Abstract:
This study examined the effect of entrepreneur’s human capital and social capital on the growth of small
enterprises (SEs) in Sri Lanka. The research study seeks to accomplish this examination by proposing a conceptual
model of SE growth by using sales growth rate as an outcome variable. The data have been collected from 97
manufacturing enterprises that employ less than 50 employees in Colombo district of Sri Lanka. The hypotheses
derived from human capital and social capital theories were tested in order to assess the relationship among human
capital, social capital and the small enterprise growth. However, unlike previous research, the study gives specific
consideration to how the relationship between human capital and small enterprise growth is moderated by social
capital. The findings of the study suggest that human capital variables namely, training with work experience in
same field , technical & professional education and education with experience in government sector have positive
effect on sales growth trough social capital variable namely , organizational network with network maintenance. The
research also highlighted the direct and indirect effect of training with work experience in same field on sales
growth. Implications and directions for future research were discussed.
