Citation:
Savvakis G, Kenourgios D, Trakadas P. Digitalization as a driver of European SMEs’ financial performance during COVID-19. Finance Research Letters [Internet]. 2024;Volume 67, Part A , September 2024, 105848.
Abstract:
This paper analyzes the impact of the European economy digitalization on the financial performance of the European SMEs during COVID-19. Using a panel data from 2017 to 2022 of 12,179 European SMEs and a European transformed digitalization index, we find that financial performance of SMEs is significantly and negatively associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Digitalization of the European economy significantly increases SMEs’ financial performance measured by various performance measurements and mediates the COVID-19 negative effect. Digitalization is more significant during COVID-19 era compared to the pre-pandemic period. Our results are robust to alternative performance measures.