Low Level Of Adoption Research Articles

Achieving Time-Sensitive Organizational Performance Through Mindful Use of Technologies and Routines

Organizational performance is often dependent on the timing of critical processes and the simultaneous use of both technology and routines. Existing publications emphasize the importance of time sensitivity but also reflect divergent, untested perspectives. Prior works do not clearly explain or examine how different mechanisms are associated with achieving time-sensitive versus general (or non-time-sensitive) performance. We build on concepts from organizational mindfulness and organizational routines to address these gaps. Specifically, this paper examines how the mindful use of information technologies and adherence to specified routines are associated with both time-sensitive and general organizational performance. We employ split-group structural equation modeling based on high and low levels of information technology adoption to account for potential technology contingencies in performance. We use time-sequenced data from 262 U.S. hospitals to analyze two categories of clinical care quality: time-sensitive care and general care. The results indicate that mindful use of technologies is associated with both time-sensitive and general performance in contexts with high technology adoption but not in those with low adoption. In contrast, adherence to specified routines is associated with time-sensitive performance in contexts with low technology adoption but not in those with high adoption. The results also clarify that high levels of technology adoption and mindful use may at times assume the place of specified routines in their association with time-sensitive performance. Finally, we find evidence that continuous improvement may bridge adherence to specified routines and mindful use of technologies.

Nivel de uso de las redes sociales en el proceso de comunicación en las MIPES de Cuenca

<p>La investigación se desarrolló en Cuenca, tercera ciudad más importante del Ecuador, cuyo objetivo principal se enfocó en analizar el nivel de uso, así como la administración de redes sociales y aplicaciones móviles en los procesos de comunicación y mercadotecnia en las Micro y Pequeñas Empresas (MIPES).<br />Debido a que la globalización del internet ha hecho que las empresas deban adaptarse a entornos cada vez más complejos y competitivos, creando estrategias de valor para llegar a satisfacer a un nuevo estilo de demandantes, que influenciados por publicaciones en diferentes medios virtuales, están cada vez más informados, lo que repercute en una sociedad más exigente de confort. La investigación es de tipo cuantitativa, la muestra se tomó de las Micro y Pequeñas empresas de la ciudad. Para la recolección de información se implementó una encuesta, instrumento que fue aplicado a los establecimientos seleccionados. Los constructos de medición se validaron mediante el uso del alfa de Cronbach. Los resultados obtenidos demuestran un bajo nivel de adopción de redes sociales en la microempresa y un nivel medio en la pequeña empresa. Adicionalmente, se observa que en los establecimientos que utilizan las redes sociales y las aplicaciones móviles para actividades de comunicación y mercadotecnia, éstas no se explotan en su totalidad por múltiples factores como: desconocimiento en el uso y administración, no lo consideran necesario, falta de confianza y credibilidad entre otros aspectos.</p>

Socio-economic factors influencing utilisation of rain water harvesting and saving technologies in Tharaka South, Eastern Kenya

Low levels of soil moisture makes rain water harvesting and saving technologies important interventions for water supply and food production in arid and semi-arids lands of Kenya. Despite much research around this theme, factors affecting utilisation of these technologies by farmers have not been well understood and the low adoption and adaptation levels of these beneficial technologies remains a challenge. This paper extends this dimension with emphasis on Tharaka South sub-county where water scarcity, unreliable rainfall and soil water stress is a major cause of household food insecurity. Farm and social data were collected using a cross-sectional survey design targeting a total of 351 household heads. Data was analysed using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. The utilization of in situ rainwater harvesting and saving technologies was higher for trashlines (73%) as compared to micro-catchments, Zai pits (26%) and Negarims (13%). Socio-economic characteristics that were positively and significantly associated with Zai pit utilisation included household size (p<0.01), training in Zai pits (p<0.002), while total farm size (p<0.01) and land tenure (p<0.01) showed negative co-efficients. Both formal and informal sources of training were important tools in disseminating rain-water harvesting and saving technologies. The study concluded that farmer age, household size, farm size, farming history, training, and formal education were important factors which influenced utilisation of rain water harvesting and saving technologies in Tharaka sub-county. Specific approaches are needed to scale-up resource-intensive technologies (Fanya juu, Zai pits, and Negarims) compared to less resource-intensive technologies.

