SMEs play a critical role for the economic growth of nations by providing the opportunity for individuals to develop their skills and to be self-employed. SMEs are flexible and are able to quickly acclimatize to the factors affecting supply and demand. In todays’ rapidly changing business environment, SMEs are faced with difficult challenges to effectively implement the practices that are frequently adopted by larger business rivals. This study will discuss the concept of entrepreneurial orientation, innovation performance, and learning orientation in the context of SMEs in Kuwait. This study assumes that Entrepreneurial Orientation has both direct and indirect impacts on Innovation Performance (IP) through the mediating role of learning orientation. This study used quantitative methods to investigate and test the hypothesis that the association of entrepreneurial orientation with innovation performance was mediated by learning orientation. The target population in the present study is the owners and CEOs of SMEs in Kuwait, and the stratified random sampling method was used to select 221 participants. This study used a structured questionnaire containing close ended questions to gather the data. The data was analyzed using the partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM). Results of the analysis show that learning orientation played a partial mediating role in the association of entrepreneurial orientation with innovation performance.

This study attempts to conceptualize the direct implications of entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge management on innovation performance and seeks to determine the mediation effect of marketing orientation on these relationships. This is the first attempt to construct such a model. The study empirically examines the conceptual model using a sample of 221 CEOs and owners of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Kuwait. The data was collected using a close ended self-administered questionnaire. The validity and reliability of the model is tested using a measurement model and the structural model is constructed to understand the significance of the conceptual relationship posited in the hypotheses of the study. The findings of the study indicate that entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge management had a considerable effect on innovation performance and that marketing orientation had a considerable influence on innovation performance. In addition, the findings indicate that marketing orientation mediated the effect of entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge management on innovation performance. This study has provided some empirical evidence for the importance of entrepreneurship and innovation as well as knowledge management in ensuring the success of SMEs; it also provides an explanation on the manner in which entrepreneurial orientation and knowledge management improve the innovation performance of SMEs.

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play a vital role for the economic development of most countries, particularly in developing economies such as Kuwait. There are, however, challenges and problems that have to be addressed in an effort to achieve a better performance and ensure longer-term success. In the pursuit of entrepreneurial leadership (EL), SMEs frequently adopt total quality management (TQM) practices as their key strategies to enhance their competitive advantage. However, there is a dearth of studies that investigate the relationship of these concepts with the performance SMEs in developing countries. This paper seeks to examine the association between determinants of organizational performance, such as entrepreneurial leadership (EL) and TQM practices, of Kuwait's SMEs. This study uses a quantitative method. A survey questionnaire is administered to collect data from 500 SME owners and CEOs in Kuwait, and 384 are found to be usable. The outcomes of this study show beneficial and considerable influence of entrepreneurial leadership and TQM practices on organizational performance. The association of entrepreneurial leadership with organizational performance of SMEs is fundamentally mediated by TQM practices.

Kuwait’s SMEs contribute to the economic growth of the country by creating productive jobs for Kuwaiti youth and professionals and improving income diversification. SMEs in Kuwait are faced with numerous challenges and these problems must be addressed to achieve and ensure longer-term success and better performance. This paper seeks to examine the relationship between the determinants of organizational performance such as entrepreneurial leadership (EL), learning orientation (LO), and innovation capacity (IC) of Kuwaiti's Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The study used a quantitative method. A survey questionnaire was administered to gather the data, where the useable data was obtained from 384 of the 500 SME owners and CEOs in Kuwait. The outcomes of this study indicate that entrepreneurial leadership and learning orientation had positive and significant implication on organizational performance. Moreover, the innovation capacity is also found to be a significant mediator in the relationships.