Search results

Micro and small enterprises (MSE) play a critical role in the Swiss economy but had no meaningfully adopted working from home (WFH) policy before the COVID-19 crisis. The timing of the study’s data collection allowed a unique assessment of Swiss MSEs’ adoption of WFH enabled by the adoption of digital technologies due to the first government-mandated COVID-19 lockdown. The study also set out to assess the permanence of any changes in the adoption of WFH by MSEs after initial government COVID-19 restrictions ended.

The study uses a threefold theoretical framework combining social, technical and spatial dimensions. Data were collected via telephone interviews. The utilised sampling frame included 153,000 small businesses with 4–49 employees, and the realised sample for the study was 503 interviews with MSE owners and managing directors (MDs).

The Swiss government’s COVID-19 crisis lockdown policies accelerated the digital transformation of work by employees in Swiss MSEs by increasing the number of employees WFH. However, the number of MSEs with WFH employees decreased after the first lockdown ended. Small business leadership is an important influence on the persistence of any increases in WFH.

The data collection uniquely captures the effects of externally driven digital transformation of work in small businesses by the adoption of WFH. The findings show that small businesses can rapidly learn new ways of working and support the claim that Swiss MSE MDs play a critical role in the adoption of WFH. They also confirm the importance of digital leadership and culture for realising the potential of WFH in small businesses.

This study explored the ramifications of COVID-19 on construction operations in Malaysia.

Following a detailed literature review, 37 ramifications are identified and divided into nine aspects. A self-designed survey is then employed to seek the perceptions of construction practitioners around the Klang Valley region regarding the significance of the ramifications. A total of 203 valid responses are subjected to statistical analyses to prioritise the ramifications.

All the potential ramifications are perceived to be significant, with the five utmost critical ramifications being rescheduling the project timeline, compliance with government SOP, delay in the handover project, compulsory COVID-19 test for all workers and the extra cost incurred to provide COVID-19 test for workers.

This study highlights the ramifications of COVID-19 on construction operations and deliberately informs construction organizations regarding the shortcomings of recent construction management. Besides, the insights suggested that industry practitioners devise corresponding strategies for project sustainability in future similar crises.

The findings serve as a valuable reference and are benign to industry professionals and researchers from developing nations, especially nations that share similar characteristics to Malaysia.

Several studies have shown that economic shock and crisis trigger companies to move forward innovatively. This paper aims to compliment this research topic by investigating how SMEs activate their organization resilience to adapt to changes generated by a crisis, with specific focus on how digitalization is used as an opportunity on this road. COVID-19 pandemic provided the context to investigate this situation.

The research approach combines literature review, quantitative data survey and data analysis and modeling using PLS-SEM. The quantitative data survey provided the database for building the structural equation model, exploring the structural relationships between the constructs and testing the hypotheses. Expert discussions contributed to the validation and interpretation of the results.

The model reveals that while organizational resilience has no direct effect on digitalization, combined with available resources, it realizes its indirect impact. Resilient companies require less external financial support to achieve their digitalization goals. The results also confirm that an uncertain environment encourages SMEs to go digital.

Several research studies highlighted the importance of SMEs in recovery from crises. Knowing more about how they can be supported and what capabilities they should develop is essential. This research explores the relationship between organizational resilience, resource availability and digitalization for SMEs in crises like the COVID-19 pandemic, revealing the self-reinforcing effect of organizational resilience and the level of digitalization that was not previously studied.

The aim of this study is to explore the evolution of research on entrepreneurs' well-being (EWB) over the past three decades. We examined 525 scientific articles published in academic journals.

The methodology used included bibliometric indicators of activity based on terms and relationships for conceptual evolution through scientific maps, strategic diagrams and thematic trends.

The results revealed the most frequently used terms by researchers and how they have changed over time, as well as the trending topics and the most popular keywords. Co-word analysis provided a dynamic view of research evolution in this field, allowing the identification of the most relevant thematic areas and their evolution.

Entrepreneurial well-being extends beyond economic performance, influencing individuals, organizations and society, impacting sustainability, innovation, health and economic growth. This highlights the broader implications of well-being in entrepreneurial contexts. Additionally, proposed future research directions aim to enhance the scientific discipline, advancing understanding of entrepreneurial well-being.

This paper stands out for its original approach in addressing and synthesizing existing literature on entrepreneurs' well-being. It offers practical and applicable insights, contributing concrete recommendations to enhance entrepreneurs' well-being, bridging theory and action meaningfully.

El objetivo de este estudio es explorar la evolución de la investigación sobre el bienestar emprendedor (BE) en las últimas tres décadas. Examinamos 525 artículos científicos publicados en revistas académicas.

La metodología utilizada incluyó indicadores bibliométricos de actividad basados en términos y relaciones para la evolución conceptual a través de mapas científicos, diagramas estratégicos y tendencias temáticas.

Los resultados revelaron los términos más frecuentemente utilizados por los investigadores y cómo han cambiado con el tiempo, así como los temas de tendencia y las palabras clave más populares. El análisis de co-palabras proporcionó una visión dinámica de la evolución de la investigación en este campo, permitiendo la identificación de las áreas temáticas más relevantes y su evolución.

Ofrece percepciones prácticas y aplicables, contribuyendo con recomendaciones concretas para mejorar el bienestar de los emprendedores, vinculando de manera significativa la teoría y la práctica.