IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i17p7351-d1464585.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Adoption of Digital Technologies by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises for Sustainability and Value Creation in Pakistan: The Application of a Two-Staged Hybrid SEM-ANN Approach

Author

Listed:
  • Raheem Bux Soomro

    (Institute of Business Administration, Shah Abdul Latif University, Khairpur 66020, Pakistan)

  • Sanam Gul Memon

    (Government College for Women, Khairpur 66020, Pakistan)

  • Nisar Ahmed Dahri

    (Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, School of Education, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Skudai 81310, Johor, Malaysia)

  • Waleed Mugahed Al-Rahmi

    (Department of Management Information System, College of Business Administration, Dar Al Uloom University, Al Falah, Riyadh 13314, Saudi Arabia)

  • Khalid Aldriwish

    (Computer Science Department, College of Computer Sciences and Information Technology, Majmaah University, Al Majmaah 11952, Saudi Arabia)

  • Anas A. Salameh

    (Department of Management Information Systems, College of Business Administration, Prince Sattam Bin Abdulaziz University, 165, Al-Kharj 11942, Saudi Arabia)

  • Ahmad Samed Al-Adwan

    (Department of Business Technology, Hourani Center for Applied Scientific Research, Business School, Al-Ahliyya Amman University, Amman 19111, Jordan)

  • Atif Saleem

    (School of Education, University of Limerick, V94 T9PX Limerick, Ireland)

Abstract

Digital technologies have revolutionized the business field, offering significant opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to enhance sustainability and value creation. This study investigates the impact of digital technology adoption on economic and social value creation, as well as SME performance. Specifically, it examines how social media applications, big data analytics, IoT applications, blockchain applications, and AI-enabled applications influence economic and social value within SMEs. We employed a hybrid approach integrating Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and Artificial Neural Network (ANN) techniques using SmartPLs 4.0 Application; this research analyzes these relationships. For our analysis, data were collected from 305 SME managers operating in Upper Sindh, Pakistan, specifically from major cities like Sukkur, Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad, and Khairpur. The findings reveal that social media applications, big data analytics, IoT applications, and blockchain applications significantly contribute to both economic and social value creation for SMEs. Conversely, AI-enabled applications show no significant impact on value creation. Importantly, economic and social value creation positively correlates with enhanced SME performance. This study enriches our understanding of how digital technologies influence SMEs in Pakistan, particularly in enhancing economic and social value creation. Through advanced methodologies and rigorous analysis, it bridges theory with practical applications in SMEs’ digital transformation.

