IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/infosf/v24y2022i4d10.1007_s10796-022-10342-w.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Interplay of E-commerce, Resilience and Exports in the Context of COVID-19

Author

Listed:
  • Adah-Kole Emmanuel Onjewu

    (Northumbria University)

  • Sundas Hussain

    (Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University)

  • Mohamed Yacine Haddoud

    (The British University in Dubai)

Abstract

Scholars have extolled e-commerce as a pathway for sustaining firm operations in the unique circumstances of COVID-19. To add crisis time evidence to the body of work, and based on World Bank Enterprise Survey data, this inquiry interrogates 249 small manufacturing firms in Italy by examining the effect of e-commerce on (1) resilience, (2) direct exports and (3) indirect exports. The results show that while e-commerce has a positive impact on direct exports, a negative influence is recorded on indirect exports. Besides, e-commerce significantly increases resilience which, in turn, accelerates direct exports. However, resilience is found to have a trivial influence on indirect exporting. Furthermore, held as a constant, firm size demonstrates a significant and positive effect on direct and indirect exports. These fresh findings prompt implications for understanding the correlates of e-commerce, resilience and export behaviour. Practically, there are salient insights for stakeholders engaged in reviving small manufacturers’ exports for a speedy post COVID-19 recovery in Italy.

Suggested Citation

  • Adah-Kole Emmanuel Onjewu & Sundas Hussain & Mohamed Yacine Haddoud, 2022. "The Interplay of E-commerce, Resilience and Exports in the Context of COVID-19," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1209-1221, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:infosf:v:24:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10796-022-10342-w
    DOI: 10.1007/s10796-022-10342-w
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10796-022-10342-w
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10796-022-10342-w?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Jiangyong Lu & Yi Lu & Yi Sun & Zhigang Tao, 2017. "Intermediaries, Firm Heterogeneity and Exporting Behaviour," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 40(7), pages 1381-1404, July.
    2. Nakatani, Ryota, 2017. "Structural vulnerability and resilience to currency crisis: Foreign currency debt versus export," The North American Journal of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 132-143.
    3. Nicolas Poggi & David Carrera & Ricard Gavaldà & Eduard Ayguadé & Jordi Torres, 2014. "A methodology for the evaluation of high response time on E-commerce users and sales," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 16(5), pages 867-885, November.
    4. Garmestani, Ahjond S. & Allen, Craig R. & Mittelstaedt, John D. & Stow, Craig A. & Ward, William A., 2006. "Firm size diversity, functional richness, and resilience," Environment and Development Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(4), pages 533-551, August.
    5. Abubakar, Yazid Abdullahi & Hand, Chris & Smallbone, David & Saridakis, George, 2019. "What specific modes of internationalization influence SME innovation in Sub-Saharan least developed countries (LDCs)?," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 56-70.
    6. Braese,Johannes Michael & Maruyama Rentschler,Jun Erik & Hallegatte,Stephane, 2019. "Resilient Infrastructure for Thriving Firms : A Review of The Evidence," Policy Research Working Paper Series 8895, The World Bank.
    7. Joseph Vithayathil & Vidyanand Choudhary, 2022. "Organizational Structure for the IT Department: Profit Center or Cost Center?," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 2053-2076, December.
    8. Miguel Manjón & Juan Máñez & María Rochina-Barrachina & Juan Sanchis-Llopis, 2013. "Reconsidering learning by exporting," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 149(1), pages 5-22, March.
    9. Peter S. Eppinger & Nicole Meythaler & Marc-Manuel Sindlinger & Marcel Smolka, 2018. "The great trade collapse and the Spanish export miracle: Firm-level evidence from the crisis," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 41(2), pages 457-493, February.
