Information And Communication Technology Investment Research Articles

The role of ICT use to the economic growth in Sub Saharan African region (SSA)

Purpose This paper aims to examine the long run impact of information and communication technology (ICT) on economic growth in the Sub Saharan African (SSA) region. The direct impact of ICTs use was examined for a 27-year period (1990-2014), before the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) era (1990-1999) and during the MDGs era (2000-2014). Second and third objectives examined the nonlinear effect of ICT in the economic growth and their threshold values, respectively. The main growth enhancing transmission channels of ICT use were also looked at. Design/methodology/approach The study uses panel method technique of system generalist method of moment. The data period was collected from the years 1990-2014 from 45 SSA countries. The three main proxies of ICT are fixed telephone lines, mobile phone users and internet users per 100 inhabitants. Findings For the direct impact analysis, mobile phone and internet were found to have triggered economic growth. However, for nonlinear effect analysis, mass penetration of ICT proxies seems to slow economic growth. The threshold analysis showed a penetration rate threshold of 4.5 per cent for both mobile phone and internet, and 5 per cent for fixed telephone line before economic growth gets triggered. Finally, the results indicated that, except for financial development, human capital, institutional quality and domestic investment were the main growth enhancing transmission channels of ICTs use in the economy. Practical implications From a policy perspective, results suggest SSA region to open more doors for investment in technology to ensure sustainable development. Such policy has to focus on investment into main transmission channels of ICT, namely, human capital, institutional quality and domestic investment. The policymakers have to ensure that penetration of mobile phone, fixed telephone and internet is met by improvement in human capital, institutional quality and domestic investment. Moreover, to fully use the potential of ICT, improving the financial sector is highly recommended. Originality/value In SSA, studies that address the impact of ICT on economic growth was almost non-existent, especially on its nonlinear effect and main transmission channels. While few studies have examined the direct impact of ICT, this study extended the scope by including the main growth enhancing transmission channels and nonlinear effect of ICT on SSA economies using recent data.

ICT-enabled time performance: an investigation of value creation mechanisms

The study presented in this paper aimed at checking whether companies that embed information and communication technologies (ICT)-enabled time performance into their product offering can achieve better economic outcomes from technology adoption. Indeed, it is still questionable whether technology adoption results in a superior profitability, especially if such an improvement is achieved through the use of functional ICT applications. In this study, we assume that a better alignment among ICT investments, improvements of the logistics process and the value proposition of the firm can lead towards a superior economic performance. A survey was conducted and 180 usable questionnaires were collected from companies engaged in the electronics and vehicle manufacturing industries. Data were analysed through the structural equation modeling approach. The results show that improvements in speed and dependability, achieved through technology adoption, can lead to a better economic performance if they are embedded into superior after-sales services and/or into an improved product offering.

ICT Activity, Innovation and Productivity: An Analysis of Data From Australian Businesses

Longitudinal firm level data are used to examine the short‐term impact of information and communications technology (ICT) investment and innovation on Australian businesses. ICT activity is found to be correlated with increased rates of innovation across all aspects of business. Firms which increase their ICT investment are also more likely to subsequently report increased productivity, though this effect does not appear to be causal. IT investment was most clearly associated with increased productivity and profitability in the manufacturing, construction and transport industry sector. The results suggest that the impact of ICT investment within a firm is mediated by broader innovations in business practice.

How Does ICT Use Influence Students’ Achievements in Math and Science Over Time? Evidence from PISA 2000 to 2012

Background:This study aims to investigate the impacts of information and communication technology (ICT) use on students’ math and science achievements, with a special focus on examining the trends of these relationships over the past decade.Materials and methods:Data from all five waves of the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) from 2000 to 2012 were used. Three-level hierarchical linear modelling revealed that school-level ICT-related variables had positive influences on learning outcomes when national GDP, school type, and school ICT investment, were controlled for.Results:The findings indicated that the relationships between different types of ICT use with math and science achievement were negative in the long term when students’ families’ social economic status was held constant. In addition, self- confidence in Internet tasks was discovered to be beneficial to both math and science, and thus, suggestions were made to develop students’ confidence in conducting ICT-related activities.Conclusions:It is noteworthy that consistent trends were identified in both math and science among 15-year-old students. The findings are very helpful for better understanding how ICT use affected students’ learning outcomes from a long-term view. This study’s overall findings have better generalizability and are of particular importance for both education researchers and policy makers.

