Abstract:

This study investigated the role of entrepreneurial orientation as vital in nations where entrepreneurship is not adored. Entrepreneurial orientation is the answer to some of the Nigerian SMEs demands peculiarly as the nation aim to be among the big economies by 2020. In Nigeria, SMEs engage about 85 percent of the manpower. The demand to match entrepreneurial orientation with innovation performance has become needful for SMEs struggling to hit greater performance. Some of the Nigerians SMEs fail to succeed mostly due to the inability to improve innovation performance. This paper investigated the moderating influence of the competitive environment on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientations and innovation performance of Nigerian SMEs. The paper engaged quantitative method guided by a survey method to collect with sample of 375 SMEs. The PLS analysis results established a strong and positive effect between entrepreneurial orientation and innovation performance. The results supported three hypotheses confirming that entrepreneurial orientation has a significant and positive relationship with innovation performance. The specific finding of the study is that competitive environment was established as a full moderator towards achieving innovation performance