Impact of financial and internet support on SME performance: Moderating effect of technology adoption during COVID-19 pandemic
1 Department of Business Administration, Atish Dipankar University of Science & Technology, Bangladesh.
2 BRAC Business School, BRAC University, Bangladesh.
3 BIGD - BRAC Institute of Governance and Development, BRAC University, Bangladesh.
4 Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO), Alchemy International Limited (AIL), Bangladesh.
5 Department of Management and Economy, Gävle University, Sweden.
6 Ph. D. Scholar, School of Business, Galgotias University, Uttar Pradesh, India.
7 Department of Business Administration, Shanto-Mariam University of Creative Technology, Bangladesh.
Research Article
World Journal of Advanced Engineering Technology and Sciences, 2024, 13(02), 105–118.
Article DOI: 10.30574/wjaets.2024.13.2.0533
Publication history:
Received on 27 August 2024; revised on 15 October 2024; accepted on 17 October 2024
Abstract:
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are widely recognised as significant catalysts for economic growth at a worldwide level. The benefits that are frequently highlighted for their promotion, particularly in developing nations like Bangladesh, include their relatively high labor intensity, reliance on local technology and skills, contributions to the growth of entrepreneurialism and innovativeness, and industrial linkage expansion. The objective of this study is to examine the influence of financial and internet support on the performance of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Bangladesh during the COVID-19 pandemic while also considering the moderating effect of technology adoption. By going through the literature, the study identified a number of factors namely financial support, ICT support, technological support played a strong role on SME performance during COVID-19. The present study utilises Partial Least Square (PLS) path modelling, a variance-based technique within the framework of Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), to investigate the correlations. A well-structured questionnaire is prepared for collecting primary data from the SME owners or managers and finally 378 data have been collected from the different types of SME entrepreneurs through using purposive sampling technique. Eight hypotheses are tested and found seven positive relationships with moderating interaction of technology adoption between influential factors and SME performance (financial and non-financial).
Keywords:
SME; SME Performance; Technology Adoption; Financial Performance; PLS; Non-Financial Performance; Bangladesh.
Full text article in PDF:
Copyright information:
Copyright © 2024 Author(s) retain the copyright of this article. This article is published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Liscense 4.0