ENTREPRENEURIAL ORIENTATION AND SUSTAINABLE GROWTH OF FAMILY BUSINESSES IN DELTA STATE: THE ADDITIONAL PREDICTIVE ROLE OF BUSINESS POLICY

Family businesses play a significant role in employment generation, wealth creation, and economic development in Nigeria but are confronted with challenges such as poor governance, lack of innovation, inadequate succession planning, and growing uncertainty in business matters. This paper evaluated the effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation on the Sustainable Growth of Family Businesses in Nigeria’s Delta State while examining the additional predictive contribution of Business Policy. A descriptive cross-sectional design was used, and a sample of two hundred and two participants selected through convenient sampling was surveyed. The study was conducted among Owners, Managers, and key Staff from Family Businesses representing seven business sectors in the State. The study used Descriptive statistics, Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation and Hierarchical Multiple Regression Analysis using SPSS Version 28 to analyze the data. The analysis revealed that Innovativeness, r= 0.732, Risk-Taking, r= 0.613 and Proactiveness, r= 0.689 each demonstrated a positive and significant relationship with Sustainable Growth at p< 0.001 level. Business Policy significantly improved the explanatory power of Entrepreneurial Orientation in predicting Sustainable Growth by 0.158 units at p< 0.001 level. There was a positive relationship between Sustainable Growth of Family Businesses in Nigeria’s Delta State and Entrepreneurial Orientation (β=0.629, p<0.001). This study concludes that Entrepreneurial Orientation has a positive effect on the Sustainable Growth of Family Businesses while examining the additional predictive contribution of Business Policy. This study concludes that Entrepreneurial Orientation positively influences Sustainable Growth, while Business Policy provides additional explanatory power in predicting Sustainable Growth.