Adoption behaviour of pea growers in Kota region of Rajasthan

The findings revealed that 105 (52.50%) of total pea growers were found to be from medium adoption level group, whereas, 43 (21.50%) respondents were reported from the group of low adoption level and 52 (26.00%) respondents were in the high adoption level. The study further revealed that 23.00 per cent marginal farmers were in the high adoption level and 28.00 per cent marginal farmers were in the low adoption level, while 49.00 per cent marginal pea growers were found in the medium adoption category. In case of small farmers' category it was observed that 15.00, 56.00 and 29.00 per cent respondents had low, medium and high level of adoption, respectively about pea production practices in the study area. It was noted that the extent of adoption in marginal farmers was from 23.70 to 73.20 per cent, while in case of small farmers the extent of adoption was from 30.37 to 74.12 per cent in all improved pea cultivation practices. Further it was found that small farmers had more extent of adoption than marginal farmers but there still exists a gap in the adoption of improved pea cultivation practices. The findings indicated that there was significant difference between marginal and small farmers in adoption of improved pea production technology. Hence, it is concluded that there was significant difference between marginal and small farmers in adoption of improved pea production technology.

Knowledge and adoption of SRI method paddy growers

The present study was undertaken in Dharwad and Kalaghatgi talukas of Dharwad district of Karnataka state having large area under cultivation of paddy, from selected talukas the list of villages was prepared and five villages from each taluka were selected on the basis of highest area under paddy crop. From selected villages, the list of farmers was prepared village wise and 15 farmers from each villages were selected by random sampling technique. Total 150 respondents were selected for the study. The data were collected by personal interview. Based on the finding of the study majority of the respondents were having medium level of knowledge, followed by high level and low level of knowledge. While in case of adoption, that majority of the respondents had medium level of adoption, followed by high and low level of adoption. Among various personal, socio-economic profile characteristics of the respondents, education, land holding, area under SRI method, family income, social participation, mass participation, had highly significant relationship with at 5 per cent level of adoption whereas experience in SRI method, innovative proneness, risk orientation, extension contact, participation in training, cosmopoliteness, farmers field school, had highly and positively significant relationship with at 1 per cent level of adoption whereas only age had non-significant relationship with the knowledge and adoption of SRI method paddy growers.

Development of a web-based system for managing suppliers’ performance and knowledge sharing in construction project

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to introduce a web-based system that provides an efficient means for managing suppliers’ performance which also facilitates the leveraging of suppliers’ knowledge for the benefit of the on-going projects.Design/methodology/approachCase study approach is adopted. In total, 12 semi-structured interviews are conducted with Malaysia-based public listed construction companies to study their current practice and the requirements for the development of an information and communication technology (ICT) aided system for the purpose. Subsequently, a web-based system for managing suppliers’ performance is developed using ASP.net and MSSQL database.FindingsMost of the case study companies are found to have low levels of ICT adoption and still resort to handling the majority of the tasks involved in the selection and management of suppliers’ performance manually. An ICT-based system that can improve the recording of important information about the suppliers, provide a function for supplier selection and facilitate the capture of useful reusable knowledge of the suppliers is needed.Originality/valueThe paper has shown empirically that a web-based suppliers’ performance management system eases the supplier selection process and the monitoring of suppliers’ performance. In addition, it demonstrates how such systems can be designed to capture and facilitate the leveraging of suppliers’ knowledge, and how suppliers’ knowledge contribution can be recognised as part of their performance. The system adopts a novel two-way communication model which provides the suppliers the access to their own performance records to identify room for improvements.

Ambulant monitoring and web-accessible home-based exercise program during outpatient follow-up for resected lung cancer survivors: actual use and feasibility in clinical practice

PurposeThe aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility of a telehealthcare application for operable lung cancer (OLC) patients, consisting of ambulant symptom and physical activity monitoring (S&PAM) and a web-accessible home-based exercise program (WEP), and identify possible barriers for successful adoption and implementation.MethodsA two-stage mixed methods design was used, in which 22 OLC patients and their treating healthcare professionals (HCPs) participated from pre-surgery to three (stage 1; n = 10) or six (stage 2; n = 12) months post-surgery. Actual use and acceptability (usability, usefulness, and satisfaction) were evaluated.ResultsSeventeen OLC patients (age (SD): 59 (8) years; 8 female) actively used the modules. S&PAM use varied from 1 to 11 monitoring days prior to outpatient consultations. Patients used WEP most frequently during the first 5 weeks, with an average of four logins a week. Fifty-eight percent used WEP beyond 7 weeks. No adverse situations occurred, and patients felt confident using the applications.Perceived added value included active lifestyle promotion, decreased anxiety, and accessibility to specialized HCPs. Physiotherapists used WEP as intended. Contrarily, physicians scarcely used information from S&PAM. To promote future adoption, strategies should focus on high-level patient tailoring of the technology, and formalization of including the applications in the clinical workflow.ConclusionsAmbulant monitoring and web-accessible home exercise is clinically feasible for OLC patients. However, low level of adoption by referring physicians may hamper successful implementation.Implications for cancer survivorsPatients perceived both ambulant monitoring and web-accessible exercise as an added value to regular care and feasible to use in the period before and after lung resection.

