Antecedents of Internet Technology Adoption in Small Medium Business

Abstract

The development of Internet Technology which is increasing rapidly and affordable bring new opportunities for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in business process innovation. Various studies in the field of entrepreneurship and information technology have been made, but not much found a study that examines in particular the level of adoption of Internet technologies for the creation and development of SMEs. Considering SMEs as the key to success in the reduction of unemployment and economic growth, systematic studies which combine qualitative and quantitative approaches need to be done, particularly to anticipate the ASEAN free trade area competition. The approach of this study will utilize Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework, which examines the internal and external factors of a SMEs that determines their adoption of internet technology.This study exploited a method of literature study and focus group discussion to 32 SME owners as respondents. Data from the study were processed using descriptive statistics technique to examine determine the possible antecedents of Internet Technology adoption by SMEs. The results opened further opportunity to investigate causal relationship among the variables of internet technology adoption.

Keywords: Technology Adoption, Small Medium Business, TOE Framework, Facilitating Conditions