key: cord-0713588-wy9l6rvm authors: Owoseni, Adebowale; Hatsu, Sylvester; Tolani, Adedamola title: How do digital technologies influence the dynamic capabilities of micro and small businesses in a pandemic and low‐income country context? date: 2021-09-28 journal: Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries DOI: 10.1002/isd2.12202 sha: 9e00024b18d06a415f6d366b17724bc401a5e367 doc_id: 713588 cord_uid: wy9l6rvm It is not clear how extreme disruptions like COVID‐19 pandemic affects the dynamic capabilities (DCs) of micro and small businesses (MSBs) in the context of low‐income countries. Therefore, this study makes sense of how MSBs leverage DCs through digital technologies (DTs). Using mixed‐method and interpretive research approaches, the first phase of the study applied a deductive coding technique to analyze interviews from 30 MSB managers in Ghana. Coding activities revealed 21 DC constructs of MSBs in Ghana. Next, we contextualized and simplified the DC framework by proposing an interpretive blueprint of DC framework applicable to Ghana and other low‐income countries. The second phase, through a questionnaire, progressed the research by assessing how DTs influence the 21 DC constructs. Findings suggest that collective DCs of MSBs as a business sector did not change in a pandemic situation; nonetheless, the extent to which MSBs demonstrate DCs increased by up to 82%; and the use of DTs such as mobile payment and social media tools increased significantly. Interpretive reflections on the research outcomes argued that whilst the collective DCs of MSBs remain the same, each MSB uniquely explored opportunities by manifesting different combinations of DC constructs and DTs, at varying extents, and the knowledge of how MSB combines DCs could promote MSB management and digital innovation as low‐income countries seek to recover from the COVID‐19 economic downturn. Consequently, this research extends literature and progresses the UN sustainable development goals 8.3 as it helps to enhance policies that promote digital innovation, entrepreneurship, and growth of MSBs. protect them from negative impacts of rapidly changing business environments (Albort-Morant et al., 2017) . However, it is not evident how COVID-19 affects the dynamic capabilities of micro and small businesses (MSBs) in low-income countries. In recent times, the pandemic seems to be questioning the knowledge of the DC framework; it is stretching the practicality and effectiveness of DCs at helping MSBs to navigate pandemic motivated disruptions in a low-income country setting. From another perspective, there are facts to support the increased use of digital technologies (DTs) by MSBs during the COVID-19 pandemic (Priyono et al., 2020) ; but there is limited knowledge regarding the use of DTs for DC and for managing business in extreme situations such as a pandemic (Papadopoulos et al., 2020) . For instance, in a study that considered the entrepreneurial ecosystem of small businesses during COVID-19 (Rashid & Ratten, 2021) , the sensing, seizing, and transforming dimensions of DCs were identified; but the study did not clarify how these dimensions handshake DTs in ways that further interpret the DC framework. Given its importance to businesses in an uncertain situation, the DC framework should be simplified, and contextualized to contemporary local businesses. The knowledge of how the DC framework could be made operational for entrepreneurs and MSBs deserves the attention of researchers. Motivated by the need to support MSBs and help them to navigate the post-COVID challenges, this study interprets and simplifies the DC framework by creating a blueprint that clearly suggests how firms such as MSBs could leverage the DC framework in real-world situations. Thus, to satisfy the aforementioned gaps, this study sought answers to two research questions: RQ1. : How can the dynamic capability framework be interpreted in practice and in the context of the micro and small businesses, and low-income country? RQ2. : How do digital technologies influence dynamic capabilities of micro and small businesses in a low-income country and pandemic situations? The research considers Ghana as a low-income country, with the selection of Ghana being justified by its inclusion in the OECD's Development Assistance Committee's (DAC) list of low-income countries (OECD, 2021) . Moreover, the subject of MSBs is especially important because they constitute more than 85% of businesses in low-income countries such as Ghana, and they create more than 90% of the jobs (Amankwah- Amoah et al., 2018) . These numbers imply that effective MSBs management has direct implications for reducing poverty, hunger, unemployment, and inequality, which could have direct relationships with the development of MSBs (United Nations, 2020) . When MSBs succeed, employment will be created, wealth will be generated, and hunger could reduce (OECD, 1996) . This study could draw attention of researchers, MSB entrepreneurs, small business managers, and policy makers who are seeking ways to efficiently recover from COVID-19 economically. Answers to RQ1 and RQ2 will extend literature, and could make it easier for policy makers to adopt and adapt the DC framework into existing policy strategies, including the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 8 that speaks to entrepreneurship development (OECD, 2020) . We organized the remaining aspects of this paper as follows: insight into the economic background of Ghana, and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Next, the