Mobility restrictions and firms' decisions to adopt digital technologies during the COVID-19 pandemic: across industry sectors study

IF 1.4 Q3 ECONOMICS

African Journal of Economic and Management Studies Pub Date : 2024-07-18 DOI:10.1108/ajems-05-2023-0165

Ebaidalla M. Ebaidalla

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引用次数: 0

Abstract

Purpose

Despite the importance of digital technology in mitigating the adverse effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures, limited research attention has been devoted to the impact of movement restrictions on digital business transformation in North Africa. This paper investigates the impact of mobility restrictions on firms' decisions to adopt digital technologies across sectors, emphasizing the challenges associated with accessing both customers and suppliers.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses the ERF COVID-19 MENA Monitor Enterprise survey (2021), covering 3,978 enterprises across three North African countries: Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. The analysis employed the linear probability model (LPM) to account for observable and unobservable heterogeneity across countries and over time.

Findings

The results indicated that mobility restrictions have a positive impact on firms' decisions to adopt digital solutions during the COVID-19 pandemic across most industry sectors. Notably, firms operating in manufacturing, trade, retail and services demonstrated a higher likelihood to adopt technologies. However, the analysis revealed some variations in the impact of mobility restrictions across sectors and countries.

Originality/value

This study has several contributions. First, this study is unique in utilizing firm-level data gathered during the COVID-19 pandemic to investigate the impact of mobility restrictions on firms' decisions to adopt digital solutions. Second, the study examines the influence of mobility restrictions on digitalization across industry sectors, to the best of our knowledge, no empirical study has specifically focused on the digital business transformation across sectors.

查看原文本刊更多论文

COVID-19 大流行期间的流动限制与企业采用数字技术的决定：跨行业研究

目的尽管数字技术在减轻 COVID-19 大流行及相关遏制措施的不利影响方面具有重要作用，但有关北非流动限制对数字业务转型的影响的研究却十分有限。本文调查了流动限制对各行业企业采用数字技术决策的影响，强调了与获取客户和供应商相关的挑战：埃及、突尼斯和摩洛哥。研究结果表明，在 COVID-19 大流行期间，流动性限制对大多数行业部门的企业采用数字化解决方案的决策产生了积极影响。值得注意的是，制造业、贸易、零售业和服务业的企业采用技术的可能性更高。不过，分析显示，流动限制对不同行业和国家的影响存在一些差异。首先，本研究利用在 COVID-19 大流行期间收集的企业级数据来调查流动限制对企业决定采用数字解决方案的影响，这是独一无二的。其次，本研究探讨了流动性限制对各行业数字化的影响，据我们所知，还没有实证研究专门关注各行业的数字化业务转型。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

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来源期刊

African Journal of Economic and Management Studies ECONOMICS-

CiteScore

3.20

自引率

7.70%

发文量

期刊介绍： African Journal of Economic and Management Studies (AJEMS) advances both theoretical and empirical research, informs policies and practices, and improves understanding of how economic and business decisions shape the lives of Africans. AJEMS is a multidisciplinary journal and welcomes papers from all the major disciplines in economics, business and management studies.