Digital Transformation of Strategic Human Resource Management in Kosovo Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

Research Originality: This study provides the first two-wave longitudinal panel evidence on cognition-based digital human resource adoption in Kosovo’s small and medium enterprises, revealing the temporal and regional boundary conditions that cross-sectional national studies fail to detect. Research Objectives: The research analyzes how managers’ perceptions of digital tools drive actual technology use in small and medium enterprises and, through it, employee productivity, retention, recruitment quality, and organizational performance across two pandemic phases. Research Method: A matched panel of 248 human resource managers was surveyed at the onset of the pandemic (2020) and during the stabilization phase (2021); the data were analyzed using multi-group structural equation modeling. Empirical Results: Perceived usefulness and ease of use drive adoption at both waves; adoption improves all strategic outcomes, although retention benefits emerge only over time and the ease-of-use mechanism weakens in peripheral regions. Implications: Returns on digital investment compound over time; policy should combine infrastructure investment with usability-oriented training in lagging regions. JEL Classification: M15, O33, J24