Telecommuting and Teleworking (Teleportability): A Sustainable Socio-Economic Transformation Mechanism in the Post COVID-19 Era

Organizations, societies, and economies are the scope of sustainability in every community. The growing realization of electronically-enabled business as critical drivers of sustainable economic growth and development especially during crisis is no doubt propelling nations into harnessing the benefits of enterpreneural transformation in the 21st century and post covid-19 era. Teleworking and Telecommuting are technologies that have the ability to enable ubiquitous digital service transmissions needed to combat and curtail the prevalence of pandemics such as Covid-19. Capabilities of telecommuting can be effectively utilized to address the challenges associated with Covid-19 presently and in the post covid-19 era including threats in war-turned geographical spaces. However, there is the paucity of such knowledge, orientation and awareness amongst entrepreneurs, industries and companies in developing countries like Nigeria. This lacuna, if properly bridged will help unpack the link between production, consumption and service delivery in an emerging economy. This paper examines the notional impact of the concept of telecommuting and teleworking as a mechanism for a sustainable economic transformation and global repositioning of the work force beyond the covid crisis. Furthermore, it analyzes and juxtaposes the readibility of business environments to ensure their employee's safety in the work place and remote working, thus providing continuity to economic, productive and business activity. This conceptual study uses the interpretive paradigm, through deductive analysis to draw the conclusion that there is a very poor level of deployment of telecommuting and teleworking models in countries like Nigeria during crisis and pandemics and therefore recommends that organizations adopt this mechanism to propel safety of the workforce and reduce cost. With the approval for the operation of the 5G network in the Nigerian telecommunications space, entrepreneurs can explore the gains to sustain remote working or working from home in the post-covid-19 era.

Finding new purpose for vacancies in rural areas: a taxonomy of coworking space business models

As a result of the rural exodus over the last decades, unused vacancies in rural areas are at risk of falling into disrepair. Given the current trends of flexible workplaces and people returning to rural areas, their repurposing as coworking spaces (CWSs) by entrepreneurs poses a potential for sustainable future-oriented workplace solutions. However, there is little to no guidance on the structural configuration and business models of CWSs in rural areas available for these entrepreneurs. We apply a structured empirical research approach to create a comprehensive and specialized taxonomy, including a literature review and eleven interviews with operators of rural CWSs in Germany. The resulting taxonomy of business models of CWSs in rural areas based on an extension of the business model canvas contributes to the knowledge base on rural CWSs. We evaluate its usability through a case study and an entrepreneurial operator of a rural CWS, underlining its entrepreneurial and practice-oriented purpose. The study addresses several urgent topics, such as the future of work and new work (places), which enable and accelerate the development of CWSs outside agglomerations consequential to the COVID-19 pandemic. It also promotes social and sustainable entrepreneurship and the revitalizing, enhancing, and increasing of digital accessibility of rural regions.

How Startups and Entrepreneurs Survived in Times of Pandemic Crisis: Implications and Challenges for Managing Uncertainty

The recent pandemic crisis has greatly impacted startups, and some changes are expected to be long-lasting. Small businesses usually have fewer resources and are more vulnerable to losing customers and investors, especially during crises. This study investigates how startups' business processes were affected and how entrepreneurs managed this sudden change brought by the COVID-19 outbreak. Data were analyzed using qualitative research methods through in-depth interviews with the co-founders of eighteen startups. Results show that the three core business processes affected by the COVID-19 crisis were marketing and sales, logistics and operations, and organizational support. The way to succeed is to be flexible, agile, and adaptable, with technological knowledge focusing on digital channels to find novel opportunities and innovate. Additionally, resilience, self-improvement, education, technology readiness and adoption, close relationship with customers and other stakeholders, and incubation experience seem to shield startups against pandemic crisis outbreaks. © 2023, Small Business Institute. All rights reserved.