underpinning literature on DC, small business, and digital technology was addressed, followed by a presentation of the research approach, results, and discussion. We concluded with the reflections and implications of the results on literature, policies, and strategic management of MSBs. Ghana is a West African country with a population of 31.1 million (about the population of California) and Accra is the capital city of Ghana. According to International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ghana was the 16th fastest growing economy in the world based on projections that considered the compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2013 through to 2017. Ghana's economy is sustained by agriculture, which contributes 40% of the human resources (Amoah, 2020) and accounts for 39% of total GDP; closely followed by the services sector and manufacturing, which makes 35% and 26% of the total GDP, respectively. Ghana had previously experienced inconsistent economic growth typical of a low-income country: in 2009, Ghana registered a GDP rise of 7.2%, which grew to 15% in 2011 and declined consistently until 2015. The economy went north from 2016 and contracted again in 2018. Ghana had been experiencing steady minimal growth from 2019 until the second quarter of 2020 when it recorded a 3.2% decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic (MacroTrends, 2020). Labour statistics in Ghana suggest that 13.8% of the workforce is employed in public institutions, including government parastatals. In the private sector, 15.3% have jobs with formal private firms, while 69.7% are with informal private businesses, which are also service-oriented. Total unemployment, youth unemployment, and labour force participation (LFP) rates in 2019 were 4.33%, 9.16%, and 41.25%, respectively. LFP measures the number of people aged 15-24 who are economically active (Ghana Statistics Services, 2020) . The infrastructural deficiencies such as good roads, housing and health, education, good water supply, and electricity are still obvious, but appear better than neighboring countries like Togo, Burkina Faso, Benin, and Nigeria (United Nations Development Programme, 2020). Ghana had the first six COVID-19 cases reported on 9 March 2020, and the numbers have increased rapidly to 100,747 as of July 2021 (World Health Organisation, 2021) . The precautionary and controlling measures include policies and laws that restrict physical interactions. Such directives include local and international travel restrictions, limitations on mass gathering, and closing of schools, shops, restaurants, and malls (Ozili & Arun, 2020) . All these measures, while preventing the total collapse of fragile health infrastructure, are putting significant pressure on the economy, particularly the sizable number of formal and informal businesses that contribute more than 70% of the national GDP. For instance, the socio-economic implications of the pandemic resonate beyond the psychology of lack of freedom to the hardship of increased prices of food commodities and resulting hunger and anger (Asante & Mills, 2020) . The law of demand and supply has orchestrated a substantial increase in costs of goods and services because the importation of raw materials and items that make services possible has been stopped by border closures. Consequently, the limited available commodities are being sold at higher prices. MSBs in the informal sector appears to be more affected by these situations since they do not enjoy government visibility. Although the Ghanaian government gave palliatives aimed at reducing the socio-economic impact of the pandemic, such interventions had limited impact due to fundamental inhibiting challenges of corruption and distrust (Deloitte, 2020) . Micro and small business, theoretically, could mean different things to different people across different landscapes because of its subjective definitions. Nonetheless, MSB has a common perception drawn from the adjectives, micro, and small that qualifies the business. MSBs are simply small businesses. The key metrics for defining MSBs include the number of employees, and the value of fixed and/or financial assets (Ebitu et al., 2016; The Bank Association South Africa, 2016) . In the context of Ghana, the Venture Capital Act 2004, and the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) portray the micro and small business as an entity that undertakes economic activities that employ 1-29 persons and generates financial assets not more than USD 100,000. MSBs create jobs and alleviate poverty (BOI, 2019). Moreover, MSBs encourage market and price competitiveness, whilst checking the oligopolistic or monopolistic tendencies of large firms that typically take advantage of the weakness in policies, culture, infrastructure, and other socio-economic structures (Osotimehin et al., 2012) . According to Oppong et al. (2014) , MSBs stems from rural-urban migration, and accelerate rural development, particularly when MSBs leverage the use of emerging DTs and seize growth opportunities to become a large corporation. Most large firms do not start big; they started small and evolved into conglomerate businesses. MSBs in low-income country contexts such as Ghana have pain-points, and these include poor access to finance, poor infrastructure (i.e., power supply, road network), poor management skills, and inconsistent policies that support multiple taxations, and discourage businesses from formalizing their businesses (Kasseeah, 2016) . In