Factors Affecting ICT Adoption in Tertiary Institutions in Ghana: A Case of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

Abstract

Ghana as a country has made ICT its cornerstone for development, this is evident from its ICT policy of ICT4D; part of this policy is to promote ICT in schools in other to turn the country into an information society. This study is to help understand the factors affecting ICT adoption and use in tertiary institutions in Ghana. This is an imperial study utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods of data collection. The study showed that perceive usefulness and ease of use is a primary factor driving ICT adoption. The study also revealed that ICT is not fully integrated in teaching, research and learning at KNUST. A major obstacle is that though most users are aware of the potential benefits they are not ready or unwilling to fully embrace ICT. Several factors were also identified including inadequate infrastructure and skills to use ICT. The study recommended that management of Tertiary Institutions in Ghana must have a clear model of integration that will help to increase the adoption and use of ICT in their institutions. In fact, the integration of ICT is associated with several factors that encourage and discourage the use of ICT which the researcher termed as enabling forces and restraining forces. Therefore, to increase the rate of ICT adoption, Tertiary Institutions need to improve the encouraging factors and reduce the discourage factors to a minimal.

Keywords:ICT Adoption, Tertiary Institutions, Ghana, Model of Integration, ICT4D.