Does technology improve reading outcomes? Comparing the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of ICT interventions for early grade reading in Kenya

Education policymakers are investing in information and communications technology (ICT) without a research base on how ICT improves outcomes. There is limited research on the effects of different types of ICT investments on outcomes. The Kenya Primary Math and Reading (PRIMR) study implemented a randomized controlled trial comparing the effects and cost of three interventions – e-readers for students, tablets for teachers, and the base PRIMR program with tablets for instructional supervisors. The results show that the ICT investments do not improve literacy outcomes significantly more than the base non-ICT instructional program. Our findings show that cost considerations should be paramount in selecting ICT investments in the education sector.

ICT spillovers and productivity in Canada: provincial and industry analysis

ABSTRACTResearch on the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) on productivity in developed countries is already extensive, but the spillover and time-varying effects of ICT investment across economic activities have been only minimally explored. This paper investigates the impacts of ICT and its spillovers on productivity in Canada, focusing on heterogeneity across provinces and industries over time. The panel data estimation model includes 10 provinces with diverse economic activities for the period 1990–2008, and the two-digit level industries for the period 1981–2008. The findings show that ICT has a positive impact on labour productivity, but the effects vary significantly across provinces, industries, and time. Specifically, while provinces with higher shares of manufacturing and services in their GDP have reaped the benefits of ICT investment, other provinces primarily dependent on natural resources and agriculture are lagging behind. The industry-level analysis also reveals that manufacturing and services industries have benefited from ICT investment much more than primary sector industries. The results further indicate that ICT investment in the USA, a major trading partner, has spilled over to some Canadian provinces and industries and that the overall ICT effects are stabilized in those ICT-intensive provinces and industries.

Factors Affecting the Adoption of Ict on Project Planning in the Nigerian Food and Beverage Industry

<p>This study identified the nature of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) adopted on project planning activities and examined the factors affecting the adoption of these ICT on project planning in the Food and Beverage Industry in Nigeria. The study was carried out through the use of questionnaire and interview schedule to a total of forty five (45) respondents across ICT, Production and Project departments of food and beverage firms in southwestern Nigeria. This was used to elicit information on the factors affecting the adoption of ICT in the industry. Data collected were analysed using both descriptive and inferential statistics. The study revealed that the major ICT adopted by food and beverage firms in Nigeria were Enterprise resource planning (4.48), Product lifecycle management (4.29), Customer Relationship Management (4.19), Supply Chain Management (4.34), Management Information Systems (4.38), Portable Data Collection Hand Held (4.65), Virtual Private Networks (4.53), Internet and e-mail (4.77). All of these ICTs had a mean rank of 4.00 and above on a 5 point-likert scales.Three factors were identified to influence ICT adoption. These include Human Resource capacity (52.8%), level of ICT investment (47.2%) and ICT competency (69.4%). Furthermore, regression analysis showed that level of ICT on Investment (r = -.425<sup>**</sup>: p<0.05) and Employee Competency (r = -.634<sup>**</sup>: p<0.05) are factors which had significant influence on ICT adoption in the project planning activities of the firms. In conclusion, the study revealed that Level of ICT investment and employee ICT competency are factors that significantly influence the adoption of ICT in the selected firms. These factors were found to be critical hindrances to ICT adoption in Nigerian food and beverage industry.</p>

A Bayesian non-parametric modeling to estimate student response to ICT investment

ABSTRACT This paper estimates the causal impact of investment in information and communication technologies (ICT) on student performances in mathematics as measured in the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2012 for Spain. To do this we apply a new methodology in this context known as Bayesian Additive Regression Trees that has important advantages over more standard parametric specifications. Results indicate that ICT has a moderate positive effect on math scores. In addition, we analyze how this effect interacts with variables related to school features and student socioeconomic status, finding that ICT investment is especially beneficial for students from a low socioeconomic background.

Ex-Post Stakeholder Analysis of National ICT Policy Subsystem

This paper presents an analysis of stakeholders of the national Information and Communication Technology (ICT) policy subsystem using the Advocacy Coalition Framework (ACF). The study focused on the context of a developing country, Malawi, which was analysed using qualitative data gathered through semi-structured interviews and policy documents. The findings showed there was diversity in the stakeholders for national ICT policy who were engaged in different roles of the policy process despite being a unitary policy subsystem. The stakeholders included officials from government departments, donors, academia, private sector organisations, the media, law enforcement agents and telecom operators. Some of the roles of the stakeholders were related to policy formulation, implementation, regulation, ICT investment, and support. The study contributes towards the literature of national ICT policy in the context of developing countries. A further study is recommended to consider the interests of informal stakeholders not represented in the national ICT policy subsystem.