recent times, the problems of MSBs appear to be compounded by poor uptake of DTs: noticeably made apparent by the COVID-19 pandemic (Fletcher & Griffiths, 2020; Juergensen et al., 2020) . Although there are efforts by government and international agencies to develop MSBs, it appears the interventions in most cases fall short of mid/long term expectations; and this has been a source of concern as it underscores the need to continually evaluate the MSBs problem domain to find enduring and contextual solutions. Hence, this study aims to interpret and simplify the DC framework through a blueprint that suggests how MSBs could effectively develop. Teece and Pisano (1994) published the first literature on the dynamic capabilities (DC) framework, presenting it as a business survival and growth framework, which described how firms respond to changes in their internal and external environments (Ambrosini & Bowman, 2009 ). The framework makes sense of how DCs of businesses with similar resources, and in a similar (change) situations, have unique responses to change and subsequently realize unique business outcomes. DC evidenced how business managers "integrate, build and reconfigure internal and external competencies to address rapidly changing environments" (Teece et al., 1997, p. 516 ). Eisenhardt and Martin (2000, p. 1107) further defined DC as "organizational and strategic routines by which firms achieve new resource configuration as markets emerge, collide, split, evolve or die". These attributes of DCs, therefore, present it as learnable, repetitive procedures or processes, aimed at helping firms achieve a distinctive positive outlook: using distinctive in the sense that learning practices are inherently social, and do not take place merely via imitation and mimicry of individuals (Teece & Pisano, 1994) . Thus, even when firms exhibit the same DCs, there is intrinsically personalized effects that result in different outcomes. Proposition 1. (P1): Micro and small businesses improve their dynamic capability by repeating learnable processes and procedures. The complexity of DCs was explained by categorizing them into three broad dimensions, namely adaptive, absorptive, and innovative capabilities; and further relating these categories with how a firm maximizes opportunities and reconfigures its resources (Wang & Ahmed, 2007) . Adaptive capability demonstrates the firm's ability to sense, filter and identify "emerging" market opportunities and accordingly adapt to maximize opportunities (Biedenbach et al., 2012) . The absorptive capacity of a firm is inward-reflective, as it considers how to exploit the latest information within the firm, the firm's collaborators or stakeholders, and competitors. Innovative capability looks at how firms create or refine products and services (Biedenbach et al., 2012; Wang & Ahmed, 2007) . Proposition 2. (P2): Micro and small businesses demonstrate dynamic capabilities as absorptive, adaptive, and innovative capabilities. The purpose of absorptive, adaptive, and innovative capabilities is to sense and seize opportunities in a fast-paces environment; this concept of sensing and seizing opportunities is regarded as "micro-foundations" of DC (Faizal et al., 2012; Haas, 2015; Helfat et al., 2007) ; MSBs, through adaptive, absorptive, or innovative capabilities, sense and seize opportunities. Success at sensing and seizing business opportunities creates more "resources" such as new skills, products, services, income, tools, and equipment among others. The relative and unique mix of the existing and new resources is called resource reconfigurations (Parida et al., 2016; Pavlou & El Sawy, 2011) . The reconfigured resources further enhance the DCs and ability to maximize opportunities, which leads to additional shift(s) in resources, and this learning process continues iteratively. Proposition 3. (P3): Micro and small businesses shift resources when they sense and seize opportunities through adaptive, absorptive, and innovative capabilities. Drawing on the DC literature, Figure 1 assembles propositions P1, P2, and P3, and presents the DC framework as a conceptual model. From the foregoing, DCs help firms to manage the tides of unpredictable, fast-paced change by creating uniquely innate capabilities that help firms maximize opportunities. There are, however, gaps in the literature regarding the practice of the DC framework in extreme change situations such as a pandemic, and how micro-businesses that are foundational to the socio-economic development of low-income countries react to the DC framework in a pandemic context. This is even more so when the pandemic seems to have motivated an increased uptake of DTs. Therefore, this study makes sense of how MSBs leverage DCs through DTs. Business management problems of MSBs appear to have compounded during the COVID-19 pandemic due to the disruptive approach used for curtailing the spread of the virus; examples include lockdown, restrictions, and social distancing. Extant literature suggests that during the pandemic, entrepreneurs are inherently adept at adjusting business processes and procedures as the operating environment evolves (Dyduch et al., 2021; Weaven et al., 2021) . According to Rashid and Ratten (2021) , small business entrepreneurs actively sense trends, and they consistently make tough decisions. For instance, the traditional marketing and service delivery techniques were no longer effective during the pandemic, with businesses making decisions to switch to DTs to market and deliver products