Abstract
The study investigates the moderating effect of e-literacy and business information strategy on the relationship between ICT adoption and performance of women-owned SMEs in Southwestern Nigeria. The theories of information technology trilogy by (J Strateg Inf Syst 10:77-99, 2001) coupled with the ICT literacy of (MediaSmarts, Digital Literacy Funadamentals, Canada’s Centre for Digital and Media Literacy MediaSmarts, 2017) which in this study is conceptualized as e-literacy were adapted, and five hypotheses were formulated towards proposing an e-literacy-adoption model for enhanced SMEs’ performance. The study adopted the correlational survey research design and consists of women-owned SMEs in Southwestern, Nigeria. A multi-stage sampling was employed in the study, and a sample size of 240 women-owned SMEs was drawn. However, 236 were retrieved, giving a 94.4% response rate. The questionnaire was used to obtain information, and the correlation analysis was used to analyze the data obtained. The result of the study revealed that e-literacy and business information strategy are significant to the adoption of ICT for effective performance among women-owned SMEs in Nigeria. The study recommends that governments and various NGOs committed to enhancing the growth and development of women-owned SMEs in Nigeria should provide necessary grants and sponsorship towards providing necessary ICT workshops and trainings that could enhance women-owned SMEs’ e-literacy and skills and also the adoption of ICT towards a better performance.
Highlights
The small and medium enterprises (SMEs)’ sector plays a significant role in the economic growth and development of most nations, and this has made it to attract attention from scholars and stakeholders of development
Ho2: There is no significant relationship between business information strategy and performance of women-owned Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Southwestern, Nigeria
Parida (2010) and Digital Agenda for Europe: A Europe, 2020, European Commission (2010) cited in Baker and Lomax (2014) have noted that this significant effect on growth and productivity of SME which is to be brought about by digital technologies has been limited due to the lack of literacy or skills in using them. This has made e-literacy germane in the studies of SMEs especially in recent information and communications technology (ICT) era if they should enjoy the benefits that ICT brings to development. This present study focuses on providing an e-literacy-adoption model for an enhanced performance of women-owned SMEs in Southwestern Nigeria
Summary
The small and medium enterprises (SMEs)’ sector plays a significant role in the economic growth and development of most nations, and this has made it to attract attention from scholars and stakeholders of development. It is given consideration in national planning and development. Studies such as Hashim (2000), Watson (2003), Jamil and Mohamed (2011), Hakimpoor et al (2011), Kutllovci et al (2012), Mahmood and Hanafi (2013), Fowler (2017), Ngage Media Services Pvt Ltd (2017), Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) (2017), and Ata (2018) have attested to the contributory role of SMEs to development which can cut across personal, family, society, and national development. The Central Bank of Nigeria (2018) has noted that there has been gross under performance of the SMEs’ sub-sector and this has undermined its contribution to the economic growth and development in Nigeria
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