Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Adoption by Small and Medium Enterprises in Developing Countries : The Effects of Leader, Organizational and Market Environment Factors

Leader, organizational and market factors play important roles in a small and medium enterprise's (SME's) decision to adopt information and communications technologies (ICTs). The purpose of this research is to examine the role of leader factors (leader innovativeness, leader's attitude, leader's IT knowledge, leader's risk aversion), organizational factors (business size, firm age, financial slack, information intensity) and market environment factors (competitive pressure, influence of social network, ICT business support, perceived ease of use of ICTs) to an enterprise's decision to adopt ICTs. After an extensive review of the technology acceptance and innovation adoption literature, a behavioural model of innovation acceptance is presented, completed with a number of useful and insight propositions concerning SMEs operating in an underdeveloped, developing and developed country context