Relative financial deprivation, financial anxiety and financial satisfaction: the role of access to Islamic financing among MSME owners amidst COVID-19

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to augment the present literature on the relationship between relative financial deprivation (RFD), financial anxiety (FA), access to Islamic financing (AIF) and financial satisfaction (FS) of micro, small and medium enterprise (MSME) owners. Principally, the study examines the moderating role of AIF on the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships.Design/methodology/approachQuantitative survey approach was used to collect data through self-administered questionnaires from MSME owners. Partial least square (PLS) structural equation modelling (SEM) version 3.2.7 was used to analyse 208 retrieved questionnaires.FindingsThe results confirm that the RFD–FS relationship is negatively significant, but the FA–FS relationship is not significant. However, the direct relationship between AIF and FS is positively significant. Conversely, AIF failed to moderate the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships.Practical implicationsThe study specifies that the existence of RFD will decrease the FS of MSME owners, and therefore, RFD should be eliminated at all costs. However, the greater the AIF, the stronger will be the FS of MSME owners. Thus, policymakers and owners of MSMEs should emphasize on AIF to foster FS. Nevertheless, AIF could not redirect the negative impact of RFD and FA on MSME owners' FS.Originality/valueThis study, to the best of the authors' knowledge, is the first to examine the moderating role of AIF on the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships among MSME owners. Notwithstanding the importance of small business owners for economic development, the literature on MSME entrepreneurs FS has been neglected. This study also uncovers new theoretical knowledge by revealing the inability of AIF to alter the RFD–FS and FA–FS relationships.

COVID-19 operational disruption and SMEs' performance: the moderating role of disruption orientation and government support

Purpose>Despite the growing unforeseen and catastrophic events that disrupt business operations, empirical studies on the impact of operational disruption (OD) on small and medium enterprises' (SMEs) performance dimensions are limited. The study aims to investigate the moderating effect of disruption orientation (DO) and government support (GS) on the relationship between coronavirus disease (COVID-19) OD and SMEs' performance.Design/methodology/approach>Quantitative survey method was used to collect data from 170 SMEs in Nigeria, through hand-delivery questionnaires. Partial least square (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM) was employed to analyze the data.Findings>The result shows no significant relationship between COVID-19 OD, DO and GS with SMEs' financial performance (FP). However, the relationship between COVID-19 OD and non-financial performance (NFP) is negatively significant. The relationship between DO and NFP is positively significant. DO and GS have insignificant relationship with FP. Finally, DO and GS does not moderate any of the relationships between COVID-19 OD and the dimensions of SMEs' performance.Practical implications>The result implies that health-related disruptions such as COVID-19 affect only the NFP of SMEs. However, supply chain managers and SMEs are encouraged to adopt DO to enhance NFP of firms.Originality/value>The current study is the first to evaluate the impact of health-related disruptions on the two major dimensions of SMEs' performance (FP and NFP) by incorporating the moderating role of internal (DO) and external (GS) factors in to a single framework. However, the paper revealed new theoretical and practical knowledge by illuminating the absence of significant relationship between COVID-19 OD and SMEs' FP, implying that COVID-19 disruption does not significantly affect SMEs' FP.