Adoption level of dairy farmers regarding clean milk production practices at field level in western U.P.

The challenge before the dairy farmers is how well they can manage the livestock to enhance the raw milk quality on a sustained basis. Therefore, efficient use of resources depends to greater extent on how they acquire and adopt innovations in the sector of animal husbandry in effective manner to reach higher level of performance. The milk quality is determined by aspects of composition and hygiene of milk. Dairy farmer is the key client in this process who decides the quality of milk. The study was conducted to know the adoption level of dairy farmers regarding clean milk production practices in four milk unions of western Uttar Pradesh in the year 2008-09. A total of 120 respondents (60 CMP and 60 N-CMP) were interviewed from four said milk unions. In each milk union 30 selected dairy farmers were again divided in two groups i.e., 15 farmers of CMP and 15 farmers of N-CMP programme under dairy co-operative society such type of distribution of sample size was done for assessing the comparison between CMP and N-CMP programme villages. It was observed that 58.33 per cent and 53.33 per cent had medium level of overall adoption, 13.33 per cent and 26.67 per cent of them having low level of overall adoption, while 28.33 per cent and 20 per cent of the respondents had high level of overall adoption, under CMP and N-CMP, respectively. The results in study clearly showed that milk quality at all levels of milk collection i.e. pail level (milk sample collected at the time of milking), DCS level (milk sample collected at dairy co-operative society) and dock level (milk sample collected at dairy plant) level was positively correlated with adoption level of dairy farmers regarding CMP practices. Therefore, raising adoption of clean milk production practices are of paramount importance for dairy farmers. This will open up new vistas and make possible for dairy farmers to achieve substantial gains in income. Raising the clean milk production is the fundamental problem. This problem needs to be carefully tackled for long run resolution of under developed animal husbandry.

A study on knowledge and adoption level of lac production among lac growers in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh

The present study is based on the primary data collected from 160 lac growers in Bastar district of Chhattisgarh during the year 2012-2013. The study revealed that practices like inoculation method of seed lac in host plants (38.75%) was recorded high level of knowledge, whereas respondents had medium level of knowledge about lac producing trees (81.87%) and low level of knowledge on lac strain (97.50%). In case of practice wise level of adoption, it was found that maximum number of respondents had high extent of adoption in selection of host plants (11.25%), followed by pruning of host plants(91.25%) under medium level of extent of adoption and it was found that cent per cent had low level of adoption regarding adoption of recommended strain. The knowledge and adoption level of lac growers can be increased through conducting training programmes on different aspects of lac production technology like processing, processing instruments, usages of lac in making by products by the concerned agencies and providing the facilities and proper guidance to the lac growers for adoption of recommended lac production technology which will be helpful in providing additional income to the lac growers. Results of the study will be helpful to improve the production scenario of lac which will helpful for farmers to get additional income.

Between the technology acceptance model and sustainable energy technology acceptance model: Investigating smart meter acceptance in the United States

This study investigated a set of social-psychological predictors affecting smart meter support and adoption intention based on the Technology Acceptance and Sustainable Energy Technology Acceptance Models among 711 U.S. residents. Despite low levels of adoption in the U.S., this study suggested that the majority of our participants supported smart meter technology and were willing to adopt this technology. Two perceived technology attributes – usefulness and risk to privacy – had direct effects on support for smart meter installation and adoption intention, while the other technology attribute, perceived cost, had no impact. Individual differences in trust in one’s utility company and problem perception related to energy issues affected support and adoption intention through the mediators of perceived usefulness and privacy risk. Problem perception also had direct effects on support and adoption intention. Democrats reported higher levels of trust in utility companies and problem perception than non-Democrats. This study provides useful insights for utility managers, researchers and policy makers.

