Calm after the storm? The role of social and environmental practices on small and medium enterprises resilience throughout COVID-19 crisis

Abstract

This study aims to analyze whether resilient SMEs have been able to overcome the bump of the COVID-19 crisis in terms of profitability. When facing such unforeseen crises, SMEs require resilience, and one of the factors that positively affect resilience generation is the adoption of social and environmental practices (SEPs). Using survey data on the managerial perceptions of 259 SMEs, this study reveals the positive association between resilience and improvements in business performance, and how the adoption of SEPs is an essential prerequisite for developing a higher level of resilience. We corroborate these associations for SMEs at two moments of the pandemic: November 2020 and October 2021. Our findings show that more resilient SMEs exhibit better results in terms of business performance, and the prior adoption of SEPs is positively associated with the development of resilience in the crisis context of COVID-19.