innovatively. Most of the MSBs must deal with the digital skill-gap and steep digital skills learning curves. Economic activities also slowed down significantly, resulting in a significant reduction in revenue, redundancies, and layoffs. Weaven et al. (2021) found that during COVID-19 MSBs are more context-aware and flexible as they demonstrate the micro-foundations of DCs: sensing opportunities, seizing opportunities, and transforming resources. A more detailed investigation into DCs of MSBs in the pandemic revealed a significant increase in the MSBs' ability to imitate and diversify products and services. On the other hand, these DCs reduce the ability to maintain consistent liquidity, with this liquidity being further impaired by the need to adapt modern DTs. (Dyduch et al., 2021) . Although there is evidence that MSBs leverage DCs during the COVID-19 pandemic, there appears to be gaps and incomplete knowledge of how MSBs operationalize the DC framework; and in particular, how sensing opportunities evolved into seized opportunities and transformed resources, and how these resources in turn helps to sense more opportunities, thereby helping businesses to progressively develop "natural" coping mechanism in a fast-paced business environment. Therefore, this interpretive study sought to close this knowledge gap by making sense of how MSBs played the DC framework in the COVID-19 pandemic in a low-income country context. Digital Technologies are electronic tools, systems, or platforms that simplify data collection, storage, sharing, and retrieval, usually facilitated by the internet or other telecommunication technologies (Salmons & Wilson, 2009 ). Examples of DTs include mobile applications (bespoke or generic), social media, collaboration, payment, and e-commerce platforms. There is evidence that the DT significantly enhance the development and growth of MSBs (Dibrell et al., 2008; Ulas, 2019) ; particularly, their ability to innovate and adapt to a changing business environment (Dibrell et al., 2008; Perry, 1999; Reuver et al., 2018) . With the advent of newer technologies such as the Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, and Blockchain among others, the capability of MSBs to innovate using DT is further boosting growth and development opportunities (Akpan et al., 2020) . For instance, it gives the ability to invent newer business models and adapt the functionalities of specific DTs to progress the new models. An example is the use of WhatsApp as an e-commerce platform (Owoseni & Twinomurinzi, 2018b) , and the use of the blockchain app (Zlto) to dispatch groceries/medicines, and manage virtual doctors' consultations (mHealth) (UNDP, 2020). Innovation and adaptation are forms of DC, which speaks to how firms react to changing business climates (Wang & Ahmed, 2007) . However, as opined by Papadopoulos et al. (2020) , there is limited knowledge regarding the use of DT for managing business in extreme situations such as a F I G U R E 1 A conceptual model of the dynamic capability framework pandemic. Through interpretive reflections, this study sought to close the knowledge gap by studying how MSBs in a low-income country setting, such as Ghana, develop DCs using DTs in extreme business scenarios. We framed the study using interpretive research principles and a reflective mindset. Interpretive research looks to know and understand social reality through practices and techniques that often draws on a researcher's experience, interactions, and worldviews (Goldkuhl, 2012; Klein & Myers, 1999) . Interpretive research principles sit well with the goal of this study: to know how MSBs leverage DCs through DTs in a pandemic situation. The study progressed in two phases: (1) qualitative interviews aimed at identifying DC constructs and DTs; and (2) the quantitative questionnaire for evaluating DC constructs in a pandemic. There was a unique background to this research approach as the study was originally planned to be a qualitative study aimed at answering RQ1: How can the dynamic capability framework be interpreted in practice and in the context of the micro and small businesses, and a low-income country? The interviews took place in January 2020 before the pandemic spread to Ghana, however, the research activities slowed down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nonetheless, the pandemic presented an opportunity to re-adapt the research to contribute to debates on emerging challenges of MSBs motivated by COVID-19 and increased usage of DTs. Thus, the quantitative phase of the research was added to answer RQ2: How do digital technologies influence dynamic capabilities of micro and small businesses in a lowincome country and pandemic situations? The questionnaire was administered in October 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. A mixed-method research approach such as this is widely acceptable in cross-disciplined research that involves Information Systems discipline (Mitręga & Choi, 2021; Okoli & Schabram, 2010) . Following the contextual understanding of the DC framework (see Figure 1 ) discussed in the literature review (see section 3.2), we developed a semi-structured interview instrument that elicited basic business information (i.e., type of business, years of operation and employee count), the DTs used for business and the DC constructs along the three dimensions of DCs: absorptive, adaptive, and innovative DCs (see Appendix 1, Tables A1 and A2). Participants of the interview were drawn from Accra, the capital city and industrial hub