The Role of Trust in the Digital Interactive Model for SME Speed Internationalisation

The growth of information and communications technology (ICT) aides small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to communicate through digital interactive platforms (DIP). Although DIP facilitates SMEs for speedy business transactions as well as to obtain market information and build marketing strategies to gain competitive advantage, SMEs are open to risks and threats as the applications have no assurance to guarantee their data security and privacy. Also, the rapid development and changes in ICT raise the larger challenges of security and transparency. Thus, this study highlights the element of trust as the focal point for value co-creation (VCC) in the DIP and proposes a model for SME internationalisation. The model presents DIP with trust as the key moderator for SME speed internationalisation. Finally, this paper provides implications of the study and suggestions for future research directions.