Determinants of Financial Sustainability and Access to Finance among SMEs in Malaysia: A Pilot Study

The unavailability of external financing and lack of access to finance is an important research interest topic for scholars and a crucial issue for policymakers all over the world. However, compared to large companies, SMEs tend to report financing as a significant obstacle. The inadequate access to finance could dampen their potentials for growth and competitiveness in the business ecosystem. The objective of this research work is to examine and explore a small sample of data on the determinants of financial sustainability and access to finance among SMEs in Malaysia. The study adopted a quantitative survey approach to collect 53 usable questionnaires from SMEs in Johor as one of the divisions based on the stratified random sampling method. Therefore, the validity and reliability of the instruments were examined through a panel of expert and also the collected data was analysed using SPSS v22. Results, using exploratory factor analysis and Cronbach’s Alpha statistics confirmed the validity and reliability of the instruments adopted and used for the pilot study. It was concluded that the items on the surveyed instrument are suitable for future use in studies in the field of access to finance, especially in the SME service sector.