Navigating the barriers of internationalization and technology adoption in SMEs: a systematic literature review

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) face challenges in internationalization and adopting new technology. These two fields have been widely studied separately, leading to a lack of understanding of the challenges at the intersection of internationalization and technology adoption, which motivated this study. The research aims to address this gap by synthesizing barriers at this intersection, their effects, and potential solutions. For this, a systematic literature review was conducted on a sample of 95 FT50 journal articles, following PRISMA, and analysed using inductive thematic analysis. Among the key findings, resource and capability constraints are the main barriers, negatively affecting the performance, innovation, and operations of SMEs. Meanwhile, alliances, networking, and collaboration could mitigate these challenges. The main contribution of the current research lies in synthesizing fragmented literature and outlining practical implications for SMEs and policymakers in this space.