Internal environmental factors and employee-resourcing strategies in small restaurant businesses in Zimbabwe

Abstract

The study examines the relationship between the internal environment in the small restaurant business and the employee resourcing strategies in the firm. The study was motivated by the realization that the SME sector plays a life-or-death role in the Zimbabwean economy and as such attention must be focused on its operations. This attention should specifically focus on the way the firms hire their workforce given the significance of the human resource in the success of such businesses. The study drew inspiration from the Resource Based view (RBV) theory of the organisation in drawing out the relationship between internal business environmental factors and employee resourcing strategies in SMEs in Zimbabwe. Data for this study was gathered using a structured questionnaire from small restaurant businesses in Harare. The data was exposed to regression analysis to test the veracity of the proposed hypotheses. The findings indicate that there is a positive relationship between the internal environment and the employee resourcing strategies adopted by SMEs. This signifies that the environment is a serious consideration in the success or failure of SMEs in Zimbabwe. The study makes a significant contribution to the body of knowledge as it breaks ground in drawing the relationship between the environmental factors and the operations of SMEs.