The Moderating Role of Education Level on Factors Influencing Business Performance: Evidence from Muslim Women Owned Business Entities in Sri Lanka

Entrepreneurship is part of Islamic business and economy which allows both men and women to be successful entrepreneurs. Islamic practices play an important role in women's lives, and Islam explicitly emphasizes trade and commerce including the involvement of women as traders as evidently stated in the Holy Quran.Therefore, women's entrepreneurship in Islam has been an interesting topic for researchers around the world in recent decades as they have faced unique challenges and there are some specific factors contribute for their business success. This study aims to examine the moderating effect of education level on the relationship between the factors influencing business performance of Muslim women entrepreneurs in Sri Lanka. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with AMOS as the data analysis technique while employing SPSS 23.0 collecting data from Muslim women owned business entities. In most of the conservative Islamic families, women are not often allowed go out of their homes and mix with their counter parts independently and even do not allow their female children for further studies and get them married in their early ages. Based on the results reported, the level of education did not significantly reduce the relationship between psychological characteristics, industrial factor, cultural factor, and business performance in which the level of education moderates human capital and social capital. This study applied awareness to existing literature on the entrepreneurship of Muslim women, as well as suggested steps for government, policymakers and other related agencies on how to authorize Muslim women through entrepreneurship to improve the country's socio-economic conditions and the well-being of their families by means of enhancing their education level.