Information and communication technology, and economic growth in Nigeria: a time series analysis

Information and communication technology (ICT) is a general purpose technology that has the potential of playing an important role in economic growth, and other dimensions of social and political development in developing countries. Using quarterly data and Johansen techniques, the study found significant impacts of ICT investment on economic growth. Although other variables have positive impact on economic growth, the results implies that if Nigeria seeks to enhance its economic growth, the country needs to further implement specific policies that facilitate investment in ICT.

Comparative Study from Several Business Cases and Methodologies for ICT Project Evaluation

Achieving high competitive advantage through Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) has never been easy without proper management and appropriate utilization of ICT resources. Therefore, the statistics suggested that ICT project failures are very common in the organization due to several reasons; it fails to deliver the required objectives of investment, inaccurate budget planning, lack of risk management plan and time overrun are some basic reasons for an ICT project’s failure. To overcome these issues, recently ICT decision makers are emphasizing more on ICT project’s evaluation rather than investment. The practitioner broadly categorized the evaluation techniques in post and pre evaluation methods, which is further divided into measuring the return from financial and non-financial perspectives. The main purpose of this paper is to provide a comparative analysis on ICT investment’s evaluation, their categories based on pre and post evaluation. Thus, the paper offers an extensive literature review that can help ICT decision makers and organizations to better select the evaluation techniques available, where integration of multiple techniques can further improve this process

THE ROLE OF HRM AND ICT COMPLEMENTARITIES IN FIRM INNOVATION: EVIDENCE FROM TRANSITION ECONOMIES

Innovation is of critical importance for business productivity and economic growth. Firm characteristics and economic geography have been identified as influential drivers of innovation output. More recently, scholars have investigated the influence of Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on firm performance. There is evidence that productivity gains from adapting HRM practices are higher if supported by investments in ICT. Therefore, we hypothesise that ICT-use and HRM practices are complementary inputs with respect to firm innovation. Our data source is the Management, Organisation, and Innovation (MOI) Survey which assesses management practices in manufacturing establishments in transition economies. We find that firms that employ HRM practices are more likely to innovate relative to firms that do not use HRM practices. Our analysis also reveals a complementary relationship between ICT-use and HRM practices which positively influences firm innovation performance.

Information and communication technology and economic growth in India

This paper examines the sources of economic growth in Indian economy since the 1980s, with particular focus on the role of information and communication technology (ICT). The impact of ICT on economic growth is analyzed via two main channels. The direct contribution of ICT investment to aggregate economy and manufacturing growth, and the indirect impact of ICT on Total Factor Productivity Growth (TFPG) in ICT using and ICT producing sectors. The results suggest an increasing role of ICT investment in driving aggregate economic growth in India, though largely limited to the service sector. Moreover, the economy has not been successful in spreading the ICT spillover effect across the board, thus limiting the productivity gain from ICT use. Whereas we see an improving productivity growth in ICT using market services and their contribution to aggregate productivity growth, the manufacturing sectors lags quite behind. Indeed, India׳s export oriented ICT sector has helped gain efficiency improvement in its fast growing service economy, while there is still large potential for ICT use in the manufacturing sector. The paper opens further avenues for improving the data on ICT investment, and also stresses the need for more detailed sectoral analysis of the impact of ICT on economic growth, treating computer related and software services separately.

New Technologies for Disseminating and Communicating Agriculture Knowledge and Information: Challenges for Agricultural Research Institutes in Tanzania

AbstractThis paper explores how a wide range of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) available in Agricultural Research Institutes (ARIs) if used effectively by agriculture researchers can improve agriculture productivity in Tanzania. A structured questionnaire and telephonic interviews were used to collect data from a randomly selected sample of 64 respondents made up of agricultural researchers, agriculture managers and other agricultural stakeholders in the selected institutes. Data were analyzed using statistical tools. The results indicate that ICTs tools are available in ARIs for the day to day research activities. However, utilization of agriculture journals is very limited due to unreliability and poor connectivity of the Internet and frequent power cuts. Results also show that the uses of specialized ICT devices have not taken a great recognition in agriculture activities which is attributed by low investment of ICTs that can be used for teaching and learning modern agriculture productivity techniques in institutes under this study. Among the challenges hindering the use of ICTs in ARIs includes: inadequate computers and the supporting technological infrastructure, lack of electricity needed to operate computers, unreliable Internet connectivity and lack of systematic ICTs investment; low coordination of agriculture stakeholders due to institutional diversity and department fragmentation. This study recommends that the Government of Tanzania (GoT) should formulate and implement ICT for Agriculture (ICT4A) projects based on a researched conceptual framework related to ICT4A use and Information and Communication Management (ICM) in ARIs in Tanzania.

