The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on performance of small enterprises that are e-commerce adopters and non-adopters

Abstract

Researchers have emphasized the role of e-commerce for small enterprises in improving their performance. However, there is limited evidence on the use of e-commerce by small enterprises, and e-commerce adopters and non-adopters dealing with COVID-19. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the differences in the impact of COVID-19 on income between small enterprises that are adopters and non-adopters of e-commerce. This study also explored the impact of restrictions on community activities, the intention to adopt e-commerce, and the types of assistance required by small enterprises due to the pandemic. Data were collected through an online questionnaire survey among small enterprises that operate in the culinary field (1,024 small enterprises in Indonesia). The data were analyzed using descriptive analysis, cross-tabulation, and the Mann-Whitney test. This study finds that non-adoption of e-commerce caused small enterprises to experience a decline in income, which worsened due to restrictions of community activities, compared to adopters of e-commerce. Therefore, to overcome this negativity, small enterprises were pushed to adopt e-commerce. Finally, working capital assistance is the main assistance required due to the pandemic both by e-commerce adopters and non-adopters. This study has significant implications for how small enterprises and governments may benefit from e-commerce dealing with extreme disruptions such as the COVID-19 pandemic. AcknowledgmentWe are grateful to Mulawarman University for providing us with the funding necessary to gather the necessary data for the study and complete this empirical investigation. We also would like to thank two anonymous reviewers and seminar participants at Mulawarman University for their helpful feedback.

State support for the digitalization of SMEs in European countries

“…The previous literature noted the existing challenges of business digitalization (Lestari et al, 2021;Liu et al, 2011;Maglakelidze & Erkomaishvili, 2021), but the importance of government support for business digitalization, especially in countries with a low digital transformation rating, was not discussed in details. Scientists have identified business digitalization as a key tool for the development of SMEs in modern conditions (Cenamor et al, 2019;Guseva & Legominova, 2018;Li et al, 2018) and the importance of state support for business digitalization (Holotiuk & Beimborn, 2017;Hess et al, 2016;Lia et al, 2022).…”

“…Furthermore, IoT offers possibilities to analyze consumer attitudes, behavior, and intentions. Lestari et al (2021) highlighted the role of e-commerce for small businesses in improving their operations. The results showed that non-implementation of e-commerce resulted in lower revenues for small businesses than those that adopted e-commerce.…”

Entrepreneurial Development in the Indonesian Economy

“…This result is in line with the statements of Sardjono et al (2020) and Indarthi et al (2021) who revealed that the COVID-19 pandemic accompanied by the government's policy of restricting social activities from a socio-economic perspective had changed people's shopping behaviour from conventional (offline) to online. In the end, business actors who do not implement e-commerce will experience a setback in their business compared to business actors who implement e-commerce (Lestari et al, 2021).…”

The Impact of Board Structure on Voluntary Environmental and Energy Disclosure in an Emerging Market

“…This implies environmental and climatic challenges must be identified, assessed, and managed for firms to create long-term value (Vitolla et al, 2021;Raimo et al, 2021). The impact of the health crisis cannot be ignored because it also affects the world economy (Baldwin and Munro, 2020;Lestari et al, 2021;Riadi et al, 2022).…”