Cogent Business & Management

Entrepreneurship and Small Business in the Storm of Digital Intelligence Technologies: Balancing between Promises and Risks

Rapid advances in intelligent technologies are making entrepreneurship and small business more dynamic than ever. Generative artificial intelligence agents have become cognitive collaborators for entrepreneurs, reshaping fundamental activities such as information search, idea generation, and entrepreneurial judgment under uncertainty. The potential for entrepreneurial improvisation through these widely accessible tools is significant, especially for resource-constrained small businesses. Discussions on predictive artificial intelligence highlight its powerful role in various aspects of business planning and forecasting, with strong potential to improve resource allocation and investment decisions. New resilience strategies for entrepreneurs and SMEs are emerging. Promising opportunities also arise from technologies such as big data, the Internet of Things, blockchain, and the metaverse. In entrepreneurial scholarship, traditional research approaches and methods are being replaced by intelligent techniques that reduce researchers' manual work. More importantly, numerous compelling research topics on digital phenomena are emerging, with the potential to extend or reconfigure established entrepreneurship theories.

Despite the opportunities offered by digital intelligent technologies, not all entrepreneurs and small businesses are prepared to adopt them. When financial resources are not a constraint, cognitive barriers such as perceived risks, distrust, and lack of knowledge about the technology can pose significant obstacles. Additionally, the potentially real negative outcomes associated with new technology are often overlooked. The costs of poor business decisions resulting from overconfidence in AI could be very high. Cyber risks and limited knowledge of mitigation strategies negatively affect small businesses' digital resilience. Relying on robotic business interactions impersonalizes relationships, and multiple privacy concerns are emerging. In the long run, the high costs of future technologies (such as quantum algorithm applications) may reduce equal opportunities, undermining the democratization of entrepreneurship. Over-reliance on digital tools in the academic community could prioritize a metric-based approach over the theoretical strength of entrepreneurial research.

This Article Collection explores the diverse implications of digital intelligent technologies – such as AI, big data, the Internet of Things, and blockchain – for entrepreneurship and small businesses. The Collection welcomes, but is not limited to, insights into the following questions: How do entrepreneurs and SMEs respond to pressures to adopt emerging technologies? What promises and risks do these technologies pose for their businesses and personal well-being? How do they reshape entrepreneurial strategies and daily practices, such as resilience pathways or bricolage? The Collection is also interested in the impact of these technologies on scholarly practice and entrepreneurship research. Submissions of original research articles, reviews, and letters addressing entrepreneurship and SME phenomena at the individual, business, or ecosystem level are invited. Quantitative studies and mixed-method approaches are desirable, as are rich interpretive qualitative designs. Process-oriented studies that capture the complexities of entrepreneurship in the digital context are especially encouraged.

When submitting to this Collection, please be sure to select the section name, Entrepreneurship and Innovation, as well as the name of the Collection from the dropdown menu when prompted.

Vlatka Škokić is a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Split, Faculty of Economics, Business and Tourism, Croatia. She holds a PhD from the University of Strathclyde and has extensive international academic experience. Her research interests include entrepreneurial networks, minority entrepreneurship, and resilience. She has published in leading journals and has participated in and led international and nationally funded research projects, including those focused on digitalization and resilience in entrepreneurial contexts.

Tamara Šmaguc is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb, Croatia. She holds a PhD in economics with a focus on entrepreneurship. Her research interests include digital entrepreneurship, artificial intelligence and quantum computing in entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurial capital. She has participated in national and international research projects related to digitalization and entrepreneurship.

Robert Kudelić is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Organization and Informatics, University of Zagreb, Croatia. He earned his PhD by designing the first Monte Carlo randomized algorithm for the Feedback Arc Set problem. His research focuses on randomized algorithms, combinatorial optimization, computational intelligence, quantum computing, and information systems. He has led a Croatian Science Foundation project on algorithmic entrepreneurship and contributes to international research and editorial activities.

The Guest Advisors do not have any conflicts of interest to disclose.

For more information about this Collection, please contact the Commissioning Editor, Dr. Molly Cole, at [email protected].