1 Introduction

Small and medium size enterprises (SMEs) are often affected by various micro and macro level changes, including geo-political matters around them. COVID-19, a geo-political global pandemic, has brought unprecedented challenges to these businesses, in terms of employment, finances, risks and a shift in consumer behaviour and preferences (Simms et al., 2022). For example, a study conducted by the Bank of England, in which data was collected form two million SMEs based in the United Kingdom showed that COVID-19 and the public health interventions coincided with a 30-percentage point reduction in turnover growth for the average SME (Bank of England, 2021). Businesses and industries of all sizes have been severely impacted due to COVID-19 and are struggling to remain sustainable. Furthermore, the combined impact of Brexit, COVID-19 and the Ukrainian war has severely affected the European SME community. In response to this crisis, SMEs in different industries have utilised various possible resources to survive, including the use of different types of innovative technologies such as new types of mobile applications, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, big data and blockchain (Ameen & Willis, 2016; Soni et al., 2021). The use of these innovative technologies to help SMEs survive the unprecedented situation of COVID-19 is a complex phenomenon (Priyono et al., 2020).

At the onset of our call for the special issue, we were driven by the observation that despite that the existing literature is rich with studies on how SMEs use technology in various situations, the focus on the use of the latest technologies by SMEs in a time of a global health crisis remained limited. Hence, in this special issue, our team of Guest Editors attempted to understand how innovative technologies can be effectively utilised in various areas of the business in the context of SMEs and entrepreneurship in response to COVID-19. At the time of writing this editorial, many SMEs are focusing on post-COVID recovery by continuing to utilise the latest technologies for innovation in various areas for example, marketing, supply chain, accounting and human resources. In this editorial, we suggest areas for future research on SMEs’ use of innovative technologies during and post times of global crisis followed by an overview of the papers accepted in this special issue.

2 Opportunities for Future Research

While we believe this special issue has advanced research on SMEs’ use of innovative cutting-edge technologies in time of crisis, there are many open problems that are yet to be tackled in future research. We next highlight a few of them. Table 1 provides a list of our proposed questions for future research.

Table 1 Proposed questions for future research
Full size table

2.1 Enabling Resilience and Preparedness for Future Crisis

While research on SMEs’ use of technology during the pandemic has been growing rapidly recently, we believe more research is needed on how SMEs can prepare for sudden and unexpected changes or global crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic has shown that preparedness and resilience are key for SMEs success (Ozanne et al., 2022). However, true resilience helps organisations not just bounce back, but bounce forward. Future studies can explore how SMEs can develop resilience and preparedness through using innovative technologies and flexible business models. For example, future research can explore how SMEs go through the process of selecting the right technology and develop the right attitude for it. In addition, SMEs can leverage big data; Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and digital twins for resilience in times of crisis (Giotopoulos et al., 2022). However, the challenge for SMEs is developing the right data strategy across the business, as well as standardising and sharing open data. Furthermore, there is a need for a better understanding of flexible SMEs business models and how data and digital technologies can enable these models to be better prepared for possible future crisis.

2.2 New Technologies, New Challenges

While the emergence of new technologies brings various benefits and challenges to businesses, SMEs are often faced with more challenges due to uncertainty and the general lack of resources (Ameen & Willis, 2016). Our special issue included papers focusing on the use of various technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, blockchain and smart technologies among SMEs in times of crisis. Future studies can explore how SMEs can use these technologies effectively post the pandemic. Furthermore, the world is witnessing the emergence of new and promising technologies such as artificial intelligence, Metaverse, virtual influencers; and mixed and extended reality (Ameen et al., 2021b, 2022b; Koles et al., 2022). These technologies are expected to have a major impact on SMEs and the society. Future studies should explore the potential advantages and challenges associated with these technologies for SMEs in various industries and sectors. SMEs’ ability to embrace technological innovations will determine their likelihood of survival and future success.

2.3 Technology for Connecting with Customers in a Post COVID World

The pandemic has caused major changes to consumers behaviour and how they interact with technology and brands (Ameen et al., 2021a). For example, job losses and major health concerns during the pandemic led consumers to use various technologies when shopping for products and services offered by SMEs in different industries (Donthu & Gustafsson, 2020). While most of the pandemic restrictions have been lifted in 2022 in most countries, the effects of this major exogenous shock on consumer behaviour, specifically the young generation of consumers (Generation Z), and interactions with SMEs are expected to last for a long time (Ameen et al., 2022a; Miklian & Hoelscher, 2022). In addition, customers’ expectations of businesses have changed amid the pandemic. Customers expect firms, including SMEs, to act responsibly when offering technologies as part of the customer journey (Thukral & Ratten, 2021). Hence, future studies should explore novel ways for SMEs utilising technology to connect with customers in a post COVID world. For example, future studies can explore how SMEs, given their limited resources and capabilities, can ensure customers’ data security and privacy. This is a major challenge given the sharp increase in the number of cybersecurity attacks targeting SMEs since the beginning of the pandemic (Drydakis, 2022). Furthermore, SMEs are increasingly offering chatbots to interact with their customers at various stages of the customer journey (Selamat & Windasari, 2021). However, ensuring the success of the interactions between customers and chatbots remains a challenge equally for SMEs as chatbot developers. Future studies can explore these areas.

