ICT Usage Behaviours by SMEs in Varying Operational Environments: A Nigerian Case Study

Ibrahim Rufai ()
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Ibrahim Rufai: De Montfort University

Chapter Chapter 15 in The Palgrave Handbook of African Entrepreneurship, 2022, pp 351-381 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This chapter examines the rationale behind ICT’s usage behaviours by SMEs operating in different socio-economic contexts—affluent and disadvantaged business districts in Lagos, Nigeria. It aims to stimulate economic development through context-driven ICT policy and support initiatives for SMEs, especially those operating in African economies (i.e. Nigeria, Ghana, Eritrea, Mali) that still experience significant digital divides between urban and rural communities. The chapter explores why there are variations in ICT’s usage behaviours, and how those variations reflect location-specific factors in the operating environments. The chapter argues for a new concept of ‘Symbiotic Interactionism’ in describing and analysing Social Shaping Theory. The Modified Social Shaping Theory now predicts mutually influencing, symbiotic relationships between technology and social factors. Thus, it contributes to a refinement of Social Shaping Theory which originally suggests a disproportionate focus on social factors’ influence on technology, while de-emphasising valid arguments of technological determinism concerning the impacts of technology on social contexts.

Keywords: Digital divide; ICT Usage; SMEs; Social shaping theory; Technological determinism (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-030-75894-3_15

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-75894-3_15

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