Australian SMEs and Digitalisation: Interview Dataset on Challenges and Financial Impacts (20 Interviews)

In today’s rapidly evolving business environment, digitalisation has become increasingly essential for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The global momentum to drive digital transformation intensified significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic, affecting businesses in Australia. However, Australian SMEs in the retail sector still face significant challenges in their digitalisation journey, particularly at different stages of the process. Although previous studies pointed out the general advantages and challenges of digitalisation, there is still a lack of understanding the distinct obstacles faced by SMEs at each stage of digitalisation and how these stages impact financial performance. This study aims to bridge the gap by systematically analysing the stages of digitalisation among Australian retail SMEs, exploring the specific challenges they encounter at each stage, and examining the stages of digitalisation and financial performance. This study adopts a qualitative research approach, collecting data by conducting semi-structured interviews with 20 SME owners and managers. The Digital Transformation Theory (including Nobles Theory of the stages of digitalisation) and the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was adopted to systematically assess the digital tools used by SMEs at various stages of digitalisation. The study, focusing on the ease and practicality of technology adoption, offers a comprehensive perspective on the core factors influencing technology adoption, while revealing specific challenges faced by SME owners at each stage of the digitalisation process. Moreover, this study contributes at the theoretical level how these frameworks can be applied to explore digitalisation in SMEs, while providing concrete insights and recommendations at the practical level to help SME owners, policy makers and technology providers to allocate resources more efficiently in the various stages of digital transformation. By thoroughly analysing the challenges encountered by SMEs in the process of digitalisation, this study identifies diverse barriers and offers valuable suggestions to improve the efficiency of digital transformation. It allows for an understanding of the gradual character of the digitalisation process and the impact of digitalisation on the financial performance of SMEs. It adds to the existing literature in accounting and to the theories on DTT and TAM. The major limitations of this study were the sample size of only 20 interviews, the challenge of maintaining consistency in the interviews, the possible deviation of self-reported financial data, and the focus on SMEs in the retail sector. However, due to the limited size and resource constraints of a Master's thesis, this study still offered a detailed insight into the challenges faced by SMEs during the digitalisation stages and its impact on financial performance.在当今快速迭代的商业环境中，数字化对中小企业（small and medium-sized enterprises, SMEs）而言已愈发不可或缺。新冠疫情（COVID-19 pandemic）期间，全球推动数字化转型的浪潮显著加剧，对澳大利亚的各类企业造成了深远影响。然而，澳大利亚零售领域的中小企业在数字化转型进程中仍面临诸多严峻挑战，尤其是在该进程的不同阶段。尽管既往研究已提及数字化转型的普遍优势与挑战，但目前学界仍未充分明晰中小企业在数字化转型各阶段所面临的独特障碍，以及各阶段如何对企业财务绩效产生影响。 本研究旨在弥补这一研究空白：通过系统分析澳大利亚零售领域中小企业的数字化转型阶段，探究其在各阶段遭遇的具体困境，并检验数字化转型阶段与财务绩效之间的关联。本研究采用质性研究方法，通过对20名中小企业所有者及管理者开展半结构化访谈来收集数据。本研究采用数字化转型理论（Digital Transformation Theory，包含诺布尔数字化转型阶段理论（Nobles Theory of the stages of digitalisation））与技术接受模型（Technology Acceptance Model, TAM），对中小企业在数字化转型各阶段所使用的数字化工具开展系统性评估。本研究聚焦技术采纳的易用性与实用性，为探析影响技术采纳的核心因素提供了全面视角，同时揭示了中小企业所有者在数字化转型各阶段所面临的具体困境。 此外，本研究在理论层面明晰了如何运用上述分析框架探究中小企业的数字化转型问题，同时在实践层面提供了切实可行的见解与建议，助力中小企业所有者、政策制定者与技术供应商在数字化转型的各阶段更高效地配置资源。通过深入剖析中小企业在数字化转型进程中遭遇的各类挑战，本研究识别出多样化的阻碍因素，并为提升数字化转型效率提供了极具价值的建议。本研究有助于理解数字化转型进程的阶段性特征，以及数字化转型对中小企业财务绩效的影响。本研究丰富了会计学领域的现有文献，同时补充了数字化转型理论与技术接受模型的相关理论研究。 本研究存在主要局限：仅开展了20次访谈，样本量有限；难以保证访谈过程的一致性；自我报告的财务数据可能存在偏差；且研究仅聚焦于零售领域的中小企业。但鉴于本研究为硕士学位论文，受限于研究规模与资源条件，本研究仍为探析中小企业在数字化转型各阶段面临的挑战及其对财务绩效的影响提供了详实的视角。