https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8199-2889
![Sample our Economics, Finance,Business & Industry journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5931/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Economics-Finance-Business-Industry.jpg"})
ABSTRACT
Despite the economic and societal significance of microbusinesses (MBs), digital transformation (DT) efforts in the MB sector have been rather sporadic. Further, prior DT studies have primarily examined large- and mid-sized organisations, leaving a perceptible void in the literature. In this paper, we leverage the unique context of MBs and recognise the key role of microbusiness owner-managers (MBOMs) for the management and sustenance of DT initiatives. Specifically, we theorise the influence of MBOMs’ DT readiness in terms of their growth and technology mindsets contributing to their DT learning resources and processes. Drawing on qualitative data from a series of structured interviews and focus groups with MBOMs and other key stakeholders in the Irish MB digital ecosystem, we identity three MBOM digital transformer archetypes comprising unique configurations of MBOMs’ growth and technology mindsets, namely: champion digital transformers, emerging digital transformers, and aspiring digital transformers. For each of these archetypes, we explore the different learning capabilities and mechanisms through which MBOMs manage and sustain their digital transformation efforts. Our findings offer theoretical contributions to the fields of digital transformation in microbusinesses, digital leadership, and digital capabilities. Our study also has significant implications for policy and practice.
Acknowledgement
All the authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by John O' Shanahan of Lean BPI in the data collection efforts and for sharing contextual information on the microbusiness sector in Ireland. We also thank all the microbusiness owners who shared their experiences despite their busy schedules. We thank the mentors and facilitators from various Local Enterprise Offices (LEOs) and Enterprise Ireland who took part in this study and generously shared their time and insights. We also gratefully acknowledge the constructive feedback and support received from the senior editors, associate editor, and the reviewers, which significantly improved the paper.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1. Extract of a speech made by the EU Commissioner, “EU SME Strategy as a driver of Europe’s Recovery”, an event organised by Eurochambres, Business Europe, and SMEunited, September 23, 2020.
2. Digital transformation is defined as “a process that aims to improve an entity by triggering significant changes to its properties through combinations of information, computing, communication, and connectivity technologies” (see Vial, Citation2019, p. 118).
3. The learning culture in Irish business ecosystem partners is driven by generosity of spirit and communitarian approach, often referred to as Meitheal.
4. We thank one of the anonymous reviewers for highlighting this aspect.
5. Although there is only one female represented in the mentor/facilitator panel the possibility of any gender bias is limited due to the elevated professional experience of the female respondent. Moreover, the focus groups were led by female researchers, which should neutralise any hesitancy or alienation that may be perceived in such situations. Further, the opinions of both the female and several male respondents were not significantly different from each other in our data set.
6. We would like to thank one of the anonymous reviewers for making this suggestion as our analysis helped us in reinforcing the influence of MBOMs in MB DT initiatives and helped us further contextualise our findings.
7. Non-italicised portions in the quote within brackets here and elsewhere have been added by the authors to contextualise and clarify relevant portions of the interview quotes.
Additional information
Funding
Notes on contributors
Anuragini Shirish
Anuragini Shirish is an Associate Professor at Institute Mines-Télécom Business Ecole, France. She is an elected member from her institution for the governance of the LITEM (Laboratoire Innovation Technologies Economie et Management) (EA 7363), a joint research laboratory under University of Paris-Saclay, France. Her research interests include social, behavioral, cultural, and legal aspects related to information systems —specifically in the context of emerging and collaborative technologies. Her research has been published or accepted for publication in top IS journals including European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS), Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS), Information Systems Journal (ISJ), Communications of the Association of the Information Systems (CAIS) and International Journal of Information and Management (IJIM). She has also presented her work in several premier IS and management conferences including International Conference on Information Systems (ICIS), Academy of Management (AOM), Pacific Asia Conference on Information Systems (PACIS), and Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), among others. She also serves as an associate editor at EJIS from January 2023. She has also been honoured with several awards including the Association for Information Systems (AIS) women’s network “Outstanding Educator Award” and second prize at the Sphinx best thesis award
Shirish C. Srivastava
Shirish C. Srivastava is Professor and GS1 France Chair in “Digital Content for Omni Channel” at HEC Paris. Prior to joining HEC, he has lectured at the School of Business, National University of Singapore and holds a Ph.D. from the same university. He has also completed his habilitation à diriger des recherches (HDR) from Université de Lorraine, France. His research interests include: technology enabled innovation, artificial intelligence, opensource, social media strategy, e-government and services sourcing. His research has been published in several top-tier journals such as MIS Quarterly (MISQ), Information Systems Research (ISR), Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS), Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS), European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS), Information Systems Journal (ISJ), Journal of Information Technology (JIT), and MIS Quarterly Executive (MISQE), among others. He has also won multiple awards, including awards for best papers at different forums such as Academy of Management, International Conference on Information Systems, Association for Computing Machinery, and Society for Information Management. He is a four-time winner of the Prix Académique de la Recherche en Management, 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2022 at Paris, France. He currently serves as the senior editor at the Journal of the Association for Information Systems (JAIS) and European Journal of Information Systems (EJIS). He is also on the editorial board of Journal of Management Information Systems (JMIS) and an associate editor at the Information Systems Research (ISR). In addition to research, his rich experience includes coaching senior executives on issues related to managing technology, innovation, entrepreneurship and cross-border business relationships.
Niki Panteli
Niki Panteli is a Professor of Digital Business at Royal Holloway University of London and an Adjunct Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology. Her main research interests lie in the area of digital transformation, virtual collaborations and online groups and communities. Within this field, she has studied issues of trust, conflict, identification and collaborations in the online environment. She led and participated in several research projects and her work appeared in numerous top-ranked academic journals. She is currently the co-director for the Digital Organisation and Society (DOS) Research centre at Royal Holloway University of London.