You will never stand alone: The role of inter-organizational collaboration and technological turbulence in shaping small business' digital maturity

This study aims to analyze the influence of inter-organizational collaboration on the digital maturity of small businesses, moderated by the level of environmental technological turbulence. More specifically, the study identifies how the four sources of relational rents - relation-specific assets, complementary resources, knowledge-sharing routines, and effective governance - affect digital maturity treated as a form of relational rent. We surveyed 201 small businesses involved in inter-organizational collaboration agreements, and the survey data was analyzed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA). The findings indicate that relation-specific assets, complementary resources, and knowledge-sharing routines in inter-organizational collaboration help small businesses improve their digital maturity. We also found that technological turbulence positively moderates the relationship between knowledge-sharing routines and effective governance on one side and digital maturity on the other side. Furthermore, two combinations of relational sources and technological turbulence lead small businesses to reach high levels of digital maturity. The main theoretical contribution of the study is in identifying how specific combinations of sources of relational rents drive high levels of digital maturity.