Navigating Digital Infrastructure Gaps: A Study of Organizational Agility in South Asian SMEs Post-COVID-19

• Abey Litty

  Texas University

  Author

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated digital transformation across South Asian small and medium enterprises (SMEs), yet persistent infrastructure deficits have constrained their ability to convert digital adoption into sustained organizational agility. This study addresses a critical gap: while prior research has examined digital transformation and firm performance separately, no validated framework exists that specifically models how digital infrastructure gaps moderate the relationship between digital tool adoption and organizational agility in the South Asian SME context. The purpose of this study is to identify the key infrastructure predictors of organizational agility and to develop a predictive framework for assessing agility outcomes under conditions of digital infrastructural constraint. Using a mixed-methods design combining survey data from 412 SMEs across Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka with secondary infrastructure indicators, the study employs structural equation modeling and machine learning classification. The hybrid model achieved 89.4% accuracy in predicting high versus low organizational agility, with digital literacy (β = 0.34, p < 0.001), internet reliability (β = 0.28, p < 0.01), and cloud service accessibility (β = 0.22, p < 0.01) emerging as the strongest predictors. The findings demonstrate that infrastructure gaps do not uniformly impede agility; rather, they interact with organizational capabilities in predictable patterns. The study contributes a replicable diagnostic framework and offers actionable implications for SME managers, infrastructure policymakers, and development finance institutions seeking to target digital agility interventions in resource-constrained environments.

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Copyright (c) 2026 Abey Litty (Author)

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