When Businesses Go Digital: CEO Gender, Experience and Technology Adoption During the Covid-19 Pandemic

Covid-19 has prompted a rush of technology adoption, with companies turning to digital technologies to avert business closure. This study examines the adoption and utilization of ecommerce and remote work technologies among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) during the pandemic. Building on various streams of research on technology adoption and utilization, we elaborate how gender and experience shape CEOs' risk-taking attitude and crisis responsiveness, thus influencing technology adoption decisions. Analysis using a rich dataset of more than 20,000 enterprises across 42 countries revealed that female CEOs were significantly less likely to adopt remote work technologies; moreover, female CEOs leading small-sized enterprises were less likely to adopt e-commerce. However, CEO gender was not associated with the utilization intensity of remote work and e-commerce technologies. CEOs' industry experience was found to have an inverted U-shaped relationship with the adoption and utilization of both e-commerce and remote work technologies. These results reveal that top management decisions attributable to CEO experience, and to a lesser degree to CEO gender, can help explain divergent responses in digital technology adoption during the pandemic.