Determinants of Business Sustainability among Traditional Food Micro- Entrepreneurs in Kelantan: Structural Equation Modeling of Vulnerabilities, Authenticity, and Digital Adoption
Abstract
In Southeast Asia, traditional food microbusinesses play a critical role in maintaining local socioeconomic resilience and intangible cultural legacy (Bessière, 1998; Timothy, 2015; Senthil Kumar et al., 2023; Kavitha & Raagha Ravi, 2024). However, cumulative labor, market, and spatial vulnerabilities make long-term business survival difficult for many microbusinesses (Porter, 2011; Kruger & Viljoen, 2021; Sharma et al., 2022). With an emphasis on traditional akok producers and artisanal food vendors, this quantitative empirical study explores the structural determinants influencing business sustainability among traditional food micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia (Omar et al., 2019; Mohd. Suleiman et al., 2023). The study assesses the impact of Operational Vulnerabilities, Culinary Heritage Authenticity, and Digital Marketing Adoption on Business Sustainability using a structured questionnaire survey given to N = 168 micro-entrepreneurs (Yin, 2018; Hair et al., 2021, Prayogi & Subriadi, 2024). Operational vulnerabilities have a considerable negative direct impact on business performance (ß = -0.342, p < 0.001), according to empirical studies using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) (Sowden, 2018; Deacon et al., 2020; Zainal et al., 2022). On the other hand, enterprise sustainability is strongly positively impacted by both digital marketing adoption (ß = 0.412, p < 0.001) and culinary heritage authenticity (ß = 0.285, p < 0.001) (Sims, 2009; Gössling et al., 2018; Bandhu et al., 2024; Givan & Pancasilawan, 2025). Additionally, the link between traditional heritage preservation and business performance is considerably mediated by the use of digital marketing (ß = 0.148, p < 0.001) (Gössling et al., 2018; Kruger & Viljoen, 2021; Sharabati et al., 2024). Regarding municipal zoning preservation, ergonomic workplace interventions, and focused digital skill building for heritage micro-entrepreneurs, the study provides practical managerial and policy insights (Porter, 2011; Sowden, 2018).