Global entrepreneurship research and practice in the post-pandemic world

Some people have forgotten the recent COVID-19 pandemic, but for many, the memories are still vivid in terms of the effects of the health crisis on society. Globally, almost all parts of the world had significant changes made to their way of life due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which included social and economic effects. Many countries closed their international borders for a long period of time, which had a profound influence on the degree of internationalization occurring within these regions. Owing to the need for social distancing, there were rapid changes to digital business practices and the resulting increased usage of online communication platforms. The aim of this editorial is to highlight how global entrepreneurship research and practice in the post-COVID-19 world have changed in terms of research and practitioner practices. This is important as we seek to progress society through positive interaction in the business environment. Suggestions for future managerial and academic practices regarding global entrepreneurship are stated. © 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Direct selling: tackling the challenge of women's inclusion within the base of the pyramid (BOP) labour market during COVID era

The exclusion of women from the labour market continues to be one of the leading causes of poverty within the base of pyramid (BOP) labour market. Using Kabeer's women empowerment framework, this research aggregates some support that direct selling may be a pathway to increase the inclusion of women within the BOP labour market and alleviate poverty;the complexities presented by the COVID-19 pandemic provide a unique context to test this proposition. Drawing on the social constructivist approach, we conducted semi-structured interviews with women engaged in direct selling in the BOP market in a Middle Eastern country. The study revealed four key themes throughout the participants' narratives of their experience working in direct selling businesses within the context of COVID-19. These themes are agency, resources, achievement, and precarious work. Our study also explored how the pandemic facilitated the female labour force's inclusion within the direct selling business in the BOP labour market. We concluded that engaging in direct selling has promoted the inclusion of women in labour markets;however, direct selling is still not considered a secure employment option, and direct sellers are exposed to poor pay, employment insecurity, and lack of employment benefits.

How Ethnic Minority SME Owners in the UK can Create Value Amid Informal Institutional Voids

This article shows that the COVID-19 pandemic exposed informal institutional voids that exist for Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) business owners in the United Kingdom. Based on a primary database of surveys and semi-structured interviews, the results show that many BAME small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) owners encountered informal institutional voids that White SME owners did not face during the pandemic. The article also shows how these BAME SME owners created value amid these institutional voids and how they can continue to do so. The article concludes by suggesting that bridging these voids is crucial for promoting a more inclusive environment where ethnic and non-ethnic entrepreneurs can succeed. It also presents policy implications and offers directions for future research.

Impact of coronavirus pandemic on small businesses: A qualitative exploratory case study

The purpose of this qualitative exploratory case study was to explore how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted small business entrepreneurs in the USA. The coronavirus pandemic started in China, spread across the world, and caused unprecedented health crises and financial and economic disruptions (Brijesh et al., 2020). The COVID-19 pandemic impacted many small businesses leading to severe liquidity problems and substantial financial losses (Williams & Kayaoglu, 2020). The U.S. government developed micro and macroeconomic recovery plans and strategies that focused on the economic revival interventions, boosting national cash flow, increase in spending, and consumption (Thorbecke et al., 2020). The participants in this study were purposefully sampled from the population of 1,000 small businesses in the USA, provided by Data Axle USA. Two data sources were an open-ended questionnaire/survey instrument and an archival documents review. The archival documents were downloaded from the NSBA website. Data analysis was done using Braun and Clarke's thematic analysis process (Ayre & McCaffery, 2022). From the thematic analysis, six themes emerged (a) Supply, Demand, and Trade Deficit Affected Revenue Stream;(b) Trade and Revenue Deficits Led to Business Rightsizing and Closures;(c) Government Help and Small Business Loans;(d) Transition to Internet, Virtual, and Online Business to Survive;(e) Retrenchment and Redundancy Reduction;and (f) Need for Awareness and Preparedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

An understanding of how immigration offers a solution against the implications of the Covid-19 pandemic on youth entrepreneurship in South Africa

