Relationship between business information, business networking, access to finance and financial performance of social enterprises: Perspective of resource-based view and signalling theory

Figures & data

Figure 1. Research framework.

Table 1. Demographic data

Demographics	Frequency	(%)
Male	237	61.72
Female	147	38.28
From the age group
21 to 29 years	31	8.07
30 to 39 years	137	35.68
40 to 49 years	143	37.24
50 to 59 years	40	10.42
60 years and above	33	8.59

Figure 2. Assessment of the measurement model.

Table 2. Indicator loadings, internal consistency reliability, and convergent validity

Construct	Items	Loadings	Cronbach’s Alpha	Composite Reliability	Average Variance Extracted
Business Networking	BN1	0.818	0.910	0.927	0.614
	BN2	0.811
	BN4	0.738
	BN5	0.825
	BN6	0.807
	BN7	0.767
	BN8	0.755
	BN10	0.741
Financial Performance	FP1	0.729	0.712	0.822	0.536
	FP2	0.683
	FP3	0.816
	FP4	0.694
Access to Finance	AF1	0.902	0.903	0.932	0.774
	AF2	0.877
	AF3	0.864
	AF4	0.876
Business Information	BI1	0.762	0.976	0.978	0.654
	BI2	0.782
	BI3	0.832
	BI4	0.779
	BI5	0.83
	BI6	0.838
	BI7	0.804
	BI8	0.815
	BI9	0.827
	BI12	0.786
	BI13	0.79
	BI14	0.811
	BI15	0.816
	BI18	0.803
	BI19	0.799
	BI20	0.848
	BI21	0.815
	BI22	0.838
	BI23	0.83
	BI24	0.818
	BI25	0.831
	BI26	0.795
	BI27	0.745

Table 3. Discriminant validity matrix

	Access to Finance	Business Information	Business Networking	Financial Performance
Access to Finance	O.880
Business Information	0.566	0.809
Business Networking	0.518	0.702	0.783
Financial Performance	0.505	0.689	0.636	0.732

Figure 3. Assessment of structure model.

Table 4. Summary of the results of hypotheses testing

	Relationship	Std. Beta	Std. Error	t Values	p Values	5.00%	95.00%	Decision	R^2	Q^2
H1	AF→FP	0.275	0.064	5.447	0.000	0.162	0.372	Accepted	0.570	0.285
H2	BI→FP	0.369	0.066	6.087	0.000	0.255	0.473	Accepted
H3	BN→FP	0.234	0.073	4.151	0.001	0.119	0.357	Accepted
H4	BI→AF→FP	0.127	0.054	2.324	0.010	0.038	0.213	Accepted
H5	BN→AF→FP	0.002	0.057	0.037	0.486	−0.089	0.097	Rejected

Note: BN = Business Networking, AF= Access to finance, BI = Business Information, FP = Financial Performance.

Table

	Financial performance	0%	0–10%	10–20%	20–30%	30–40%	40–50%	<50%
FP1	How many percent of return on investment (ROI) for your business has increased during the last three years	0%	0–10%	10–20%	20–30%	30–40%	40–50%	<50%
FP2	How many percent of your business’s market share has increased during the last three years?	0%	0–10%	10–20%	20–30%	30–40%	40–50%	<50%
FP3	How many percent of profit growth rate of your company has increased during the last three years?	0%	0–10%	10–20%	20–30%	30–40%	40–50%	<50%
FP4	How many percent of your product sales have increased during the last three years?	0%	0–10%	10–20%	20–30%	30–40%	40–50%	<50%

Table

	Social Performance	Strongly disagree	Disagree	Slightly disagree	Neutral	Slightly agree	Agree	Strongly agree
SP1	Our business promotes communication and cooperation with our stakeholders to increase their awareness about social enterprise.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
SP2	Our company use social media/blog/website to promote social enterprise.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
SP3	Our business prioritized in solving local community ‘s problem.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
SP4	Our company hire/employ disabled people.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
SP5	Our business helps to increase employment rate among the poor.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
SP6	Our business provides more social and environmentally friendly services to the community.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
SP7	Our business help to decrease environmental issues (green environment, waste, pollution, and climate change).	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
SP8	Our company make sure that we achieve at least 60% of the company’s target for social welfare.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7

Table

	Business networking
BN 1	Our company is a member to at least one of business-related association/chamber of commerce.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BN 2	Our company regularly joins trade fairs and attend business seminars.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BN 3	We always attend events organized by our business friends.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BN 4	Our company always build good bond/connection with our business friends.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BN 5	Our company always get family members involved in our social activities.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BN 6	Our company always invites government officials to attend our company’s events.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BN 7	7- Our company usually invites all our suppliers to a yearly dinner.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BN 8	Our company communicate with our customers and gives discounts to them so they will not forget about our company and keep buying from us.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BN 9	Our company always keep good repo with our competitors	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BN10	Our company always share knowledge and resources with other companies who sell products that can complement our products.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7

Table

	Business Information
BI 1	I know where to get business information.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 2	I always read newspapers/trade reports/business magazines/journals/government publications to gather information about suppliers’ company.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 3	I rely on internet sources and experts’ opinion to collect information regarding market demand of our product.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 4	I rely on social media such as Facebook, twitter, WhatsApp, and Instagram to get information on consumer’s preferences.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 5	I rely on electronic media such as radio and television to get information on consumer’s preferences.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 6	Informal information from leaders, employees, colleagues, and other people is easily available for our business.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 7	Information regarding financial aid is often available	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 8	I know that I can access to information about suppliers that related to my product.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 9	I know that I can access to information of other competitor firms that offer similar product as mine.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 10	I know that I can easily get information about product development that are related to my products.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 11	Information about Pakistan’s government rule and regulation related to business is easily accessible to me.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 12	I can easily access to most of the sources of the business information.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 13	I can easily collect business information from other sources like social media and electronic media (TV, Radio).	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 14	I rely on social media and electronic media (TV, Radio) because I can get business information very quickly.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 15	I rely on print media because I can get business information very quickly.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 16	To collect business information physically from government institutions is complicated.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 17	I only gather the business information that are freely available	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 18	I believe published business information that I gather from official sources (like government agencies’ website or company’s annual report) is relevant.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 19	I believe business information that I get from other sources (social media, electronic media, print media) is relevant.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 20	I believe published business information that I gather from official sources (like government agencies’ website or company’s annual report) is reliable.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 21	I believe business information that I get from other sources (social media, electronic media, print media) is reliable.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 22	I believe published business information that I gather from official sources (like government agencies’ website or company’s annual report) is accurate.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 23	I believe business information that I get from other sources (social media, electronic media, print media) is accurate.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 24	I believe published business information that I gather from official sources (like government agencies’ website or company’s annual report) is complete.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 25	I believe published business information that I gather from official sources (like government agencies’ website or company’s annual report) is adequate/sufficient.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 26	I believe published information that I gather from official sources (like government agencies’ website or company’s annual report) is adequate/sufficient.	1	2	3	4	5	6	7
BI 27	I believe business information that I get from other sources (social media, electronic media, print media) is adequate/sufficient	1	2	3	4	5	6	7