of Ghana and those targeted were adults aged 18 and above who own or manage MSBs. Research participants were selected through convenience, non-probability sampling. One of the authors who resides in Ghana randomly contacted 36 participants in the Accra business district leveraging his personal contact and referrals from friends and associates. Subsequently, 30 participants were physically interviewed one-on-one; the interview sessions in English lasted for about 15 min each and were audio-recorded using the audio-recording app. The interviews were transcribed. Deductive coding and thematic analyses revealed the DC constructs (see details in section 4.2). Next, the emerged constructs were phrased as procedural statements, and the statement were used to create 5-point Likert scale questions. The questions elicited feedback that sought to know how the MSBs have intensified DCs (constructs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and what DTs have been helpful. This second phase of the research through the online survey obtained data from 46 participants, (30 interviewees in the first phase of the research, and 16 randomly selected persons who met the sampling criteria). The question- naire had an open question that asked the participants to "describe new ways of identifying opportunities, extracting latest information, and creating products and services." This aimed at checking if new DCs were developed during the pandemic. Figure 2 summarizes the research approach. The study had ethics approvals from our host universities (where the researchers work). Participation in the research was voluntary and anonymous, such that personal identifiable details (name, address, and date of birth) were not collected. The participants were aware of the implications of participating in the research, and they all willingly consented. The audio interviews were transcribed to Microsoft word documents, and the documents imported into NVivo qualitative analysis software. The choice of NVivo was motivated by a study that recommended NVivo as the best qualitative analysis software for managing 'coding' activities (Al Yahmady & Al Abri, 2013) . Moreover Nvivo appears most appropriate when evaluated alongside 13 parameters for choosing qualitative data analysis software (St John & Johnson, 2000) . After importing transcribed interviews into Nvivo, the data were analyzed through two cycles of coding as suggested by Saldana (2009) and practiced by researchers in a similar situation. Given the interpretive nature of the research, the deductive coding method appears more appropriate according to Skjott Linneberg and Korsgaard (2019). The deductive coding method uses a predefined coding frame or anchor codes to focus the coding activities on existing issues or gaps, and in the context of the research, it focuses on making sense of the DC framework and in particular the propositions P1, P2, and P3 in Figure 1 . The first-cycle coding captured business activities, processes, and procedures of MSBs through a coding technique known as processes coding (Fereday & Muir-Cochrane, 2006) . Process coding in this instance was deductive because it maps to predefined anchor codes. Drawing on the extracted codes from the first-cycle coding, the second cycle further refined, categorized, and aligned the codes along similar ideas; each idea represents a theme or a second-cycle code. To reduce the researcher's biases that could impede independent judgments during coding activities, two co-researchers independently reviewed the coding process, and a few conflicting thematic groupings were discussed and agreed upon. These independent reviews enhanced reliability of the coding strategy and the resulting themes. Moreover, the background and worldviews of researchers could influence their judgment and outcomes of the coding. Thus, it is beneficial to mention that the lead researcher in this study has 12 years of software development experience in the retail banking sector before joining academia. The second researcher is a business information systems lecturer, and the third researcher wears both technical and business leadership caps as a business consultant in the Fintech industry. The themes that emerged from the second-cycle coding are the DC constructs of MSBs, and the frequency of the codes in each thematic group was noted with us considering the frequency as the weight of each DC construct. Table 1 outlines the activities, intended purpose, and outcome of each step in the coding analyses. Finally, the emerged constructs were phrased as procedural statements, easily understood by the research participants. Using 5-point Likert scale questions, we elicited feedback that suggest how the participants have intensified the DCs (constructs), and what DTs have been helpful. The questionnaire data were analyzed using descriptive statistics using Microsoft Excel functions. To simplify the presentation and visualization of DTs retrieved from the interview and the questionnaire, we used NVivo to create word-cloud interpretations. We created three word-cloud diagrams of DTs used by MSBs: DTs used before COVID-19; DTs used during COVID-19; and combinations of DTs used before and during the pandemic. This section presents the research findings. First, the demography of research participants were described. Second, the DC constructs of MSBs were highlighted as we present DTs used for the DCs. We concluded the section with the outcome of descriptive statistics that revealed how MSBs reacted to their DCs during the COVID-19 