Abstract:
This paper aims to investigate the impact of the
Entrepreneurship Development Training Programme
(EDTP) on the business growth of Small and Mediumscale
Enterprises (SMEs) in the Nuwara Eliya district in
Sri Lanka. The data were collected over purposively
administering structured questionnaires from 100
respondents who completed EDTP in Nuwara Eliya
district, Sri Lanka. The Partial Least Square Path
Modelling (PLS) was performed to explore the impact of
three EDTP dimensions, business knowledge and
practice, business performance, and psychological
indicators, on business growth through two mediating
variables, increase in investment and formalization. The
regression analysis results indicated that all hypotheses
have a positive impact on business growth except two
hypotheses. Findings indicate a positive but not
significant impact of business knowledge and practices
on formalization. There is a negative and not significant
impact of psychological indicators on increases in
investment. The findings provided new ways to develop
EDTP strategies for SMEs by considering increases in
investment and formalization.