2.4 Young SME Owners’ Decision Making of Technology Utilisation

The number of Generation Z entrepreneurs starting SMEs is increasing rapidly worldwide (Parker, 2022). This generation of entrepreneurs views the world differently and it has unique characteristics (Shah, 2022). This generation is classified as ‘Tech Native’ as members of this generation were born with technology (Ameen et al., 2022a). While they are more innovative than earlier generations, they are also more financially focused and risk averse (Collage Group, 2018). Future studies should explore characteristics of Generation Z entrepreneurs on their leadership style and the success of SMEs. In addition, future studies should explore how young SME owners make decisions about technology in times of crisis. Future studies can also explore how this segment of entrepreneurs use various technologies to achieve business and non-business-related goals. Also, future studies should explore the key lessons this generation of entrepreneurs has learned from the pandemic and how it impacted their behaviour and business strategy. Furthermore, in this time of economic crisis entrepreneurs’ resilience is critical. Business failure rates are likely to increase significantly in businesses which are energy intensive. Hence, future studies should explore how governments can effectively support such entrepreneurs either to maintain their existing businesses or to restart when economic conditions allow. Further research is required to explore this dynamic.

3 Papers in this Special Issue

As Guest Editors of the special issue ‘Innovative Technologies and Small-Medium Sized Enterprises in Times of Crisis’, we invited authors to submit papers on a range of topics within the theme of the special issue. We then organised a workshop hosted by the UK Academy of Information Systems (UKAIS) for authors with accepted abstracts where the work was discussed, and feedback was provided by all Guest Editors. This special issue comprises a total of eleven papers which focus on a vast range of topics within the context of our theme.

Some studies focused on how SMEs can leverage Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) in general to survive during the time of the COVID-19 crisis. Wendt et al. (2022) draw on the technology-organisation-environment framework and technology-affordances- and-constraints theory to investigate the adoption of ICTs as a crisis response strategy in ten SMEs in German business events (e.g., corporate events, conferences) industry. The authors found that introducing readily available ICTs (e.g., video-conferencing) has significant potential in addressing physical distancing in the short and medium term, while more sophisticated ICTs (e.g., virtual reality) are more likely to gain importance in the long term. Alraja et al. (2022) propose a holistic framework of sustainable performance by interrelating factors showing robust associations for achieving sustainable performance in SMEs. The authors found that green practices such as green training, green performance appraisal can lead to sustainable performance. Ameen et al. (2022c) draw on the 5 M model to investigate how mobile applications can support women entrepreneurs running SMEs in a developing country. The findings show that mobile applications provided these entrepreneurs innovative ways to overcome many of the economic and non-economic challenges they face in relation to running a business.

A few papers focused on how SMEs can successfully utilise blockchain technology in times of crisis. Sengupta et al. (2022) show how forms can help unorganised supply chains with economically disadvantaged suppliers by carefully redesigning the supply chain through the integration of satellite imagery and blockchain technology. With COVID-19 in the backdrop, the authors highlight how such technologies significantly improve supply chain resilience and at the same time contributes to income generation opportunities for poor fisher folks in developing nations. Jain et al. (2022) explore the role of blockchain technology in building a trustworthy yet collaborative environment in SME clusters through the principles of community self-governance. The authors developed a blockchain commons governance framework for the three main dimensions i.e., interaction, autonomy, and control.

Some of the papers in this special issue explored how SMEs can utilise big data analytics in times of crisis. Zamani et al. (2022) explore if and how business analytics can support the adaptation or innovation of SMEs’ business models within the context of extreme time pressure and turbulence. The results indicate that a start-up can leverage descriptive, mining, predictive and prescriptive analytics for addressing and responding to exogenous shocks and renewing its business model. However, the results also show that the effects of applying each type of analytics are different. Song et al. (2022) found that COVID-19 has positive moderating effects on the relationship between big data analytics management capability and value attributes of business models.

Given the significant challenges associated with the impact of COVID-19 on the sharing economy, Papagiannidis and Davlembayeva (2022) study consumers’ intention to stay in smart accommodations. The authors found that the integration of smart home technologies offers control over the stay experience, improves the entertainment experience, aesthetics and playfulness of using this technology. The study informed SMEs in the accommodation sharing sector about the positive implications of the use of smart home devices for driving customer demand. Serman and Sims (2022) explored the effects of blogs posted by SMEs in the hospitality sector to counter the detrimental effect of pandemic lockdowns. The authors found that trust and reputation have significant effects on credibility of posts shared by SMES in the hospitality sector. In addition, the factor ‘unverified information sharing’ mediates the relationship between credibility and loyalty. Onjewu et al. (2022) examine the effects of e-commerce on resilience, direct exports and indirect exports among small manufacturing firms in Italy. The results showed that while e-commerce has a positive impact on direct exports, a negative influence is recorded on indirect exports. In addition, the authors found that 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 had a significant and positive effect on direct and indirect exports.

Finally, Drydakis (2022) utilised the International Labor Organization’s SMEs COVID-19 pandemic business risks scale to determine whether artificial intelligence applications are associated with reduced business risks for SMEs. The study showed that artificial intelligence-enabled applications used for targeting consumers online, offer cash flow forecasting and they facilitate human resource activities which are associated with reduced business risks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic for SMEs. The study indicates that artificial intelligence enables SMEs to boost their dynamic capabilities by leveraging technology to meet new types of demand, move at speed to pivot business operations, boost efficiency and thus, reduce their business risks.

With this special issue, we hope that more researchers will find new avenues for interdisciplinary research combining the fields of Information Systems, entrepreneurship and marketing. We look forward to seeing a community working together to further knowledge discovery in this field.