pandemic. In creating a picture of the MSBs involved in this research, the average age of participants and the MSBs they manage are 30.2 years and 5.6 years, respectively. The MSBs were in 12 business sectors. Twenty-nine of the 30 participants owned or co-owned the MSBs, and they employed six staff on average. The MSB with the least number of staff had two persons on the payroll while the maximum had 18 persons. Table 2 details the demography of research participants and their MSBs. With regards to the quantitative analysis, the demography appears not to be relevant to the objective of this research; moreover, 30 out of the 46 persons that participated in the survey were drawn from the list of interviewees. The final themes (constructs) that emerged from the two cycles of coding were organized in a way that simplifies and illustrates the practicability of the DC conceptual model (Figure 1) . Overall, there were 135 codes after first-cycle coding, and they were distributed as follows: 66 absorptive capabilities; 47 adaptive capabilities; 12 innovative capabilities; and 10 shifts in business resources. The second-cycle coding revealed 21 constructs, the frequencies of codes that summed up to a construct suggest the strength of the construct. Considering the constructs along the three dimensions of DCs, adaptive capability has eight constructs: managing customers to gain trust, business research and trainings towards skill upgrade came tops. For absorptive capabilities, advertisement had the highest frequency of 39, followed by information sourcing on the internet and social media. Packaging, personalization and imitation of products and services are the main innovative capability constructs. Upon reviewing how MSBs reflect the shift in resources, upgraded skillset (new knowledge), new products and services, improved quality and upgraded tools, techniques and technologies were constructs that surfaced. To answer RQ1: How can the dynamic capability framework be interpreted in practice and in the context of the micro and small businesses, and a low-income country? We fit the constructs into the contextual DC framework (Figure 1) , and this resulted in a blueprint of the DC framework from the perspective of MSBs in Ghana (see Figure 3) . Steps Activities Purpose Output Re-phrase the constructs into procedural, then extend the conceptual model ( Figure 1 ) to a blueprint for DC framework in practice and in the context of the MSBs in Ghana To answer RQ1: How can dynamic capability framework be interpreted in practice and in the context of the micro and small businesses, and low-income country? Blueprint of DC framework. This is contextual and practicable DC framework for MSBs low-income countries For clarity, DTs used by MSBs for DCs were described in three stages: (1) DTs used before the pandemic; (2) DTs adopted during the pandemic; and (3) the combination of DTs used before and during the pandemic (see Figure 4 ). MSBs used a range of DTs mostly powered by the internet on handheld devices and operated as mobile apps. These DTs can be grouped into social media, productivity, payment, and e-commerce tools. Before the pandemic, social media were the major DTs, with WhatsApp as the most prominent tool. The dawn of the COVID-19 pandemic saw more From the survey, the extent to which MSBs exhibit the DC constructs during the pandemic increased across all constructs, and the percentage increase stands between 82% and 58%, as shown in the inferential statistical analysis (see Table 3 and Figure 5 ). Expectedly, obtaining information from the internet was prominent, due to restrictions, lockdown, and the need to do business remotely. The DC constructs that increased includes process optimization, training, research, and creating out-of-the-box products or services. Considering the constructs that dropped, it appears some MSBs reduced imitation, shadowing thought leaders, and selling on credit. The content analysis created suggests that all extracted codes could fit into one or more of the existing DC constructs in Figure 3 . Upon this backdrop, our study implies new DCs were not created during the COVID-19 pandemic. These results throw light on to RQ2: How do digital technologies influence dynamic capabilities of micro and small businesses in a low-income country and pandemic situations? The connections between DCs and DTs are further discussed in the next section. This study showed 21 DC constructs across three dimensions of DC: eight adaptive capabilities, six absorptive capabilities and seven innovative capabilities; but the weights of these DC dimensions are 47, 66, and 12, respectively. Interpretive reflections on the results imply that MSBs mostly demonstrate the absorptive form of DCs; the MSBs are naturally in search of the latest information that could help to maximize opportunities. This is understandable because adaptive and innovative forms of DC rely on information. In other words, absorptive capabilities enhance adaptive and innovative capabilities; and this also explains why MSBs' primary use of DTs is for communication and interaction; for exchanging and sniffing out information through social media (WhatsApp) and the internet (see Figures 4 and 5) . Information in this regard includes knowledge about sales, market trends, competitors, modern technology, products, services, policies, regulations and so on. Therefore, it means that F I G U R E 3 Blueprint of the dynamic capability framework for MSBs in Ghana strategies or interventions that help MSBs to easily access