Prioritizing BIM Capabilities of an Organization: An Interpretive Structural Modeling Analysis

The Indian Architectural Engineering and Construction sector is grappling with the adoption of BIM as is evident from a relatively low level of adoption. While there have been sufficient number of successful (and unsuccessful) project level implementations of BIM in India, the maturity level of the overall industry and its constituents remains relatively low. One of the challenges faced, especially at the organizational level, is an understanding and development of the organization's BIM capabilities. These capabilities need attention in terms of their effectiveness and hierarchy of implementation in order to overcome the challenges of adoption and increasing maturity levels in BIM usage. The inability to identify crucial BIM capabilities is one of the primary barriers to ineffective BIM implementation and slow adoption in India. The aim of this study is to investigate the dynamics of different BIM capabilities and to understand how these capabilities can be represented as a set of interrelated elements by adopting Interpretive Structure Modeling (ISM) technique Accordingly, a clear understanding regarding the nature of each BIM capability is developed that will help the organizations to plan the strategic implementation of BIM on any project and gain systematic, logical and productive results. Through the three-phased study, it was concluded that BIM capabilities namely visualization, energy and environment analysis, structural analysis, MEP system modelling, constructability analysis, and BIM for as-built were found to be the independent BIM capabilities having strong driving power but weak dependence power. Facilities management is a dependent BIM capability with weak driving power but strong dependence power. This study provides a roadmap to BIM implementers by highlighting the driving and dependence power of each BIM capability which is deemed useful for enhanced delivery of construction projects. Significant theoretical and practical implications are envisioned for both researchers and project managers through the findings of this study.

Software education and digital economy development in Serbia

The concept of digital transformation, or the use of technology to improve performance, is analysed in the context of sustainable economic development and technological preparedness of Serbia. The authors further focus on the role of software engineering education. Software developers are key enablers of new information technologies, providing programming services behind the adapted and new business models. The first assessment of current technical competencies, educational background and working conditions of software developers in Serbia was the subject of an empirical study conducted in October 2015, which is discussed in this article. The findings concur with global research, which discerns a shift away from formal education, in part as a result of a gap in the classic curricula and the market demand for agile programming and project management. This gap needs to be supplemented with nontechnical skills in addition to teaching innovative programming, and this could be a subject of further study. Additional research is required to understand the low level of digital adoption by the business sector in Serbia, as well as to investigate the impact that European integration and foreign investments produce on this process. In Serbia, one important positive trend is a high level of openness to entrepreneurship among software developers, and this may be the source of new innovations. A further challenge is to link developers as technical enablers with the traditionally organised businesses in Serbia to facilitate a wider digital transformation and creation of a true digital economy.

Knowledge and Adoption Level of Plant Protection Schedule and Certified Seed by Potato Growers

The present study was carried out during the year 2012–13 in Surguja district of Northern Hilly zone of Chattisgarh. Finding of the study were that before FLD, majority of respondents belonged to low level of knowledge regarding plant protection schedule, time or schedule of use of insecticide/pesticide for storage pests (74.3), whereas, after FLD, maximum number of respondents were having medium level of knowledge about seed treatment, time of schedule of fungicide and other chemicals for diseases control and use of insecticide/pesticide for storage pest (51.4%). In case of adoption level, before FLD maximum number of respondents belonged to low level of adoption about seed treatment and time or schedule of use of insecticide/pesticide for storage pests (77.1%). While after FLD, maximum numbers of respondents were having medium level of adoption were about use of insecticide/pesticide for storage pests (54.3%). Regarding use of certified seed of potato before FLD, majority of respondents belonged to low level of knowledge about source of availability of certified seed of potato (82.9%). However, after FLD maximum respondents belonged to medium level of knowledge were about time of sowing (62.9%). Level of adoption regarding use of certified seed of potato before FLD majority of respondents belonged to low level of adoption were seed rate (85.7%), while adoption level after FLD maximum respondents belonged to high level of adoption were time of sowing (60.0%). In case of problems faced by respondents regarding use of certified seed maximum respondents having problems of more demand of local red variety of potato by consumer and cost of seed potato (100.0%) both followed by non availability of certified seed of potato in market and lack of facility of cold storage (94.3%) both.

