Empirical nexus between firm characteristics, market characteristics, financial delinquency, and its analogy to access to finance for SMEs

The study highlighted the role of firm characteristics, market characteristics, and financial delinquency on access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study also described the mediating role of enterprise managerial skills and technology advancement and the moderator role of government support. The 410 samples were collected from SMEs through survey questionnaires and analyzed with partial least square-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The results revealed that firm characteristics, market characteristics, and financial delinquency affected SMEs’ access to finance. The enterprise managerial skills and technology advancement partially impact mediators, and government support plays a partial moderator role. The study contributed by exploring the unique concepts of the challenge toolkit that directly or indirectly influences access to finance for SMEs. In addition, the study contributed through the impressive comparative enormity of various financial demands from SMEs’ perspective along with the mediator and moderator roles. The study also constructs an exclusive relationship with the theory of discouraged borrower and human resource theory and elaborates on the future direction for researchers. The study’s findings are highly suitable for SMEs to identify the complex finance access challenges. Moreover, the study provides a flexible way for SMEs to manage a firm reputation in the market and enhance enterprise managerial knowledge for obtaining a loan from banks by fulfilling all codal formalities.