IOSR Journal of Business and Management (IOSR-JBM) e-ISSN: 2278-487X, p-ISSN: 2319-7668. Volume 24, Issue 10. Ser. III (October. 2022), PP 53-64 www.iosrjournals.org DOI: 10.9790/487X-2410035364 www.iosrjournals.org 53 | Page Effect of Entrepreneurial Orientation on Performance of Small Medium Enterprises in Nigeria Dr. Ibrahim Aliyu Department of Business Administration Bauchi State University, Gadau, Bauchi Nigeria Ibrahim Gondah Male Department of Business Administration Bauchi State University, Gadau, Bauchi Nigeria Ahmad RufaiAdamu Business Administration Unit, SPS SuleLamido University, Kafin Hausa, Jigawa Nigeria AbdulhadiAminu Department of Business Administration Bauchi State University, Gadau, Bauchi Nigeria Abstract This study was designed to find out the effect of entrepreneurial orientation on performance of Small Medium (SMEs) in Nigeria. The study was anchored on Resource Based Theory. Data was collected from a sample of 326 SMEs owner-managers in north-east Nigeria using multi-stage sampling technique. The analysis was done with descriptive and inferential statistics on Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 23 and Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) on Smart-PLS 3. Mean and percentage were used to determine the extent of application/existence or otherwise of the variables in the studied SMEs. PLS- SEM was then used to test the effect of entrepreneurial orientation, on SMEs performance as well as the possible moderating effect of educational level. The results revealed that entrepreneurial orientation has significant positive effect on SMEs performance while educational level does not significantly moderate the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and SMEs performance. Finally, it was recommended that training and orientation should be conducted for SME owner-managers to increase the application of entrepreneurial in order to realize increased SMEs performance. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Date of Submission: 01-10-2022 Date of Acceptance: 12-10-2022 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction Performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) is one of the key sources of economic growth and development for nations across the world. As various sectors of economy are targeted by policy makers to generate economic growth or development, one peculiarity of SMEs sector is the ability to generate both economic growth and development simultaneously. SMEs performance lead to economic growth through provision of employment and income generation that lead to economic development through poverty eradication and income redistribution. The spread of SMEs across every part of a country and across every economic sector and sub-sector enables provision of employment for both skilled and unskilled labor and generation of income and profit for comparatively higher number of people than a large scale enterprise on same amount of capital. Such generated profit makes each owner-manager to think for reinvestment, thereby, creating a pool of entrepreneurs in an economy. Thus, SMEs performance is very important, especially in this era of industrialization, where the extent to which nations provide welfare to their populace isbasically used to measure development status of nations (Thabrani, et al, 2018; Bamfoa&Kraa, 2019). These contributions of SMEs sector is clear about Nigerian economy as the sector contributed an average of 48% of the nation’s GDP from 2012 to 2017 (National Bureau of Statistics, 2017). Also in the area of employment generation, SMEs provide an average of 60% to 70% of total employment in the Nigeria (International Council for Small Business (ICSB), 2019). Another advantage of SMEs in developing countries like Nigeria is in the area of relatively small capital and managerial expertise requirement which matches the