Melkianus Teddison Bulan, Hory Iramaya Dilak, Harnever Imanuel Manao, Eflin Susana Sanu, Nelson Chornelius Ketti, Norsem Nehemia Malafu, Emanuel Destianus Banggut
Considerable promise; nevertheless, they continued to struggle with profitability issues stemming from inadequate managerial expertise and limited technological adoption. This investigation sought to examine both the combined and individual influences of knowledge and technology on enterprise profitability, determine the predominant factor, and quantify their respective contributions. Employing a quantitative explanatory design with a saturated sampling approach encompassing 30 MSME proprietors, this research utilized multiple linear regression, F-test, t-test, and coefficient of determination as analytical tools. The findings demonstrated that knowledge and technology collectively exerted a significant impact onprofitability. When examined separately, knowledge exhibited a positive and statistically significant effect, whereas technology demonstrated a positive yet statistically insignificant effect. Knowledge emerged as the overriding variable, accounting for 38.1% of the variance in profitability. The practical implications underscored the critical need to strengthen business operators' knowledge base through targeted training in financial administration, processing methodologies, and digital marketing strategies prior to making technology investments, alongside the implementation of an integrated mentoring framework designed to maximize the profitability of fishery-based MSMEs operating in island regions.