    10. Claudio Cozza & Franco Malerba & Maria Luisa Mancusi & Giulio Perani & Andrea Vezzulli, 2012. "Innovation, profitability and growth in medium and high-tech manufacturing industries: evidence from Italy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(15), pages 1963-1976, May.
    11. Ahn, JaeBin & Khandelwal, Amit K. & Wei, Shang-Jin, 2011. "The role of intermediaries in facilitating trade," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(1), pages 73-85, May.
    12. Ned Kock & Lebrian Gaskins, 2014. "The Mediating Role of Voice and Accountability in the Relationship Between Internet Diffusion and Government Corruption in Latin America and Sub-Saharan Africa," Information Technology for Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(1), pages 23-43, January.
    13. Verhoef, Peter C. & Broekhuizen, Thijs & Bart, Yakov & Bhattacharya, Abhi & Qi Dong, John & Fabian, Nicolai & Haenlein, Michael, 2021. "Digital transformation: A multidisciplinary reflection and research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 889-901.
    14. Lin Xiao & Chuanmin Mi & Yucheng Zhang & Jing Ma, 2019. "Examining Consumers’ Behavioral Intention in O2O Commerce from a Relational Perspective: an Exploratory Study," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 21(5), pages 1045-1068, October.
    15. Barbara Gaudenzi & Lapo Mola & Cecilia Rossignoli, 2021. "Hitting or missing the target: Resources and capabilities for alternative e-commerce pathways in the fashion industry," Post-Print halshs-03187033, HAL.
    16. Youngseok Choi & Habin Lee, 2017. "Data properties and the performance of sentiment classification for electronic commerce applications," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 19(5), pages 993-1012, October.
    17. Shikha Sharma & Sanjeev K. Sharma, 2020. "Probing the Links Between Team Resilience, Competitive Advantage, and Organizational Effectiveness: Evidence from Information Technology Industry," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 8(2), pages 289-307, July.
    18. Mira Kartiwi & Husnayati Hussin & Mohd Adam Suhaimi & Mohamed Razi Mohamed Jalaldeen & Mohammad Ruhul Amin, 2018. "Impact of external factors on determining E-commerce benefits among SMEs in Malaysia," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, December.
    19. Hall, Bronwyn H. & Oriani, Raffaele, 2006. "Does the market value R&D investment by European firms? Evidence from a panel of manufacturing firms in France, Germany, and Italy," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 24(5), pages 971-993, September.
    20. Majocchi, Antonio & Bacchiocchi, Emanuele & Mayrhofer, Ulrike, 2005. "Firm size, business experience and export intensity in SMEs: A longitudinal approach to complex relationships," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 14(6), pages 719-738, December.
    21. Colin C. Williams & Abbi M. Kedir, 2019. "Explaining cross-country variations in the prevalence of informal sector competitors: lessons from the World Bank Enterprise Survey," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 677-696, September.
    22. Jolanda Hessels & Siri Terjesen, 2010. "Resource dependency and institutional theory perspectives on direct and indirect export choices," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 34(2), pages 203-220, February.
    23. Chosniel Elikem Ocloo & Hu Xuhua & Selorm Akaba & Junguo Shi & David Kwaku Worwui-Brown, 2020. "The Determinant Factors of Business to Business (B2B) E-Commerce Adoption in Small- and Medium-Sized Manufacturing Enterprises," Journal of Global Information Technology Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(3), pages 191-216, July.
    24. Burger, Anže & Damijan, Jože P. & Kostevc, Črt & Rojec, Matija, 2017. "Determinants of firm performance and growth during economic recession: The case of Central and Eastern European countries," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 41(4), pages 569-590.
    25. Sebastien Bourdin & Ludovic Jeanne & Fabien Nadou & Gabriel Noiret, 2021. "Does lockdown work? A spatial analysis of the spread and concentration of Covid-19 in Italy," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 55(7), pages 1182-1193, July.
    26. Haddoud, Mohamed Yacine & Onjewu, Adah-Kole Emmanuel & Al-Azab, Mahmoud Ramadan & Elbaz, Ahmed Mohamed, 2022. "The psychological drivers of entrepreneurial resilience in the tourism sector," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 702-712.
