Oni, Oluwasola

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Association for Information SystemsAIS Electronic Library (AISeL)AMCIS 2007 Proceedings Americas Conference on Information Systems(AMCIS)December 2007Broadband Adoption by SMEs in the UnitedKingdom (UK)Oluwasola OniBrunel UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2007This material is brought to you by the Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) at AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). It has been acceptedfor inclusion in AMCIS 2007 Proceedings by an authorized administrator of AIS Electronic Library (AISeL). For more information, please contactelibrary@aisnet.org.Recommended CitationOni, Oluwasola, "Broadband Adoption by SMEs in the United Kingdom (UK)" (2007). AMCIS 2007 Proceedings. 403.http://aisel.aisnet.org/amcis2007/403Oni                                                                                                                                      Broadband and SMEs BROADBAND ADOPTION BY SMES IN THE UNITED KINGDOM (UK)  Oluwasola Oni  School of Information Systems, Computing and Mathematics  Brunel University, Kingston lane, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PHOluwasola.oni@brunel.ac.uk Introduction Broadband is a relatively new phenomenon that has attracted some attention in the last few years. According to Firth and Kelly (2001), the term broadband has no established definition and varies from country to country. The term usually covers varying high-speed access technologies including Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL), cable modems, satellite and Wireless Fixed (Wi-Fi) Networks. Broadband provides an ‘always on’ and faster Internet connection than dial up and promises to improve Internet use. There are many benefits that have been related to the adoption and use of broadband such as productivity (Lee, 2002). Small/medium size enterprises (SMEs) in particular could experience growth from an increase in productivity resulting from greater process efficiency and improved information exchange (OECD, 2003; BSG, 2004). This study aims to look into the usefulness of broadband to SMEs while identifying factors that affect the uptake of new technologies by SMEs Current Research on Broadband Adoption There has been considerable interest in home use of broadband (Aronsson et al., 2003; Choudrie et al., 2003a), users’ online habits, (Dwivedi and Choudrie, 2003; Stanton, 2004) and factors influencing adoption of broadband (Lee and Choudrie, 2002). Additionally, a substantial amount of research has been carried out in relation to pricing for broadband services (Falkner et al., 2000; Yaïche et al., 2000). Despite all the interest in broadband, there seems to be little or no information on its use within the SMEs. Motivation for the research and limitations of previous research Current research in the adoption of broadband technology focuses on broadband services and government policies for home uses, and areas such as broadband content, pricing, government policies, educational and entertainment benefits while there is little emphasis on its adoption by SMEs. In addition to the fact that little research has been done on broadband and SMEs, Lee et al. (2003) highlight the fact that there is little research on how SMEs can adopt new technologies at a faster rate if it is suitable for them. Therefore, there is a need to look at theories that can analyse the phenomenon. The research aims to look into the usefulness of broadband to SMEs while identifying factors that affect the uptake of new technologies by SMEs. Potential benefits of broadband to SMEs and the government’s interest in promoting it makes it worthwhile to look into the different ways that broadband can be beneficial to SMEs and factors influencing its effective uptake. Research Method   This research adopts an interpretive stance in order to reflect the researcher’s efforts to identify multiple social groups and their interpretations. Interpretive research methods aim at the "understanding of the context of the information system and the process whereby the information system influences and is influenced by the context" (Walsham 1993) (p. 4-5). Furthermore, qualitative research methodology was selected for this research, as this approach is more suitable for understanding people within their social and cultural contexts.  Oni                                                                                                                                      Broadband and SMEs The Framework        Roger’s diffusion of innovations theory (Rogers, 1995) has been used for the study of adoption of several technologies (Karahanna et al.; 1999Rajagopal, 2002). However, it also has been criticised for, portraying diffusion as a simple linear process (Kautz and Pries-Heje, 1996) failing to sufficiently consider the relationship between suppliers and adopters and an active participation of potential adopters in the diffusion process. Additionally, different views, opinions and agendas of various groups involved in the process of the adoption of an innovation are not adequately represented in the theory of diffusion of innovation (Papazafeiropoulou et al., 2005). In agreement with the above authors, this research proposes the use of social construction of technology (SCOT) where the role of the various social groups in the production and use of an innovation is of great importance.  