Abstract
Use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) to support research work is becoming increasingly common. This study set out to establish how ICTs are being used to support collaborative research in Kenya, and identify factors within the ICT ecosystem that contribute to their adoption and use. A mixed methods research design, involving 248 academic scientists in 4 disciplines across 4 major Kenyan universities, was employed. We find little diversity in forms of ICTs used to support collaborative research within the studied population. Several factors affect adoption and use practices, including availability and access to ICT resources, nature of the work, national and institutional ICT and research environments and the social cultural practices of researchers. We explain our findings using Venkatesh et al.’s Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology model, which identifies four main constructs that affect adoption of technology such as performance expectancy, effort expectancy, facilitating conditions and social influence.
Highlights
Collaboration in research has become an integral component of today’s knowledge production process, and so has the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to support scientific work
Using the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, developed by Venkatesh, Morris, Davis, and Davis (2003) as our analytical framework, we present the findings of a study aimed at understanding availability and use of ICTs to support collaborative research in Kenya, and factors within the ICT ecosystem that determine their adoption and use
41.5% were from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT), University of Nairobi (UON) 31.1%, Moi University (MU) 16.9% and Kenyatta University (KU) 10.5%
Summary
Collaboration in research has become an integral component of today’s knowledge production process, and so has the use of information and communication technology (ICT) to support scientific work. Past research points to a number of positive impacts of ICT on research work These include reduction in organizational and communication problems (Cummings & Kiesler, 2005; Walsh & Maloney, 2007), extension of networks (Gruzd, Staves, & Wilk, 2012; Ynalvez & Shrum, 2011), access to a wide range of information (Sooryamoorthy & Shrum, 2007) and increased productivity (Lee & Bozeman, 2005; Ynalvez & Shrum, 2011). Despite their importance in scholarly communication, few studies address the concept of their use within the context of supporting research and scientific collaborations in developing countries. This model was chosen because of its representation of a wider range of factors determining adoption and use of technology, not fully represented in the individual models
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