Digital innovation and performance of student startups in Peru: A PLS-SEM evaluation

From a global perspective, the business environment has become highly dynamic, unpredictable, and competitive due to external forces – mostly technology – that generate change. The aim of this study is to investigate the influence of digital technologies on South African business sectors. The sample includes small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the KwaZulu-Natal province. Being qualitative by design, the study used semi-structured interviews for data collection, with eight interviews in the Durban area. SME managers were purposefully selected as participants based on their management positions in the business/company and that they oversee the business operation and understand the influence of digital transformation in the business. The interviews were then transcribed after data collection to determine any recurring themes. In the effectiveness of digital transformation, the study identified themes such as “gaining exposure” and “gaining effective sales figures” as a result of implementing digital transformation, which was indicated by six of eight participants. The findings showed that digital transformation significantly affects building customer relationships and ensuring easy accessibility of the business. The results further indicate online selling and digital marketing as the leading digital platforms successfully implemented by most South African SMEs. Lastly, the study revealed digital maintenance and rapid changes in technology as challenging factors. Moreover, the study recommends that South African SMEs implement more available digital technologies to gain additional exposure.

Push notifications are a core functionality of mobile apps and allow app publishers to interact with existing app users and send promotional content. Since every push notification can also interrupt or annoy app users, the frequency of push notifications is a critical success factor. This study investigates how different frequencies of push notifications affect the behavior of app users of mobile apps in retail. In an experiment with 17,500 app users, five different frequencies are tested over seven weeks, and the effects on real observed app user behavior are analyzed. The results show that as the frequency of the non-personalized push notifications increases, uninstalls increase, and the direct open rate of push notifications decreases. A significant influence on indirect opens cannot be proven. The results provide practitioners with important insights into the potential harm that a too high frequency of push notifications can cause. Furthermore, the results support the importance of relevant content tailored to the respective user.

Nowadays, social media influencers are one of the most important assets of many businesses that originate purchase decisions. The relevance of this paper is determined by the fact that it tries to fill in the research gap of literature determining the factors that might influence the purchase decisions of millennial consumers based on the theories of the constructs. The purpose is to determine the impact of brand value on the credibility of influencers over the purchase decision. Therefore, 412 millennial consumers from the city of Arequipa, Peru, were surveyed through an online form provided by Google. Then, the validation and descriptive statistics were made on the program SPSS. Additionally, the inferential statistics using the software Smart PLS. The results show a positive, significant, and direct relationship between the credibility of influencers and customers’ purchase decisions. Moreover, this relationship increases through the brand value when incorporated into the model as a mediator variable, facilitating the decision of consumers. In conclusion, it was estimated that consumers feel even more confident when social media influencers transmit the message showing specific brand attributes.

Acknowledgments
The authors thank the Universidad Nacional de San Agustin de Arequipa for its support in developing this project.
The present study has been self-financed by the authors.