An Information Technology Therapy Approach to Micro-enterprise Adoption of ICTs

The advent of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) has opened up new opportunities for micro-enterprises to improve their businesses. However the challenges to using ICTs are impeding these businesses from growing into the drivers for development that they can be. This suggests that a potentially important driver of development needs to be supported. This paper investigates the adoption of ICTs in eight micro-enterprises in an underserved community of Omaha, Nebraska. Following an action research study, this research provides insight into the key challenges and opportunities facing micro-enterprises in their use of ICTs to create value for their businesses. Its contribution is in the methodology for implementing ICTs in micro-enterprises

Sustaining the Growth of Micro-enterprises that Adopt Information and Communication Technologies

While recent studies have shown that ICTs can bring about development at the macro-economic level, it is not clear how this process takes place. This paper throws light on this issue by investigating how micro-enterprises adopt ICTs. The majority of businesses in under developed regions of the world are micro-enterprises which are often owned by a single entrepreneur with very limited resources. It appears that when these micro-enterprises adopt ICTs, their ability to survive and grow increases. This paper investigates the effects of processes in which training, technology and trust building interventions enable micro-entrepreneurs faced with limited resources to adopt ICTs to grow their businesses. By building upon current studies, it furthers the analytic role of the livelihoods framework to provide a more functional role to enable sustainable capacity building efforts to be undertaken using ICTs. Based on this analysis, the contribution of this paper to global development is in the processes it provides micro-entrepreneurs to continue to adopt ICTs in innovative ways to stimulate growth

Sustainability of Information Technology Therapy on Micro-enterprise Development.

The use of information technology in microenterprises has been shown to bring about improvements in accessing new markets, in achieving administrative efficiencies, increased productivity and competitiveness. To benefit from IT, micro-enterprises require specialized intervention and support. At the same time these micro-enterprises require skill sets that can translate their unique needs to IT solutions. This paper provides an IT Therapy approach to addressing micro-enterprise needs through IT. Following an action research approach to investigating micro-enterprises, this paper provides insights into how IT can bring about sustained improvements in micro-enterprises. The contribution of this paper is in guidelines of how IT can bring about development in micro-enterprises. This has implications for IT interventions to support microenterprises to achieve broader goals of sustainable development

Investigating the Effects of Micro-enterprise Access and Use of ICTs through a Capability Lens

Technology has been shown to effectively enable economic growth at the firm and national level. Yet ICT’s effects upon, and the process by which it is incorporated into, microenterprises, remain largely unknown. This paper explores, through two case studies, interventions that enabled micro-enterprises (businesses with low revenues and one to five employees) in underserved communities to connect to the Internet, obtain technical assistance, and take advantage of free and low cost software. The cases illustrate instances in which the introduction of ICTs increased microenterprise mobility, ability to organize customer information, and connected microenterprises to other microenterprises. The cases also depict a number of related (secondary) benefits arising out of the microentrepreneurs’ improved technology usage and literacy. The contribution of the paper is in illuminating patterns of access and use, concepts, and relationships that enable micro-enterprises to use ICTs to achieve what is valuable to them. The implications for global development lie in highlighting ideas, research techniques, and practices that are working ‘in the field’ in relation to ICT adoption by microenterprises, so that these techniques may be deployed and improved upon by others

Discovering Development outcomes from ICT interventions in a set of micro-enterprises operating in low resource environments

