A QUALITATIVE STUDY ON ENTREPRENEURS' CHARACTERISTICS AND ORGANIZATIONAL FACTORS AFFECTING DIGITALIZATION IN SMES: A SAMPLING OF YALOVA

Digital transformation (DT) is vital for SMEs as well as large companies and it must follow digitization and digitalization phases. Adoption and implementation of DT and pre-phases in SMEs is largely depend on the information and communication technologies (ICTs) awareness and competence level of owner, organization's innovativeness level, and ICT capability. This study was conducted in Yalova with 51 micro and small SMEs operating in various sectors aims to examine these four factors. It uses semi-structured face to face interviews and utilizes qualitative-quantitative analysis methods. Descriptive-interpretive analysis, regression, and frequency analyses are utilized. According to the findings, entrepreneurs first associate the word ICT with the concept of technology and then the concepts of efficiency/productivity. While entrepreneurs, who consider themselves and their company weak in terms of ICT capability and competence, match the concept of ICT with social media, technology and e-commerce concepts in general; those who perceive their organizations' level of ICT capability high mostly associate ICT with the concepts of communication, technology, information age, social media, efficiency and innovation. The factors affecting the ICT adoption of SMEs are the entrepreneur's ICT competence level, the size and the age of the organization and its level of innovativeness.