Attitudes of farmers to extension trainings in Nigeria: Implications for adoption of improved agricultural technologies in Ogun state southwest region

In Africa, the outcome of development research is enormous and its dissemination has had a huge impact, especially in Nigeria for the last few decades. This impact is observable in the adoption of innovation by farmers with the aim of transforming agricultural production. To enhance adoption, training of the farmers is required. However, the attitude of farmers towards training could influence their decision on the uptake of agricultural innovation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the attitude of cassava farmers to training on selected improved agricultural technologies can substantially influence adoption of the technologies. A multistage sampling technique was used to select the sample size for this study. Data collected were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistical tools. The findings showed that only a few (37.5%) of the farmers had a favourable attitude towards extension training with 64.25% of them having a low level of adoption of the technologies. While farmers? attitude towards training exerted a positive, howbeit minuscule influence on technology adoption, the perception of farmers about constraints to training on technologies had a stronger influence. Factors with a significant negative influence on adoption include, among others, diversification into non-farm occupations and age of farmers. Although the study admits that stimulating favourable attitudes is important for innovation adoption, it maintains that substantial rates of adoption will only be achieved if constraints to trainings on agricultural technology adoption are addressed from the farmers? perspective and if agricultural production becomes attractive enough to hold farmers within the sector.

Adoption of soil test recommendations by the farmers

The present study on adoption of soil test recommendations by the farmers was conducted in the year 2015–16 in Chandur Bazar and Bhatkuli tehsils of Amravati district. For this study 100 respondents were selected with the help of random sampling method. The data were collected with the help of structured interview schedule. Collected data were carefully examined, classified quantified and tabulated. Frequencies, mean, standard deviation, correlation of coefficient analysis were employed for interpreting the results. Results obtained after analysis have been summarized as below. The findings of the present investigation indicate that near half 47.00 per cent of the respondents were in old age group and 38.00 per cent respondents were educated upto high school level. More than one third of respondents 35.00 per cent had small land holding upto 1.01-2.00 ha. 33.00 per cent respondents had annual income in between Rs. 50,000 to 1,00,000. Over half 52.00 per cent of the respondents having medium level of extension contact. The 71.00 per cent respondents having no source for irrigation availability. 82.00 per cent respondents were taking seasonal crops. The 59.00 per cent of respondents were having low level of motivation. 41.00 per cent of respondents were having medium level of innovativeness towards adoption of soil test recommendations. 52.00 per cent of the respondents were having medium level of availability of fertilizers. The majority of respondents 48.00 per cent had high understanding about soil test recommendations, only 34.00 and 18.00 per cent of the respondents having medium and low understanding about soil testing, respectively. The most of the respondents 76.00 per cent were having low level of adoption about soil test recommendations, only 19.00 per cent respondents were having medium adoption level and 5.00 per cent respondents were having high level of adoption of soil test recommendations. In the study it was found that education, annual income, extension contact, cropping pattern, motivation, innovativeness, availability of fertilizers and understanding of soil test recommendations were positive and significantly related with adoption at 0.01 level of significance and irrigation availability was positivey and significantly related with adoption at 0.05 level of significance. Age and land holding were found to be non-significantly related with adoption. Lack of knowledge about nutrient management, soil test report not clear to the respondents had major constraints.

Are we ready to embrace connected and self-driving vehicles? A case study of Texans

While connected, highly automated, and autonomous vehicles (CAVs) will eventually hit the roads, their success and market penetration rates depend largely on public opinions regarding benefits, concerns, and adoption of these technologies. Additionally, the introduction of these technologies is accompanied by uncertainties in their effects on the carsharing market and land use patterns, and raises the need for tolling policies to appease the travel demand induced due to the increased convenience. To these ends, this study surveyed 1088 respondents across Texas to understand their opinions about smart vehicle technologies and related decisions. The key summary statistics indicate that Texans are willing to pay (WTP) $2910, $4607, $7589, and $127 for Level 2, Level 3, and Level 4 automation and connectivity, respectively, on average. Moreover, affordability and equipment failure are Texans’ top two concerns regarding AVs. This study also estimates interval regression and ordered probit models to understand the multivariate correlation between explanatory variables, such as demographics, built-environment attributes, travel patterns, and crash histories, and response variables, including willingness to pay for CAV technologies, adoption rates of shared AVs at different pricing points, home location shift decisions, adoption timing of automation technologies, and opinions about various tolling policies. The practically significant relationships indicate that more experienced licensed drivers and older people associate lower WTP values with all new vehicle technologies. Such parameter estimates help not only in forecasting long-term adoption of CAV technologies, but also help transportation planners in understanding the characteristics of regions with high or low future-year CAV adoption levels, and subsequently, develop smart strategies in respective regions.

