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Focusing on female entrepreneurs operating in a resource-scarce environment, this study aims to draw from the resource-based view to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial competences and firm growth.

This study used a cross-sectional research design. Data was collected from 232 women entrepreneurs operating in Kampala’s two biggest markets. The data were analyzed to test the mediation effect of absorptive capacity on the relationship between entrepreneurial competences and firm growth; a Sobel test and bootstrap estimation were analytical approaches that were used.

This paper argues that for female entrepreneurs, the venture growth process is not simply dependent on inimitable resources such as competences, as these are first not readily available to female entrepreneurs and second, only provide a temporary competitive advantage. Rather, venture growth also involves the ability to continuously identify and exploit knowledge resources through an absorptive capacity that may be limited by the sociocultural context within which the female entrepreneur operates in sub-Saharan Africa.

The novelty of this research resides in support for the mediating role of the ability to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it and apply it to commercial ends. This study shows that female entrepreneurs use externally generated knowledge as a mechanism to grow their firms and this is impacted by the sociocultural context within which they operate. The study further improves the understanding of the resource-based view by suggesting that a black box exists in the relationship between resources and performance. It is shown that the possession of one resource facilitates the acquisition of other resources and proposes that the role of resources continuously unfolds as a firm develops.

This paper aims to examine the relationship between institutional pressures and sustainable energy orientation by incorporating organizational resources as a mediating factor.

The study adopted cross-sectional and correlational research designs using a questionnaire survey of 64 higher educational institutions registered with the National Council for Higher Education of Uganda. The data obtained were analyzed using SPSS.

This meant that institutional pressures, particularly mimetic, predict the way organizations chose their energy orientation. Furthermore, partial mediation of organizational resources is evident in the relationship between institutional pressures and sustainable energy orientation. Moreover, resources are a strong factor in ensuring that institutions observe the need for sustainable energy consumption.

A study where there is no local empirical support for operationalization, as well as coherent citations on the criterion, is bound by various weaknesses that impose on the findings of this study. The authors nonetheless contend that they have opened gates for further empirical tests of their model findings.

The study findings will enable a catalyzed assessment of the energy needs and planning for them in higher institutions of learning in Uganda. It will trigger policy directions on energy needs and usage control.

Energy supply is important in any academic institution. The study has highlighted a simple model of predictors of energy orientation that will enable institutional planning to ensure social stability with internal stakeholders on energy usage. It will also awaken positive behaviors on energy management by individuals and work groups.

This study offers initial evidence on the relationship between institutional pressures and sustainable energy orientation using evidence from a developing context. It is based on original study of higher institutions in Uganda, and no such study has been done before with the same variables. It provides new directions for study in such nascent area of critical national dimension as energy and climate change issues are top global agenda.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between top management commitment and energy management in small and medium manufacturing firms in a developing country context.

This study was executed through a survey of 66 manufacturing firms in Kampala, Uganda. The data collected were analysed using SPSS v.26.

The results show that top management commitment influences energy management. A further probe of its three dimensions of top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs reveals that all of them positively and significantly predict energy management in manufacturing firms.

The current study results were obtained from manufacturing small and medium firms in Kampala, Uganda. Therefore, caution should be taken prior to generalization. Furthermore, this study only focuses on top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs as the dimensions of top management commitment. This study thus provides the foundation for future studies to test other dimensions of top management commitment, particularly in other sectors.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to examine the contribution of top management commitment dimensions top management participation, top management support and top management beliefs to energy management in a developing country context. Although all dimensions are significant, top management beliefs contribute more to energy management.