Research Article: 2022 Vol: 25 Issue: 6S
The Upshot of Social Motivation on Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Selected Informal Electronics Markets, Southwest, Nigeria
Adebanji Ayeni, Landmark University
Kayode Kadirii, National Open University of Nigeria
Ademola Emmanuel Adeleke, Teesside University
Rotimi Emmanuel Arowolo, Kwara State University
Citation Information: Ayeni, A., Kadiri, K., Adeleke, A.A., & Arowolo, R.A. (2022). The Upshot of Social Motivation on Sustainable Competitive Advantage in Selected Informal Electronics Markets, Southwest, Nigeria. Journal of Entrepreneurship Education, 25(S6),1-15.
Abstract
Entrepreneurs want to improve their economic standing through informal innovation in order to achieve social recognition, respect, and credit. To put it another way, some people are socially driven to start their own businesses as a way to show their love for society and to experience a sense of acceptance from others. The study considers the effect of the engaged motivation enacted by social intent on the urge of emanating a competition amongst others in a sustainable advantage to reflect a possible drive in the least environment for self-actualisation, the study was carried out in southwest, Nigeria in selected electronics informal market. Adopting a cross-sectional design for a transit population, data was analysed using linear regression to determine the strength of the association between the response variable (social motivation) and the predictor the (sustainable competitive advantage). The result showed that the need for the informal entrepreneurs to maintain the attained social status leads to the push effect from family sustenance. Aside the ties of a social unit via demands, requirements and provision tends to create the positive drive with focus on sustainable competitive advantage amongst the informal entrepreneurs resulting to performance of the electronics business which should be taken care of by the government but seems the funds gotten illegally from the street urchins hides the real value of the market.
Keywords
Informal Entrepreneurship, Electronics Market, Social Motivation, Sustainable Competitive Advantage.
Introduction
The presence of the informal sector in developing nations such as Nigeria may not require any special introduction, as it is epically enshrined in the nation’s unabridged activities. This is central to the inclusion of informal sector in all facets of every societal activity. In such societies, people desire to gain social acceptance, respect and recognition by enhancing their economic status through informal entrepreneurship Badenhorst-Weiss & Cilliers (2014). In other words, some persons are socially motivated to become informal entrepreneurs in order to express their love to the society and also to feel loved by the people Block et al. (2014). The malady of value crises predicated Nigeria as open society in which anything goes. As such, persons who are interested in operating businesses are restraining by formality to operate in the informal market.
Scholars (Akande, 2008; Webb et al., 2009; Fadayomi & Olurinola, 2014) have examined various drivers of informal entrepreneurship but very limited studies have made reference to this crave for the satisfaction of social needs, having the urge for naïve affinity as one of the possible motivations of informal entrepreneurship resulting to materialistic tendency amongst the youth. Studies on materialistic tendency of youth (Estrin et al., 2013) have reported diverse negative effect of such tendency but this study considered the relevance of such social value system to the Nigerian economy through informal entrepreneurship. The aim of this research was to determine the effect of social motivation on sustainable competitive advantage in the informal market. The electronic markets located in Lagos state, Ogun state, Osun state, Oyo state, Ondo state and Ekiti state in southwest, Nigeria were chosen because of the diverse ethnicity involved in the electronics market and high level of patronisation in comparison with other electronics markets in other regions of the country. Thus making the geographical location in this work, Southwest, Nigeria.
Literature Review
The pivotal concept of the study was conceptualised on the strength of motivation rom the social perspective, centred on the existence of informal entrepreneurship. It is further discussed.
Entrepreneurship Concept
Using Anderson et al. (2013) views on entrepreneurship, this study adopts the definition of an entrepreneur to be an individual who is talented with ideas, which he uses as the bedrock to start up business and this is not endorsed to a particular set of personalities. The forms or rather basic types of entrepreneurship are based on measurement of performance linked with intents of the entrepreneurs founded on risk seeking, branding and transition into different respective levels and ultimately bringing about economic growth after personal attainment has been gotten. Therefore, it stipulates that as an entrepreneur grows, the difference in cadre must be reflected to indicate these differences. Hence, entrepreneurial types are based on the way the business activities are conducted; existing both formal and informal Entrepreneurships.