up-to-date information around them could significantly increase their dynamic capability and the ability to maximize opportunities and speed-up recovery from the post-COVID-19 dip. Furthermore, interview extracts showed MSBs' physical interaction with customers or stakeholder was to extract useful information, which underscores the importance of individual MSB manager's personality and communication skills. For instance, the following are excerpts from the research participants, all pointing to the importance of extracting relevant information: • "When you are jovial towards dealing with your customers, you'll get more of them, and your business will flourish." • "We have to be patient with our customers and give them some commission when they are buying from us but when you frown towards them, you'll lose them." • "If you resell it, the people complain, so I told those at the village to modernize how they package the charcoal and make it in such a way that the market can continue." • "When it comes to business, the more you work, the more experience you get, and with this experience, you can tell if your business is progressing or retrogressing. So, you must be vigilant to detect changes in your business." The fact that deductive coding revealed 21 constructs does not mean a typical MSB demonstrates all these 21 DC constructs at once; rather, the results could imply each MSB has at least 21 unique capabilities from which it could select, combine, and practice varying measures and combinations of DCs while sensing and seizing opportunities in fast-changing, fluctuating, and unpredictable business environments. For instance, MSB-1, on one hand, may devise a process to learn from competitors, re-evaluate critics and scan for personalized customers' needs; and sense and seize new market opportunities that led to improved quality of product and more sales. On the other hand, MSB-2 decides to acquire modern technology, optimize [existing] process, and watch influencers or thought leaders; and these activities could motivate new services and products, and more sales. Even if MSB-1 and MSB-2 run the same type of business and they both sold more at the end of the day, their combinations of DCs are different, which then leads to a similar but distinct shift in resources. Nonetheless, the DCs exhibited by both MSBs were selected from the 21 DCs in Figure 3 . These MSBs may continue to combine DCs iteratively while they get better at it. This scenario practically explains the intrinsic, distinctive, repeatable, learnable, non-copiable, non-transferable, and discernable elements of the DC framework that was discussed in the literature (Ambrosini & Bowman, 2009; Faizal et al., 2012; Teece, 2007; Teece & Pisano, 1994; Wang & Shi, 2011) . Technology has been identified as an enabler of DCs (Camis on & Monfort-Mir, 2012; Henton & Held, 2013; Owoseni & Twinomurinzi, 2016) , and this study collaborates this stance. However, it revealed a remarkable perspective, particularly in the way the adoption of DT transited from social media platforms before the pandemic to online/mobile payments during the pandemic. The motivation for this could be traced to lockdown and restricted physical movements. But this is potentially revealing another bigger factor, and that is financial inclusion and formalization of MSBs that constitute the informal business sector (BOI, 2019; Jelilov & Onder, 2016; Oppong et al., 2014) . It appears that extreme business disruptions such as a pandemic could provide opportunities for government and authorities to re-access and improve on the formalization of MSBs and entrepreneurship activities. Moreover, more indigenous payment solutions could be explored to maximize the prevailing openness of MSBs to remote payment and banking services. Eventually, this could advance the United Nations sustainable development goal 8 (SDG 8.10) that seeks to "strengthen the capacity of domestic financial institutions to encourage and expand access to banking, insurance, and financial services for all" by 2030 (United Nations, 2020). 7 | CONTRIBUTIONS TO THEORY, RESEARCH, AND PRACTICE The preceding sections interpreted the DC framework from MSBs and a low-income country's perspectives; and this offered a multi-dimensional contribution to theory and extant literature. This study demystifies the strategic purpose of the DC framework by making the framework operational for MSBs. More importantly as MSBs were considered ubiquitous, heterogeneous and difficult to generalize (Derham & Cragg, 2011; Juergensen et al., 2020; Owoseni & Twinomurinzi, 2018a) . Furthermore, the blueprint of the DC framework ( Figure 3 ) makes it easier for policy makers to understand, adopt, and adapt existing policy frameworks that could enhance post-COVID-19 pandemic economic recovery. This study made contributions to research and practices in the areas of strategic small business management, entrepreneurship innovation, and information systems knowledge domains as follows: • First, it created a conceptual model for exploring the DCs of MSBs (see Figure 1 ), then using the conceptual model, the study extracted DCs of MSBs in Ghana and developed a blueprint of the DC framework (see Figure 3 ). F I G U R E 5 Extent to which MSBs exhibit dynamic capabilities during the COVID-19 pandemic and in so doing, this study advances the UN SDG 8.10 on financial inclusion and SDG 8.3 on "entrepreneurship, creativity, and innovation, and encourage the formalization and growth of micro-, small-and medium-sized enterprises" (United