| Title: | When crisis support fails : relational substitution and strategic continuity in South African SMEs |
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| Authors: | ID Loubser Strydom, Carin (Author)
ID Logožar, Klavdij (Author) |
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| Files: |  https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3387/16/7/308
 RAZ_Loubser_Strydom_Carin_2026.pdf (804,48 KB)
MD5: B130CA7B3FF93E642CBC2ACEB2D723E0
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| Language: | English |
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| Work type: | Review |
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| Typology: | 1.01 - Original Scientific Article |
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| Organization: | EPF - Faculty of Business and Economics
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| Abstract: | Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are particularly vulnerable when crisis support systems are delayed, unreliable, or difficult to access. This study examines how South African SMEs maintained strategic continuity during COVID-19 by developing the concept of relational substitution, defined as a process in which owner-managers compensate for weak formal support by internalizing continuity work within the employment relationship. The study is based on a secondary qualitative analysis of 16 semi-structured interviews with SME owners in the Western Cape, South Africa, complemented by a targeted evidence review to inform boundary-condition assessment. The findings show that owner-managers assembled relational continuity bundles that combined labor flexibility, retention intent, transparent communication, and visible well-being support. Owners presented these bundles as efforts to sustain cooperation, trust, and operational functioning when enacted through fairness logics such as voice, transparency, equal sacrifice, and relational care. The study contributes to SME resilience and management and organization studies by distinguishing relational substitution from sustainable human resource management, organizational justice, relational leadership, and institutional fragility, and by specifying the firm-level and institutional conditions under which this mechanism is more likely to support strategic continuity. |
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| Keywords: | small and medium-sized enterprises, strategic continuity, relational substitution, SME resilience, crisis support, institutional fragility, South Africa |
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| Publication status: | Published |
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| Publication version: | Version of Record |
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| Submitted for review: | 27.05.2026 |
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| Article acceptance date: | 22.06.2026 |
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| Publication date: | 24.06.2026 |
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| Year of publishing: | 2026 |
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| Number of pages: | str. 1-23 |
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| Numbering: | Vol. 16, issue 7, [article no.] 308 |
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| PID: | 20.500.12556/DKUM-98823  |
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| UDC: | 658.114.2:005.334 |
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| ISSN on article: | 2076-3387 |
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| COBISS.SI-ID: | 284357635 |
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| DOI: | 10.3390/admsci16070308 |
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| Publication date in DKUM: | 10.07.2026 |
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| Views: | 283 |
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| Downloads: | 9 |
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| Metadata: |    |
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| Categories: | Misc.
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