Developing a Model for Information and Communication Technology Innovation Diffusion among Small and Medium sized Agribusiness Enterprises in Southeast Nigeria

Bartholomew AlekeSchool of Computing, Engineering &Information Sciences University of Northumbria at Newcastle upon Tyne UK

Presenter

School of Computing Engineering & Information Science Weekly Research Seminar February 3rd 2010

Principal SupervisorDr David WainwrightHead (IMI) Research Group

Researcher's ProfileRe: Bartholomew Ituma Aleke BSc, MSc.Information Management & Innovation (IMI) Research GroupBartholomew is a Nigerian student married to Dr (Mrs) Linda Aleke and the father of Master Michael Aleke. Currently undertaking PhD research with School of Computing Engineering &Information Science (CEIS) Northumbria University at Newcastle upon Tyne UK.

The researcher has successfully completed his Masters Degree in Business Information Technology (BIT) from Northumbria University in 2003.

The researcher happens to hail from the Agrarian part of Nigeria: The Southeast Nigeria. And having studied Agricultural Economics & Extension at degree level I was privileged to discover that product development and marketing problem of the rural actors at the countryside of Southeast Nigeria agricultural communities has long and chequered history.

My employment as Administrative Officer have enabled me to have actively participated in rural sociology amongst the proprietors of small and medium Agribusiness enterprises at this geographical zone. I have adapted my postgraduate studies in Information systems to understand the communication pattern of these farming communities. Having identified that Agribusiness has a great stake in the national economy and it is employing reasonable number of the population, I therefore developed further interest in diffusion of innovation study as to explore the perception of the agribusiness managers on adopting technological innovation as to improve their business process.

In view of the above, I am currently undertaking doctoral research with Northumbria University school of Information Science; where I am exploring the perception of proprietors of small agribusiness enterprises on adoption of information and communication technologies (ICTs) particularly those technologies that enable e-business. The academic papers published from this work is emphasizing the impact of ICTs in agribusiness processes of developing economies especially if one is looking at it from policy perspectives.

INTRODUCTIONPresentation Format:

Background to Research

Research Methods

Results/Findings

Achievements/practical implications

Problems Identified

Marketing of Agricultural products e.g Rice, Beans, Vegetable oil, cassava, animal products.

Social Exclusion

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How this research came about……Perceived usefulness Perceived ease of use ? Davis (1998)

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The innovation under study-UNIDO ICT centres

Each-centre is estimated at $66,000

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Improved Agribusiness supply chain

Producer use ICT centres Consumers use ICT

Dis-intermediation of Middle men

Tracking oforders

Delivery of goods

Online ordering of goods/card payments

E-Business Objective of the ICT innovation

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Why the researcher is involved…………(MSc project)

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Where is Agribusiness SMEs now?

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Communication intensive stage

Take-off

saturation

MaturationRequired stage

innovation

Time

Units ofadoption

Current diffusion of innovation pattern

Adapted:Rogers (1983)

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Expectation!!!!

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re-focus agribusiness proprietors

What next?

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Diffusion of innovation

Rethinking Diffusion of innovation- Identified research areas

My area of interest

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How will it happen?

Research Methodology Overview

Qualitative Research

Exploring how diffusion of innovation theory informed by social Social network theory can enable the effective diffusion of ICT innovation within a social context.

Relevant Social Group : Small and Medium Sized Agribusiness Enterprises in Southeast Nigeria. (case study group)

Interpretive case study

Phenomenological approach- Research in a real natural world setting

The resulting methodology can also be regarded as an anti-positivism (Garfinkel, 1967) where interaction is seen as a natural process of everyday living (social reality)

Template Analysis- Develop codes a priori Satisfies the call for more rigour and depth in IS case study research that produce ‘thick descriptions’ and deeper insights. (Walsham, 1995., King, 2004) It is a concurrent rather than a retrospective approach

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Philosophical orientation underpinning research-

Social Constructionism

social constructionism is in line with the position that quality research is produced not so much by routinely following a set of mechanical procedure or formulae, but rather by insight and creativity. Such insight and creativity comes from rigour and a perfect set of procedures including coding method and inter-coder reliability (Baskerville and Wood-Harper, 2002). According to Butt and Parton (2005), there are three main reasons or adopting social constructionism as a philosophical stance:

•Social constructionism provides a paradigm that philosophically embraces the use of mixed methods and mixed model designs.•Social constructionism eschews the use of such metaphysical concepts that cause much endless (and often useless) discussion and debate.•Social constructionism presents a very practical and applied research philosophy.

