Projects of Faculty of organization and informatics
Digitalization in entrepreneurship in the context of response to an exogenous shock: Drivers, barriers and impact on firm resilience
| Status | In progress |
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| Acronym | DigEntre |
| Summary | As part of the proposed research, we are looking for answers to questions about the vulnerability or resistance of Croatian micro, small and medium companies in selected industries to the COVID-19 crisis, and we want to identify the most vulnerable segments of the selected industries. All with the ultimate goal of developing a framework of conditions for strengthening crisis resilience and encouraging the digitalization of micro, small and medium-sized companies at the level of entrepreneurs, companies and ecosystems, including comprehensive guidelines for entrepreneurial practice and economic policy makers. Looking more broadly, we are interested in which factors at the level of industry, companies and entrepreneurs in the observed three Croatian sectors act as drivers of digitization (in the age of exogenous shock and independently of it), and which restrain it. We base the selection of activities for research on their significance, primarily in terms of contribution to the GDP of Croatia (DZS, 2022). Additionally, within the selected activities, we focus on micro, small and medium-sized Croatian companies as the most vulnerable parts of the economy (Guo, 2020), at the same time, compared to large systems, more intensively faced with the challenges of digital transformation (Li et al., 2017). In the international scientific community, the digital transformation of companies and digital entrepreneurship are relatively new, empirically unsaturated research areas. As with any new research domain, the existing literature is dominated by works of a conceptual nature that offer definitions, systematizations of the field and conceptual frameworks, and implications for somewhat less represented empirical studies (see for example Vial (2019), Verhoef et al. (2021), Nambisan (2017), Matt et al. (2015), Sussan & Acs, (2017), Elia et al. (2020), Kraus et al. (2018), Sahut et al. (2021), Zaheer et al. ( 2019), Reis et al. (2018), Nambisan et al. (2019), Osmundsen (2018)). In a recent, highly regarded conceptual paper, Verhoef et al. (2021) theorize about the possible drivers of digitization and strategic imperatives of digital transformation, warning of the insufficient focus on empirical studies of digital transformation as a process and identifying links between different stages of digital transformation and company performance. Nambisan et al. (2019) note the need for multiple and multilevel empirical analyzes that include examining a range of research questions and recommend the integration of ideas and concepts from multiple fields/disciplines. In a comprehensive systematization of the field, Vial (2019) identifies thirty-three empirical papers related to the impact of digital transformation on a wide range of organizational performance (such as innovation, financial performance, company growth, reputation and competitive advantage), but not those concerning the context of company resilience to an exogenous crisis. Parviainen et al. (2017) identify a research gap in the body of knowledge about the characteristics of an effective digital company. From the perspective of methodology, previous empirical research in the field largely relies on a qualitative framework based on case studies in which digital transformation and/or digital entrepreneurship are addressed contextually, from the perspective of implemented strategies and organizational changes, with an in-depth examination of obstacles and drivers of digital transformation ( for example Hess et al. (2016), Parviainen et al. (2017), Richter et al. (2017), Li et al. (2018), Ferrari et al. (2022)). At the same time, there is a lack of more comprehensive approaches based on the integration of qualitative findings with hypothetical-deductive analyzes of the impact of digitization on performance. The latter are carried out mainly on the basis of surveys, and as pointed out, they are still few (for example, Nwankpa & Roumani (2016), Chauhan et al. (2021), Truant et al. (2021), Fernández-Portillo et al. (2022)), and do not provide a complete insight into the effects of digitization (Truant et al., 2021). Considering more significant publications, the digitalization of companies in the context of crisis response was dealt with by a smaller set of authors, mostly at the theoretical level (for example, Apkan et al. (2021), Apkan et al. (2022), Kamel et al. (2020), Almeida et al. (2020), Soto-Acosta (2020)). Empirical studies are so far rare and limited in scope in terms of coverage of research questions, method, sample, selected industry and other aspects of research (for example, Lau et al. (2020), Liu et al. (2021), Penco et al. ( 2022)). According to the knowledge of the proponent, comprehensive research based on a combination of several different methodological approaches in the thematic area has not been conducted so far. The proposed research project unites the goals that are achieved through: 1. longitudinal examination of the resilience/vulnerability of companies to the crisis based on quantitative secondary data,; 2. qualitative examination of drivers and obstacles to digitization, and 3. identifying cause and-effect relationships in relation of obstacles and drivers - digitization - resilience in the three industries that form the backbone of the Croatian economy. In this context, it is a relevant and original research project of an innovative character within a newer research domain that will result in a significant contribution at the level of the international scientific community. Project proposal was prepared with the close cooperation of researchers - members of the Laboratory for Entrepreneurship of the Faculty of Organization and Informatics (hereinafter referred to as FOI) and external collaborators, experts from various leading institutions from Croatia (Split, Rijeka, Zagreb). Research group includes experienced and young researchers who will work closely together to achieve the objectives of the project proposal. Opus of published scientific works of group members indexed in the WoSCC and Scopus databases indicates competence in the scientific branches covered by the topic (economics of entrepreneurship, finance, organization and management), and knowledge of proposed research methods. Part of the studies carried out so far and published review papers are directly or indirectly related to the project proposal (Unit C). |
| Line of financing |
Croatian Science Foundation |
| Duration | 18.12.2023. - 17.12.2027. |
| Budget amount | 119.449,82 EUR |
| Lead | Fakultet organizacije i informatike, Sveučilište u Zagrebu |
| Partners |
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| Web page | https://lab-poduzetnistvo.foi.hr/digentre |