While the formal entrepreneurship stands for guided and accepted principles of operation in any given task and with the Oxford learning dictionary; it can be defined as the accomplishment of a given task in line with the designed rules of convention or etiquette which is suitable for the work or occasion. In this respect, formal entrepreneurship means the conduction of business activities in ways that are designed by the involved nation.
Thus, it can be said that these rules are designed to make the operations of the entrepreneurs becomes accessible by the government and this explanation is in connivance with Gerxhani (2004) ascertainment of being a place where autonomy, flexibility and freedom are to an extent restricted or monitored. Above all, it is expected to create more jobs amidst the creation of funds for the government while ensuring the security of the involved participants. Inter-alia, meaning the informal entrepreneurship will alternatively be an escape route for entrepreneurs at the expense of the benefits overlooked.
Hitherto, it could be referred to as the growing incubator for an intending and existing entrepreneur since opportunities detection, innovation and resilience are being developed viz- aviz, the urge to make earnings and in larger retrospect, profit after ensuring the survival aim has been met. Obviously, all sectors have a notable participation of the informal entrepreneurship and this exists in every nation. To this end, Smit & Musango (2015) posited the need to engage the informal economy with more informed policy, even though it was constantly being undervalued with the ability to eradicate poverty and possibly lead to sustainable development. This is expected to bring about a socially equitable and sustainable development environmentally, though; it was in connection with green economy.
Formal and informal practice of entrepreneurship determine the economic activities in every nation, which translate to the high level of dependence created for free enterprise in every undergone activity in both formal and informal market. In relation to the above, Hart (1973) saw both business sectors as generating opportunities, while Benzing et al., (2005) posited both as contrasted systems of production, "one derived from capitalist form of production", and the other "the peasant system of production". Santos (2004), on the other hand, opined them as "the upper" and "lower circuits" and Sethuraman (1976) viewed the identification tags as the emphasis that places the "distinctive organization" of production activities. Ekpenyong (1985) stated that one third of workers in the informal sector were self-employed, half were apprentices and one fifth were journeymen. In line with the above, an agreeable fact was made on the informal sector having large employers of labour who are self-employed and driven with woman and children participating in the sector while involving in commerce and domestic activities (Nwachukwu, 2012; Ugoani & Ibeenwo, 2015). This clearly reflects a case of motivation in a sector that continually seeks to be recognised.
Motivations of Informal Entrepreneurs
Social motivation is the type of motivation used by the informal entrepreneurs (Adebanji et al., 2017). The discussion of social motivation in relation to how it fosters entrepreneurship was be based on this premise in the following session.
Social Motivations of Informal Entrepreneurs
Since involvement in the informal business provides improvement of the entrepreneur's social status, social motivation refers to the urge to achieve social value by the informal entrepreneur. It also entails the supply of the necessary framework for social incentives, such as providing for the needs of the entrepreneur and the entrepreneur's family while maintaining a friendly connection. Anetor (2015) stressed the influence of social motivation by maintaining the informal business operation was in link to preserving the human connections with the business partners. As a result, the entrepreneur's participation in the informal market facilitates the development, maintenance, and restoration of strong interpersonal bonds. According to Douglas & Prentice (2019), social motivation gives rise to friendly relationships with other informal entrepreneurs, which supports the entrepreneurs' inclination to conduct their business in this manner.
Of a note, the drive from social motivation enables the informal entrepreneur to maintain his position as the breadwinner of the home while having the ability to make influencing decisions in his space. This will relatively cause the entrepreneur’s love for the business in the informal mode of operation while causing a strong effect on other people, triggering an influx into the informal market.
According to Dagmar (2014), the studies of managers were used to construct McClelland's theory of motivation requirements, which identified the three most crucial demands as achievement, affiliation, and power. The achievement section links the demand for competitive success as judged by a personal standard of excellence to the needs theory. The need for warm, pleasant ties with others and interpersonal connections were the focus of the affiliation portion, while the desire to have the power to dominate and sway others is the subject of the power segment. It can be summed up as a social motivation overall. A social and economic objective is reached collectively by using the selected methods of conducting business (Webb et al, 2013). In sociology, motivation studies have focused on the connection between socially oriented situational factors that influence people to act against the law and other socially prescribed norms.
