Investigating the moderating role of education on a structural model of restaurant performance using multi-group PLS-SEM analysis

This study investigates the role of education as a moderator of the network of relationships among entrepreneurial self-efficacy (ESE), innovation, and restaurant performance. Data were collected through an e-survey of 198 restaurant owners in Australia. The results of the partial least squares structural equation modeling analysis revealed that the owners' ESE and the firms' innovation activities directly and positively affected performance, and that the ESE directly and positively affected the firms' innovation activities, including those concerning products, services, processes, management, and marketing. The structural model was also examined across two groups based on the owners' level of domain-specific education (Group 1: Owners with industry-related and entrepreneurship-specific education; Group 2: Owners with no such education). The results showed that the ESE-innovation-performance model remained invariant between the groups. The study made new contributions to the literature on firm performance drivers in the restaurant industry and the moderating effects of education.