Issues of ICT adoption amongst SMEs in Nigeria

2002

The paper examines the key factors influencing the adoption of e-business technology by SMEs. To this end, the paper draws on a range of literatures on the diffusion of new information and communication technologies (ICTs), many of which have hitherto been treated as separate. The reasons for this are two-fold. First, e-business technologies are the latest in a line of new ICT technologies. When exploited successfully, ICTs have increased firm competitiveness either by raising the efficiency of internal communication and organisation and/or supply chain relationships, or by facilitating the development of new/improved products and services. Second, it is hypothesised that many of the factors affecting the successful adoption of new technologies are generic in nature. With regards to SMEs specifically, consideration of earlier research may assist us in identifying a set of enablers and barriers to e-business adoption. Hence, by explicitly acknowledging the context and prior history of research in the area, we are able to map out the dimensions of future theoretical and empirical research in e-business adoption by SMEs.

Globally, there is a growing trend towards high dependence on knowledge, information, IT skills and application of these resources within business environments. It is alarming that many small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria are either unwilling or slow at integrating effective IT innovations and practices as indicated by reduced rate of IT expert engagements, trendy preference for hiring computer biased nonprofessionals to drive IT function as well as infusion of IT units into other departments. This paper therefore discusses these attitudes of SMEs towards IT as bases for recommending remedial approaches to the phenomenon. While the research questions addressed the extent to which inadequate financing, competence, limited knowledge, management perception, nature of business and resistance to change constitute major factors contributing to these attitudes, it posits that trend reversal can be achieved through competitive IT education, adaptive IT framework for SMEs, establishment of IT office as a statutory requirement for SMEs, adequate funding, etc. The study employs a descriptive research design using 100 randomly selected registered SMEs across all sectors of the Nigerian economy. Simple percentages, mean distribution and Chi-Square were used in the statistical analysis to predict factors influencing the undesirable SMEs' attitudes towards IT. The research results identify management perception as the greatest factor contributing to SMEs' attitudes. Therefore, this paper is relevant and of interest to all who have a stake in Nigeria's emerging knowledge based economy.

Conference of Entreprenuership Educators, Researchers and Entrepreneurs in Africa, 2011

The purpose of this paper is to examine how information communication technology (ICT) and E-business technologies can be adopted for use by small & medium scale enterprises (SME’s) and entrepreneurs in Ghana. The paper reviews the various ICT & E-business technologies that are available for entrepreneurs & SME’s to adopt and use in this present day digital world. Factors that favor the adoption of these technologies will be discussed including barriers preventing its adoption and usage. The study adopts the linear model against the publish, interact and transform (PIT) model to identify and examine the adoption rate for SME and entrepreneurs who want to pursue ICT & E-business technologies. Eleven critical success factors has being identified as bringing substantial success to SME’s and entrepreneur that engage in ICT and e-business technologies. These factors are grouped into those that relevant to all companies involved in ICT & E-business; those that are relevant to companies in a particular industry sector; and those relevant to the individual company based on a research by Feindt et al (2001). The study seeks to expose SME’s and entrepreneur to ICT and E-business technologies and techniques that they can use in their businesses to yield some success in their cost of operation, speed, convenience and efficiency. Also it further presents key factors that SME’s must follow to grow their business in ICT and E-business technologies.

2016

The economic growth of any country depends, to a certain degree, on the ability of the country’s business community to maximize their growth potential. One of the biggest contributors from the business community of any nation, to the nation’s economic development, is the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) sector. Studies have shown that SMEs and indeed, large and multi-national organizations can improve their productive capacity by using the benefits of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT). This paper explores how the Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the developing economies such as Nigeria can achieve their own growth through the adoption of information communication technology. This study relies on secondary data from various sources to examine the availability, accessibility and affordability to relevant ICT facilities and challenges facing SMEs in the use of information technology. The study recommends that agencies that regulate SMEs should formu...

West African Journal of Industrial and Academic Research, 2014

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) are widely used by organizations to enhance enterprise competitiveness. This study provides an overview of the current state of affairs of the ICT adoption in SMEs in private and public organizations in Nigeria. It investigates ICT infrastructure, productivity and business application software used, drivers for ICT investment, perceptions about business benefits of ICT, outsourcing trends and availability of help and advice on ICT adoption. The study has also investigated major barriers in ICT adoption and the findings of the study are consistent with other similar studies. The study identified the need for more training facilities for adopting ICT in SMEs. Additionally, the study identified that there is a need for the Government to provide guidance on suitable ICT products and services at an affordable cost as well as provide incentives to promote ICT investment and usage e.g. soft loans, availability of professional advice and ...

