are mentioned as the problem and challenges. Lumbini Zone is one of the 14 zones of Nepal and home to the birth place of Siddhartha Gautama (Lord Buddha).
Research Journal of Soci al and Li fe Sci ences, Impact Factor I I FS 1.776, I SSN 0973- 3914, Vol .-XI X- I, Year- 10, Dec. 2015.
Infrastructure as Determinant of Information Technology Adoption by Nepalese Small Family Businesses * Bijay Kumar Kandel ** Jyotirmayee Acharya *** Brajaballav Kar ========================================================== Abstract- This research paper seeks to identify infrastructure as determinant of information technology (IT) by Nepalese small family businesses (SFBs). We use four (4) factors: telephone, electricity, internet and alternative to load-shedding. We analyze the factors using descriptive analysis in SPSS 22 and MS excel. This study uses the results from a survey of 210 SFBs owner/manager. The finding suggests that, electricity service very unsatisfied that is 17.1 respondents where only 3.3 respondents were satisfied with electricity service. Second, Internet service was also very unsatisfied that 12.4 percent; where only 11.9 percent respondents were satisfied. Telephone service was very satisfied for 11.6 but very unsatisfied for 8.5 percent. Interestingly, alternative to load-shedding is very satisfied for 12.4 percent and very unsatisfied to 11.4 percent. From the result it shows that infrastructure (electricity, internet, alternative to load-shedding) in Lumbini Zone, Nepal is very poor for SFBs to benefit from IT adoption. ========================================================== Key Words : Information Technology; Infrastructure; Adoption; Small Family Business; Nepal.
I. Introduction : Nepalese economy is dualistic as both the modern and traditional economy exists. In the urban areas (14% of the Population live) where physical facilities (For an example: roads, electricity, health and educational institutions, means of modern communication and other infrastructure) are available, the development of industry, trade, transportation etc. are taking place rapidly. But in the rural areas (86% of the Population live), development of infrastructure is negligible and people =========================== * School of Management; Faculty of Computing KIIT University, 751024, India ** School of Management Sri Sri University, 754006, India *** School of Management; Faculty of Operation KIIT University, 751024, India
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are largely dependent on agriculture. Lack of proper coordination between the related agencies to implement programs incorporated by IT Act 2057, budget constraint, lack of proper opportunity for available manpower and co-ordination between related agencies to construct physical infrastructures are mentioned as the problem and challenges. Lumbini Zone is one of the 14 zones of Nepal and home to the birth place of Siddhartha Gautama (Lord Buddha). Four districts (Gulmi, Palpa, Kapilvastu and Rupandehi) of 6 districts were involved in the study. Two districts selected for this study have rich infrastructure in terms of road transport, power and labour and big businesses are operational there successfully. However, the rest two districts are in hilly region having moderate resources but progressing relatively fast and in times to come a lot of changes are expected in the districts. For this study, two districts as developed and other two are in developing stage has been chosen to get better insight on IT based practices and issues in two different working environments. The choice of (host) SFBs are traditionally practicing old ledger type of business. The definition of small family business (SFB) for this research study: `small family business (SFB) is commercial enterprises that employ 1-10 employees and serve local markets and market scope is geographically limited' (Kandel and Hota, 2012). These businesses are family owned and run by their family members. The questionnaire was distributed to 1150 owners/managers of small family businesses (SFBs). For the purpose of this study, `IT is defined as the electronic means of capturing, processing, storing and communicating information, as well as the products and services that provide or support such activities' (Kandel and Hota, 2012). Information technology (IT) refers to an organizations entire computing and communications infrastructure, including computer systems (computer, printer, scanner, etc), telecommunication networks (networking hub, modem, network interface card, etc), and multimedia hardware and software (operating systems, application, etc) (Frenzel and Frenzel, 2003). II. Literature Review: In the literature availability of infrastructure e.g. telephone, internet; IT people, knowledge of IT and technology use were found to be influencing factors ( Bruque and Moyano, 2007; Gautam, 2012; Harris, 2002; Adhikari and Pradhan, 2002; Harris, 2002; Dahal and Sharma, 2004; Gautam, 2012). Early studies suggests that more businesses lack technical expertise. Therefore SFBs need assistance from independent and impartial consultants and IT product vendors (Tye and Chau, 1995). Others; Adhikari and Pradhan (2002); Bajwa et al. (2005); Tan and Macaulay (2007); Thapa and Paudel (2006); Gautam (2012); Kapurubandara and Lawson (2007) and Bhattarai and Gupta (2008) discuss about inadequate telecommunication infrastructure and quality of infrastructure. Utomo and
