Economic Uncertainty, Access to Finance and Digital Business Capability as Predictors of Sustainable SME Growth: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Resilience in Pakistan
This study examines how economic uncertainty, access to finance, and digital business capability influence sustainable SME growth in Pakistan through entrepreneurial resilience. A quantitative, positivist, deductive, and cross-sectional design was adopted using 450 responses from SME owners and managers in manufacturing, retail, and services across Lahore, Karachi, Islamabad, Faisalabad, and Peshawar. PLS-SEM was applied in SmartPLS. In the model, economic uncertainty negatively predicted entrepreneurial resilience (β = −0.284, p < 0.001) and sustainable SME growth (β = −0.137, p = 0.006), whereas access to finance and digital business capability positively affected both outcomes. Entrepreneurial resilience positively predicted sustainable growth (β = 0.428, p < 0.001) and partially mediated all three predictor relationships. The model explained 54.2% of resilience and 66.8% of sustainable growth. The study integrates resource-based and dynamic-capabilities perspectives to explain how financial and digital resources produce durable growth when entrepreneurs can absorb shocks and renew strategic choices