Wealth production has been a long-standing objective of entrepreneurship, and it has also been discovered that value creation is essential for participating entrepreneurs. A social and economic objective is reached collectively by using the selected methods of conducting business (Webb et al, 2013). Sociology motivation studies have focused on the connection between socially-oriented situational circumstances that influence people to act against the law and socially prescribed norms. This behaviour is thought to be a sign of the disintegration of the social structures that have been created as a result of the fulfilling of desires without regard for the culturally imposed aspirations (Merton, 1968).
Merton (1968) provided further explanations for why such an identified strain develops, including the inability of the claimed individual to access a designed legitimate way of fulfilling the predesigned social aims (e.g. monetary success). According to State (2014), the reason for this study, the societal aims of Nigeria have changed in accordance with the political unrest structure, which has resulted in the adoption of a new culture. In industrialized countries, someone in this situation will try to use illegal means to full fill their needs while constantly being reminded of the newly adopted culture. This had been made worse by the media through the production of aide memoire from the public riches, status, ownership, and visible assets of others, creating a motivator (or, to put it another way, a strain) to the business practitioners functioning in the informal sector. Thus, it is necessary to stand out in a hypothetical unregulated market in order to draw clients, which necessitates greater usage of competitive advantage strategies than those of the competition.
Sustainable Competitive Advantage
Sustainable competitive advantages are organization resources, traits, or capacities that are hard to copy or surpass and give a better or great long haul position over contenders (Faulkenberry, 2019). In business, a competitive advantage is the characteristic that enables an organization to beat its rivals. A competitive advantage may incorporate access to natural assets, high-grade metals or an ease power source, profoundly gifted labour, geographic area, high entry barriers, and access to new technology. A business's relative position inside its industry decides if an organization's profitability is above or underneath the industry average. The basic premise of better than expected profitability over the long haul is sustainable competitive advantage (Calantone, 2000). Porter (1980) made it known that there are two types of competitive advantages. The two types of competitive advantages brought the activities which a business tries to accomplish. Thereby, leading to three nonexclusive procedures for accomplishing better than expected performance in an industry. The three nonexclusive procedures are cost leadership, differentiation, and focus. The focus strategy has two variants, cost focus and differentiation focus. The Porter (1980) identified three strategies are discussed below:
Cost Leadership Strategy
Cost leadership is a business' capacity to create an item or service that will be at a lower cost than other contenders. This is on the off chance that the business can deliver a similar quality item, however selling it for less, giving an upper hand over other organizations. This gives a price value to the customers (Saffu et al., 2008). Lower costs bring about higher benefits as businesses make sensible profit on every good sold or service rendered. In the event that businesses are not making enough benefit, Porter prescribes finding a lower-cost base, for example, work, materials, and facilities. This gives a lower assembling cost over those of different contenders. The business organization can increase the value of the customer by means of transfer of the cost benefit to them.
Differential Strategy
A differential advantage is gained when business' items or services are unique in relation to its rivals. In his book, Michael Porter suggested making those merchandise or services alluring to stand apart from their rivals. The business requires solid research, advancement and configuration thinking to make inventive thoughts. These upgrades to the merchandise or service could incorporate conveying high quality to customers. In the event that customers consider a product or service as being not quite the same as other products, consumers are happy to pay more to get these advantages (Rijamampianina et al., 2003).
Focus Strategy
Focus strategy in a perfect world attempts to get business organizations to go for a few target markets as opposed to attempting to target everybody. This methodology is frequently utilized for smaller business organizations since they might not have the proper assets or capacity to target everybody. Businesses that utilize this technique, centres on the necessities of the customer and how their products or services could improve their everyday lives. In this strategy, a few businesses may even give buyers a chance to give their contributions for their product or service (Yang, 2015).
This system incorporates geographic, demographic, social and physical division. By narrowing the market down to smaller sections, business organizations can address the issues of the buyer. Porter posited that once business organizations have chosen the group to target, it is fundamental to choose on the off-chance that they will adopt the leadership approach or differentiation approach. Porter specifies that it is essential not to utilize each of the 3 nonexclusive techniques on the bases that there is a high possibility that organizations will turn out accomplishing no strategies as opposed to making progress. This can be classified "stuck in the centre", and the business will not most likely have a competitive advantage (Alexander & Martin, 2013; Yang, 2015).