With the entire globe still amid a global pandemic, youth entrepreneurs endure the same impact as any regular business. These implications are either negative or positive or a combination of both. This paper aimed to educate South African youth and governments on the importance of ensuring that youth unemployment is kept low by engaging in entrepreneurship. Therefore, youth entrepreneurship is a solution to South Africa's youth unemployment issue. In addition, immigration was highlighted as a solution for those youth impacted tremendously by the pandemic. The pandemic brought many lockdowns and restrictions in South Africa, forcing existing and budding youth entrepreneurs to find alternatives or shut down completely. After using a qualitative approach in this paper, many recommendations are made in light of improving the state of youth entrepreneurship in South Africa. The most critical recommendation requires that South Africa, from the top-down, adopt a mindset that youth are South Africa's future. This will ensure that everything done to engage in the mentoring, uplifting and shaping of youth will reap the benefits of a better South Africa in years to come.

Female Agri-Food Start-Ups: Mapping the Italian Context During the Coronavirus Era

In recent years COVID-19 has led the world into a deep crisis, claiming numerous victims and causing uncertainty in the economic scene. During the coronavirus' lockdown, the only economic activities allowed to operate were the ones from primary sector, such as the agri-food. Recent literature asserts that during emergency period the main factors that allow the organizations to be resilient are the structural and relational capital, two of intellectual capital components. To support innovation, since 2012, Italian law has provided the possibility for companies to obtain the status of an innovative start-up, promoting technological transition through several fiscal and tax benefits. However, delving into gender issue, the role of female entrepreneurs within agri-food sector is not very clear. In this stream, focusing on the field of innovation to overcome the crisis, the present chapter aims to map the innovative female farms during the coronavirus period. To reach the declared goal a EDQ analysis on the innovative Italian start-ups was developed. Findings show that the role of female entrepreneurship in agri-food sector is still very poor from the point of view of innovation and technology, and only 10 innovative farms are led by women (11% of the sector;0.08% of Italian start-ups). The present chapter contributes to the literature on gender studies in the business innovation field, during periods of crisis. The main limitation concerns the availability of data related to this particular kind of Italian SMEs (start-ups). The main future research perspectives will address case studies on the female agri-food start-ups identified in this first exploratory study and will aim to investigate the proactive role of structural capital and the reactive role of relational capital. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

COVID-19 and Agricultural Entrepreneurship in Zimbabwean Townships: A Systematic Literature Review

Entrepreneurship is crucial in achieving economic prosperity and development in any country. Despite the importance of entrepreneurship in Zimbabwe, the relationship between COVID-19 and agricultural entrepreneurship is still unclear. As a result, the current chapter seeks to answer the following questions: 1. What is the status of literature on the relationship between COVID-19 and agricultural entrepreneurship in Zimbabwean townships? 2. What are the trends and gaps in the studies on the effects of COVID-19 on agricultural entrepreneurship? The chapter answered the questions using bibliometric analysis and a systematic literature review. Two tasks characterised the ‘search': search in Dimension database for bibliometric analysis and search in Google Scholar and ScienceDirect for general systematic review. The dates were limited to between January 2020 and March 2022. The study adopted VOSviewer, in conducting bibliometric analysis, and CADIMA, in conducting the systematic literature review. The bibliometric analysis findings show that entrepreneurship is being ignored among the studies investigating relationships between COVID-19 and agriculture. On top of the scarcity of entrepreneurship thrust in studies on COVID-19 and agriculture, the studies focusing on Zimbabwe are minimal. Also, the relationship between COVID-19 and agricultural entrepreneurship shows inconclusive results and methodological gaps. There is a need to cover gaps in the literature by researching Zimbabwean townships and using quantitative or mixed methodologies to triangulate existing findings in the body of knowledge. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023.

