The unprecedented COVID-19 crisis has adversely affected enterprise performance, which has led to inequalities, particularly for rural micro-entrepreneurs. Therefore, ensuring business survival through social capital and entrepreneurial skills as coping strategies for the rural micro-entrepreneurs is important to sustain their livelihoods. Both coping strategies can enhance the survival rate during a crisis, but there is limited knowledge on how enterprise performance of rural micro, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) can be improved. This study examined the linkages between social skills, entrepreneurial skills (knowledge, experience), and enterprise performance during a crisis. The Federal Land Development Authority (FELDA) Triangle Village was selected as a proxy for the rural population, and sampling frame of 543 micro-entrepreneurs was obtained from the Local District Office. A total of 150 questionnaires were distributed in a systematic random order based on a minimum sample size of 85 calculated using the G*Power statistical tool. The final 134 usable samples were analyzed using Structural Equation Modelling (SEM). The results ascertained that the direct positive effect of social capital on enterprise performance was significant (β = 0.521, t = 8.060, p < 0.001) and that social capital had a specific and indirect effect on enterprise performance through entrepreneurial skills (β = 0.520, LCL = 0.378, UCL = 0.651, p < 0.001). The study also reported the full mediating effect of entrepreneurial skills on the social capital-enterprise performance relationship. This study proposes practices to develop adaptive entrepreneurs that can adapt to crisis challenges.
Purpose – Students’ incompetence to deal with the intricacies of technology during the teaching and learning process may have negatively affected their online learning process particularly throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. It is critical to research technostress influence on online learning behaviours among undergraduates. Thus, this research intends to examine the predicting factors that contribute to technostress and the correlation between undergraduates’ technostress and the behavioural intention to use online learning.
Methodology – This study employed an online survey and cross-sectional data towards 212 respondents, all of whom were Diploma students from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) Pahang. This study added three new variables to the existing Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) namely teaching-related aspects, price value, and technostress. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was performed to analyse the measurement model and evaluate the developed hypotheses.
Findings – The findings established a significant correlation between technostress and behavioural intention to use online learning. Facilitating conditions also demonstrate a significant relationship to technostress.
Significance - The study’s findings are likely to increase researchers’ understanding of the present condition of technostress in higher education as a consequence of the implementation of online learning regulations, as well as the scale of the impacts on higher education.
This paper aimed to discuss the opportunity and challenges that are faced by women entrepreneurs in the current digital transformation development. A summary of scholarly works alongside the discussion of some important findings based on the centred issue was presented in the current paper. The analysis was focused on explaining the role of the most important digital business solution, namely social media. The major challenges of pursuing digital alternative were also discussed, varying from a traditional gender issue to emerging digital pressures. This paper provides the relevant academic explanation of the underlying requirements for creating successful women entrepreneurs in digital business, while the highlighted pitfalls can help them avoid incidentally occurrence of business failures.
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