Shortcomings of Porter’s Model
Porter recognizes high market share with cost leadership, referring to (General Motors) GM as an effective practitioner of this strategy. This was as GM turned into a market share leader in the American car industry because of a technique of market segmentation, differentiation and an expansive degree formed during the 1920s. Porter contends that cost leadership and differentiation offer a similarly reasonable way to competitive achievement. Nevertheless, a differentiation strategy dependent on better quality compared to rivalry is more beneficial than cost leadership strategy. It can lead a market share leader, and thus even a lowcost leader (Datta, 2010). Research shows that differentiation and cost leadership can exist together. Be that as it may, Porter demands that every conventional procedure requires an alternate culture and an entirely unexpected way of thinking. The issue is that Porter's conventional methodologies are excessively expansive. It is not his rationale that is imperfect; however his essential reason that endorses cost leadership strategy as the main course to market share leadership. This is because of the presentation of a limited perspective on differentiation with a remarkable item sold at an exceptional cost from one viewpoint, and a "standard, or nofrills" item on the other.
Mintzberg (1988) says Porter’s cost leadership strategy ought to be classified "price differentiation": a procedure that depends on a lower cost than that of the competition. He proposes that business strategy has two dimensions: differentiation and scope. Hence, setting scope aside, competitive strategy has just a single segment: differentiation. In most other markets, differentiation is considerably more basic. Along these lines, putting a major fortune in cutting edge hardware without some favourable position in the market means placing an excessive number of eggs in the low-cost basket. Another detriment of contending on price is that it can prompt a "cut rate" or "discount" picture that might be difficult to survive. One example is Sharp technologies, which attempted to contend based on price despite the fact that it was offering quality items that were positively appraised.
Relevance to Informal Entrepreneurship
Competitive advantage distinguishes a business from its rivals. It adds to more expensive prices, more customers, and brand loyalty. Setting up such a preferred position is one of the most significant objectives of any informal business. In today’s world, competitive advantage is fundamental to business achievement (Chivasa & Hurasha, 2016). Without it, entrepreneurs will think that it is hard to endure. To end up and stay focused, an informal entrepreneur should continually seek a competitive advantage. Keeping up a competitive advantage, further implies that favourable position would require fortification. This will be more enduring and significant; for instance, if an informal entrepreneur competitive advantage is its sales force, keeping it could mean discovering new and better approaches to train them. Similarly, competitive advantage allows the informal businesses to have an increase in profitability that at least reaches placed above the average profitability of the sector or market (Kokemuller, 2017).
Competitive advantage prevents a business from taking part in an extremely self-assertive and costly fight for customers. In the event that the business cannot unmistakably state to customers why its brand is predominant, the business might leave income to risk. A customer analysing a rack with 10 brands would have no convincing motivation to purchase the enterprise items. At the point when the business set up brilliance in item quality, natural generation or reliable encounters, the business enables a customer to perceive the prevalent worth.
At the point when a business has clear, sustainable competitive advantages, it picks up the advantages of economies of scale. It does not need to put as much in growing transient favourable circumstances to get customers in the entryway. A sustainable advantage turns into a business cash cow (Bhasin, 2018). The business can calibrate points of interest or add to them after some time, yet it does not need to reliably toss cash at research and development and promotion. The reason behind the adoption of the competitive advantage by the informal entrepreneur is further supported by the dualist school of thought. This is further discussed below.
Dualists School of Thought
In 1972, the ILO enacted world employment mission in Kenya. This school of thoughts was based on the informal economy acting as a shock absorber to give the society relief when the unemployment jolt should have hit the people and as a result, opportunity for survival was detected in the informal market to relief possible employees from vices where sustainable income can be brought about. This relates to meeting basic survival.
The school of thought had the opinion that the informal economy was characterized by autonomous activities with few (none in some cases) relationships with the rest of the economy. Therefore, it can be categorically said that the economy activities are fully excluded from the opportunities that our modern society provides and this are subjected to two imbalances; growth of population and growth of modern industrial employment (WIEGO, 2017). The inclusion of the social motivation perspective with the participation of informal entrepreneurship was further encompassed with the adopted the identity status theory.
