Developing a Sustainability Network for Information Technology Adoption and Use in Micro-Enterprises

Abstract

In the United States, there are over 25 million micro-enterprises, comprising 88% of all businesses. These businesses with five or fewer employees are resource-constrained – one of the many constraints is the lack of technical skills. An inability to acquire and use these skills creates a disadvantage relative to larger corporations. An innovative approach was explored that involved deploying a customizable technology-based assistance infrastructure for micro-enterprises. Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) adoption can lead to social, economic, and human development if the ICT is sustained. An action research methodology was used to apply the innovative technology adoption approach to investigate a set of micro-enterprises in Western New York that had previously adopted ICT during a five-month timespan. This study investigates how Information Technology adoption and use in micro-enterprises may be sustained to facilitate their business growth. The main contribution of this study is development of an online tool to facilitate micro-enterprises’ sustainability of ICT adoption and use.