Determinants of Microentrepreneurial Success in One of the Small Island Developing States of the Pacific: Evidence from Samoa
Authors: Romalani Leofo (Email: Romalani.Leofo@anu.edu.au) and Afualo Wood Salele
Abstract
This study examines the attributes of Samoan microentrepreneurs to identify the important determinants of business success measured by income. Using survey analysis, we find a positive association between participation in social support network, age of microentrepreneurs, and business income. Additionally, we find weakly significant results that participation of microentrepreneurs in microfinance increases their business income. Furthermore, we find that social support network participation has a positive and significant impact on microbusiness income. Our findings extend the results of prior studies, and should be of interest to government authorities, non-government organisations and microfinance institutions for policy planning and future improvements in the microfinance sector. We recommend for microfinance policy makers and practitioners to value the importance of creating safe environments for microentrepreneurs to interact with each other and with various groups from the community for support and growth.
Keywords: microentrepreneur; microfinance; Samoa; Small Island developing states; social support