Suggested Citation

  • Raheem Bux Soomro & Sanam Gul Memon & Nisar Ahmed Dahri & Waleed Mugahed Al-Rahmi & Khalid Aldriwish & Anas A. Salameh & Ahmad Samed Al-Adwan & Atif Saleem, 2024. "The Adoption of Digital Technologies by Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises for Sustainability and Value Creation in Pakistan: The Application of a Two-Staged Hybrid SEM-ANN Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-29, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:17:p:7351-:d:1464585
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7351/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/17/7351/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Selamat, Moch Akbar & Windasari, Nila Armelia, 2021. "Chatbot for SMEs: Integrating customer and business owner perspectives," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 66(C).
    2. Nisar Ahmed Dahri & Waleed Mugahed Al-Rahmi & Abeer S. Almogren & Noraffandy Yahaya & Muhammad Saleem Vighio & Qusay Al-Maatuok, 2023. "Mobile-Based Training and Certification Framework for Teachers’ Professional Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(7), pages 1-22, March.
    3. Marjeta Marolt & Hans-Dieter Zimmermann & Andreja Pucihar, 2022. "Social Media Use and Business Performance in SMEs: The Mediating Roles of Relational Social Commerce Capability and Competitive Advantage," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-14, November.
    4. Seung Ho Park & Maria Alejandra Gonzalez-Perez & Dinorá Eliete Floriani (ed.), 2021. "The Palgrave Handbook of Corporate Sustainability in the Digital Era," Springer Books, Springer, edition 1, number 978-3-030-42412-1, December.
    5. Salma S. Abed & Yogesh K. Dwivedi & Michael D. Williams, 2016. "Social commerce as a business tool in Saudi Arabia's SMEs," International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, Inderscience Enterprises Ltd, vol. 13(1), pages 1-19.
    6. Keith D. Brouthers & George Nakos & Pavlos Dimitratos, 2015. "SME Entrepreneurial Orientation, International Performance, and the Moderating Role of Strategic Alliances," Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, , vol. 39(5), pages 1161-1187, September.
    7. Sestino, Andrea & Prete, Maria Irene & Piper, Luigi & Guido, Gianluigi, 2020. "Internet of Things and Big Data as enablers for business digitalization strategies," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 98(C).
    8. Oliver Falck & Stephan Heblich & Elke Luedemann, 2012. "Identity and entrepreneurship: do school peers shape entrepreneurial intentions?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 39(1), pages 39-59, July.
    9. Mohammad Falahat & Phaik Kin Cheah & Jayamalathi Jayabalan & Corrinne Mei Jyin Lee & Sia Bik Kai, 2022. "Big Data Analytics Capability Ecosystem Model for SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-23, December.
    10. Gerda Žigienė & Egidijus Rybakovas & Robertas Alzbutas, 2019. "Artificial Intelligence Based Commercial Risk Management Framework for SMEs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-23, August.
    11. Hyndman, Rob J. & Koehler, Anne B., 2006. "Another look at measures of forecast accuracy," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 679-688.
    12. Mohammad Hossein Ronaghi & Mohammad Mosakhani, 2022. "The effects of blockchain technology adoption on business ethics and social sustainability: evidence from the Middle East," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 24(5), pages 6834-6859, May.
    13. Demetris Vrontis & Ranjan Chaudhuri & Sheshadri Chatterjee, 2022. "Adoption of Digital Technologies by SMEs for Sustainability and Value Creation: Moderating Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-19, June.
    14. Emmanuel Bruce & Solomon Keelson & John Amoah & Sulemana Bankuoru Egala, 2023. "Social media integration: An opportunity for SMEs sustainability," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 10(1), pages 2173859-217, December.
    15. Mingyue Fan & Sikandar Ali Qalati & Muhammad Aamir Shafique Khan & Syed Mir Muhammad Shah & Muhammad Ramzan & Raza Saleem Khan, 2021. "Effects of entrepreneurial orientation on social media adoption and SME performance: The moderating role of innovation capabilities," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 16(4), pages 1-24, April.
    16. Christine Legner & Torsten Eymann & Thomas Hess & Christian Matt & Tilo Böhmann & Paul Drews & Alexander Mädche & Nils Urbach & Frederik Ahlemann, 2017. "Digitalization: Opportunity and Challenge for the Business and Information Systems Engineering Community," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 59(4), pages 301-308, August.
    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. Xiyu Wang & Ying Yan, 2024. "A Study on the Impact of Digital Transformation on Enterprise Performance: The Mediating Role of Dual Innovation and the Moderating Role of Management Power," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-20, October.

