Document Type

Journal Article

Publication Title

Heliyon

Volume

9

Issue

5

Publisher

Elsevier

School

School of Business and Law

RAS ID

60268

Funders

UNITEN Postdoctoral Fellowship Program / King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

Comments

Al-Sharafi, M. A., Iranmanesh, M., Al-Emran, M., Alzahrani, A. I., Herzallah, F., & Jamil, N. (2023). Determinants of cloud computing integration and its impact on sustainable performance in SMEs: An empirical investigation using the SEM-ANN approach. Heliyon, 9(5), article E16299. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16299

Abstract

Although extant literature has thoroughly investigated the incorporation of cloud computing services, examining their influence on sustainable performance, particularly at the organizational level, is insufficient. Consequently, the present research aims to assess the factors that impact the integration of cloud computing within small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and its subsequent effects on environmental, financial, and social performance. The data were collected from 415 SMEs and were analyzed using a hybrid SEM-ANN approach. PLS-SEM results indicate that relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, top management support, cost reduction, and government support significantly affect cloud computing integration. This study also empirically demonstrated that SMEs could improve their financial, environmental, and social performance by integrating cloud computing services. ANN results show that complexity, with a normalized importance (NI) of 89.14%, is ranked the first among other factors affecting cloud computing integration in SMEs. This is followed by cost reduction (NI = 82.67%), government support (NI = 73.37%), compatibility (NI = 70.02%), top management support (NI = 52.43%), and relative advantage (NI = 48.72%). Theoretically, this study goes beyond examining the determinants affecting cloud computing integration by examining their impact on SMEs’ environmental, financial, and social performance in a comprehensive manner. The study also provides several practical implications for policymakers, SME managers, and cloud computing service providers.

DOI

10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e16299

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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