Fostering Technological-Enhanced Training and Development for Business Survival and Performance in the New Normal

Abstract

The sudden appearance of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has a profound impact on every country and business. While several firms had to adapt their operational methods, others were unable to cope and consequently had to cease operations. Despite a minor decrease in the severity of the epidemic, some organisations are still grappling with the challenge of recovering from the aftermath, particularly due to the significant disruptions they experienced over nearly two years. Therefore, this study was conducted to assess the correlation between technology-enhanced training and the survival and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under the current circumstances. A survey was undertaken on 144 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in West Africa using the snowball sampling technique and data was analysed using regression. The findings indicate that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial and adverse effect on training and development across Africa, leading to the use of online training programs that are less effective and have resulted in decreased company performance. Also, there is a significant connection between resilient training and both company performance and employee job performance in the era following the COVID-19 pandemic. Consequently, we concluded that providing resilience training to staff eventually enhances the ability of small and medium-sized enterprises to survive and function well but organizations and HR managers need to be more innovative in designing their training programs to ensure their long-term effectiveness.