The concept of Development has alluded scholars and practitioners when information technology becomes prevalent. The majority of research in the Information Technology for Development (ICT4D) field is considered to be practice intended to make the world better with Information and Communications technologies (ICTs). In addition a majority of well-intentioned ICT4D projects tend to fail, often due to unrealistic expectation set by development agencies responding to their political objectives. At the same time, Information Systems (IS) research is ripe with well-studied concepts on IT adoption (i.e. TAM/UAUT: perceived usefulness, ease of use), that do not offer insights on the effects or outcomes of technology adoption. The result is a plethora of research in the variables studied as part of Information Systems adoption research that do little to assist small and micro-enterprises struggling with technology. This research investigates ICT interventions in a set of micro-enterprises operating in low resource environments randomly selected from a public database of about 30,000 micro-enterprises in Nebraska. Based on prior research in which we used grounded theory to analyze the ways in which ICTs are used by micro-enterprises, concepts were developed further to build theory of IT adoption in sets of micro-enterprises. This project proposes to test the theory of ICT adoption micro-enterprises by developing, testing and deploying an IRB approved instrument to the sample of micro-enterprises randomly selected for this study. The results are analyzed quantitatively to 1) identify the concepts that affect the use of ICTs in micro-enterprises. Based on the quantitative analysis a set of micro enterprises are selected to receive technology and training interventions. These micro-enterprises receive interventions customized to their needs. The results of these interventions will be assessed qualitatively using grounded theory analysis to 2) discover the ways in which ICTs are used to support business development and growth and 3) arrive at development outcomes from the ICT usage by micro-enterprises. The potential scientific contribution of this research is in advancing knowledge of the concepts that involve the development of micro-enterprises. It also offers insights into the technology and training interventions needed to enable the growth of micro-enterprises. Such contributions, as provided in this proposed project, entail the discovery of factors that can 1) enable information systems outcomes to be assessed in terms of their success in enabling micro-enterprises to grow and 2) offer strategies for improving the lives of people, in particular the micro-entrepreneur, through IS. The societal impact of this study is in offering specific new knowledge that can be used by policymakers in supporting small business development efforts through investments in ICT infrastructures

ICTs, Capabilities, and Socio-Economic Development - Results and Implications

The ability of micro-enterprises to adopt technology depends upon the unique conditions in which they find themselves. The goal of this study was to investigate and assess such adoption through a very systematic and contextualized approach. An action research methodology was used to investigate two micro-enterprises in Western New York during a five-month timespan. The contribution of this study is in applying a modified adaptation of the capabilities framework to understand the nature of the grass-root level impact within the micro-enterprises from the technology adoption and use

Investigating the Effects of IT Adoption between Micro-Enterprises from an Ethnic Community in the United States

The present research study aims to discover the effects of IT adoption in micro-enterprises in the Latino community in the United States. While the majority of the IT adoption literature considers large organizations, this study relies on Sen’s Capability Approach and an adaptation of Action Research to support the adoption of IT by micro-enterprises. This “IT therapy” process enables IT to be used by micro-entrepreneurs to grow their businesses. Following an analysis of four Latin American micro-enterprises, this paper presents the most predominant outcomes. An assessment is made of the IT solutions implemented in the participating micro-enterprises. This paper contributes with a better understanding of how IT adoption can enable micro-enterprises in ethnic communities to grow. This has implications for governmental and non-governmental agencies supporting technology implementations in local communities. Future research based on the research findings should investigate communities of local enterprises at underserved areas as they adopt technology

Sustaining ICT adoption and use in Micro-enterprises

In the United States, there are over 25 million micro-enterprises, comprising 88% of all businesses. These businesses with five or fewer employees are resource-constrained – with one of the many areas being the lack of technical skills. Their inability to acquire and use these skills causes them to be at a disadvantage to larger corporations. An innovative approach, comprising of a customizable technology-based assistance infrastructure is utilized for any micro-enterprise willing to adopt Information Communication Technologies (ICT). This adoption can lead to social, economic, and human development if the ICT is sustained. An action research methodology was used to apply the innovative technology adoption approach to investigate a set of micro-enterprises in Western New York that have previously adopted ICT during a five-month timespan. This study investigates how Information Technology adoption and use in microenterprises may be sustained to facilitate their business growth. The main contribution of this study is an online tool to facilitate micro-enterprises’ sustainability of ICT adoption and use

How Can Information and Communication Technology Bring about Development? An Information Architecture for Guiding Interventions in Developing Regions

While a great deal is known about how Information and Communication Technologies are used in developing and underserved communities, there are still gaps as to how ICTs may enable development outcomes to be achieved. It appears that the majority of businesses in developing regions are micro-enterprises which employ between 1-5 people and face challenges of limited resources. This research investigates what is known about how ICTs bring about development and uses these insights to develop an information architecture adapted from the Zachman Framework that integrates the different perspectives. In this research, the key stakeholders are the micro-entrepreneurs who adopt technology to support their businesses and livelihoods. We selected this type of business because the majority of businesses in developing regions are micro-enterprises and their ability to survive greatly increases when they learn to adopt ICTs. However, the challenges are many and their ability to adopt technology depends upon the social, human and economic conditions in which they find themselves. The information architecture proposed in this research considers these challenges and enables appropriate ICTs interventions to be applied. The contribution of this paper is in an information architecture through which development strategies may be implemented