Decision-making and small business growth in Burundi

E.L. Eijdenberg, E. Masurel, L.J. Paas

Research output: Contribution to JournalArticleAcademicpeer-review

7 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the effect of decision-making, in terms of the effectuation and causation orientation of small business owners, on the growth of their small businesses in an uncertain environment: Burundi.
On the basis of primary data from a pre-study of 29 expert interviews, a questionnaire was developed and was filled in by 154 small business owners in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura. Subsequently, correlation analyses, a factor analysis and regression analyses were performed to test the hypotheses.
While, on the one hand, the findings show that small business owners who perceive the environment as uncertain are more effectuation-oriented than causation-oriented; on the other hand, the findings show that effectuation and causation orientations do not influence later small business growth. Therefore, other determinants for small business growth in an uncertain environment should be further explored.




Originality/value


This paper fills the research gap of decision-making in relation to small business growth from the entrepreneurs who are among the billion people who live in absolute poverty. On the basis of Western studies, effectuation might be more present in contexts of dealing with many uncertainties of future phenomena, and that it is often positively correlated with firm growth. In contrast, this paper shows that neither an effectuation orientation nor a causation orientation significantly affects small business growth in a context that can be assumed as highly uncertain.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)35-64
Number of pages30
JournalJournal of Entrepreneurship in Emerging Economies
Volume9
Issue number1
Early online date6 Mar 2017
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2017

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Decision-making and small business growth in Burundi'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this