The Impact of Digitalisation on the Performance of SMEs: A Systematic Review
Rankhumise EM *
Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa.
*Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Abstract
The digital economy, characterised by features such as digitisation, has a significant impact on the global economy and daily life. Despite the revolution of digitalisation, Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly facing challenges regarding the use of digital technologies. The purpose of this systematic review was to examine the impact of digitalisation on the performance of SMEs. With the development of digitalisation, digital entrepreneurship has become increasingly popular; hence, this study aimed to investigate the impact of digitalisation on performance. To understand the impact of digitalisation on SME performance, the PRISMA method was employed as the research approach to identify relevant sources for the phenomenon under investigation. A detailed search of various databases was conducted using keywords such as digitalisation, digital economy, and so forth. The search for the articles originated from studies conducted globally, as indexed in databases such as Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus. The researcher identified 65 articles; after applying the exclusion and inclusion criteria, 20 met the inclusion criteria and were included in the study. The findings show that digitalisation had a positive effect on SME performance, particularly through increased efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness. Despite the positive effects of digitalisation, the findings further highlighted challenges SMEs face in adopting and implementing digital technologies, including limited resources, a lack of expertise, and inadequate infrastructure. The study further identified key factors influencing the relationship between digitalisation and SME performance, including firm size, industry type, and level of digitalisation. It can thus be concluded that digitalisation has a positive effect on the performance of the SMEs. The results provided policymakers and researchers with important insights for promoting the growth and competitiveness of SMEs, particularly in the digital economy.
Keywords: Digitalisation, entrepreneurship, digital economy, business performance, technology adoption, systematic literature review