IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/zbw/glodps/1078.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Improving Entrepreneurs’ Digital Skills and Firms’ Digital Competencies through Business Apps Training: A Study of Small Firms

Author

Listed:
  • Drydakis, Nick

Abstract

The lack of awareness of digital services and outcomes is a concern in business environments since small firms need to improve their digital competencies. The present exploratory study investigated whether business apps training was associated with entrepreneurs' and firms' digital advancements. The business apps training was offered to migrant entrepreneurs running small firms in Athens (Greece) over three months, with data collected before and after the training. The analysis revealed that business apps training was positively associated with entrepreneurs' attitudes toward technology, willingness to change (relating to technology/skills/operations), and internet/digital skills, as well as increased use of business apps. Moreover, the training was positively associated with firms' digital competencies related to communication, networking, social media, customer relationship management, payments, accounting and finance, and project management operations. Furthermore, the business apps training was positively associated with migrant entrepreneurs' integration into Greek society. Given the increased number of migrants in Europe, factors that positively impact their entrepreneurship and integration merit consideration. The study provides researchers with a systematic method for evaluating the association between business app training and entrepreneurs' and firms' digital advancements.

Suggested Citation

  • Drydakis, Nick, 2022. "Improving Entrepreneurs’ Digital Skills and Firms’ Digital Competencies through Business Apps Training: A Study of Small Firms," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1078, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
  • Handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:1078
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/251757/1/GLO-DP-1078.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nick Drydakis, 2013. "The effect of ethnic identity on the employment of immigrants," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 285-308, June.
    2. Patrick Kreiser & Louis Marino & Donald Kuratko & K. Weaver, 2013. "Disaggregating entrepreneurial orientation: the non-linear impact of innovativeness, proactiveness and risk-taking on SME performance," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 273-291, February.
    3. Nick Drydakis, 2022. "Artificial Intelligence and Reduced SMEs’ Business Risks. A Dynamic Capabilities Analysis During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1223-1247, August.
    4. Andrew Bell & Malcolm Fairbrother & Kelvyn Jones, 2019. "Fixed and random effects models: making an informed choice," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 1051-1074, March.
    5. Constant, Amelie F. & Gataullina, Liliya & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2009. "Ethnosizing immigrants," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 69(3), pages 274-287, March.
    6. Magnus Lofstrom & Chunbei Wang, 2019. "Immigrants and entrepreneurship," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-85, June.
    7. Canhoto, Ana Isabel & Clear, Fintan, 2020. "Artificial intelligence and machine learning as business tools: A framework for diagnosing value destruction potential," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 63(2), pages 183-193.
    8. E. Bertini & T. Catarci & A. Dix & S. Gabrielli & S. Kimani & G. Santucci, 2009. "Appropriating Heuristic Evaluation for Mobile Computing," International Journal of Mobile Human Computer Interaction (IJMHCI), IGI Global, vol. 1(1), pages 20-41, January.
    9. McGuirk, Helen & Lenihan, Helena & Hart, Mark, 2015. "Measuring the impact of innovative human capital on small firms’ propensity to innovate," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 44(4), pages 965-976.
    10. Jeffrey M Wooldridge, 2010. "Econometric Analysis of Cross Section and Panel Data," MIT Press Books, The MIT Press, edition 2, volume 1, number 0262232588, April.
    11. Matti Sarvimäki & Kari Hämäläinen, 2016. "Integrating Immigrants: The Impact of Restructuring Active Labor Market Programs," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(2), pages 479-508.
    12. Panos Hatziprokopiou & Yannis Frangopoulos, 2016. "Migrant economies and everyday spaces in Athens in times of crisis," City, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 61-74, February.
    13. Giotopoulos, Ioannis & Kontolaimou, Alexandra & Korra, Efthymia & Tsakanikas, Aggelos, 2017. "What drives ICT adoption by SMEs? Evidence from a large-scale survey in Greece," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 81(C), pages 60-69.
    14. Alexander J.A.M. Van Deursen & Ellen J. Helsper & Rebecca Eynon, 2016. "Development and validation of the Internet Skills Scale (ISS)," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 64485, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    15. Mattia Casula & Nandhini Rangarajan & Patricia Shields, 2021. "The potential of working hypotheses for deductive exploratory research," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 55(5), pages 1703-1725, October.
    16. Thomas Davenport & Abhijit Guha & Dhruv Grewal & Timna Bressgott, 2020. "How artificial intelligence will change the future of marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 24-42, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chuangxin Zhao & Manping Tang & Houjian Li, 2022. "The Effects of Vocational-Skills Training on Migrant Workers’ Willingness to Settle in Urban Areas in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-17, September.
