ABSTRACT Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face unique challenges in supporting employee work–life balance (WLB) due to limited formal Human Resource (HR) structures. This study uses conservation of resources theory (COR) to examine how work group inclusion (WGI), as operationalized through belongingness and uniqueness, shapes WLB outcomes, including work-to-life and life-to-work enrichment and conflict. Drawing on COR theory, 925 SME employees from New Zealand and the United Kingdom completed surveys, with structural equation modelling applied to test hypothesized relationships. Results indicate that belongingness enhances work-to-life enrichment and reduces work-to-life conflict, while uniqueness promotes life-to-work enrichment and mitigates life-to-work conflict. These findings highlight that everyday inclusion practices act as resources for managing work–life boundaries. The study underscores implications for hybrid and remote work arrangements, leadership in team building, and cross-cultural application. Simply, supporting belongingness and uniqueness differentially provides SMEs with a low-cost strategy to enhance employee well-being and sustain performance.

ABSTRACT Although there is abundant research into learning from business failure little is known about how micro, small and medium enterprises (SMEs) owner-managers condition learning given failure. Much attention goes to large enterprises while circumventing SMEs. Literature observes failure orientation as crucial in explaining learning from failure but avoids unpacking its constituent elements. Furthermore, although life goals, which are superior to business goals, are known to strongly influence entrepreneurial behaviour, how they play a role in conditioning learning from failure has not been explored. Therefore, drawing on self-identity, goal, upper echelons, entrepreneurial learning and knowledge management perspectives, this study theorizes how owner-managers condition learning given failure. The article presents fresh knowledge by unpacking the first-time component elements of failure orientation. It also unveils the first-time goal valence as the overarching driving force that influences failure orientation and provides an original and novel framework in this regard.

ABSTRACT Industry reports estimate blockchain can potentially generate around $3.1 trillion in new businesses by 2030. These latest digital technologies present more opportunities for all sizes of enterprises to grow. However, they also create new challenges for the small enterprises in adopting such technologies for their individual business needs. While the growth of digital technologies and their impact is explicit, it is also evidenced that small enterprises struggle to recruit and train the digital skills required to effectively use these innovations. This study conducted a literature survey to analyse how blockchain can contribute to small enterprises benefits. Based on the blockchain social ecosystems’ analysis, this study proposes a National Digital Skills Recruitment Chains (NDSRC) model that explicates how blockchain characteristics (digital trust, data immutability, privacy, and security) can play a role in addressing the digital skills recruitment challenges in small enterprises.

ABSTRACT This paper aims to investigate international entrepreneurship from a causal perspective for the Omani youths’ case study. Anchored on the Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), the empirical study assessed the influence of familiarity with globalization, attitude towards globalization, buying behaviour, and social norms about international trade on Omani's intention to engage in international entrepreneurship. The sample consisted of 1359 Omani millennials and Generation-z, who participated in a survey analysed using structural equation. The results highlighted the significant role of personal and social drivers on Omanis’ international entrepreneurial intention. The results confirmed the suitability of the TPB for determining international entrepreneurship intention and have interesting implications for all working towards the facilitation and development of international entrepreneurship as a career solution to deal with an increasing unemployment rate in the region.

ABSTRACT Researchers widely agree on finance's vital role for tech startups, considering their diverse financial needs for growth and success. However, limited research investigates how financing impacts a tech startup's financial performance throughout its lifecycle. The existing literature lacks clarity on how various financial sources influence a tech startup's financial performance. This empirical study examines financing's impact on a tech startup's performance at a specific lifecycle stage, using primary and secondary data. Primary data, gathered through questionnaires and founder/CEO interviews with 93 tech startups in Bangalore, were analysed using Multiple Linear Regression and Boosting algorithms. The findings confirm the significance of financing at a given stage, but also reveal that the sources of financial infusion have varying effects. Given the importance of financing, the primary policy implication is to enhance the accessibility of financial sources for tech startups, particularly during their initial stages, fostering a robust startup ecosystem in India.