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Dodgson (2001) argue inadequate support from vendor and consultant to assist businesses in adopting IT. Sarosa and Zowghi, (2003); suggests to formulate policy and provide access to enabler infrastructure to allow business development. Laforet and Tann (2006); Thong (1999); mention that larger businesses have more resources and infrastructure to facilitate IT adoption, and small business suffer from lack of people (Thong and Yap, 1995) and IT expertise (Welsh and White, 1981). Other studies suggests that small businesses lack infrastructure (Berry and Wood, 1998; Bajwa et al., 2005; Adhikari and Pradhan, 2002; Tan and Macaulay, 2007; Thapa and Paudel, 2006; Bhattarai and Gupta, 2008; Gautam, 2012; McCauley et al., 2006). Particularly; Anderson and Schwager (2004) model for analyzing environmental factors focuses on drivers such as telecommunication, internet infrastructure and wireless. Based on Bruque and Moyano (2007); Bajwa et al. (2005), the telephone infrastructure should be considered as one influence factor for IT adoption. The poor telephone infrastructure is considered in developing countries as a barrier factor as a stumbling block to the necessary IT adoption. Another problem is the very low quality and reliability of the public telephone network (Salampasis et al., 2001). In the literature about telephone (Hardy, 1980); Hardys supports the idea that the greater availability of telephones has a positive effect on financial outcome of business and the GDP of the country. Also, Norton (1992); paper investigates the effects of telephone infrastructure on growth rates of income. The differences between developed and developing countries does not support generalizing the findings for developed countries to developing countries because of infrastructure, social and cultural issues (Kapurubandara and Lawson, 2007). Not a single study attempt to identify the Infrastructure for IT adoption in Nepal. In SMEs; researchers talk about lack of access to internet (Mukti, 2000; Kraemer et al., 2005; Ochara et al., 2008; Brown and Thompson, 2011) as IT adoption barrier. Additionally, it should be pointed out the absence of any Internet Service Provider (ISP) and the lack of any kind of widely used data network can be barriers for IT adoption. However, according to Kapurubandara and Lawson (2007), there are special variables based on the socio-economic as well as the wider socio-political taken into consideration in developing countries like Nepal. Identifying infrastructure determinants factors of SFBs is fundamental for ensuring a successful IT adoption process (Bruque and Moyano, 2007). Researcher has identified factors that can explain from the developed countries and in terms of SMEs (Baard, 2003; Zwicker et al., 2006). It was found that to date there is no research in terms of identifying infrastructure factors for IT adoption in Nepal. Therefore; this research study seeks to
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determine the infrastructure factors namely: telephone, internet, electricity and load-shedding alternative (replacement of electricity) in IT adoption small family businesses (SFBs) in districts in Lumbini Zone of Nepal. In following sections we discuss methodology for this research. III. Methodology Quantitative Method: This study uses quantitative research methods (Hausman 2005; Hasnu and Amjad 2007; Levenburg 2005) to fully understand the determinants of infrastructure factors for IT adoption. The total population of the study covered SFBs owner/manager only from four districts of Lumbini zone, Nepal. Country wide study conducted by Sharma (2012) suggests that up to 1990/91 total registered cottage industries under Department of Cottage and Small Industries were 47,426. However, Sharma (2012) also suggests that most of the microenterprises established so far are either agro-based, forest-based, or livestock-based and rest of them are metal based, weaving, and restaurant. All these mentioned categories are excluded in this research; after excluding 65% this research estimated population is 34,153 SFBs in Gulmi, Palpa, Rupandhai and Kapilvastu; Nepal. Sample Size: Based on the criterion specified in Krejcie & Morgan's (1970), the adequate sample size for this level is 380 participants. However, while this research aims to achieve the optimum number of 380 readable responses, a sample size of 200 or over will be considered sufficient according to Table [1], which was based on the summary of several hundred studies representing a very broad sample size (Aaker et al. 2004; Hallal 2010). Table 1: Seymour Sudman recommended guidelines of the sample size Details Number of subgroup analyses None or few Average Many
Institutions National 200 -500 500-1000 1000+
Regional or special 50 - 200 200 - 500 500+
Source: adopted from Aaker et al. (2004) According to Hair (2010), for factor analysis the sample size should not be fewer than 50 but preferably 100 or larger. The suggested sample size (100 or larger) complies with Roscoe (1975) proposal that sample size larger than 30 and/or less than 500 are appropriate for most research projects (Sekaran 2000). Taking this into account, this study recognizes the possible limitations of the minimum sample sizes (insensitive) and very large sample sizes (overly sensitive) (Hair 2010) and, obtain more than the minimum recommended sample size i.e. two hundred ten (210). This research used a rigorous simple random sampling procedure to collect data because randomization ensures that each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected (Creswell 2013; Iacovou,
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Benbasat, and Dexter 1995; Churchill and Iacobucci 2009). Randomization reduces sampling error to a minimum and improves the meaningfulness of gathered data (Bryman 2008). This research aim was to generalize the findings from employed sample to the population so a single-stage simple randomized sampling procedure was carried out to pursue this objective. Also, it was possible to access each unit of the population and sample the potential respondents directly (Creswell 2013). Research Instruments: Structured questionnaires are used to collect primary data. The questionnaires were administered to SFB Owners/ managers. For ease of filling, the questions in the survey tool were mainly closed ended, but for the purposes of allowing respondents to provide data not captured in the questions, some open-ended questions were also included. Questionnaire & Scale: The questionnaire covered questions about the factors identified in the preliminary empirical study, infrastructure determinants of IT adoption by SFBs in Lumbini Zone, Nepal. The four questions are shown in Table [2] below.
