Author(s): Albert Tchey Agbenyegah
Small businesses are widely recognized as creators of job opportunities with high potentials to sustain rural growth and generate economic prosperities. However, more need to be done in terms of empirical study to further understand the contributory variables to rural small businesses. This empirical study seeks to determine the significant relationships between demographic variables and rural owner-managers small business success (ROMSBUS) in specific rural municipalities of South Africa. This empirical study was quantitatively designed to gather a cross-sectional data using snowball and purposive sample techniques to select rural owner- managers (ROMs) of small businesses for primary data to be analysed. In total 268 ROMs who at the time of this study operates small businesses in the two municipalities for over 5 years took part in the survey. Descriptive and inferential statistical tools of cross-tabulation aided by Pearson chi-square test were employed to test the formulated hypotheses. The study revealed mixed findings about the selected variables of age, gender and educational qualifications and ROMSBUS as perceived by ROMS. Out of the two age cohorts, the younger age group of ROMs ranging from 26 to 36 managed to attained moderate to high ROMSBUS. Findings based on formulated hypotheses, it came to light that the age group of ROMs differ in terms of ROMSBUS. However, ROMs level of education differs significantly in terms of ROMSBUS. Further revelations by the study add that gender of ROMs does not differ in terms of the levels of ROMSBUS. Steaming from the findings, the author suggest that in future triangulation approaches could be utilized to reveal deeper understanding of the significant relationship between the selected demographic variables of age, gender and educational qualifications and ROMSBUS.