“E-Commerce Institutionalization is not for us”: SMEs perception of E-Commerce in Tanzania

E-Commerce in least developing countries (LDCs) is believed to be non-existent because few businesses, especially Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) who are usually the vanguard of the LDCs economy, have adopted E-Commerce and even those that have, none have institutionalized the technology. Using structuration theory as a lens, this study attempts to provide an explanation as to what E-Commerce means to SMEs with the purpose of unraveling the underlying cause for the lack of E-Commerce institutionalization in LDC - Tanzania. Results indicate that SMEs use their social context to create symbolic interpretive schemes that facilitate their shared understanding of E-Commerce. This understanding was significantly influenced by social structures and resulted into new practices of doing business. They view E-Commerce as merely having a static web presence and the significant use of the mobile device. That is, E-Commerce did not necessary translate to the buying and selling of products online using their website. Websites were purely used for information purposes. They were unimpressed by the perceived benefits of institutionalizing E-Commerce because in their view, their new practices of using mobile communication and mobile payment systems mitigated against the need for institutionalization. This hybrid view of e-commerce being a mix of static website and mobile payment transactional capability is a unique perspective, which arises out of the LDC context

E-commerce and small and medium enterprises (SME) in least developed countries : the case of Tanzania

Includes abstract.Includes bibliographical references.The purpose of the study was to investigate the E-Commerce phenomena in Tanzania with the goal of understanding how E-Commerce is typically made sense of by Tanzanian SMEs and how the sense making is produced, sustained and affected by environmental and organisational conditions. Structuration theory was used as a theoretical lens from which the social construction of the E-Commerce phenomena could be understood. The study primarily adopted a subjective interpretive stance. A preliminary quantitative study using questionnaires and interviews was done to gain an initial understanding of the E-Commerce status quo in Tanzania. The main study was qualitative in nature and used interviews with 33 Tanzanian SMEs as the data collection method

A Structurational View of E-Commerce in SMES in Least Developing Countries

E-Commerce studies in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Least Developing Countries (LDCs) have been labelled as being obscure and characterised by a list of challenges which if, not remedied, will continue to plague these countries. Many LCD studies employ research methodologies that are quantitative and techno-centric in nature. However, although E-Commerce is a technology, it is embedded within a given context – that of a least developing country that is characterised by specific contextual challenges different from both developing and developed countries. Against this background, investigation of E-Commerce in SMEs in LDCs requires initial understanding of structural properties inherent in the specific context and thereafter in the technology. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for examining the interaction of structural properties of ECommerce in SMEs in LDCs. The framework integrates the structuration theory concepts with factors drawn from E-Commerce studies in SMEs in LDC

Mobile Payments In South Africa: Middle Income Earners\u27 Perspective

Developing countries in Africa tend to face many challenges when it comes to ICT adoption and use. This is partly due to their low income which makes it difficult to spend on ICTs and related innovations. However, with the proliferation of mobile technology and the newly increase of the middle class citizens who tend to be younger, better educated, and a keen adopter of new technologies; organizations are forced to find ways of understanding these customers better and find how best they can provide goods and services to this emerging class. South Africa, one of the sub-Saharan countries with the most advanced telecommunication network infrastructures of the emerging markets, has experienced an increase in middle class citizens and comparatively better smartphone penetration. With this in mind, one would imagine that South Africa would have been one of the leaders in mobile payments. However, adoption has been lower than most other sub-Saharan African countries. The purpose of this study is therefore to examine the factors that affect mobile payments in the South African context from perspective of the middle class individuals. Following a quantitative approach and collecting data via an online questionnaire, the findings show that trust, risk and habitual use were factors that significantly affected intention to adopt mobile payments by South African middle class citizens. The findings provide the financial services industry and providers of mobile commerce offering with a better understanding of what are the main customer concerns in South Africa from the middle income clientele perspective

E-Government Accessibility Research Trends in Developing Countries

E-government has increasingly been adopted globally by governments in order to enhance the provision of services to citizens and promote inclusive governance. It is perceived that E-government has the potential to significantly improve government-citizen interaction by providing equal access to government services for all citizens. Lack of equal access to E-government services has emerged as one major setback of E-government in achieving its objectives. Studies in E-government have documented how E-government can act as a tool for exclusion particularly for persons with disabilities (PWDs) an already marginalized group if accessibility barriers are not addressed. Developing countries however, have received little attention in this regard which calls for a greater concern; since 80% of the world’s disabled population reside here. Few studies that have been conducted in the developing countries fail to integrate PWDs into the digital society. This calls for the need to examine how researchers conduct studies on E-government accessibility towards PWDs, the research approach they adopt and the understanding they gain of the phenomenon. This paper present findings based on systematic literature review with the purpose of identifying key research foci, methodologies and theoretical perspectives used when studying E- government accessibility for PWDs particularly in developing countries