The model also includes the information systems variance model (Cooper and Zmud, 1990; Crum et al., 1996; Agarwal and Prasad, 1998) by examining compatibility, complexibility and relative advantage as the attributes that are of the most importance in Information Technology (IT) innovations. Extending the model by identifying and various social groups involved in the production and use of the innovation.  As illustrated in figure 1 below, the social groups involved in the diffusion of broadband to SMEs include the SMEs; the government (Choudrie et al., 2003b; Office of the e-Envoy, 2001); independent groups striving for broadband adoption; professional associations (Intellect, 2003); private consultants (Philpott, 2004); and vendors (BTOpenworld, 2002).   Figure 1:  framework Initial findings    The initial findings from this work show that in the case of broadband adoption and diffusion it seems that there is no consensus as to how the technology is useful, cheap or convenient for SMEs to use. There are a number of assumptions taken by the vendors and the government about broadband adoption that seem to not be shared by SMEs. This seems to be mainly due to a lack of awareness from the SMEs about the benefits of broadband. The research showed that that was one issue that needs to be further analysed. Future research will involve consideration of awareness under which cost, full use exploitation of broadband benefits, quality of service and the perceptions of the social groups that affect these issues will be examined.  Oni                                                                                                                                      Broadband and SMEs References   Agarwal, R. and Prasad, J. (1998) A conceptual and operational definition of personal innovativeness in the domain of information technology., Information Systems Research, 9,2 204-215. Aronsson, M.,Tholen, D.,Josephson, P.,Li, H. and Kong, S. (2003) Broadband services for residential and commercial tenants: a categorisation of current and future services and a survey on tenants needs in sweden, building and environment, 38,2 347-358. BTOpenworld (2002) BT Openworld shows businesses the route to high-speed cost savings accessed 17/10/ 2005 online at http://www.cisilion.com/bnews_benefits.htm  Choudrie, J.,Papazafeiropoulou, A. and Lee, H. 2003a Applying stakeholder theory to analyse the diffusion of broadband in South Korea: the importance of the government's role In Proceedings of the Eleventh European Conference on Information Systems Naples, Italy Choudrie, J.,Papazafeiropoulou, A. and Lee, H. (2003b) A web of stakeholders and strategies: a case of broadband diffusion in South Korea, Journal of Information Technology, 18,4 281-291. Cooper, R. B. and Zmud, R. W. (1990) Information Technology Implementation Research: A Technological Diffusion Approach, Management Science, 36,2 123. Crum, M. R.,Premkumar, G. and Ramamurthy, K. (1996) An assessment of motor carrier adoption, use, and satisfaction with EDI, Transportation Journal, 35,4 44. Dwivedi, Y. K. and Choudrie, J. 2003 Investigating the impact of broadband upon the users on-line habits and the usage of Internet services' International Telecommunication Society's Asia- Australasian regional (ITS) Conference Perth, Australia Office of the e-Envoy, (2001) UK Online: The Broadband Future  Falkner, M.,Devetsikiotis, M. and Lambadaris, I. (2000) An overview of pricing concepts for broadband IP networks, IEEE communications surveys, 3,2. Firth, L. and Kelly, T. (2001) Broadband briefing paper, ITU, Geneva accessed 23/5/ 2005 online at http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/ni/broadband/workshop/briefingpaperfinal.doc  Intellect (2003) The Benefits of Broadband to SMEs in the ICT Sector Interim Conclusions from Intellect Member Research accessed 6/4/ 2005 online at http://www.intellectuk.org/campaigns/broadband/benefits/Exec_summary_Intellect.pdf  Karahanna, E.,Straub, D. W. and Chervany, N. L. (1999) Information Technology Adoption Across Time: A Cross-sectional Comparison of pre-adoption and post-adoption Beliefs, MIS Quarterly, 23,2 183-214. Lee, H. and Choudrie, J. (2002) Investigating broadband technology deployment in South Korea: International technology services mission to South Korea  Lee, H.,Sawyer, S. and Choudrie, J. (2003) Editorial: Broadband Internet and Electronic Commerce, Journal of information technology, 18,4 227-229. Lee, M. R. (2002) Broadband infrastructure development policy perspective of a broadband technology supplier. 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Interpreting Information Systems in organisations, Wiley series in Information Systems, Chichester. Yaïche, H.,Mazumdar, R. R. and Rosenberg, C. (2000) A Game Theoretic Framework for Bandwidth Allocation and Pricing in Broadband Networks, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking, 8,5 667 - 678.    

Broadband Adoption by SMEs in the United Kingdom (UK)

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Broadband Adoption by SMEs in the United Kingdom (UK)

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