Participative leadership and the sustainability of women-led businesses in Uganda: the mediating role of entrepreneurial commitment

Editorial verdict

Methodologically competent regional study with meaningful findings, but the cross-sectional design, single-country sample, and self-report data prevent causal claims — treat the mediation findings as theoretically plausible associations, not established mechanisms.

Executive summary

This study addresses how participative leadership contributes to the long-term sustainability of women-led micro, small, and medium enterprises in Uganda, and whether entrepreneurial commitment mediates that relationship. Anchored in Self-Determination Theory, the authors argue that participative leadership practices — consultation, delegation, shared decision-making — satisfy the entrepreneur's psychological needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness, thereby strengthening her commitment to the venture, which in turn supports multidimensional business sustainability. Data were collected from 221 women owner-managers in the Kampala Metropolitan Area using a structured questionnaire, and analysed via Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). All four hypothesised relationships were supported: participative leadership positively influenced business sustainability (β = 0.290) and entrepreneurial commitment (β = 0.503); entrepreneurial commitment positively influenced sustainability (β = 0.531); and entrepreneurial commitment partially mediated the leadership–sustainability relationship (indirect effect β = 0.267). The authors conclude that sustainable women entrepreneurship in developing economies depends on leadership behaviours that cultivate entrepreneurial commitment alongside external institutional support, extending Self-Determination Theory into the women entrepreneurship context.

Frameworks mentioned

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