Nations, 2020, p. 8) by 2030. Through this study, we have more knowledge with which we could engage policy makers, entrepreneurs and MSB managers on how to navigate difficult business situations through the DC framework. While this study offers significant insights regarding DC in the case of Ghana, it seems to be limited in the number of respondents involved, and in generalizing the research outcomes. The research participants were drawn from Greater Accra, a metropolitan center, and the capital city of Ghana, which may not represent the narratives of MSBs in other cities and remote areas of Ghana. Moreover, the number of participants interviewed compared to the number of MSBs, MSBs entrepreneurs, and managers in Ghana appears inadequate. Therefore, to generalize the outcomes of our study, it may be instructive to view the DCs and businesses from the lens of formal MSBs operating in urban areas of low-income countries. In reference to the limitations of this study, we suggest future research on this subject considers more inclusive representations of MSBs from urban cities and rural settlements. Furthermore, the selection of MSBs could cut across (in)formal business sectors in different social, cultural, and religious settings. Undeniably, the COVID-19 pandemic has been unprecedented, causing disruptive change to socio-economic aspects of life. However, it also prompts the need for scholars to re-evaluate the knowledge of theories such as the DC framework, and assumptions that guide these theories. Inspired by the need to support MSBs and help them get through the post covid-challenges, this study interprets and simplifies the DC framework by creating a blueprint that clearly suggests how firms such as MSBs could leverage the DC framework in real-world situations. While creating the blueprint, the study revealed the following: (1) 21 DC constructs that MSBs could uniquely leverage on to maximize opportunity and/or minimize threats in unpredictable business environment. (2) Absorptive capability dimension of DC drives adaptive and innovative capabilities, therefore interventions aimed at increasing DCs should focus on absorptive capabilityhow MSB extract helpful information. (3) Collective DCs of MSBs as a sector did not change during the pandemic; however, MSBs intensified DCs, particularly, the absorptive capabilities dimension of DC and looked for more ways of getting information. (4) MSB adopted several DTs during the pandemic to intensify DC, particularly to gather more information, and adapt to changing environment and innovate business offerings. MSBs adopted mobile/online payments tools during the pandemic in addition to social media and productive DT tools. (5) The MSBs openness to adopt new DTs such as mobile/online banking tools, and other custom-made indigenous tools, potentially increases financial inclusion, formalization of more MSBs in the informal sector, and development of more indigenous DTs solutions that could serve the technology appetites of MSBs and expand the local IT market. The new knowledge of the DC framework and the use of DTs by MSBs discovered in this study could enhance how policies are formed and executed towards the socio-economic development of low-income countries, particularly, to enhance post-COVID-19 pandemic economic recovery through MSBs and entrepreneurial development. Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly, therefore, raw dataset (other than processed data embedded within the article) is not available. 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Prior, he functioned in different digital transformation related roles in the industry for 13 years. He leverages significant industry experience and finds fulfillment in teaching and researching subjects that speak to societal impacts of business computing Hatsu is an industrious and knowledgeable IT Professional with more than 14 years' experience in strategic management and deployment of complex IT systems. He is the Director of Information Communication Technology, Accra Technical University, Ghana. In Addition, he is a Senior Lecturer with the department of Computer Science at the University. His research interests consider digital transformation He is currently the CIO at AppZone Limited, Nigeria. Adedamola has over 13 years' experience in the Information Technology and financial services industries; establishing standards to achieve best practice, and developing strategies to create an operational efficient people, systems How do digital technologies influence the dynamic capabilities of micro and small businesses in a pandemic and low-income country context? The Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries, e12202. https://doi.org/10.1002/isd2.12202 APPENDIX A. Please, briefly describe your business. How long have you been operating the business and how many employees do you have? How you identify new business opportunities? What digital technologies (such as computers, mobile apps etc.) make it easier for you to identify these opportunities? How do you make the best out of (maximize) latest information? What digital technologies (such as computers, mobile apps etc.) make it easier for you to make sense of this information? How do you create new (or improve existing) products and services? What digital technologies (such as computers, mobile apps etc.) make it easier for you to create or improve your products and services? In your opinion, how do new business opportunities, latest information or new products and services affect your business?