    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. Maha Shehadeh & Ahmad Almohtaseb & Jehad Aldehayyat & Ibrahim A. Abu-AlSondos, 2023. "Digital Transformation and Competitive Advantage in the Service Sector: A Moderated-Mediation Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, January.
    2. Ciampi, Francesco & Faraoni, Monica & Ballerini, Jacopo & Meli, Francesco, 2022. "The co-evolutionary relationship between digitalization and organizational agility: Ongoing debates, theoretical developments and future research perspectives," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    3. repec:prg:jnlcfu:v:2022:y:2022:i:1:id:572 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Chang, Andrew C. & Hanson, Tyler J., 2016. "The accuracy of forecasts prepared for the Federal Open Market Committee," Journal of Economics and Business, Elsevier, vol. 83(C), pages 23-43.
    5. Sikandar Ali Qalati & Dragana Ostic & Gu Shuibin & Fan Mingyue, 2022. "A mediated–moderated model for social media adoption and small and medium‐sized enterprise performance in emerging countries," Managerial and Decision Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 43(3), pages 846-861, April.
    6. Ling Tang & Chengyuan Zhang & Tingfei Li & Ling Li, 2021. "A novel BEMD-based method for forecasting tourist volume with search engine data," Tourism Economics, , vol. 27(5), pages 1015-1038, August.
    7. Hewamalage, Hansika & Bergmeir, Christoph & Bandara, Kasun, 2021. "Recurrent Neural Networks for Time Series Forecasting: Current status and future directions," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 388-427.
    8. António Porfírio, José & Augusto Felício, José & Carrilho, Tiago & Jardim, Jacinto, 2023. "Promoting entrepreneurial intentions from adolescence: The influence of entrepreneurial culture and education," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    9. Severin Oesterle & Arne Buchwald & Nils Urbach, 2022. "Investigating the co-creation of IT consulting service value: empirical findings of a matched pair analysis," Electronic Markets, Springer;IIM University of St. Gallen, vol. 32(2), pages 571-597, June.
    10. Michael Vössing & Niklas Kühl & Matteo Lind & Gerhard Satzger, 2022. "Designing Transparency for Effective Human-AI Collaboration," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 877-895, June.
    11. Hui Fang & Chunyu Jiang & Tufail Hussain & Xiaoye Zhang & Qixin Huo, 2022. "Input Digitization of the Manufacturing Industry and Carbon Emission Intensity Based on Testing the World and Developing Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-28, October.
    12. Frank, Johannes, 2023. "Forecasting realized volatility in turbulent times using temporal fusion transformers," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 03/2023, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    13. Kourentzes, Nikolaos & Petropoulos, Fotios & Trapero, Juan R., 2014. "Improving forecasting by estimating time series structural components across multiple frequencies," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 291-302.
    14. Jeon, Yunho & Seong, Sihyeon, 2022. "Robust recurrent network model for intermittent time-series forecasting," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 1415-1425.
    15. Dina Naser Tahat & Mohammed Habes & Khalaf Tahat & Saadia Anwar Pasha & Razaz Waheeb Attar & Waleed Mugahed Al-Rahmi & Fahad Alblehai, 2023. "Technology Enhanced Learning in Undergraduate Level Education: A Case Study of Students of Mass Communication," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-17, October.
    16. Snyder, Ralph D. & Ord, J. Keith & Koehler, Anne B. & McLaren, Keith R. & Beaumont, Adrian N., 2017. "Forecasting compositional time series: A state space approach," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 33(2), pages 502-512.
    17. Paulo Júlio & Pedro M. Esperança, 2012. "Evaluating the forecast quality of GDP components: An application to G7," GEE Papers 0047, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Apr 2012.
    18. De Cicco, Roberta & Iacobucci, Serena & Cannito, Loreta & Onesti, Gianni & Ceccato, Irene & Palumbo, Riccardo, 2024. "Virtual vs. human influencer: Effects on users’ perceptions and brand outcomes," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    19. Entrialgo M. & Iglesias V., 2018. "Are the Intentions to Entrepreneurship of Men and Women Shaped Differently? The Impact of Entrepreneurial Role-Model Exposure and Entrepreneurship Education," Entrepreneurship Research Journal, De Gruyter, vol. 8(1), pages 1-14, January.
    20. Fischer, Denise & Greven, Andrea & Tornow, Mark & Brettel, Malte, 2021. "On the value of effectuation processes for R&D alliances and the moderating role of R&D alliance experience," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 606-619.
    21. Rivera, Nilza & Guzmán, Juan Ignacio & Jara, José Joaquín & Lagos, Gustavo, 2021. "Evaluation of econometric models of secondary refined copper supply," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).

    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:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:17:p:7351-:d:1464585. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.