Purpose This study aims to test the effects of seven entrepreneurial marketing (EM) dimensions on perceived financial performance in Ghanaian SMEs and evaluates affective organizational commitment (AOC) as a mediator that may amplify or dampen these effects. Design/methodology/approach A structured questionnaire was administered to 302 SME managers in Accra, Ghana. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling tested the direct effects of each EM dimension on performance and the indirect effects through affective commitment. Findings Opportunity focus, resource leveraging, customer intensity and innovativeness show positive direct effects on SME performance. Affective organizational commitment has a negative path to performance, which creates competitive mediation. Calculated risk-taking improves performance through commitment, while proactiveness, innovativeness, resource leveraging and value creation exhibit negative indirect effects via commitment. Research limitations/implications The cross-sectional design allows associations, not causality. The evidence comes from Ghanaian SMEs, so findings may not generalize to economies with different ecosystems. Practical implications Because affective commitment relates negatively to performance, SMEs should track commitment and workload, adjust pace and support and pair calculated risk-taking with risk-sharing to keep commitment sustainable. Originality/value The authors provide novel evidence that affective organizational commitment can transmit some entrepreneurial marketing effects negatively, rather than positively, which questions the view that commitment uniformly enhances performance.
Osei et al. (2026) studied this question.