ICT use and total factor productivity growth: intangible capital or productive externalities?

What accounts for the exceptional TFP growth performance in some ICT-using industries after the mid-1990s in the U.S. and to some extent in few other OECD countries? Most commentators have pointed to enormous productivity gains in the production of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) as the answer. But according to standard neoclassical theory, technical progress in upstream industry should not raise TFP growth in downstream industries. This paper investigates two explanations for this apparent puzzle, one based on the existence of intangible capital that is not measured in the National Income Accounts, and the other based on productive externalities of ICT use. Using newly constructed comprehensive data covering 16 OECD countries for 24 industries for a period of 32 years, we find evidence of intangible capital accumulation, but no evidence of positive spillovers to ICT investment. These results are robust across different estimation techniques and under different assumptions regarding market structure. (JEL: E22, O3, O47)

Labor demand and ICT adoption in Spain

Spain is delayed in adopting information and communication technologies (ICT) and its productivity per hour worked presents a downward trend since the mid-90s. In this paper we argue that these two facts are related. Using the EU KLEMS dataset we test the capital-skill complementarity hypothesis in a cross-section of sectors in Spain. We find that the substitutability between workers and ICT assets falls as worker skill level rises, and that this feature holds across all sectors. Furthermore, the ICT assets are complementary with skilled workers. The fraction of workers employed with medium and high skills across sectors rose by 21% and 12%, respectively, to the disadvantage of low skilled workers, due to an adjustment within sectors more than to a composition effect between sectors. Finally, using a regression analysis, we conclude that some labor market institutions are likely behind the evolution of sectorial productivity and ICT investment in Spain.

Towards E-Commerce Use for Pro-Poor Tourism Promotion: Local Providers' ICT Training Needs in Tanzania

Although e-commerce and related technologies are regarded as tourism business' natural partners, opportunities emanating from their use may not be fully realized unless users are equipped with required information and communication technologies (ICT) knowledge. A need for capacity building is thus critical to providing developing countries with opportunities to capitalize on the opportunities offered by ICT. This study was carried in Zanzibar and Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania to investigate ICT training level and current ICT training needs among the micro-small and medium tourism enterprises (MSMTEs). Using snowballing non-probability sampling technique, data was collected from willing 69 MSMTEs. While quantitative data was analyzed using statistical package for the social sciences (SPSS), descriptive answers were contently summarized. Activities identified include tour operating, souvenirs, Tingatinga drawings, Maasi carvings, boutique selling, hotel operation, animal zoos, backpacking and information services provision. Areas that revealed importance and urgency for training include internet usage, purchasing and selling products via the Internet, basic web designing and maintenance and troubleshooting. Others are basic software applications such as Microsoft word, spreadsheet, report processing and presentation. Need for government support in laying out infrastructure, supportive policies that favor sponsored trainings and subsidized investments in ICT was exposed as important ingredients for tourism competitive advantages.

The impact of doing business regulations on investments in ICT

Using industry-level data from 14 OECD countries and doing business indicators of the World Bank, we analyze how country-level regulations of business activities affect investments in information and communication technologies (ICT). We find that investments in ICT decrease with the costs of starting and operating a business and registering property. Investments increase with the strength of legal rights. We also find that investments in software increase with the ability of shareholders to sue managers for misconduct, and investments in communication technologies decline with the extent of director liability for self-dealing.

EHealth integration and interoperability issues: towards a solution through enterprise architecture.

Investments in healthcare information and communication technology (ICT) and health information systems (HIS) continue to increase. This is creating immense pressure on healthcare ICT and HIS to deliver and show significance in such investments in technology. It is discovered in this study that integration and interoperability contribute largely to this failure in ICT and HIS investment in healthcare, thus resulting in the need towards healthcare architecture for eHealth. This study proposes an eHealth architectural model that accommodates requirement based on healthcare need, system, implementer, and hardware requirements. The model is adaptable and examines the developer’s and user’s views that systems hold high hopes for their potential to change traditional organizational design, intelligence, and decision-making.

Analysing ICT and Development from the Perspective of the Capabilities Approach: A Study in South Brazil

AbstractCertain international agencies propose that Information and Communication Technology (ICT) allows development to be reached more efficiently and quickly. While there are success stories galore, there is acknowledgement of not all investments in ICT bringing positive effects towards development. Following the Capabilities Approach, this paper discusses how the use of ICT can promote a more effective development by studying the case of Sudotec (association for technological and industrial development), a non‐profit organization that saw in ICT the opportunity to change the local scenario. The results revealed positive effects of the use of ICT in social, economical and cultural spheres, but not presenting political effect.