Purpose: This study aims to explore the role of digital technologies in tourism entrepreneurship. In particular, the main objective of this research is to examine the relationships among proactiveness, innovativeness, digitalization, and firm performance and growth in the hotel industry.Design/methodology/approach: The data for this investigation were collected from 110 one- or two-star hotels that were operating in Poland during the time of this research. This study employs PLS-SEM to analyze the relationships among the examined variables.Findings: The results show that digitalization has a significantly positive impact on a hotel’s performance. Moreover, digitalization mediates the impact of entrepreneurial behaviors on performance. In particular, digitization is a full mediator for the impact of proactiveness on firm growth and innovation on market performance. Additionally, there is a partial complementary mediation effect of digitalization in the case of impact of innovativeness on firm growth; digitization is not a mediator for the impact of proactiveness on firm growth.Originality/value: Previous studies have not captured the relationships among entrepreneurship, digitalization, and performance; this study helps to fill the gap and examine these associations in the hospitality industry. The outcome of this study provides valuable insights for hoteliers for understanding the role (and importance) of digitalization in the context of proactiveness and innovativeness.

Research background: Digitalization and the associated digital divide are crucial issues impacting socio-economic development globally. Extensive research has examined digitalization and the digital divide in EU countries, but there is a lack of understanding regarding comparisons with studies conducted in Western Balkan countries. This study investigates digitalization trends in research from the past five years in both regions, focusing on efforts and factors contributing to the digital gap. Purpose of the article: The study analyzes research on digitalization from 2018 to 2023 in the EU and Western Balkans. It explores factors causing the digital divide and efforts in digitalization, aiming to guide future research and policy for digital inclusion and sustainable development. Methods: The study employs a meticulous data selection process, choosing Scopus as the database for its extensive coverage of diverse journals. A total of 1119 articles from EU countries and 277 from Western Balkan countries are selected for bibliometric analysis, adhering to PRISMA guidelines. Findings & value added: The research reveals a growing interest in digitalization-related issues, demonstrating the multidisciplinary nature of ongoing research. It points out the distribution of publications on digitalization in the EU and Western Balkans countries. The EU focuses on digital technologies, economic growth, and sustainability, while Western Balkan countries focus on COVID-19 impact and digitalization in education and business. The research compares digitalization efforts in the EU and Western Balkan countries presented in the literature, pointing to new dimensions of the digital divide studies. It discusses how socio-economic contexts affect digital transformation and stresses the need for tailored policy approaches for digital inclusivity. These insights are of great importance for policymakers, researchers, and practitioners working towards global digital development and bridging the digital divide. The study lays the groundwork for future research and policy considerations, considering limitations like potential bias in databases and search criteria.

Previous research has indicated that the impact of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) on performance is ambiguous. This relationship can be affected by numerous factors – both internal and external. This study aims to examine the moderating impact of inter-organizational cooperation, competitive behaviors, digitalization, diversification, and flexibility on the relationship between EO and performance; it also assesses the impact of market conditions on the relationships that were examined above. The sample was comprised of 150 small printing companies, and the moderating roles were analyzed with PLS-SEM. The results confirmed the strong positive impact of EO on firm performance under both non-crisis and crisis conditions. The results indicated that, under crisis conditions, the impact of EO on market performance is positively moderated by inter-organizational cooperation, digitalization, and diversification. However, these factors do not moderate the examined relationship under non-crisis conditions – they only become moderators during a crisis. When supported with the Welch-Satterthwait statistical test, these observations indicated the moderating role of market conditions on the other factors that were examined in this study. With its findings, this study contributes to the literature on entrepreneurship and crisis management. The originality of the study is two-fold: first, this study examines the moderating impact of several factors that have not been previously tested on the EO–performance relationship; and second, it compares the examined models (and the entrepreneurial behaviors that are reflected in these models) and tests the moderating roles of the examined factors under two different market conditions (non-crisis, and crisis). In this way, the study tests the moderating role of market conditions as it relates to the examined moderators.

Recent economic and public health crises have posed important challenges to family businesses – particularly those in the hospitality sector. While sustaining a business, performance becomes critical; there is insufficient knowledge on the use of entrepreneurial behaviors in mitigating the impact of a crisis by family businesses. To help fill this gap, this study explores the configurations of entrepreneurial behaviors that lead to improved performance in small firms under crisis market conditions – particularly, risk-taking, innovativeness, proactiveness, flexibility, and digitalization. This study employs fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The sample consists of 117 one- and two-star Polish hotels that are comprised of both family and non-family businesses. The data was collected in November and December 2021. The results confirm the core role of risk-taking, proactiveness, and flexibility in increasing the performance of these small firms. However, performance outcomes depend on the configurations of the firms; differences between family and non-family businesses stood out. In family hotels, risk-taking is accompanied by flexibility as a core factor, and digitalization does not play an important role in achieving higher performance. Overall, these results contribute to the literature on organizational entrepreneurship (especially entrepreneurial orientation) as well as family business crisis management in the tourism sector. These findings offer implications for managers by indicating combinations of entrepreneurial behaviors that can help foster business performance.