The Quality of Digital Entrepreneurship Systems and Economic Resilience: A Cross-Country Analysis During COVID-19

By enabling flexible adaptation of business models in the face of external adversity, digital technologies and infrastructures enhance the organizational resilience of entrepreneurial businesses. Research also suggests that entrepreneurial businesses are important contributors to wider economic resilience, or the ability of the economy to resist economic downturns during external adversity such as a global pandemic. This study explores the relationship between the quality of a country's digital entrepreneurship systems, as measured by the Global Index of Digital Entrepreneurship Systems (GIDES), and its economic performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a cross-country analysis of 100 global economies, we find a positive association between GIDES and a country's economic performance during COVID-19. Moreover, the quality of a country's digital entrepreneurship system plays a crucial role in moderating the adverse impact of the pandemic on the economy. This suggests that enhancing the quality of a country's digital entrepreneurship system can help strengthen its economic resilience at times of major economic disruption caused by global pandemics. Our findings thus underscore the importance for policymakers to improve the quality of a country's digital entrepreneurship system to bolster economic resilience.