When businesses go digital: The role of CEO attributes in technology adoption and utilization during the COVID-19 pandemic

Adoption Behaviour of Digital Technologies by Firms: Evidence from South Africa’s Manufacturing Sector

“…The use of digital technologies may give users a long-lasting competitive advantage by setting them up for expansion and market dominance (Akpan et al, 2022). A rise in the demand for digital technologies may be caused by improved IT skills and supplemental human resources that raise the marginal productivity of technological assets (Akpan et al, 2022; Lashitew, 2023). Digital technology can serve as the foundation for dynamic capabilities that allow businesses to reconfigure their business models by reworking outmoded organizational practises and replace them with new, innovative ones (Belitski et al, 2022).…”

Technological sensing and response capabilities as drivers for radical innovation in the context of apocalyptic uncertainty

“…This theory views external contingencies as key determinants of the firm performance, which is particularly relevant during the ongoing COVID‐19 pandemic that has forced SMEs to change their competitive strategies to deal with the demand‐ and supply‐related uncertainties as a result of environmental turbulence caused by the business and government actions in response to the widespread disease and economic destruction. Economic crises require the organizational structure to become more flexible and adaptive by focusing on developing their capabilities to face external turbulence and not on simply acquiring additional resources (Dubey et al., 2021; Tajudeen et al., 2022; Lashitew, 2023). The contingency theory also highlights the firm behaviors necessary for survival, such as the adoption of innovative technologies by SMEs to identify and tap into new opportunities for the sustainable growth of their businesses (Dubey et al., 2021).…”

“…However, despite growing evidence about the importance of adopting technological innovation to improve SMEs' overall performance, there is little research on the impact of the technological capabilities of SMEs on their ability to respond to unexpected economic crises (Sharma et al., 2020). A few studies examine the vital role of technological innovation in helping small businesses build resilience and grow their businesses (Dubey et al., 2021; Tajudeen et al., 2022; Lashitew, 2023) but relatively less is known about the adoption of technological innovation by SMEs.…”

CEOs' digital technology backgrounds and enterprise digital transformation: The mediating effect of R&D investment and corporate social responsibility

“…Some scholars found that novice CEOs invest less in digital transformation by studying the data of Chinese listed companies from 2007 to 2011 (Zhang et al, 2023). By analyzing data from over 20,000 companies in 42 countries, it was found that female CEOs had a significantly lower adoption of digital technologies (Lashitew, 2023). Imprinting theory suggests that the “imprint” that a CEO develops to adapt to their environment has a lasting impact on them.…”