{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,17]],"date-time":"2026-06-17T21:41:02Z","timestamp":1781732462990,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"2","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769126400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Systems"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Digitalisation is reshaping commercial systems in Europe, yet the joint evolution of national digital capabilities, e-commerce and macroeconomic performance remains imperfectly understood. This article develops a parsimonious Digital Maturity Index for the EU-27 over 2015\u20132023 and examines its association with the share of enterprise turnover generated through e-commerce using a systems-oriented econometric design. Two-way fixed-effects and dynamic panel models show that e-commerce turnover is strongly persistent within countries and systematically higher in more trade-open economies and in labour markets with slightly higher unemployment, after controlling for income and unobserved heterogeneity. The marginal effect of digital maturity on e-commerce intensity is small and statistically fragile, suggesting that digital capabilities act more as a slow-moving state variable than as a direct short-run driver of online sales. The marginal within-country effect of digital maturity on e-commerce intensity is small and statistically fragile once unobserved heterogeneity is controlled for, whereas trade openness and labour-market conditions remain robust correlates. The PVAR results suggest a stable system with strong persistence in e-commerce and digital maturity, limited spillovers to growth and a pronounced temporary contraction in output during the COVID-19 shock.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/systems14020118","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]],"date-time":"2026-01-23T10:41:34Z","timestamp":1769164894000},"page":"118","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["When Does Digital Maturity Become a Systemic Advantage? Modelling E-Commerce Behaviour and Competitiveness in Europe"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"14","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0002-3941-8677","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Maxim","family":"Cetulean","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Doctoral School of Economics I, Faculty of Economics and Business Communication, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1709-0308","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Dumitru Alexandru","family":"Bodislav","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Economics & Economic Policy, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0006-2499-1672","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Raluca Iuliana","family":"Georgescu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Bodislav & Associates, 020332 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nicolae","family":"Moroianu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Economics & Economic Policy, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Raluca Andreea","family":"Popa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Economics & Economic Policy, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Chiva Marilena","family":"Papuc","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Economics & Economic Policy, Bucharest University of Economic Studies, 010374 Bucharest, Romania"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"101428","DOI":"10.1016\/j.techsoc.2020.101428","article-title":"Structural change and digitalization in developing countries: Conceptually linking the two transformations","volume":"63","author":"Matthess","year":"2020","journal-title":"Technol. 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