Adoption of new information technologies in rural small businesses

G. Premkumar and Margaret Roberts

Omega, 1999, vol. 27, issue 4, 467-484

Abstract: The media discussion on 'information superhighway', 'Internet' and 'national information infrastructure (NII)' has highlighted the potential of information technology in modern society. The changes in information and communication technologies provide both opportunities and threats to small businesses located in rural communities. The objective of this study is to identify the state of use of various communications technologies and the factors that influence the adoption of these technologies in small businesses located in rural communities in the US. A research model is postulated that contains 10 independent variables under three broad categories -- innovation, organizational and environmental characteristics. The dependent variable, adoption of information and communication technologies, is measured as the degree of adoption of four modern communication technologies by the organization. Data from 78 organizations were collected using a structured interview process. The results of data analysis using discriminant analysis indicate that relative advantage, top management support, organizational size, external pressure and competitive pressure are important determinants of adoption.

Keywords: Small; business; IT; adoption; Communication; technologies; IS; implementation; Innovation; adoption; Information; technology (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 1999
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (102)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305-0483(98)00071-1
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jomega:v:27:y:1999:i:4:p:467-484

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/supportfaq.cws_home/regional
https://shop.elsevie ... _01_ooc_1&version=01

Access Statistics for this article

Omega is currently edited by B. Lev

More articles in Omega from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().