Differences in ICT use by entrepreneurial micro-firms: evidence from Zambia

ABSTRACT

Micro-firms are important for creating jobs and income in developing economies, but these firms face significant constraints, some of which could be ameliorated through ICT. However, it remains unclear which specific ICT uses are intensively employed by different entrepreneurial micro-firms. Notwithstanding external constraints, we examined differences in ICT use by comparably sized micro-firms operating in the same environment that exhibit different entrepreneurial attributes (proactiveness, innovativeness, risk-taking, and growth orientation). Using data from Zambian micro-firms, our findings demonstrate that the four entrepreneurial attributes have a positive yet different influence on three individual categories of ICT use: information and network access; online transaction and interaction; and in-house operations. Indirectly, we pinpoint which ICT applications will likely benefit entrepreneurial firms. Our findings could help researchers and policy-makers to target specific categories of ICT use that drive firm growth and nurture the desirable business behavioral orientations for deploying technology in business.

KEYWORDS:

• Entrepreneurial micro-firms
• information and communications technology
• innovativeness
• business growth
• Zambia
• African SMEs

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Yee Kwan Tang is a lecturer in management at the Adam Smith Business School of the University of Glasgow. Her research focuses on entrepreneurship and business development of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises in developing country contexts, international business and networking strategies of firms.

Victor Konde is a scientific affairs officer with the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), New Technologies and Innovation Section. He is the founder of the African Technology Development Forum (ATDF, Geneva/Switzerland) and the managing partner of ATDF Entrepreneurship Hub (AEH, Lusaka/Zambia). His current areas of interest and expertise include promotion of innovation and entrepreneurship policies and strategies, intellectual asset management, technology transfer, innovation funding models and development of business models, especially for the youth.

Notes

1 We adopt Shane’s (2003, p. 18) definition of an entrepreneurial opportunity as ‘a situation in which a person can create a new means-ends framework for recombining resources that the entrepreneur believes will yield a profit’.

Additional information

Funding

The survey for this work was partially funded by the British Academy Small Reserch Grant [grant number SG121373] and Adam Smith Research Foundation (ASRF) Seedcorn Fund.