Capital Access Barriers to Government Procurement Performance: Moderating Effects of Ethnicity, Gender and Education

Abstract

This article expands on barriers to entry and repositioning theory by examining the moderating effects of small firm owner/manager characteristics on the relationship between their perceptions of capital access barriers and their firm's market penetration. How these effects varied between government and commercial market segments as well as Industrial (commodity and service) sectors was of particular interest. Hierarchical regression analyses were conducted on survey data from 915 small firms to test whether firms owned and managed by individuals who are ethnic minorities, female, and/or have less education will have relatively lower market penetration as perceptions of capital access barriers increase. The results indicate that the interaction of gender and education with capital access barriers, respectively, influences market penetration for firms in the government market. The ethnicity of the owner/manager directly influenced market penetration for service firms. The results suggest important implications for public policy. (Publication abstract)