empowerment–performance relationship (β = −1.675, T = 4.083, p < 0.001; 95% CI [−2.312, −0.879]), with the moderation model explaining 39.7% of variance. This negative moderation is attributed to the Competing Obligations Hypothesis: the demands of indigenous apprenticeship systems for communal governance reduce the efficiency with which empowerment resources translate into sustainable performance gains. The study recommends complementing empowerment policies with institutional bridging mechanisms, digital training, and redesigned apprenticeship governance. Theoretically, it contributes the Gendered Conversion Efficiency concept as a refinement of the Resource-Based View and the Gender-Differentiated Self-Efficacy Proposition as a boundary condition for Social Learning Theory.
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION, INDUSTRIAL ADAPTABILITY AND SUSTAINABLE PERFORMANCE OF SMEs IN SOUTHWEST NIGERIA
(Covenant University Ota, 2025-04) KEHINDE SEGUN ISAAC; Covenant University Thesis
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) tackle various obstacles when they attempt to achieve sustainable performance objectives. An exploration took place to study the sustainable behavior of South-west Nigerian SMEs together with their technological innovation capacity and industrial adaptability practices. The research utilized SPSS quantitative analysis together with SMART-PLS SEM to perform Structural Equation Modeling along with thematic analysis as part of a mixed-methods design to study SME sustainability factors. The research seeks to analyze how incremental innovation together with technology adoption and innovative culture and product innovation and process innovation impact the sustainable performance of Southwest Nigerian SMEs. SME owners and managers received 384 questionnaires which resulted in 351 valid responses. Different forms of innovation together with industrial adaptability demonstrate a vital function in determining sustainable performance of SMEs throughout the targeted region. Results demonstrate that incremental innovation plays a major role in strengthening sustainable performance levels of SMEs operating in Southwest Nigeria. SMEs achieve superior efficiency while becoming more competitive through their continuous practice of making small incremental improvements and adopting adaptations. Technology adoption plays a vital role in sustainable performance since it demonstrates that businesses need to embrace technological developments for sustainable growth and development. The promotion of innovative environments within SMEs produces major enhancement effects on sustainable performance measurements. A welcoming and experimental company atmosphere boosts both gradual and revolutionary innovation practices that lead to enduring achievements. The research findings show that product and process innovation deliver positive outcomes for sustainable performance because organizations should invest in new product creation and operational advancement. Industrial adaptability functions as a moderator that affects how technological innovation leads to sustainable performance outcomes. Flexible and responsive behavior of SMEs toward industrial changes plays a critical role in enhancing technological innovation effectiveness toward sustainable business growth. The relationships between innovation and SME performance and adaptability are explained by three theoretical constructs: Dynamic Capabilities Theory, Resource-Based View Theory and Absorptive Capacities Theory. Each framework shows SMEs how they should use their internal resources and external knowledge elements to maintain a path of sustainable growth. The study offers important findings which benefit Southwest Nigeria policymakers and both business leaders and stakeholders working in the region. Knowledge of technological innovation combined with industrial adaptability and small business performance will enable stakeholders to create powerful strategies that fuel SME development within the region to build economic sustainability. This research adds new empirical and theoretical information about factors impacting sustainable small and medium enterprise performance within Southwest Nigerian markets. The combination of innovation and technological adoption with adaptability capabilities enables SMEs to reach enduring success which benefiting the regional economic growth.

Programme: Business Administration

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