Human capital and SME growth: the mediating role of reasons to start a business Aliaa El Shoubaki & Issam Laguir & Matthijs den Besten Accepted: 5 December 2018 # Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract Human capital has been amply discussed in the literature as a crucial factor for the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, the factors mediating the relationship between human cap- ital and small business growth are rarely addressed. Based on the logics of the interlock between abilities, intent and effort, and goals; mediation models; and data from 46,412 French small businesses, we find evidence that reasons to start a business mediate the relation between firm growth and SME owner-managers’ hu- man capital (discriminating between specific and gener- al human capital). The mediation effect is particularly important in the case of general human capital. The obvious and important implication is that without a proper assessment of the reasons to start a business, the dimensions of human capital cannot be used to their full potential to understand firm growth. Keywords SMEs . Firm growth . Reasons to start a business . Mediation JEL classifications L26, L25, M13, M20 1 Introduction Identifying explanations for firm growth is at the heart of research on entrepreneurship and small and medium- sized enterprises (SMEs) (Parker 2018). While a host of variables at the individual, firm, and environmental levels have been identified as determinants (Wiklund et al. 2007), the human capital of business owners, managers, and entrepreneurs seems to be the prime determinant for the outcomes of SMEs (Davidsson and Honig 2003). Many researchers hypothesize that the characteristics of the founder and manager of a new business are key to its success (Preisendörfer et al. 2012), especially when firms are small and young (Ireland et al. 2005). Thus, the human capital of SME owner-managers (owners and/or managers), including their education and experience, has been subject to considerable research and theorizing over the last two decades (Marvel et al. 2016; Rauch et al. 2005). The increasingly knowledge-intensive work activities of SMEs have reinforced this focus (Bosma et al. 2004; Sonnentag and Frese 2002). Moreover, the effect of human capital on venture growth is empirically well established (Unger et al. 2011). Despite all these efforts and results, there remain unanswered questions about the contribution of other Small Bus Econ https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-018-0129-y Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-018-0129-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. A. El Shoubaki (*) : I. Laguir : M. den Besten Montpellier Business School, 2300 av. des Moulins, F34185 Montpellier, France e-mail: a.elshoubaki@montpellier-bs.com I. Laguir e-mail: i.laguir@montpellier-bs.com M. den Besten e-mail: m.den-besten@montpellier-bs.com