Identity Status Theory
Four Identity Statuses of psychological identity development were developed by Marcia (1991); Marcia (1994); Marcia (1999); Marcia (2002) by expanding and refining Erik Erikson's work from 1968 on the development of a cohesive sense of identity during adolescence. The key thesis was that decisions and commitments made about particular personal and social attributes heavily influence how one feels about themselves. Erik Erikson's breakthrough research on identity and psychological development served as the foundation for the idea (Marcia, 1966). As a developmental psychologist who largely focused on teenage development, James Marcia improved and expanded Erikson's approach. He made the decision to respond to Erikson's idea of an identity crisis by arguing that neither identity resolution nor identity uncertainty characterizes the teenage stage. Instead, it was how much one had researched and was about how much a person has studied and committed to an identity across a range of life areas, including gender roles, vocation, religion, and many more. According to Marcia's theory of identity attainment, an adolescent's identity is made up of two separate components: crisis and commitment. Crisis was described as a period of upheaval in which previous beliefs or decisions are being reconsidered. When a crisis occurs, a commitment is the result. This is further developed into a particular function or value.
Identity Statuses of Psychological Identity Development
Marcia suggested identity statuses of psychological identity development after creating a semi-structured interview for identity study. Identity diffusion, identity foreclosure, identity moratorium, and identity achievement are these hypothesized statuses.
Relevance of the Theory to the Study
According to Marcia's theory of identity accomplishment, an adolescent's identity is composed of two separate elements: crisis and commitment to the social drive for achievement. This was demonstrated by contrasting the difficulties faced by informal entrepreneurs when trying to compete in the electronics market with their respective status identities, or vice versa.
The theory also ties informal enterprise to reducing hardship brought on by unemployment. When it comes to the African cultural legacy of values and goal fulfillment, there is a critical situation for the Nigerian youth in terms of meeting their demands. Since a result, the theory demonstrates how success on a worldwide scale tends to correct the attainment of success at respective youthful age.
Linking Social Motivations and Sustainable Competitive Advantage
The work of Rey-Marti et al. (2015) assessed the level of attention given to social entrepreneurship related research, which caused by social motivation. This further brought into limelight the areas with the greatest research output, countries and languages responsible for most social entrepreneurship research. The study was tied to the countries and the year conducted. In doing this, it provided an orientation to new research about parameters and authors in the social entrepreneurship that ought to be consulted when studying the social entrepreneurship phenomenon. The study employed biblio metric analysis on the Web of Science online data base on the related literatures as its methodology. The conducted analysis of 2984 social entrepreneurship research documents revealed that 1851 are scientific articles in English language in the business economics line of research for socially induced entrepreneurs. An extension of the study, being empirical would have been an input that could spawn new researchers into the line of study.
Amir et al. (2016) examined how to achieve sustainability through the Schumpeterian social entrepreneurship. This was viewed from the role of social enterprises. In their study, they decided to enhance social entrepreneurship with the Schumpeter's perspective developed in his magnum opus “Theorie der wirtschaftlichen Entwicklung”. The methodology adopted for the study was theoretical analysis. The analysis made use of social enterprise, an effect of social motivation in transforming a business into an engine for sustainable development. The concept of corporate citizenship, social entrepreneurship, corporate social responsibility, social enterprise, and sustainable development were employed in the study. From the concept generated, the socio-economic ecosystem was hypothesised to work in alignment with sustainable development but the evidence of an empirical data was absence in the study.
Furthermore, Aquino et al. (2018) provided a conceptual framework of tourism social entrepreneurship for sustainable community development, an offshoot utilising competitive advantage. This was designed to address this gap in knowledge of the conceptualisation of tourism social entrepreneurship as a more holistic strategy for sustainable community development. The study critically analysed related literatures by creating a conceptual framework. The framework incorporates community development concepts, generic social entrepreneurship, tourism social entrepreneurship principles and community capitals perspectives. From the study, emerging literature on tourism social entrepreneurship that assists the socially motivated entrepreneurs in the system was established. This was a view of projecting the established new community-centric social enterprises. The intent drivers into the tourism sector was a vital point missed alongside with no empirical data in the study.
While looking at the negativity of social entrepreneurship, birthed from social motivation, Lundmark & Westelius (2019) examined antisocial entrepreneurship conceptually. It was posited that studies were conducted from the view point of social entrepreneurship while neglecting antisocial entrepreneurship. This brought about the provision of a conceptual foundation for antisocial entrepreneurship. Thus, making up the methodology of the research with illegal and destructive entrepreneurship serving as the constructs. The findings of the study brought to fore a suggestion for future research on antisocial entrepreneurship. These are entrepreneurs who are not socially motivated. The exclusion of empirical evidence limited the study strength.
