ABSTRACT
This study is designed to assess the impact of managerial constructs on SMEs performance in Bauchi state. Managerial performance was measured on three managerial constructs: entrepreneurial characteristics, organizational configuration and task environmental scanning. Entrepreneurial Characteristics in terms of achievement motivation, locus of control, need for dominance, passion for work and risk taking/aversion; Organizational Configuration in the areas of decentralization, coordination and formalization and Task Environmental Scanning in the areas of frequency and the degree of interest in scanning the environment. Based on a cross-sectional research design where survey questionnaire was
used to collect data from 237 SME owner-managers in the state.
The copies of the questionnaire were distributed randomly to the sample drawn from 6 local governments selected on a quota basis. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, Spearman' rank correlation and multiple regression analyses with Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 18. The output revealed that entrepreneurial characteristics and
organizational configuration have significant impact on SMEs performance, while task environmental scanning has no significant impact on SMEs performance in Bauchi state.
As such, entrepreneurial characteristics is the strongest predictor of SMEs performance in Bauchi state, then organizational configuration and then task environmental scanning. The study, therefore, concluded that lacks of application of managerial constructs is the factor behind poor SMEs performance in the state and unless measures are put in place by stakeholders, Nigeria cannot reap the benefit of the SME sector. Lastly, it was recommended that government, NGOs and SME owner-managers' unions should work together towards
improving the application of managerial constructs by SME owner-managers.
