Examining the four-box business model’s impact on small and medium-sized enterprises performance in China: the mediating role of employee engagement and the moderating role of senior management benefit

Zhu, Zi Ning (2026) Examining the four-box business model’s impact on small and medium-sized enterprises performance in China: the mediating role of employee engagement and the moderating role of senior management benefit. PhD thesis, UTAR.

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Abstract

Companies operating in unstable circumstances, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have experienced many unexpected impacts on their business performance in these years. Many Chinese SMEs had difficulties in recovering from the pandemic. This adverse aftermath was deteriorated by other unstable issues. Under this situation, company performance may be influenced by the change of the company‘s internal factors, such as the business model, employee engagement, and senior management‘s individual benefit. This research intends to address whether these internal factors affect company performance. An explanatory research approach following the deductive research paradigm is employed to identify the relationships between constructs. An online survey collected 337 valid responses from SME owners and general managers in Guangdong, Jiangsu, and Shandong provinces, China. Data were analyzed using the PLS-SEM approach with SmartPLS software to assess construct measurement and inferential relationships. The findings demonstrate positive and significant relationships between the value proposition of customer, key processes, key resources, profit formula, employee engagement, and performance of the company. Additionally, there is a significant positive relationship between the four-box business model and employee engagement. The direct relationship between business model of the four-box and performance of the company is not statistically significant, while employee engagement significantly mediates this relationship; in contrast, senior management's individual benefit plays an insignificant moderating role in this relationship. This study presents three theoretical implications: it identifies research gaps concerning the four-box business model (this study developed and tested two new direct relationships: one between the company‘s four-box business model and its performance, and another between this model and employee engagement; developed and tested the mediating role played by employee engagement and the moderating role of senior management's individual benefit between this relationship within the Chinese SME context); and expends the existing literature with some findings; it also extends the application of resource-based review and social cognitive theory. This research presents three practical implications: SMEs ought to use the business model as a structural framework for their operations and establish a non-financial incentive system, especially in challenging circumstances. Additionally, governments should provide support to SMEs through innovative solutions.

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