Antecedents, consequences, and challenges of small and medium-sized enterprise digitalization
Antecedents, consequences, and challenges of small and medium-sized enterprise digitalization
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lag behind larger firms when it comes to digitalization. This has negative impacts on firm performance. Despite the economic importance of SMEs, little is known about the antecedents, consequences, and challenges of SME digitalization. We have set three objectives to address this knowledge gap. Drawing on the resource-based view, we first investigate the impact of three main SME resources on digitalization: information technology, employee skills, and digital strategy. Second, we assess the impact digitalization has on financial performance. We then investigate whether digitalization mediates the effect of resources on performance. The results of a survey of 193 SMEs demonstrate how digitalization can impact SME performance, with the three resources positively relating to digitalization. And in turn, digitalization significantly relates to performance, mediating the effect of information technology on performance. It however does not mediate the effect of digital strategy or employee skills on performance.
Digital identity, Digital strategy, Employee skill, Financial performance, Resource-based view, SME digitalization
119-127
Eller, Robert
5085b081-22a5-4326-93e0-1dc1ba8218fd
Alford, Philip
dec8a144-be84-4a3f-937d-030d0d895abd
Kallmunzer, Andreas
b1eeab0f-6d94-44c4-8d52-84b598272204
Peters, Mike
5c2c0353-fbe3-4bba-bfe2-12d2c0bd21b1
May 2020
Eller, Robert
5085b081-22a5-4326-93e0-1dc1ba8218fd
Alford, Philip
dec8a144-be84-4a3f-937d-030d0d895abd
Kallmunzer, Andreas
b1eeab0f-6d94-44c4-8d52-84b598272204
Peters, Mike
5c2c0353-fbe3-4bba-bfe2-12d2c0bd21b1
Eller, Robert, Alford, Philip, Kallmunzer, Andreas and Peters, Mike
(2020)
Antecedents, consequences, and challenges of small and medium-sized enterprise digitalization.
Journal of Business Research, 112, .
(doi:10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.03.004).
Abstract
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) lag behind larger firms when it comes to digitalization. This has negative impacts on firm performance. Despite the economic importance of SMEs, little is known about the antecedents, consequences, and challenges of SME digitalization. We have set three objectives to address this knowledge gap. Drawing on the resource-based view, we first investigate the impact of three main SME resources on digitalization: information technology, employee skills, and digital strategy. Second, we assess the impact digitalization has on financial performance. We then investigate whether digitalization mediates the effect of resources on performance. The results of a survey of 193 SMEs demonstrate how digitalization can impact SME performance, with the three resources positively relating to digitalization. And in turn, digitalization significantly relates to performance, mediating the effect of information technology on performance. It however does not mediate the effect of digital strategy or employee skills on performance.
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JBR_MANUSCRIPT_Antecedents_SME_Digitalisation_R4_FINAL
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 3 March 2020
e-pub ahead of print date: 14 March 2020
Published date: May 2020
Additional Information:
The paper has been formally accepted for publication by the Editor, however there is not yet a DOI number. For this reason I've restricted visibility to Pure users only.
Keywords:
Digital identity, Digital strategy, Employee skill, Financial performance, Resource-based view, SME digitalization
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 438573
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/438573
ISSN: 0148-2963
PURE UUID: 6344db38-bc85-483a-8930-a2d2d0f6c0a0
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Date deposited: 17 Mar 2020 17:31
Last modified: 17 Mar 2024 05:24
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Author:
Robert Eller
Author:
Andreas Kallmunzer
Author:
Mike Peters
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