The digital economy enables high-quality cultural tourism integration:mechanisms, channels, and empirical evidence

Following the rapid scientific and technological development in this new era of global industrial transformation, the tourism industry has overcome the severe challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic by taking advantage of new development opportunities. Digital technologies, such as big data, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and fifth-generation mobile communications have released the huge potential for promoting the development of the high-quality cultural tourism integration. Scholars have explored the benefits of developing and improving the quality of cultural tourism integration in addition to how the digital economy can promote the development of cultural tourism integration. Most existing research has regarded the digital economy as a means to promote the development of cultural tourism integration;however, there is relatively little systematic research on the logical mechanism, transmission channels, and practical paths that enable the high-quality development of cultural tourism integration. Therefore, this paper systematically explores the logical mechanism, direct effects, and transmission mechanisms in the digital economy that promote the development of high-quality cultural tourism integration. The study findings open up the "black box"of developing high-quality cultural tourism integration and help to establish its scientific basis in the digital economy. Based on a systematic explanation of how the digital economy enables the high-quality development and transmission of cultural tourism integration through organizational, technological, and product innovation channels, this paper conducts empirical testing using 2011-2020 panel data from 30 Chinese provinces (excluding Tibet, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan of Chian) and obtains three main findings. First, the digital economy has a positive enabling effect on the development of high-quality cultural tourism integration, which has been verified in benchmark regression, instrumental variable regression, and robustness testing. Second, this enabling effect shows regional differences. For example, East China benefits from its relatively well-developed digital economy and can enjoy the dividends from its high-quality cultural tourism destinations. However, although West China has seen rapid growth in its digital economy, the region also shows a trend of increasing marginal effects from its enabling effect, while the digital economy's enabling trend in Central China still needs to be strengthened. Third, by constructing a transmission channel, that is, "digital economy-organization-technology-product innovation-developmental quality of cultural tourism integration", we find that the digital economy can positively promote the development of high-quality cultural tourism integration by regulating transmission channels for innovation, such as organizational, technological, and product innovation. According to the research conclusions, measures to promote the development of high-quality cultural tourism integration in the digital economy should be taken in the following four areas. First, local governments and cultural tourism departments should deepen their development strategies to integrate the digital economy with the real economy and systematically cultivate new drivers for the development of high-quality cultural tourism integration. Second, a digital cultural tourism platform should be built to optimize the value creation mechanism for the development of high-quality cultural tourism integration. Third, regional heterogeneity characteristics should be combined with the digital economy's enabling effect to implement a differentiated digital cultural tourism development strategy. Fourth, organizational, technological, and product innovation advantages should be cultivated to expand the transmission channels for the development of high-quality cultural tourism integration within the digital economy.

Survival of the fittest: the multiple paths of entrepreneurial leadership driving adaptive innovation in uncertain environment

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the multiple influence paths or underlying mechanisms of entrepreneurial leadership (EL) on adaptive innovation from the perspectives of organizational learning and resource management, drawing on complex adaptive system theory.Design/methodology/approachWith a questionnaire survey of 317 senior and middle managers from different firms in China, structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized conceptual model, and bootstrapping method was employed to examine the multiple mediating effects.FindingsResults indicate that EL has a significant and positive effect on adaptive innovation. This relationship is partially mediated through exploitative learning, exploratory learning, resource bricolage and boundary-spanning integration, respectively. The impact of EL on adaptive innovation is also sequentially transmitted through exploitative learning and resource bricolage or exploratory learning and boundary-spanning integration.Originality/valueAdaptive innovation has become a firm competition strategy to cope with dynamic changes in current uncertain environment where EL can play its effectiveness to engage firms in such innovation activities. However, the question of why and how EL drives adaptive innovation has yet to be discussed. This study highlights the innovation effectiveness of EL and the triggering process of adaptive innovation, and contributes to several countermeasures for firms to implement leadership and innovation practices responding to uncertain environment.