Archives of Business Research, 2019

The relatively poor development and survival of SMEs in developing countries like Nigeria have been a recurring issue of research concern. Taking cognizance of the business enhancing digital possibilities of the 21 st century technological innovations, this paper sought to examine the influence of adopting cutting edge information technology (IT) on the development of SMEs in Nigeria. The data for the study were gathered through the administration of questionnaire to judgmentally sampled SME operators in Nigeria. These data were analyzed using descriptive statistics and Kendall's Coefficient of Concordance. The results and findings of the study revealed about 27.7% level of IT adoption by the SME operators. The result showed that adoption of cutting edge information technology impact positively on the development of SMEs in Nigeria. The low level of IT adoption by SME development was traced to the pessimism and negative perception of SME operators. It is therefore recommended that IT awareness initiatives and IT usage trainings should be organized for SME operators in order to increase their effective adoption. Also, Government should endeavour to make available subsidized IT infrastructure for SME operators. These and other policy initiatives would significantly facilitate the much desired repositioning and development of SMEs in Nigeria.

Valley region of England. The paper presents preliminary results of a survey of around 400 SMEs drawn from four economically significant sectors in the region: food processing, transport and logistics, media and Internet services. The main objectives of the study were to explore ICT adoption and use patterns by SMEs, to identify factors enabling or inhibiting the successful adoption and use of ICT, and to explore the effectiveness of government policy mechanisms at national and regional levels. While our main result indicates a generally favourable attitude to ICT amongst the SMEs surveyed, it also suggests a failure to recognise ICT's strategic potential. A surprising result was the overwhelming ignorance of regional, national and European Union wide policy initiatives to support SMEs. This strikes at the very heart of regional, national and European policy that have identified SMEs as requiring specific support mechanisms. Our findings from one of the UK's most productive regions therefore have important implications for policy aimed at ICT adoption and use by SMEs.

The Bottom Line: Managing Library Finances, 2018

Purpose-While a substantial number of studies have examined information behaviour, most centred on choice of information source, student information behaviour, information behaviour of women, environmental uncertainty and scanning behaviour of top-level hotel executives. However, little is known about how the small and medium enterprise (SME) managers scan, seek, gather, document and use information relevant for emerging information and communication technology (EICT) adoption decision-making. This paper aims to examine the key success factors influencing SME manager's information behaviour on EICT adoption decision-making. Design/methodology/approach-This study deploys a qualitative approach to exploring 16 key success factors shaping SME managers' information behaviour on EICT adoption decision-making. More specifically, the study adopted both unstructured and semi-structured interviews with 20 small business managers drawn purposeful from Crunch Database. Findings-This study develops an extended technology, organisation and environment framework by incorporating the information context which helped to unravel 16 key success factors influencing small business managers' information behaviour on EICT. From the technology context, uncertainty driven, compatibility, replacement of legacy technology, relative advantages, lack of technical know-how and perceived affordability fit for purpose influence SME managers' information behaviour. Users' acceptance information, efficiency driven, owner's support shape the organisation context of perceived information need; competitor's intelligence gathering, customer's information gathering provider credibility and government policy influence the environmental context of perceived information need; and finally, perceived information sources credibility, herding event, testimonial and openness to other people's ideas and experiences are shaped by the information context. Research limitations/implications-Qualitative research is normally subjective, interpretive and limited on the sample used. Because of the limited number of interviews, the generalisation of the framework and the finding is difficult. Therefore, the finding and the framework need to be established across broader population. The findings are vital considering the fact that small business managers are limited in knowledge and the study may improve the way and manner they go about seeking and gathering information relevant in adopting new ICT.

ijbssnet.com

While previous studies emphasised that demographic characteristics can influence IT adoption, our understanding of these characteristics and how they influence IT adoption in Nigerian context remains to be explored. This study investigates the effects of demographic characteristics-age, gender, working experience and education (academic) attainment on SMEs' IT adoption behaviour and adopts a cross sectional research design using self administered questionnaires to collect the primary data. Custom factorial univariate analysis of variance was used to analysis the raw data. Age and education attainment were found to influence IT adoption while gender and working experience had no impact. Those responsible for introducing IT in Nigeria should be aware that the idiosyncrasies of decision makers can greatly influence IT adoption practices.

Advanced Science Letters, 2017

The current study intends to estimate empirically the factors, which more likely influence the ICT adoption by Indian SMEs. Methodology: Exploratory research has been applied and the current study uses a logistic regression model to estimate the data. The Database was selected as a DV to estimate the model. The summary result of all the five models show that there is one significant variable that explains the ICT adoption among SMEs, i.e. complexity. This shows that the adoption of the innovative process is complex for small enterprises since these innovative processes are beyond the scope of these enterprises. The other independent variables are also significant except Trialability, Observability, Owner IS, Employee IS, Management Support, Image, etc. Implications / Applications: The role of SMEs has become more crucial in developing nations because they have the ability to significantly improving income distribution, creation of employment, poverty eradication, as well as export growth. Technology up-gradation is the most significant factor in capacity building for enhancing competitiveness in SMEs. The main aim of innovation policy is to promote new ideas, such as products, processes, and organization techniques. Novelty/Originality of this study: Numerous factors like social, economic, political, human and other factors that influence ICT adoption have been examined in previous literature. In addition to this, there are some other factors like technological, organizational and environmental also impact ICT adoption. In this aspect, none of the studies in previous was well-studied in Indian SMEs context. Therefore the present paper bridged this gap by examining the factors, which more likely influence the ICT adoption by Indian SMEs. Understanding this importance would enable suitable policy reviews and intervention measures that help ICT adoption.