Literatures & Theories Underpinning Research

Diffusion of Innovation Theory (DOI) Rogers, (1983)-Innovation, Task, Individuals, Environment and Organisation

Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)Davis, (2003) ‘perceived usefulness’ and ‘perceived ease of use’

Social Network Theories (SNT) Bandura, (1986)-Social Learning TheoryNewell & Simon (1972)-Social Protocol AnalysisLamb (1989) Actor Network Theory

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Adapted Framework- Gallivan (2001)

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knowledge persuasion decision implementation confirmation

•Later adoption

•RejectionPerceived Characteristicsof innovation

Characteristicsof Decision makingunit

Communication channels

Adopter Categories

Innovators Early Majority Late majority LaggardsEarly adopters

Road-map on Diffusion of Innovation Process

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Nodes(units of adoption)•Individual•organisations

linkages

centrality

Social Network Concepts-Web 2.0 technology (namesdatabase.com)

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Start ofResearchMay 2004

Case study -diffusion of UNIDO ICT-centresinnovation in Southeast Nigeria Agribusiness communities

PhD Thesis2009

Set upnamesdatabase(SNS) in June 2005

ConductedFocus groupDiscussionat Abakalikiin August 2006

ConductedSemi-structuredInterviews July- September2007

Transcription of PDsand analysis

DocumentAnalysis/observations

2005 2006 2007Participated inUKAIS conferenceat Northumbria University

Submitted conference paperat UKAIS conference atGloucestershire University

Presented paperat UKAIS conferenceManchester University

2008

Templateanalysisusing Atlas.ti

Owner-managersAgribusinessSMEs at

1. Abia state2. Anambara state3. Ebonyi state4. Enugu state5. Imo state

Participant organisations1.UNIDO2.ACRDEB3. Research Institute4.Federation of co-operatives5.Ministry of Agriculture6.SMEs

Codingcategorisation

Events in the Research

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Qualitative data collection

Document Analysis

Observation/Field notes

Focus Group Discussion at Abakaliki

27 Semi-structured Interviews

8 Rice producer SMEs10 poultry SMEs3 tractor hire services SMEs2 Quarry industries1 Fertilizer producing company3 Vegetable oil producing SMEs

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Results

Coding and Categorisation

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Observations and Field Diary

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Information Communication Technology Facilities

Theory Building

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Diffusion of Information and Communication Technology Innovation Factors

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Risk, Uncertainty and Trust

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Diffusion of Technology Innovation Barriers

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Disruptive Attributes of ICT Innovation

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End- Users’ Integration and Relationship Building

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HU: PDs_main_AnalysisFile: [C:\Documents and Settings\Scott Rogan\My Documents\PDs_main_Analysis]Edited by: SuperDate/Time: 2009/03/06 - 14:30:42----------------------------------------Codes-Primary-Documents-Table----------------------------------------Code-Filter: AllPD-Filter: All PRIMARY DOCSCODES 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 --------- Totals -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"herritage"/"culture 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1"no one is a monopol 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1"re-invention" of in 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1able to use computer 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1access to foreign ma 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1Accessibility 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 2accessries 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1active participation 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2actualisation of ICT 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1

Validity of Results

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Practical Implication of Findings: Social Network Enabled Diffusion Process

Achievements

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Diffusion Framework Developed

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Contribution to knowledge

•This study has successfully determined the relative influences of established diffusion of innovation factors in small and medium sized Agribusiness enterprises within the context of a developing economy (Southeast Nigeria).

•A unique perspective has been identified on the methodological identification of factors that influence the diffusion of innovation

•Rich case study data has been compiled on the adoption of UNIDO ICT centre innovation from a representative sample for qualitative semi-structured interview among Southeast Nigeria SMAEs

•An up-to-date exploration has been conducted of Nigeria Information and communication technology policy initiatives and Information technology innovation adoption indicators.

•A representative and contextual review of literature on diffusion of innovation has been presented.

•The identification of two factors ‘relative satisfaction’ and ‘relative convenience’ as diffusion of innovation factors that plays greater role in shaping the decision of owner-managers of Agribusiness enterprises towards adoption of the innovation.

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First, this research identified that diffusion of innovation informed by social network theory enables effective diffusion of innovation and impacts positively on the maturation of the innovation. It will be interesting to see future studies adapt some economic models to explain likelihoods Like diminishing returns and skewed patterns of adoption in the rate of maturation.

Secondly, given that this study was drawn on a small sample size in southeast Nigeria, this has affected the generalisation of the results. Therefore it is important that future research be drawn from a larger sample size that may cut across several cultures.

Recommendation for future studies

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Publications

Journal Articles•Policy Issues of e-commerce Technology Diffusion in Southeast Nigeria: The Case of Small Scale Agribusiness

Conference paper•ICT Adoption in Small Scale Agribusiness in Nigeria•A Mixed Qualitative Approach to Assessing IS/IT Project Failures

Papers under Review•Diffusion of ICT innovation: A developing Country Perspective•Binomial attributes of Atlas.ti software in coding and categorisation of qualitative data using template analysis.

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End !

Thanks & God Bless