The unsuitable findings across different scholarly works makes social motivation and sustainable competitive advantage concepts intellectually thought-provoking but demands hypothetical fusions’ towards critiquing existing works.
Motivation was earned via the need to meet the social demands of entrepreneurs. However, the actions poised by informal entrepreneurs, regarded as social entrepreneurs because of their drive to improve their social status and that of the people around them in relations to the engaged activities in the electronic market has not been understudied. Therefore, the study hypothesizes that there is an upshot of social motivations on sustainable competitive advantage in the informal market.
Materials and Methods
The investigation was carried out in six markets across six states in the southwest. Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, and Ekiti States are among them. Ikeja Computer Village, Okelewo Market, Bola Ige International Market, Fagbesa Market, Olukayode Shopping Complex, and Ayo Fayose Market were the markets taken into consideration for the research, in that order.. A descriptive-survey research design was adopted for the study, while the respondents comprise of informal entrepreneurs. According to Creswell (2014) the adoption of a cross sectional design is more appropriate because it permits the collection and investigation of all measurement of intended studied variables at one or supplementary points in time. The quantitative approach was chosen because it uses causal research. Additionally, a causal research design was thought to be acceptable given that the study's goal was to investigate how social incentives affect long-term competitive advantage. Adopting a descriptive survey research strategy is necessary to acquire respondents' subjective opinions and accurately gauge the complete population using the investigated sample (Osuala, 2005). The target population of the study comprises of all the informal entrepreneurs dealing in electronics products in southwest, Nigeria. The study population can be described as an infinite population because these informal entrepreneurs are not formally registered and constantly mobile. Thus, an accurate summative figure could not be derived as they are characterised with being unregistered business operators. However, based on cluster sampling, the study considered informal electronic entrepreneurs operating in the underlisted market.
• Computer Village, Ikeja-Lagos state
• Fagbese Adenle, Osogbo-Osun State
• Ayo Fayose Modern, Ado-Ekiti-Ekiti State
• Olukayode shopping Complex, Akure- Ondo State
• Okelewo market, Abeokuta-Ogun State
• Bola Ige International market, Ibadan-Oyo State
All the selected markets are focused on sales and rendering of services of electronics products. It is possible that other products, which are not electronics are being sold but majority of the involved informal entrepreneurs focus on electronic products.
The selected market has been adjudged to be a market with high concentration of informal entrepreneurs. Given the sizeable informal entrepreneur population present in the aforementioned electronic markets, as well as the fact that most of them are mobile and frequently shift where they do business, it was concluded that the informal entrepreneur population is limitless. This claim was made after noticing the inconsistent locations of entrepreneurs conducting business. An unofficial business owner was seen running a stall in any of the mentioned markets and receiving daily payment. This was situated along the street or road. The sample size was calculated using, Kumar (2012) posited a formula for deriving it as:
SS=Sample Size; Z= given z value; P=Percentage of Population; C=Confidence level
P=Population: Therefore:
With the above formula, the sample size in its infinite population will be calculated as thus
This agrees with Krejcie & Morgan (1970) on determining sampling size of five hundred as the appropriate unit for acceptable paradigm rationality in a large population scenario.
By involving respondents who can access the market, often known as gatekeepers, the Link-tracing approach was utilized to examine the hard-to-reach demographics. By enlisting their peers, these gatekeepers increased their influence. A periodic sighting was required in order to estimate the quantity of informal consumers within the market after adopting the quasi percentile for location analysis. The sampling frame for quantitative frame is the list of all the informal entrepreneurs in the market.
Cluster, Purposive and convenience sampling techniques were used for the selection of sampling size due to the constant transient nature of the entrepreneurs Table 1. Due to the nature of the correspondents used for the study, non- probability sampling was adopted for the research. The non-probability sampling was used to select the areas where the informal entrepreneurs perform their business operations in which the study was to be conducted and also engage in informal electronic business practices in those locations. In lieu of this, the informal entrepreneurs must be engaged in electronics business (services or sales) and gathered in an identified location. To be selected under the purposive sampling, the entrepreneur had to be an informal electronics entrepreneur who has been in the market for more than a year and engages mainly in electronic business. The cluster sampling method grouped the population into six different electronics markets in the south west. The clustering sampling method assisted the researcher to choose those market areas where the respondents have been identified to operate in big clusters. The purposive sampling method aided the researcher to determine the informal entrepreneurs with the above expected requirements.