    27. Pal, Rudrajeet & Torstensson, Håkan & Mattila, Heikki, 2014. "Antecedents of organizational resilience in economic crises—an empirical study of Swedish textile and clothing SMEs," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 147(PB), pages 410-428.
    28. Matarazzo, Michela & Penco, Lara & Profumo, Giorgia & Quaglia, Roberto, 2021. "Digital transformation and customer value creation in Made in Italy SMEs: A dynamic capabilities perspective," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 123(C), pages 642-656.
    29. John D. Mittelstaedt & George N. Harben & William A. Ward, 2003. "How Small Is Too Small? Firm Size as a Barrier to Exporting from the United States," Journal of Small Business Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(1), pages 68-84, January.
    30. Haddoud, Mohamed Yacine & Onjewu, Adah-Kole Emmanuel & Nowiński, Witold, 2021. "Environmental commitment and innovation as catalysts for export performance in family firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 173(C).
    31. Ramanathan, Ramakrishnan & Ramanathan, Usha & Hsiao, Hsieh-Ling, 2012. "The impact of e-commerce on Taiwanese SMEs: Marketing and operations effects," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 140(2), pages 934-943.
    32. Victor Motta, 2020. "Lack of access to external finance and SME labor productivity: does project quality matter?," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 119-134, January.
    33. Thomas Reardon & Amir Heiman & Liang Lu & Chandra S.R. Nuthalapati & Rob Vos & David Zilberman, 2021. "“Pivoting” by food industry firms to cope with COVID‐19 in developing regions: E‐commerce and “copivoting” delivery intermediaries," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 52(3), pages 459-475, May.
    34. Mike W Peng & Anne S York, 2001. "Behind Intermediary Performance in Export Trade: Transactions, Agents, and Resources," Journal of International Business Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Academy of International Business, vol. 32(2), pages 327-346, June.
    35. Ernesto Cassetta & Umberto Monarca & Ivano Dileo & Claudio Di Berardino & Marco Pini, 2020. "The relationship between digital technologies and internationalisation. Evidence from Italian SMEs," Industry and Innovation, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 311-339, April.
    36. Zhan, Yue & Chen, Kevin Z., 2021. "Building resilient food system amidst COVID-19: Responses and lessons from China," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    37. Sagren Moodley & Mike Morris, 2004. "Does e-commerce fulfil its promise for developing country (South African) garment export producers?," Oxford Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 32(2), pages 155-178.
    38. De Marco, Filippo & Core, Fabrizio, 2021. "Information Technology and Credit: Evidence from Public Guarantees," CEPR Discussion Papers 15799, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    39. Martin Engert & Julia Evers & Andreas Hein & Helmut Krcmar, 2022. "The Engagement of Complementors and the Role of Platform Boundary Resources in e-Commerce Platform Ecosystems," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(6), pages 2007-2025, December.
    40. Alex Rialp-Criado & Ksenia Komochkova, 2017. "Innovation strategy and export intensity of Chinese SMEs: the moderating role of the home-country business environment," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 16(3), pages 158-186, July.
    41. Wang, Wei & Ma, Hao, 2018. "Export strategy, export intensity and learning: Integrating the resource perspective and institutional perspective," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 581-592.
    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. Yugang He, 2024. "E-commerce and foreign direct investment: pioneering a new era of trade strategies," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. Onjewu, Adah-Kole Emmanuel & Olan, Femi & Nyuur, Richard Benon-be-isan & Paul, Salima & Nguyen, Ha Thanh Truc, 2023. "The effect of government support on Bureaucracy, COVID-19 resilience and export intensity: Evidence from North Africa," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    3. Nisreen Ameen & Jyoti Choudrie & Paul Jones & Amitabh Anand, 2022. "Innovative Technologies and Small-Medium Sized Enterprises in Times of Crisis," Information Systems Frontiers, Springer, vol. 24(4), pages 1055-1060, August.

