Conference Paper
Artificial Intelligence Adoption in Small Enterprises Across Europe: A Comparative and Efficiency-Based Evaluation with Policy Implications for Türkiye
No.
ERF32AC_90
Publisher
ERF
Date
May, 2026
Topic
D. Microeconomics
This paper assesses the efficiency of AI adoption among small enterprises in Türkiye and 30 peer EU and EU-neighborhood countries using data envelopment analysis (DEA) for 2021 and 2023. The results reveal pronounced cross-country heterogeneity and sizable scale inefficiencies: efficiency scores differ markedly between CRS and VRS specifications, while orientation choices matter little. For Türkiye, near-unity VRS scores alongside much lower CRS scores indicate high pure technical efficiency but a persistent scale gap relative to frontier economies. These findings underline the need to prioritize scalable and inclusive AI diffusion among small firms rather than merely expanding generic digital capacity.