Determinants of Scaling among Women-owned SMEs in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evidence from Ghana

Despite the proliferation of women-owned small and medium enterprises (SMEs) across Sub-Saharan Africa, the majority remain trapped at micro and informal scales, with limited capacity to grow into medium or large-sized organisations. This study investigates the determinants of scaling among women-owned SMEs in three major commercial hubs in Ghana: Accra, Kumasi, and Takoradi, with a sample of 350 participants selected through stratified random sampling. Grounded in the Resource-Based View, Institutional Theory, and Mixed Embeddedness Theory, the study develops and tests an integrated conceptual model linking access to finance, human capital, social capital, institutional support, and entrepreneurial capabilities to firm scaling. The model also examines two moderating relationships. Data were collected using a structured Likertscale questionnaire and analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, and hierarchical multiple regression in IBM SPSS Version 27. Findings reveal that all five determinants exert significant positive effects on the scaling of women-owned SMEs. Entrepreneurial capabilities emerged as the strongest predictor (β = .329, p < .001), while institutional support was the weakest (β = .187, p = .002). Furthermore, social capital significantly moderates the positive relationship between access to finance and scaling (ΔR² = .031, p < .001). Institutional support also positively moderates the relationship between entrepreneurial capabilities and scaling (ΔR² = .043, p < .001). The study contributes to the gender-entrepreneurship literature by providing an integrated empirical model of scaling determinants. It also offers actionable policy implications for promoting growth-oriented women entrepreneurship in Ghana and the broader Sub-Saharan African region.