    2. Edīte Sarva & Gatis Lāma & Alise Oļesika & Linda Daniela & Zanda Rubene, 2023. "Development of Education Field Student Digital Competences—Student and Stakeholders’ Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(13), pages 1-16, June.
    3. Drydakis, Nick, 2024. "Reducing the Gender Digital Divide Amongst Immigrant Entrepreneurs," IZA Discussion Papers 17275, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Maurizio Dallocchio & Marcello Lambri & Emiliano Sironi & Emanuele Teti, 2024. "The Role of Digitalization in Cross-Border E-Commerce Performance of Italian SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(2), pages 1-17, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Drydakis, Nick, 2024. "Reducing the Gender Digital Divide Amongst Immigrant Entrepreneurs," IZA Discussion Papers 17275, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Nick Drydakis, 2022. "Artificial Intelligence and Reduced SMEs’ Business Risks. A Dynamic Capabilities Analysis During the COVID-19 Pandemic," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1223-1247, August.
    3. Baron, Opher & Callen, Jeffrey L. & Segal, Dan, 2023. "Does the bullwhip matter economically? A cross-sectional firm-level analysis," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 259(C).
    4. Matloob Piracha & Massimiliano Tani & Zhiming Cheng & Ben Zhe Wang, 2023. "Social assimilation and immigrants’ labour market outcomes," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 37-67, January.
    5. Chowdhury, Subhasish M. & Crede, Carsten J., 2020. "Post-cartel tacit collusion: Determinants, consequences, and prevention," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    6. Li, Chia-Ying & Zhang, Jin-Ting, 2023. "Chatbots or me? Consumers’ switching between human agents and conversational agents," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 72(C).
    7. Theodor F. Cojoianu & Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Xi Hu & Moustafa Ramadan & Paolo Veneri & Dariusz Wójcik, 2024. "Are cities venturing green? A global analysis of the impact of green entrepreneurship on city air pollution," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 62(2), pages 523-540, February.
    8. Drydakis, Nick, 2024. "Artificial Intelligence Capital and Employment Prospects," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1408, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    9. Campbell, Stuart & Nuevo-Chiquero, Ana & Popli, Gurleen & Ratcliffe, Anita, 2019. "Parental Ethnic Identity and Child Development," IZA Discussion Papers 12104, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Stuart Campbell, 2019. "National identity among economic and non-economic immigrants," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 17(2), pages 411-438, June.
    11. Maria Rosaria Carillo & Vincenzo Lombardo & Tiziana Venittelli, 2023. "Social identity and labor market outcomes of immigrants," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(1), pages 69-113, January.
    12. Makarius, Erin E. & Mukherjee, Debmalya & Fox, Joseph D. & Fox, Alexa K., 2020. "Rising with the machines: A sociotechnical framework for bringing artificial intelligence into the organization," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 120(C), pages 262-273.
    13. Joshua B. Gilbert & Zachary Himmelsbach & James Soland & Mridul Joshi & Benjamin W. Domingue, 2024. "Estimating Heterogeneous Treatment Effects with Item-Level Outcome Data: Insights from Item Response Theory," Papers 2405.00161, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2024.
    14. Beata Bal-Domańska, 2022. "The impact of macroeconomic and structural factors on the unemployment of young women and men," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(2), pages 1141-1172, May.
    15. Hausmann, Ricardo & Nedelkoska, Ljubica, 2018. "Welcome home in a crisis: Effects of return migration on the non-migrants' wages and employment," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 101-132.
    16. Maria Rosaria Carillo & Vincenzo Lombardo & Tiziana Venittelli, 2021. "Identity and Labor Market Outcomes of Immigrants," LEM Papers Series 2021/08, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    17. Aleksey Oshchepkov & Anna Shirokanova, 2020. "Multilevel Modeling For Economists: Why, When And How," HSE Working papers WP BRP 233/EC/2020, National Research University Higher School of Economics.
    18. Ayat Sami ODEIBAT, 2021. "The Effect Of Technology Evolution On The Future Of Jobs," Network Intelligence Studies, Romanian Foundation for Business Intelligence, Editorial Department, issue 17, pages 57-67, June.
    19. Welsch, Heinz, 2021. "How climate-friendly behavior relates to moral identity and identity-protective cognition: Evidence from the European social surveys," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    20. Theodor Florian Cojoianu & Gordon L. Clark & Andreas G. F. Hoepner & Vladimir Pažitka & Dariusz Wójcik, 2021. "Fin vs. tech: are trust and knowledge creation key ingredients in fintech start-up emergence and financing?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 57(4), pages 1715-1731, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Training; Entrepreneurs; Small Firms; Business Apps; Digital Skills; Digital Competencies; Artificial Intelligence; Integration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • M53 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Training
    • L26 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Entrepreneurship
    • O31 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Innovation and Invention: Processes and Incentives
    • O33 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights - - - Technological Change: Choices and Consequences; Diffusion Processes

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:zbw:glodps:1078. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/glabode.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.