BYOD adoption concerns in the South African financial institution sector

Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is an emerging trend and practice that is growing in use in many organizations. There is however very limited literature on BYOD in the context of financial institutions from a developing country perspective. The dearth of such studies is problematic because financial institutions deal with a lot of sensitive and confidential information and therefore their adoption of BYOD could be detrimental to their practice. This study contributes to this gap in literature by providing empirical observation that show how technological and contextual factors affect financial institutions adoption of BYOD. Following a qualitative approach, and using semi structured interviews as a source of data collection; the findings show that cost, complexity, a culture of innovation, and top management support were factors that were perceived as enablers of BYOD. South African organizations in the financial services use BYOD to help add value to their work as opposed to it being a cost saving necessity. However, the continuous changes in government regulation regarding the use of data; and the lack of conducive ICT infrastructure were deemed as hindrances to BYOD. As a result of the changing regulations and the lack of knowhow on implementation of these regulations, most organizations failed to formalize their BYOD strategies

The impact of mobile banking customer experience on loyalty among millennials in South Africa

Banks need to remain competitive in the ever-changing business environment. Millennials are one of the largest customer segments with a large digital and mobile appetite; as a result, they form a natural target for banks. To increase their customer base, banks need to ensure that their customer experience strategy caters for these young customers in accordance with their expectations. This study explores factors that influence customer experience in mobile banking and how this experience influences customer loyalty to their bank. This study used a mixed-methods strategy and collected data from 344 mobile banking users via an online survey questionnaire and a further 10 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The research hypotheses were tested through regression analysis, whilst thematic analysis was used for open-ended questions in the survey and the 10 interviews. The results showed that convenience, ease of use and customization significantly influence customer experience in mobile banking. Customer experience was perceived to significantly influence customer loyalty

Towards a Conceptual Framework for E-Government Accessibility for Persons with Disabilities in Developing Countries

Most governments around the world are fast advancing in the provision of services to their citizens through the web. However, developing countries still lag behind in the adoption and use of ICTs in government for inclusive purposes, specifically for persons with disabilities (PWDs) who tend to be side-lined from the population mainstream. Studies focusing on E-government accessibility for PWDs have been minimal from the developing countries context; and this is despite the fact that over eighty percent of the over one billion populations living with disabilities worldwide reside in the developing countries. For E-government to achieve its purpose of providing fast and efficient services to citizens, there is the need to adopt a context-oriented approach. Against this background, this paper proposes a conceptual framework for improving E-government accessibility for PWDs in the developing countries context. Through a systematic synthesis of the literature on E-government accessibility especially in developing countries, a conceptual framework, termed the E-government Accessibility Development Model (EADM) is proposed. EADM describes accessibility challenges of PWDs by identifying contextual barriers of E-government accessibility from multiple stakeholder perspective in developing countries

The Role of Institutional Pressures in the Adoption of e-Procurement in Public Institutions in Developing Countries: The Case of Lesotho

Benefits of E-Procurement are now well documented as experienced by both public and private organizations. Yet, in developing countries, and more so in Africa, few organizations have reported benefits of E-Procurement. Whilst institutional pressures are instrumental in shaping organization’s actions and outcomes with regard to technology adoption, few studies have examined their role in E-Procurement adoption in African public sector organizations. This study situated in Lesotho, seeks to examine the rational for E-procurement adoption in the public sector and identifies institutional pressures that affect successful adoption. Following an interpritivist approach, this study identifies (1) perceived benefits of efficiency and transparency from the use of E-Procurement in the public sector; and (2) coercive and normative pressure as being instrumental in the adoption of E-Procurement. Contextual barriers are reported which are as a result of institutional pressures. Recommendations are provided to organizations in developing countries on how they should respond to institutional pressure

Factors influencing remote working for facilitators in under resourced universities

Remote working has been widely implemented in industry. In higher education, a gap exists in understanding how it has been implemented, particularly in under resourced universities. The purpose of this study was to explain the factors that influence remote working experiences of higher education facilitators (HEFs) in under resourced higher education institutions (HEIs). With the use of South African HEIs that are classified as historically disadvantaged, the study explained how remote working has been implemented and experienced and identified strategies that were shown to work in under resourced universities. A deductive approach to theory and an interpretivist research philosophy were employed. Qualitative data were collected through semi structured one-on-one interviews and analysed using thematic analysis. While age and gender emerged as part of the factors of influence, key findings indicate that the digital divide, digital literacy, socioeconomic standing, social support, and institutional support have a fundamental influence on remote working