ICT Adoption Scale Development for SMEs

Abstract

Information systems research lacks a validated scale for assessing and measuring the adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) by small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The relevant literature is limited in studies mainly concentrating on developing country settings. Furthermore, the emergence of new technological elements and increasing digitalization and digital transformation efforts in the last two years have changed how an organization utilizes and adopts ICTs. Therefore, it is inevitable that the conceptual dimensions proposed in the previous literature and the definitions of these dimensions will also alter. Hence, it is essential to revisit and validate the prior work and enhance it based on current vitality and developments. This study developed and validated a scale for measuring ICT adoption and digitalization for SMEs in a developing country context. The researchers followed an eight-step scale development procedure: (1) comprehensive literature review on ICT adoption and digitalization; (2) identification of dimensions of the level of ICT adoption and digitalization; (3) generation of items; (4) item refinement through focus group; (5) pretest of the measurement; (6) scale purification; (7) data collection; and (8) measurement evaluation. Within the Turkish setting, the ICT adoption scale was determined to have sufficient reliability and validity. Data for this study were gathered from 421 respondents of 219 Turkish SMEs. Supporting the multidimensionality of ICT adoption, 14 items and five dimensions (communication, internal integration, integration with customers, interorganizational integration, and strategic integration) constituted the ICT adoption construct. Considering the dominance of conceptual frameworks that were proposed based on developed countries and the prevalence of unidimensional constructs in the field, the developed multidimensional scale is expected to contribute significantly. Practitioners and policymakers can utilize the suggested scale to discover areas where specific changes are required for the digital transformation in SME utilization efforts that need attention. The outcomes can be applied to industrial sectors and different geographic contexts. By considering stage-based integration, the developed scale can also be used in future studies to investigate the effects of different variables on the extent of ICT adoption and the impact of ICTs on several organizational outcomes.