The Effects of ICTs As Innovation Facilitators for a Greater Business Performance. Evidence from Mexico

Abstract

AbstractInformation and Communication Technologies (ICTs) influence growth of economies and businesseś efficiency and facilitate innovation through diffusion processes, usage practices and commercial success. Innovation, as well, has a direct impact on growth and competitiveness. The present empirical study has the objective to determine the effects of the ICTs as facilitators of innovation for a greater business performance of the industrial Micro, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (MSMEs) on a developing country. In this sense, the measuring scales utilized were summited to a Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) under the Maximum Likelihood Method, counting with reliability and validity. The results obtained through the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM), since a sample of 288 MSMEs established in Guanajuato (Mexico), is allowed to infer that there exists enough empirical evidence the ICTs are a facilitator of innovation by influencing in this positive and significant manner; similarly, it was found that innovation and the use of ICTs substantially impact in the performance of the businesses studied. Therefore, the decision makers should pay special attention on the way they manage these key variables for business success