Contextual agility informing market shaping

Making sense of a markets is a necessary precursor to any strategizing such as shaping. Still, the nature of this sense-making is oftentimes kept in the dark. It is somehow subordinate to what follows. The lack of such explicit market portrayals entails the risk of myopia to the detriment of seeing shaping possibilities. It also means that ensuing strategic efforts risk to go in vain as they possibly mirror an oversimplified reality. Making agile sense of the surrounding market context turns these two potential shortcomings into opportunities. Such contextual agility is an aptitude of some firms. It is a knowledge ability which prepares for agency in a prompt and responsive way as some representational practices translate into shaping practices. This conceptual research introduces contextual agility which hosts representational, entrepreneurial, and agile elements. This ability of individual firms promises to inform market shaping as its points of departure are clarified. It is here illustrated via contested product qualification, consumer Covid-19 vaccine skepticism. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Adoption of electronic commerce as a resilience strategy for women's entrepreneurship in the Democratic Republic of Congo

PurposeThe present article aims to determine the factors that explain the intention to adopt electronic commerce among women traders in a developing country like Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during a health crisis period.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted in the DRC, in Bukavu Town. A convenience sample of 282 respondents consisting of solely women entrepreneurs (importing traders) in Bukavu Town was selected and the structural equation model was used to test the research hypotheses resulted from Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour.FindingsThe finding results showed that only the factors attitude towards electronic commerce adoption and subjective norms which predict women traders' intention to adopt electronic commerce. The analysis shows that about 38.9% of the variation in the dependent variable is explained by the above variables.Originality/valueFew studies have presented technology and electronic commerce adoption as resilience of women entrepreneurs in a time of crisis, despite the abundance of the review literature on adoption. This study provides a new approach to assist women entrepreneurs as well as researchers in understanding the drivers of electronic commerce adoption factors in the DRC.

How the Pandemic Crisis May Affect Economic Systems: A Study on the Nexus Between COVID-19 and Entrepreneurial Activities

The world has experienced several great crises that have had a significant economic impact. The global crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected economies and production chains, harming millions of businesses and entrepreneurs. Economic resilience, an ability to adapt to change and responsiveness to exogenous shocks, is a scientific strategy in the business and economy sectors to analyze and deal with these crises. Undoubtedly, entrepreneurship is one of the important factors influencing the economy as a striking pillar of economic resilience. This study tries to identify factors for enhancing economic resilience that will help countries to be more viable when encountering exogenous or indigenous crises. In this study, the impact of some entrepreneurship indicators, which have been created by applying the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) dataset, on the economic resilience index has been examined. Then, based on regression analysis, it was shown that some entrepreneurial indicators, such as the rate of total early-stage entrepreneurial activities (TEA), the rate of established business ownership (EB), the rate of entrepreneurship intention, and the rate of entrepreneurial innovation, can be useful in estimating and scrutinizing the global resilience index. Following this indirect method, the optimal range of some entrepreneurial indicators for achieving the maximum amount of economic resilience was determined. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

Enhancing Students' Entrepreneurial Competencies through Extracurricular Activities—A Pragmatic Approach to Sustainability-Oriented Higher Education

Entrepreneurship can provide a creative, disruptive, problem-solving-oriented approach to the current economic, environmental, and social challenges of the world. This article aims to provide an analysis about the way universities can have an impact on developing entrepreneurial competence in students through extracurricular activities. The research relies on a questionnaire survey of students at the University of Petrosani, who participated in a range of entrepreneurial activities both online during the COVID-19 pandemic and face-to-face afterwards. The methodology consisted of applying principal component analysis to reduce the dimensionality of the indicators, followed by classification of the respondents through cluster analysis and training of a feedforward neural network. After finishing the network-training process, the error was minimized, resulting in three classes of respondents. Furthermore, based on the three classes, follow-up conclusions, policies, and decisions can be issued regarding the perception of entrepreneurship at the societal level, which is beneficial for academia and entrepreneurs, as well as for future research undertaken in this field. The key conclusion of our research is that entrepreneurship education is a real facilitator of the transition to sustainable entrepreneurship. Students perceived meeting successful entrepreneurs as being among the most effective extracurricular activities, assessing online activities as useful, and the field of study proved to be an important factor in their entrepreneurial intention.

