Social capital and sustainable growth of full-service restaurants in the global south: testing the mediating role of dynamic capabilities

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to establish whether dynamic capabilities mediates the association between social capital and sustainable growth of full-service restaurants in Kampala, Uganda. Design/methodology/approach – This study is cross-sectional and correlational in nature. A self-administered questionnaire was used to gather data from 154 full-service restaurants in Kampala. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS.25) and Medgraph – Excel Version were used to conduct correlation, hierarchical regression and mediation analysis on the data in order to establish the mediating role of dynamic capabilities. Findings – Study findings revealed that first, social capital and dynamic capabilities significantly predict sustainable growth of full-service restaurants, second, social capital is significantly associated with dynamic capabilities and third, dynamic capabilities significantly mediate social capital and sustainable growth of full-service restaurants. Originality/value – The study confirmed that dynamic capabilities significantly mediate social capital and sustainable growth of full-service restaurants unlike the previous studies that focused on the direct association between the study variables in explicating sustainable growth.

Keywords

• Social capital
• Dynamic capabilities
• Sustainable growth
• Full-service restaurants
• Kampala
• Uganda