"Effectiveness of Entrepreneurship Development Training Programmes on Business Growth of SMEs"

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.