Browsing by Author "Elias, Ruth"

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    Owner-manager competencies and performance of the firms: Evidence from small restaurant businesses in urban Tanzania
    (Asian Online Journal Publishing Group, 2019) Elias, Ruth; Mwakujonga, Joshua
    This study was set out to examine the influence of owner manager’s competences on the performance of small restaurant businesses in urban Tanzania since there are patchy empirical evidences on the same. To achieve this, criterion and simple random sampling techniques were employed to obtain a sample of three hundred, ninety two (392) small restaurant businesses from the list of all licensed small restaurants in Ilala and Dodoma district. Information was collected from owner-managers of these entities by using structured questionnaires. Data was analyzed both descriptively and by using structural equation modelling for making inference. Confirmatory Factor Analysis was performed to validate the items measuring the owner-manager entrepreneurial, managerial and functional competencies as latent variables. Performance of small restaurant was measured subjectively by considering the number of customer’s dynamics and changes in lifestyle of the owner-manager as a result of the business undertaken over past three years of operation. It was found that owner-manager’s managerial and functional competencies contribute significantly to the performance of the small restaurant businesses in urban Tanzania. This is true but they cannot be in operation unless entrepreneurial competencies are in place. This implies that, performance relies on base (entrepreneurial) and operational (managerial and functional) that need to be improved. As such, policy makers may not only rely on entrepreneurial aspects but also extend to the managerial and functional aspects of performance.
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    The behavioural uncertainty and environmental sustainability of restaurant businesses: the moderating role of purchasing technical knowledge
    (Emerald, 2023) Elias, Ruth; Changalima, Ismail Abdi
    Purpose The study investigates the effect of behavioural uncertainty on the environmental sustainability of restaurant businesses in Tanzania. Also, the study examines the moderating role of purchasing technical knowledge on the main relationship between the study variables. Design/methodology/approach The quantitative approach was used and cross-sectional data were collected at a specific time from restaurant businesses in Dodoma, Tanzania. The PROCESS macro was used to analyse the relationships between behavioural uncertainty, purchasing technical knowledge and environmental sustainability. Findings Behavioural uncertainty has a significant and negative effect on the environmental sustainability of restaurant businesses. Purchasing technical knowledge, on the other hand, has a positive and significant effect on the environmental sustainability of restaurant businesses. Finally, purchasing technical knowledge has a positive and significant moderating effect on the relationship between behavioural uncertainty and environmental sustainability such that the negative effect of behavioural uncertainty is reduced with increasing purchasing technical knowledge. Research limitations/implications This study considers purchasing skills in terms of purchasing technical knowledge as a moderating variable; hence, other studies may take into account other moderating variables to extend this study. Also, the study considered only environmental sustainability and hence is limited in terms of other dimensions of sustainability and provide an avenue for further research in social and economic sustainability. Practical implications Since purchasing technical knowledge reduces the negative effect of behavioural uncertainty on the relationship with environmental sustainability, restaurant managers should be encouraged to improve their purchasing technical knowledge by attending short- and long-term training on purchasing functions in the restaurant industry. Social implications The social implications of the investigated link between behavioural uncertainty, purchasing technical knowledge and environmental sustainability in the restaurant industry include raising awareness, promoting sustainable practises and fostering an environmentally responsible culture. By addressing behavioural uncertainty, leveraging purchasing technical knowledge and embracing sustainability the industry can contribute to a more environmentally conscious society. Originality/value By providing empirical evidence from Tanzania, the study extends literature on examining the environmental sustainability of restaurant businesses. The study also establishes the interaction effect of purchasing technical knowledge as an important skill in reducing the negative effect of behavioural uncertainty on enhancing environmental sustainability in restaurant businesses.