Entrepreneurship Support Programmes and Business Growth in Brunei

Authors

  • Norizan Abdullah University of Southampton, Department of Social Statistics and Demography
  • Paul Smith University of Southampton, Department of Social Statistics and Demography
  • Olga Maslovskaya University of Southampton, Department of Social Statistics and Demography

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.34190/ecie.21.1.5018

Keywords:

Brunei, entrepreneurship, MSMEs, programme evaluation, propensity score matching, revenue and employment growth

Abstract

Brunei has introduced various entrepreneurship support programmes to support economic diversification efforts and reduce unemployment. However, few empirical studies have explored the relationship between programme participation and business performance. This study investigates whether micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) that participated in at least one entrepreneurship programme between 2016 and 2024 achieved higher revenue and employment growth than non-participating businesses. We use MSMEs as a proxy for entrepreneurial activity because of their role in new business creation, employment growth, and income generation. We collected data through a survey of registered MSMEs in Brunei, including information on business characteristics, participation in entrepreneurship support programmes during 2016–2024, and changes in revenue and employment over the same period. We applied quasi-experimental Propensity Score Matching (PSM) approach to match programme participants with similar non-participants based on business sector, size, age, and prior performance. We estimated the average treatment effect on the treated (ATT) group for revenue and employment growth. After matching, we found that programme participation was not significantly associated with higher revenue or employment growth. This study adds to the literature on entrepreneurship support programmes by providing evidence from Brunei and providing a basis for policymakers to evaluate and improve future entrepreneurship programme designs.

Author Biographies

Paul Smith, University of Southampton, Department of Social Statistics and Demography

Paul Smith is Professor of Official Statistics in the Department of Social Statistics and Demography at the University of Southampton. His research focuses on official statistics methodology, including survey methodology, business and social surveys, census methods, administrative data, and sampling design. Before joining the University of Southampton in 2014, he worked for many years at the UK Office for National Statistics (ONS), contributing to methodological development across a range of official statistics areas.

Olga Maslovskaya, University of Southampton, Department of Social Statistics and Demography

Olga Maslovskaya is Professor of Survey Method and Social Statistics at the University of Southampton. Her research focuses on survey methodology, survey data collection, and data quality in social surveys. She is Deputy Director of the ESRC-funded Survey Futures programme in the UK and has led and contributed to several major international survey research projects, particularly in online survey methodology and under-represented populations. She also holds advisory and editorial roles in several international survey research organisations and journals.

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Published

2026-09-11

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 1 (2026): Proceedings of The 21st European Conference on Innovation and Entrepreneurship

Section

PhD Papers

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Norizan Abdullah, Paul Smith, Olga Maslovskaya

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.