Pregled bibliografske jedinice broj: 1272486
How do governmental wage subsidies enhance SME resilience in the COVID-19 pandemic?
How do governmental wage subsidies enhance SME resilience in the COVID-19 pandemic? // International journal of operations & production management, 43 (2023), 13; 183-204 doi:10.1108/IJOPM-09-2022-0592 (međunarodna recenzija, članak, znanstveni)
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Naslov
How do governmental wage subsidies enhance SME
resilience in the COVID-19 pandemic?
Autori
Miočević, Dario ; Srhoj, Stjepan
Izvornik
International journal of operations & production management (0144-3577) 43
(2023), 13;
183-204
Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Radovi u časopisima, članak, znanstveni
Ključne riječi
COVID-19 ; wage subsidies ; resource dependence theory ; flexibility norms ; SMEs ; customer concentration ; resilience
Sažetak
Purpose Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has had a tremendous negative effect on the economies around the world by infusing uncertainty into supply chains. In this paper, the authors address two important research questions (RQs): (1) did COVID- 19 wage subsidies impact small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to become more flexible towards the SMEs' business customers and (2) can such flexibility be a source for greater resilience to the crisis? As a result, the authors investigate the relationship between governmental wage subsidies and SMEs' flexibility norms towards the SMEs' business customers (study 1). The authors further uncover when and how flexibility towards existing customers contributes to SME resilience (study 2). Design/methodology/approach The authors frame the inquiry under the resource dependence theory (RDT) and behavioural additionality principle. The authors use survey methodology and test the assumptions in study 1 (n = 225) and study 2 (n = 95) on a sample of SMEs from various business-to-business (B2B) industries in Croatia. Findings Overall, in study 1, the authors find that SMEs that receive governmental wage subsidies have greater flexibility norms. However, this relationship is significantly conditioned by SMEs' competitive profile. SMEs that strongly rely on innovation are more willing to behave flexibly when receiving subsidies, whereas SMEs driven by branding do not. Study 2 sheds light on when flexibility towards existing customers increases SME resilience. Findings show that flexibility norms are negatively related to resilience, but this relationship is becoming less negative amongst SMEs with lower financial dependence on the largest customer. Originality/value This study extends RDT in the area of firm– government relationships by showing that wage subsidies became a source of power for the Government and a source of dependency for SMEs. In such cases, the SMEs receiving those subsidies align with the governmental agenda and exhibit higher flexibility towards the SMEs' customers. Drawing arguments from behavioural additionality, the authors show that this effect varies due to SMEs' attention and organisational priorities resulting from different competitive profiles. Ultimately, the authors showcase that higher flexibility norms can contribute to resilience if the SME restructures its dependency by having a less-concentrated customer base.
Izvorni jezik
Engleski
Znanstvena područja
Ekonomija
POVEZANOST RADA
Projekti:
HRZZ-IP-CORONA-2020-12-1064 - Javne politike za jačanje otpornosti: Analize uloge državnih potpora (CROREP) (Srhoj, Stjepan, HRZZ ) ( CroRIS)
Ustanove:
Ekonomski fakultet, Split
Citiraj ovu publikaciju:
Časopis indeksira:
- Current Contents Connect (CCC)
- Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC)
- Social Science Citation Index (SSCI)
- SCI-EXP, SSCI i/ili A&HCI
- Scopus