Technological Education and Its Influence on Digital Economic Readiness during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

Consumer behavior changes in the COVID-19 pandemic situation require businesses to switch to an online economic system. To market products appropriately according to the target market, entrepreneurs need to increase literacy in e-commerce activities. This study aims to determine the effect of the level of technological education on readiness of community level for 2020 digital economy at Batik Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). This study uses a quantitative approach with purposive sampling technique which determines 65 respondents in the Masaran, Sragen, Central Java Batik SMEs who have marketed the products through online using social media. The questionnaire was used to retrieve data. Descriptive analysis techniques and multiple linear regression were used to process the data. The results of the descriptive analysis show that the technological education level of the majority of Batik SMEs entrepreneurs is in the low category. The regression results indicate that technological education has a positive effect on the readiness of community level for 2020 digital economy with the level of gender, educational background, and internet networks as control variables, the higher technological education level owned by business people, the higher the community readiness to join the digital economy era which requires have the skills to use digital media also increase. The implication of this research is that the low level of technological education which is marked by a lack of understanding of accessing the internet by entrepreneurs can be a strategic step for the government to improve the information technology capabilities of the community by providing intensive training for Batik business groups to be able to compete in the digital market.