The E&I research group is happy to announce the following Visitng PhD Studen Seminar, with the participation of two international students performing a research stay with us in Seville. The seminar is open to all interested participants and, especially, to PhD students from any programme. The seminar will be held in-person at the Joaquín Guzmán seminar room (3rd floor, Faculty of Economics and Business Sciences), next Monday December 15th at 12.30h.
From ICT-Based Digitalisation to Generative AI: A Longitudinal Study of Capability Transformation in a Digital-Born SME
Nohaila Kartti (Universitádegli studidi Napoli Parthenope, Napoli, Italy)
This presentation investigates how generative artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping organisational capabilities, decision-making processes, and work routines within digital-born small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). While digital-born SMEs are often considered digitally agile, the integration of generative AI represents a significant technological discontinuity whose organisational implications remain underexplored.
To address this gap, I develop a four-level theoretical framework that explains how digital-born SMEs evolve from ICT-based digitalisation toward deeper forms of AI-enabled transformation. The model captures foundational digital maturity, adoption mechanisms, dynamic capability enactment, and the resulting strategic, organisational, and cognitive outcomes. The presentation also offers early empirical evidence from a longitudinal case study of MyHyxel, a highly digital Spanish firm operating in the health sector. Drawing on two interviews conducted in 2023 and 2025, I show how generative AI has progressively reshaped the firm’s data capabilities, product development, marketing routines, and managerial cognition. These preliminary findings illustrate the multi-layered nature of AI-driven transformation and set the stage for the broader multi-case study to be conducted in the next phase of the research.
Understanding Entrepreneurial Suffering: A conceptual framework for studying the health and well-being of entrepreneurs in Moroccan SMEs
Nada Jabri (Université Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah, Fes, Marocco)
This presentation introduces the conceptual framework of my doctoral research on entrepreneurial suffering and its impact on the health of entrepreneurs. The model examines the multidimensional nature of entrepreneurial suffering, including the psychological, physical, social, and contextual perspectives. It also analyzes how chronic stressors inherent to entrepreneurial activity affect entrepreneurs’ mental and physical health. The framework integrates insights from occupational health and entrepreneurship research to better understand how entrepreneurial suffering emerges, how it manifests, and how it contributes to health deterioration within the specific context of Moroccan SMEs.
