PurposeThere is noted emphasis on the role of small businesses as conduits for economic development especially in emerging economies. Given this, there is need for constantly seeking for ways to assist small businesses achieve success. Calls exist in the literature to investigate the combined role that strategy and human resource management practices can play leading to efforts of financial success.Design/methodology/approachA structured questionnaire was utilised and data collected from 401 small businesses operating in the Eastern Province of South Africa. Pearson product–moment correlation and hierarchical regression were used in the data analysis.FindingsThe results confirm that a direct relationship exists between strategy and financial performance. Further, the relationship is made significant only through the mediation effect of human resource management practices.Practical implicationsTo fully realise the enactment of strategy within small businesses there is need to pay attention to the role that human resource management practices may potentially have on financial performance. Small business owner-managers need to ground their strategies with sound human resource management practices. Through this, firm financial performance can be attained.Originality/valueThe paper sheds light and presents a model that illustrates the mediating role of human resource management practices on the relationship between strategy and financial performance.

Existing research attributes the problem of weak research productivity of academics inAfrican universities primarily to institutional resource poverty and inadequate research skills. However, there has been little attention to research cultures and the role of leaders in fostering productive ones. Drawing from the literature on organizational culture, this study examines the role of university leaders in developing research cultures. The study explores how institution leaders do this within the higher education contexts in their countries. The empirical work is based on qualitative interviews with senior and mid-level university leaders in six sub-Saharan countries. While all of the leaders espoused clear views about the elements of a productive research culture, results indicate a significant gap remains between espoused values for research and the actual research culture. Theoretically, the research extends the concept of research cultures by demonstrating the complex dynamics between research cultures, culture embedding mechanisms, and leader behavior within contextual constraints.