IV. Descriptive Analysis: This research study survey data were presented in tables and figures, it allowed the researcher to understand and effectively communicate about the research objective and data presented by respondents (Cooper & Schindler, 2006). Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS 22 and MS Excel. The reason for selecting these statistical packages was; these packages facilitate the calculation of all essential statistics. Electricity service Table:3 : Electricity
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Result shown above in Table [3] and bar chart; thirty six (36) respondents i.e. 17.1% were very unsatisfied with electricity service. Forty nine (49) respondents i.e. 23.3% were unsatisfied with electricity service. Forty (40) respondents i.e. 19.0% were neither satisfied / nor dissatisfied with electricity service. But; seventy eight (78) respondents i.e. 37.1% were satisfied and seven (7) respondents i.e. 3.3% were very satisfied with electricity service. Telephone service Table 4: Telephone:
Result shown above in Table [4] and bar chart; seventeen (17) respondents i.e. 8.5% were very unsatisfied with telephone service. Twenty seven (27) respondents i.e. 12.9% were unsatisfied with telephone service. Thirty nine (39) respondents i.e. 18.6% were neither satisfied / nor dissatisfied with telephone service. But; one hundred two (102) respondents i.e. 48.6% were satisfied and twenty five (25) respondents i.e. 11.6% were very satisfied with telephone service. Internet service Table:5 : Internet
Result shown above in Table [5] and bar chart; twenty six (26) respondents i.e. 12.4% were very unsatisfied with Internet service. Thirty one (31) respondents i.e. 14.8% were unsatisfied with Internet service.
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Forty seven (47) respondents i.e. 22.4% were neither satisfied / nor dissatisfied with Internet service. But; eighty one (81) respondents i.e. 38.6% were satisfied and twenty five (25) respondents i.e. 11.9% were very satisfied with Internet service. Load shedding alternative Table: 6: Load Shedding Alternative
Result shown above in Table [6] and bar chart; twenty four (24) respondents i.e. 11.44% were very unsatisfied with load shedding alternative. Forty two (42) respondents i.e. 20.0% were unsatisfied with load shedding alternative. Fifty four (54) respondents i.e. 25.7% were neither satisfied / nor dissatisfied with load shedding alternative. But; sixty four (64) respondents i.e. 30.5% were satisfied and twenty six (26) respondents i.e. 12.4% were very satisfied with load shedding alternative. V. Conclusion: This research study has met the objective of identifying Infrastructure determinants for IT adoption in small family businesses in Lumbini Zone, Nepal. This study uses the results from a survey of 210 SFBs owner/manager. The finding suggests that, electricity service very unsatisfied i.e 17.1 respondents where only 3.3 respondents were satisfied with electricity service. Second, Internet service was also very unsatisfied that 12.4 percent; where only 11.9 percent respondents were satisfied. Telephone service was very satisfied for 11.6 but very unsatisfied for 8.5 percent. Interestingly, alternative to electricity is very satisfied for 12.4 percent and very unsatisfied to 11.4 percent. From the result it shows that infrastructure (electricity, internet, alternative to electricity) in Lumbini Zone is very poor for SFBs to benefit from IT adoption. ====================== References : 1. 2.
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