The effect of digital transformation on family SME performance: The moderating role of family involvement

Academic resilience and emotional intelligence are considered important personal resources for furthering students’ academic performance. However, many educational organizations seem to trivialize the performance implications of these constructs in teachings and curriculum. Consequently, it can decrease not just their academic performance but also their employability, as they lack the generic competencies to adapt and survive in a stressful context. Even so, empirical evidence on integrating academic resilience, emotional intelligence, and academic performance remains unexplored in the Nigerian university context. Therefore, the study aimed to investigate the linkages between academic resilience, emotional intelligence, and academic performance in Nigeria. The partial least square (PLS) modeling method was utilized for testing the stated hypotheses with data collected from 179 final year undergraduate students in the regular B.Sc. Business Administration and B.Sc. Marketing program at Delta State University, Nigeria. From the PLS results, the study reported that academic resilience was positively related to emotional intelligence (β = 0.125, p = 0.007), academic resilience (β = 0.231, p = 0.000) and emotional intelligence (β = 0.260, p = 0.000) were positively related to academic performance, and emotional resilience mediated the positive relationship between academic resilience and academic performance (β = 0.057, p = 0.005). While academic resilience predicted academic performance, it also predicted emotional intelligence, which affected academic performance significantly and positively.

In the current era, the challenges faced by SMEs in Indonesia are becoming increasingly complex. Previously, the primary challenge for SMEs has been to enhance performance. However, with the emergence of information technology, SMEs are now required to compete fiercely. SMEs in Indonesia are still in the process of digital transformation to improve their business strategies, thus limiting research focused on digital transformation in SMEs. Research also considers market complexity and digital strategy as crucial factors for SMEs. The aim of this study is to analyze the role of digital transformation in influencing SME performance. The research approach is quantitative, involving 171 SMEs owners as respondents. The instrument utilized is a Likert scale questionnaire, focusing on the majority of SMEs in Indonesia, particularly those in Java, the most populous island and business center of the country. This includes SMEs operating within various sectors, such as culinary, fashion, retail, and creative industries. The results indicate that digital strategy and market complexity influence digital transformation and SMEs performance. The research findings suggest that digital transformation mediates the influence of digital strategy and market complexity on SME performance. The novelty of this study lies in its focus on the current SMEs digitalization strategy area. This study indicates that digital transformation is an essential aspect affecting current SME performance. The results suggest that SMEs require focused strategies to strengthen resources and gain competitive advantage in complex markets.

Informal Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in their respective economies over the world particularly in the African continent. This paper reviews various theories on SMEs towards understanding the potential of the informal sector in the context of African countries. The paper uses a theoretical approach for the purpose of assessing the challenges that have affected the development of the informal SMEs sector over the years in both the developing and developed world. Economically developing countries in Africa pose unique challenges to informal SMEs development compared to the developed countries. The paper reviews the theories that define the rise to informality in Africa by identifying the key determinants for the emergence of informal SMEs. A conceptual framework for assessing informal SME’s potential for Africa is developed. The conceptual framework is based on the Fishbone diagram developed by Kaoru Ishikawa (1986). This paper discusses the intricacies of the applicability of the proposed conceptual framework to assess the potential of the informal SMEs in Africa and the way forward for the formalization debate.