Relationship between Entrepreneurial Orientation and Business Performance of SMEs in Kano State, Nigeria: Unique Dimensions of Autonomy, Proactiveness, and Risk Taking

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on business performance of small business in Kano State Nigeria: A unique impact of risk taking, proactiveness and innovation. The study employed descriptive and inferential techniques for the data analysis. Based on the correlation matrix results, all the independent variables were positively and correlated with the dependent variable business performance. Multiple regression analysis result revealed that Autonomy, Proactiveness, Innovativeness, with coefficients (0.853, 0.041, and 0.043) and significance level of each variable (P-value of 0.000, 0.008, and 0.016) have positive and statistically significant effect on Business Performance. This implies that a 1% increase in Autonomy, Proactiveness, Innovativeness, will increase business performance by 85.3%, 4.1% and 4.3% respectively. While Risk-taking with coefficients and insignificance level of (-0.011, P-value 0.468,) has negative impact on Business Performance. This shows that a 1% decrease in Risk-taking, Competitiveness aggressiveness will decrease business performance by 1.1% and 1%. Therefore, the study recommends that, entrepreneurs should be encouraged to take calculated risks, rather than taking all the risks, since risk-taking does not influences business performance.