ABSTRACT The existing empirical evidence indicates that the relationship between knowledge transfer and performance presents mixed results and that it is not conclusive, thus it is necessary to understand the underlying mechanisms that could explain why many SMEs that transfer external knowledge fail to take advantage of this knowledge to improve their performance. Therefore, this study aims to analyze the role of absorption capacity (AC) and organizational learning capability (OLC) in the relationship between knowledge transfer (KT) and performance (P) at SMEs in emerging countries, a context in which there is little empirical evidence. The data analysis was performed using structural equations. The results confirm that the relationship between KT and P is not significant and that AC and OLC play a mediating role in the relationship between KT and P. Based on these results, SME managers that transfer knowledge should develop absorption and learning capabilities to achieve superior performance.

ABSTRACT This study explores how health-tech small and mid-size enterprises (SMEs) could better utilize the entrepreneurial ecosystems (EEs) around them in developing their business within this fast-growing yet under-researched industry. Based on the qualitative empirical study, we examine actor roles and related dynamics in the health-tech ecosystem to understand how firms could benefit from the ecosystem's resources. The study contributes to EE research by providing an empirically grounded typology of ten actor roles and examining how an individual company could change and develop its role in the network to grow and succeed. Moreover, it extends the current research on role typologies by explaining the various roles in EEs and underlines the importance of ecosystem dynamics. Managerially, the study highlights the importance of recognizing the company’s role(s) and the roles of other ecosystem members, which further aids in their strategic decision-making and future planning.

ABSTRACT Subsistence small business entrepreneurs operate to fulfil the necessities of life but do so on a smaller scale with fewer resources and capital. In this paper, we will explore the domains of entrepreneurial ecosystems in Pakistan, to understand the support needed for subsistence entrepreneurs. Following a qualitative research approach, data are collected through in-depth interviews with subsistence entrepreneurs in Pakistan. This involves developing a systematic structure of knowledge sharing among other subsistence entrepreneurs in the community. We find that all entrepreneurs share their experience and knowledge with each other. This means that the concept of competition does not resonate in their setting; rather, the entrepreneurs use their personal knowledge augmentation to contribute to their community. This paper offers insights that contribute to the subsistence market of Pakistan and the future potential of entrepreneurs in the country.

ABSTRACT This study examines the tax compliance intentions of self-employed individuals in the informal sector and evaluates the effect of antecedent-based intervention strategies, trust and perceived tax complexity on tax compliance intention. Using the extended version of the Theory of Planned Behaviour as the theoretical base, the study additionally investigates whether attitude, subjective norms, perceived behavioural control and moral obligation may be good predictors of tax compliance intention. Data were gathered from 725 self-employed individuals in Ghana using a structured questionnaire, and analysed using the structural equation modelling technique. We find from our empirical analysis that although our respondents exhibit greater intention to comply with tax payment duties, most respondents consider non-compliance to be justifiable if the tax rates are too burdensome. Our results further suggest that trust in the tax system, perceived tax complexity, antecedent-based intervention strategies, attitude, subjective norms, and moral obligation are relevant predictors of tax compliance intention.

ABSTRACT This research explores senior tourism adaptive strategizing capabilities through the lens of micro-firm owner managers. The findings derived from 24 qualitative tourism practitioner interviews demonstrated that senior tourism engagement does not necessitate a profound strategic change of direction or extensive resource reconfiguration. However, the strategic commercialization of this cohort remains under-utilized and findings perpetuated stereotypical assumptions regarding a lack of diversity within the senior market. Owner managers that actively embrace adaptive decision-making capabilities proactively target this market, whereas those with little strategic intent view senior tourism as a generic cohort of questionable commercial value. A thematic map positions the owner manager as a pivotal decision-maker within this strategic milieu and charts the trajectory of market alignment and resource transformation as a means of accessing the silver economy. Its adaptive ethos offers avenues for growth by creating bespoke authentic experiences, geared explicitly towards senior tourists as a heterogeneous cohort.