Returns to fertiliser use: Does it pay enough? Some new evidence from Sub-Saharan Africa

The low level of modern inputs adoption by African farmers is considered to be a major impediment to food security and poverty reduction in Sub-Saharan Africa. The government of Burkina Faso, following the example of a number of other countries in the region, launched a subsidy programme in 2008 to encourage farmers’ uptake of chemical fertilisers and foster cereal production. This article explores the importance of fertiliser profitability in explaining the relative, apparent low use of chemical fertilisers by farmers in Burkina Faso. Using large-scale plot data, we estimate maize yield response to nitrogen to be 19 kg/ha on average and to vary with soil characteristics. Profitability, which we measure through the calculation of a marginal value cost ratio, is estimated at 1.4 on those plots which received fertilisers, with significant variations across regions. For those plots on which fertilisers were not applied, we predict that fertilisers should have been profitable in most cases under the current level of subsidised fertiliser prices. These findings suggest that the low uptake of chemical fertilisers might have been driven by factors other than profitability, including insufficient supply of subsidised fertilisers to farmers in need. Our results also call for increasing the availability of credit to farmers in order to encourage adoption of chemical fertilisers. Finally, our results also show that not taking into account the endogeneity of nitrogen use in the yield equation may produce biased estimates of the maize yield response to nitrogen.

Determinants of adoption and disadoption of minimum tillage by cotton farmers in eastern Zambia

Conservation agriculture (CA) is heralded as a means to increase yields and reverse land degradation in sub-Saharan Africa, but low adoption levels have led to concerns about its suitability for smallholder farming systems. Combining data from surveys and semi-structured interviews, we examine farmers’ motivations for adopting CA and the determinants of adoption and disadoption of hand-hoe and oxen-drawn minimum tillage (MT), a key component of CA. Farmers generally hold favorable opinions about MT, though not for its benefits to the soil but primarily for how it reduces crop losses from erratic rainfall. MT use rates in communities with the highest adoption rates are relatively low (12% of cotton area and 20% of maize area) and disadoption is common (25% of all farmers). Many farmers are interested in adopting MT but the available MT technologies do not match their resource endowments. Labor constraints limit use of hand-hoe basins while equipment costs limit ox-ripping. These results show that farmers are not stuck in traditional hoeing and plowing but are carefully evaluating the benefits and costs of adopting MT. Widespread adoption of CA will require adapting MT technologies to match a broader range of resource endowments.

Producción de frijol en Cuba: situación actual y perspectiva inmediata.

In Cuba aproximately 38.000 ha of beans are sown in the Ministry of Agriculture, with a total production old to the state of 9.000 t. The highest porcentage belongs to state agencies under favorable environment and monoculture rotational system. The reminder is produced in agronomy cooperatives and by individual farmers; in all the cases yields are low. Experimental results obtained in the country, indicate that higher yields could be obtained. The main limiting factors affecting bean produce are: the lack of the areas devoted to this crop, low level of technology adoption and transference, poor availability of quality seed for the whole planted area and unefficient management of the harvest and post harvest. The conclusion is that there are agroecological and structural conditions, as wellas a great deal of research results, which allow to resort to the popularization of the crops, together with a sustainable territorial self-production of the grain for consumption and seed. To develope a broad base extension service program that allows the knowledge up-to-date of the producers and to keep the development of the national research programin permit to meet the availability for new technologies to face the diversity of problems involved in bean production.

An evaluation of grid-based rural electrification adoption dynamics in Meru-South sub-county

Electricity services are crucial for human well-being and to a country’s socio-economic development. Despite its importance, low levels of electricity adoption continue to prevail in most rural areas in SSA. Low socio-economic development has been attributed among others factors to lack of modern energy sources especially electricity among rural households, which has been identified as a major setback in propelling empowerment and development at household and community level. There is minimal or no research conducted to understand the socio-economic dynamics of electricity adoption among households in Meru-South Sub-County. Household interviews were conducted from 150 randomly selected households using closed and opened ended questionnaires. Data collected was analyzed using descriptive statistics and regression. Result revealed that the largest proportion of the respondents were non-adopters. Possible predictor factors that significantly influenced adoption were distance from the transformer, education level, gender, household size, and income. Results further indicated that accessibility (proximity of the transformer) and cost of connection were perceived as the utmost prior challenges to electricity adoption by households. It was recommended that rural electrification project should be in considerate of household level characteristics in process of planning for electricity dissemination in rural areas to ensure heterogeneity in electricity adoption.