The Covid-19 Pandemic: The Initiator for Digital Inclusion or Exclusion of Smes in the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe

Abstract

<p>The study examined whether the COVID-19 pandemic had created digital opportunities for Small to Medium Entrepreneurs (SMEs) in the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe or it had actually exposed their lack of digital acumen. The interpretivist paradigm, a qualitative descriptive approach and a case study design were adopted for this study. The research used semi-structured questionnaires to solicit data from 30 purposively selected small to medium entrepreneurs. Data were thematically analysed to discern meaning. The study revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic had led participants to embrace technology, as evidenced by their acquisition of technological gadgets. Furthermore, ownership of technological gadgets had facilitated working from home, in the comfort of their homes; reaching clients irrespective of boundaries; having easy access to information on business transactions; the ability to do business even during the pandemic; ordering and ease of payment of suppliers; convenience and flexibility in doing business and discovering business platforms they were not aware of. The study concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic was the initiator for the digital inclusion of SMEs in the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, after the realisation that for their businesses to remain operational in this uncertain and disruptive environment, they had to embrace technology. The study recommended that workshops to train and equip SME owners with digital skills be conducted so that in the event of other pandemics, their businesses would remain afloat.</p><p><em> </em></p><p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/edu_01/0651/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

Adopt Digital Technologies or Ship Out of Business: Covid-19 Experiences of Small and Medium Entrepreneurs in the Bulawayo Metropolitan Province, Zimbabwe

“…The SMEs do agree unequivocally that technology helps them to stay afloat even in times of the COVID-19 pandemic, which allows them to continue operating their businesses remotely. These results are an indication that SMEs realised that since face-to-face interaction had been banned, they had to come up with alternative, innovative and creative ways of conducting business if they were to remain operational (Nani and Maguraushe, 2022). Thus, the findings concur with Harel (2021) who argued that technologies helped businesses to survive during the pandemic period.…”

“…SMEs need to learn digital skills that are relevant to their businesses to reduce digital exclusion (Jere & Ngidi, 2020). In this context, digital exclusion was a result of the failure to adopt digital technologies within businesses, as well as the failure to navigate through and use digital technologies (Nani & Maguraushe, 2022). Harel (2021) suggested that the government can also play a pivotal role in educating SMEs with digital skills as a way of empowering them to survive in times of crises like the COVID-19 pandemic.…”

The relation of workplace spirituality with employee creativity among Indian software professionals: mediating role of psychological empowerment

“…In the due process, there is a fierce competition among corporates that creates various problems for enhancing creativity (Baer et al , 2010; Nani, 2017). Hence recently, organizations are focusing on positive psychological drives (Younas et al , 2020), positive leadership styles, that is, authentic leadership (Phuong and Takahashi, 2021; Ribeiro et al , 2020), transformational leadership (Kasımoğlu and Ammari, 2020; Shafi et al , 2020), ethical leadership (Chen and Hou, 2016; Javed et al , 2017), servant leadership (Ruiz-Palomino and Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara, 2020; van Dierendonck and Rock, 2010; Yoshida et al , 2014) along with perceived organizational support (Akgunduz et al , 2018; Duan et al , 2020), which may promote creativity.…”