Factors Influencing Acceptance and Use of ICT Innovations by Agribusinesses

Introduction

Twenty-first century information and communication technologies (ICTs) provide wider and faster Internet access and access to limitless information about virtually everything one could imagine, e.g., sports, news, education and business. Hence, the adoption and use of ICTs in agricultural-related entrepreneurial business is increasingly becoming inevitable (Kolawole, 2017). ICTS are believed to be a key tool that can drive socio-economic development of nations in the 21^st Century (Abd Rahman, Kamarulzaman, Nitty Hirawaty & Sambasivan, 2013). ICTs possess immense potential to empower people economically and boost the growth of industries and enterprises (Diga, Nwaiwu & Platinga 2013), especially when used by agro-based small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs) (Hassan, Shaffril & Abu Samah, 2012). Technology innovations (ICTs) tools used by agribusinesses can be categorized into basic such as personal computers Internet services, e-mail, (PC), laptops and mobile phones (or smartphones) and geo-positioning applications (e.g., Google maps) (Hassan, Yassin, Shaffril, Othman, Abu Samah, Abu Samah & Ramli, 2011; Martin & Matlay, 2001), or advanced such as cloud computing (Saedi & Iahad, 2013), enterprise resource planning (ERP), free and open-source software (FOSS), software-as-a-service (SaaS), enterprise management systems (EMS), artificial intelligence systems, automated products processing and preservation systems, especially products with relatively shorter shelf-life, livestock tracking systems (Ibrahim, Hassan & Yusuf, 2017a; Kolawole, 2017₎ and so on.

SMEs nowadays constitute a major business sector in most countries around the world, covering a wide spectrum of industries, and in most countries the number of SMEs exceeds the number of large firms (Dholakia & Kshetri, 2004). Thus, a successful application of ICTs to agro-based SMEs enhances productivity and contributes strongly to gross domestic products (GDP) of countries (Saleh & Burgess, 2009; Saleh & Ndubisi, 2006a, 2006b). However, globally, SMEs, particularly agribusinesses (Rsanadive 2015) are believed to lag behind in terms of adoption and use of ICTs (Mohapatra, 2013; Rahman & Ramos, 2014). This lagging behind may be attributed to the various challenges SMEs face, which are often inherent, induced by social, economic, geographical, cultural or other reasons beyond their control (Irungu, Mbugua & Mula, 2015), which often prevent them from adopting innovative technologies that can enhance their performance (Zaremohazzabieh, Samah, Omar, Bolong & Shaffril, 2014).