| Table 1 Showing Distribution Of Questionnaire To Selected Markets |
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|---|---|---|---|
| S/N | Market Names | States | Quantitative samplings |
| 1 | Computer Village, Ikeja | Lagos | 255 |
| 2 | Bola Ige International market, Ibadan | Oyo | 128 |
| 3 | Fagbesa Market, Osogbo | Osun | 48 |
| 4 | Okelewo market Abeokuta | Ogun | 78 |
| 5 | Ayo Fayose Market, Ado-Ekiti | Ekiti | 38 |
| 6 | Olukayode shopping Complex, Akure | Ondo | 53 |
| Total | 600 | ||
Questionnaire was structured in a clear and equitable form, creating a stress free filling of the queries by the respondents from their own perception (Zikmund et al., 2010). The questions focused on the research variables. Five likert scale question spanning from strongly agree to strongly disagree was adopted (strongly agree=5, agree=4, undecided=3, disagree=2, strongly disagree=1). The reason behind the use of the likert scale was to quantify the degree of agreement between the responses from the respondents and the questions featured on the questionnaire. The survey questionnaire was employed as a research instrument. This was to ensure that the collected information was appropriate, reliable, objective and standardised. In lieu of this, six hundred copies of questionnaire were administered to the respondents at the selected market based on the above ratios in Table 2.
Social motivation was measured using the McClelland's human motivation theory, which consists of power, affiliation and achievement needs Table 2. This was drafted from a questionnaire study of Garcia-Rodriguez et al. (2013). The questions tested constructs such as sustainable development. Checking the data was done to verify the absence of any lapses, error or lost data and ensure that all questionnaires are entirely completed. The Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 25 aided in the assessment of relevant statistical analysis. This includes descriptive statistics, reliability and validity tests. In describing the responses of respondents, the frequency distribution, percentage analysis and descriptive statics was used. The use of regression analysis was deemed appropriate due to the need to test for the relationship and effects that existed between the study variables (Osuala, 2005).
| Table 2 Measurement Of Research |
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|---|---|---|---|
| Constructs | Variables | No of Items | Sources |
| Motivations | Social Motivation | 9 | Garcia-Rodriguez et al. (2013); Williams & Nadin, (2010), |
Results and Interpretation
H1: In the informal market, social motivation is a strong predictor of long-term competitive advantage.
In order to I determine whether there is a relationship between the independent variable (social motivation, in this case) and dependent variable (sustainable competitive advantage), (ii) examine the strength of the relationship, (iii) access the predictor importance of the variable, and (iv) access the significance effect of the variable under study, Hypothesis One was statistically tested using linear regression.
The model summary Table 3 shows how much of the variance of the dependent variable (sustainable competitive advantage) is explained by the independent variable (social motivation). In this case, the R square shows a coefficient determination of about 0.151 if expressed by a percentage will be 15.1%. This infers that 15.1% variation of sustainable competitive advantage is predicted by the measures of social motivation.
| Table 3 Model Summary |
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|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | R | R Square | Adjusted R Square | Std. Error of the Estimate |
| 1 | 0.389a | 0.151 | 0.150 | 0.77200 |
| a. Predictors: (Constant), Social Motivation | ||||
The findings are supported by Analysis of Variance ANOVA (F test) results that the model or none of the parameters was equal to Zero.
Interpretation of Result: The ANOVA Table 4 shows that the F value is 96.480 at 0.000b significance level. The implication is that social motivation has a significant effect on sustainable competitive advantage.
| Table 4 Anovaa |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Sum of Squares | df | Mean Square | F | Sig. | |
| 1 | Regression Residual Total |
57.501 | 1 | 57.501 | 96.480 | 0.000b |
| 323.026 | 542 | 0.596 | ||||
| 380.528 | 543 | |||||
| a. Dependent Variable: Sustainable competitive advantage | ||||||
| b. Predictors: (Constant), Social Motivation | ||||||
The coefficient Table 5 above shows the statistically significant contribution reflected in the basic model, which expresses how much each model component contributed to the prediction of the dependent variable by looking at the sig column in the table. For a two-sided test, the absolute value of the test statistics (T) had to be larger than or equal to the critical value of 1.96 in order for the level of significance to be considered significant. The model demonstrated that social motivation predicts durable competitive advantage with a statistically significant beta value of (beta=0.389 with t-val (9.822) higher than 1.96, sig.000 p .05). Thus, social motivation contributes significantly and uniquely to the understanding of sustainable competitive advantage in the informal market. This suggests that there is an increase in sustainable competitive advantage of up to 0.389 units for every unit rise in social motivation.