Identifying institutional barriers when implementing new technologies in the healthcare industry

PurposeVirtual and augmented reality solutions in medicine are generally applied in communication, training, simulation and therapy. However, like most new digital developments, these technologies face a large number of institutional barriers that are inherent to the medical sector.Design/methodology/approachFollowing Richard Scott's view on institutions and organizations, a multiple case study is used to analyze regulatory, normative and cultural-cognitive institutional pillars in the medical industry.FindingsThe results of the study demonstrate that (1) the regulatory pillar inhibits the advancement of new technologies in the approach to treatment, regulation of patient data, educational processes for medical staff, and information and financial flows;(2) the number of barriers increases based on the solution's level of disruption and the number of variable conventional procedures;(3) trust between participants in the medical industry plays an important role in introducing new technologies;(4) new participants need to address certain pillars depending on the area of application.Originality/valueThe authors discuss top-down and bottom-up approaches for overcoming institutional barriers when implementing augmented and virtual reality solutions for companies focusing on the medical market.

AN AGENT-BASED MODELLING APPROACH FOR ASSESSING ENTREPRENEURIAL INTENTIONS AND DEVELOPMENT STRATEGIES IN THE RURAL HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY

Rural hospitality and tourism (RHT) play a key role in rural revitalization, especially due to the impact of COVID-19, with more citizens choosing to travel to the countryside for a staycation. Local SMEs, especially family-owned enterprises, make up the majority of the RHT sector, not only providing services and products to satisfy tourists, but also helping with local employment. However, entrepreneurs operating in rural areas face many challenges in terms of capital, skills and education. Hence, it is important to explore the entrepreneurial intention (EI) of local people and how policies can support or change their behaviours. Current research on the RHT industry, rarely study the EI of local people, and the literature on rural entrepreneurship concentrates on developed countries. This study therefore uses agent-based modelling to explore how locals' EI in Chongming island (China) respond to the current impact of COVID-19, and whether policies will bring about changes on the supply side of RHT sector. © SW 2023.All rights reserved

An Introduction to Biopolitics and Shock Economy of COVID-19: Medical Perspectives and Socioeconomic Dynamics

This edited volume on the biopolitics and shock economy of COVID-19 crisis embraces a wide spectrum of topics such as shock economy, medical perspectives on COVID-19, application of geospatial technology, infectivity, immunity, and severity of the disease, as well as ontology of the disease emergence as important factors for adoption of relevant biopolitical measures, sociocultural obstacles, COVID-19-induced transaction costs, social support and resilience of inhabitants of marginalized areas, as well as business resilience factors, entrepreneurship, and digital transformation. Through each chapter of this book, the authors, with their expertise in the theme they picked, have attempted to unfold some emerging aspects in the COVID-19 crisis which could benefit not only the academics but also the institutional, social, economic, developmental, and health policy-makers as well as the health practitioners on the ground. © 2023, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.

How do international olympic sport federations innovate? The use of crowdfunding and the impact of COVID-19

The purpose of this study was to contribute to the understanding of innovation and crowdfunding of International Olympic Sport Federations (IFs), which are the world governing bodies of their respective sports. Three research questions were addressed: the perceptions of the IFs on the implementation of their innovation programmes during the last four years (2016-2020), the impact of COVID-19 on the IFs capability to innovate, and the crowdfunding strategies of the IFs. A mixed method combining qualitative and quantitative approaches was used. An online semi-structured questionnaire which included an open answer section was completed by IFs executives (n = 22) and an analysis of the information provided by IFs through various content sources was conducted. Results showed that IFs with less funding had a significantly more innovative approach that their counterparts, that the perception of the impact of COVID-19 on the innovative capability was not unanimous, that they identified sport-specific programmes as the most innovative of all initiatives delivered during the pandemic, and that crowdfunding projects were implemented in their sport but mostly at individual and local levels. From a research perspective, since this is the first study that investigates the innovation and crowdfunding strategies of IFs, future directions include the need for further research with national and regional federations on these topics. Practical implications are suggested for IFs to deliver innovative programmes to satisfy their stakeholder needs and to consider new funding methods such as crowdfunding as part of their strategies.