    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. Onjewu, Adah-Kole Emmanuel & Olan, Femi & Nyuur, Richard Benon-be-isan & Paul, Salima & Nguyen, Ha Thanh Truc, 2023. "The effect of government support on Bureaucracy, COVID-19 resilience and export intensity: Evidence from North Africa," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).
    2. Haddoud, Mohamed Yacine & Kock, Ned & Onjewu, Adah-Kole Emmanuel & Jafari-Sadeghi, Vahid & Jones, Paul, 2023. "Technology, innovation and SMEs' export intensity: Evidence from Morocco," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 191(C).
    3. Ramdani, Boumediene & Belaid, Fateh & Goutte, Stephane, 2023. "SME internationalisation: Do the types of innovation matter?," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 88(C).
    4. Merín-Rodrigáñez, Joan & Dasí, Àngels & Alegre, Joaquín, 2024. "Digital transformation and firm performance in innovative SMEs: The mediating role of business model innovation," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 134(C).
    5. Nucci, Francesco & Pietrovito, Filomena & Pozzolo, Alberto Franco, 2023. "Intermediated trade and credit constraints: The case of firm’s imports," International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 201-220.
    6. Marino-Romero, Jorge Alberto & Palos-Sánchez, Pedro R. & Velicia-Martín, Félix, 2024. "Evolution of digital transformation in SMEs management through a bibliometric analysis," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    7. Chan, Jackie M.L., 2019. "Financial frictions and trade intermediation: Theory and evidence," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 567-593.
    8. Daunfeldt, Sven-Olov & Engberg, Erik & Halvarsson, Daniel & Kokko, Ari & Tingvall, Patrik, 2019. "Wholesale firms: A catalyst for Swedish exports?," Ratio Working Papers 328, The Ratio Institute.
    9. Wu, Lichao & Wei, Yingqi & Wang, Chengang & McDonald, Frank & Han, Xia, 2022. "The importance of institutional and financial resources for export performance associated with technological innovation," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    10. Witold Nowiński & Wanda Nowara, 2011. "Stopień i uwarunkowania internacjonalizacji polskich małych i średnich przedsiębiorstw," Gospodarka Narodowa. The Polish Journal of Economics, Warsaw School of Economics, issue 3, pages 29-45.
    11. Zahoor, Nadia & Zopiatis, Anastasios & Adomako, Samuel & Lamprinakos, Grigorios, 2023. "The micro-foundations of digitally transforming SMEs: How digital literacy and technology interact with managerial attributes," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 159(C).
    12. Zhou, Zhongsheng & Li, Zhuo, 2023. "Corporate digital transformation and trade credit financing," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 160(C).
    13. Brewis, Claire & Dibb, Sally & Meadows, Maureen, 2023. "Leveraging big data for strategic marketing: A dynamic capabilities model for incumbent firms," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    14. Piepponen, Amanda & Ritala, Paavo & Keränen, Joona & Maijanen, Päivi, 2022. "Digital transformation of the value proposition: A single case study in the media industry," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 311-325.
    15. Steven Husted & Shuichiro Nishioka, 2015. "Productivity growth and new market entry," Review of World Economics (Weltwirtschaftliches Archiv), Springer;Institut für Weltwirtschaft (Kiel Institute for the World Economy), vol. 151(4), pages 687-712, November.
    16. Liukai Wang & Caiting Wang & Larisa Yarovaya & Heshu Huang, 2024. "Trade credit and corporate digital transformation: The role of managerial ability," The Financial Review, Eastern Finance Association, vol. 59(3), pages 779-806, August.
    17. Jiang, Kangqi & Du, Xinyi & Chen, Zhongfei, 2022. "Firms' digitalization and stock price crash risk," International Review of Financial Analysis, Elsevier, vol. 82(C).
    18. Zoltán J. Ács & Siri Terjesen, 2015. "Born local: toward a theory of new venture’s choice of internationalization," Chapters, in: Global Entrepreneurship, Institutions and Incentives, chapter 13, pages 242-256, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    19. Bolatto, Stefano & Grazzi, Marco & Tomasi, Chiara, 2022. "Export modes and firms’ adjustments to exchange rate movements," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    20. Jennifer Abel-Koch, 2013. "Who Uses Intermediaries in International Trade? Evidence from Firm-level Survey Data," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 36(8), pages 1041-1064, August.

    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:spr:infosf:v:24:y:2022:i:4:d:10.1007_s10796-022-10342-w. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.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.