The Role of Resource Acquisition in Achieving Sustainable Competitive Performance for SMEs in an Emerging Market: A Moderated Mediation Analysis

The extant literature shows that due to resource limitations, many small businesses fail to survive in the long term, particularly in developed countries. However, the effect of resource limitations on the performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) remains largely ignored, particularly in the context of emerging economies. Therefore, using the resource-based view and upper-echelon theories, this study aims to fill this knowledge gap and examine the role of resource acquisition in SMEs in achieving sustainable competitive performance in the context of the emerging country of Lebanon. To achieve this purpose, we conducted a comprehensive survey of 426 managers and owners of SMEs in the top five provinces in Lebanon, where the majority of its SMEs are located. The empirical results show that resource acquisition has positive direct and indirect effects (through structural flexibility) on sustainable competitive performance. In addition, they reveal that structural flexibility has a positive effect on sustainable competitive performance and partially mediates the resource acquisition–sustainable competitive performance relationship. Furthermore, the results highlight that management commitment to strategic performance moderates the direct resource acquisition–structural flexibility and resource acquisition–sustainable competitive performance nexuses, and the positive effect is further enhanced (or diminished) in SMEs with high (or low) management commitment to strategic performance. The results are robust and have important policy implications.