| Table 5 Coefficient Table For The Independent Variable (Social Motivation) |
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|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Model | Unstandardized Coefficients | Standardized Coefficients | t | Sig. | ||
| B | Std. Error | Beta | ||||
| 1 | (Constant) | 2.591 | 0.156 | 16.639 | 0.000 | |
| Social | 0.391 | 0.040 | .389 | 9.822 | 0.000 | |
| a. Dependent Variable: Sustainable competitive advantage | ||||||
Decision: A statistical confidence level exceeding 95% is implied by a significance level below 0.05. This suggests that important indicators of long-term competitive advantage in the informal market were acknowledged. That a lasting competitive advantage is impacted by social motivation. As a result, the alternate hypothesis (H02) was accepted and the null hypothesis (H01) was rejected (H1).
Conclusion
The significance of the informal entrepreneur’s activities was in existence before the determination of its legality in the society. Thus, a bated eye cannot be given to informal sector. Likewise, the electronics industry with the inclusion of information technology sector is notably the determinant of development in every nation. Government intervention, programme and facilities among others have been provided to soften the effects of informal business activities as well as the push and pull effects on some of the policies created to address the sector undertakings while ignoring the reason for their existence.
The study examined the effect of social motivations on sustainable competitive advantage within informal entrepreneurs operating in the electronics market of the six south-western states in Nigeria. The presence of the informal market is a training ground for business development among youths and survival for those avoiding wrong acts in a society, making the eradication of such a sector, an impossible task. In the course of the study, it was discovered that there is a positive effect emanating from the social motivation on sustainable competitive advantage exhibited by the informal entrepreneurs in the electronics market. The need for the informal entrepreneurs to maintain the attained social status leads to the push effect from family sustenance. Aside the ties of a social unit via demands, requirements and provision tends to create the positive drive with focus on sustainable competitive advantage amongst the informal entrepreneurs resulting to performance of the electronics business which should be taken care of by the government but seems the funds gotten illegally from the street urchins hides the real value of the market.
The expected needs to be met at home create the silent change in satisfying the customers’ demands by getting the products off the shelf at a low profit margin as against what the market tagged such products. This also was linked to the service providers in the market, who repair electronics products at low process and provide software solutions at ridiculous price in comparison with the formal business practitioners because they want to meet a need at home or close relations demand.
From extant literature reviewed, it was gathered that the presence of social motivation could arise from the cordial relationship with involving business operators leading to continual revolving strategic business operation in the market. This relationship birthed from social interaction reflects the strength of influencing the incremental performance exhibited from the informal entrepreneurs. This was affirmed on the premise of clustered interaction presence in the market and transiting into the positive business performance.
The tested hypothesis on this statement reflected the acceptance of the alternate hypothesis stating; social motivations are significant predictors of sustainable competitive advantage in informal market. Thus, reaffirming the need to create policies that could reflect the possibility of meeting social commitment, as a result of the African society operates on collectivisms and indulges in community provision before personal needs.
The application of the identity status theory stands on the pivots of why the entrepreneurs engage in the informal market and when the status is met, it transcends to another impending status with the assurance that it could be gotten from the market informally. Thus, providing the aligned necessary framework for objective of the study, identified as: determine the effect of social motivation on sustainable competitive advantage in the informal market. This result is consistent with the theories put forth by, who contend that formal, sustainable small firms are socially driven to engage in their commercial operations while maintaining their competitive nature through the appropriate distinction. However, the findings of the study are consistent with contention that entrepreneurs are more likely to pursue a cost leadership strategy than a differentiation strategy as a result of socioeconomic factors. In a developing nation like Nigeria, this study has shed new light on the societal drivers of informal entrepreneurship. The distinctiveness of each state in terms of the socioeconomic drivers of informal entrepreneurship was highlighted.
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Received: 08-Aug-2022, Manuscript No. AJEE-22-12439; Editor assigned: 10-Aug -2022, PreQC No. AJEE-22-12439(PQ); Reviewed: 24-Aug -2022, QC No. AJEE-22-12439; Published: 31-Aug -2022