The Post-Adoption Phase of Broadband in Small Businesses

In spite of the increasing significance of broadband, many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are unaware of or unappreciative of its benefits. This is potentially a problem for governments, Internet Service Providers and other supply side institutions. The current study empirically verifies applicability of an extended IS continuance model controlling for organizational variables based on the Technology-Organization-Environment framework to examine factors influencing broadband post-adoption behavior of SMEs in Singapore. Strong support for the model has been manifested by the results, providing insight into influential factors. Results of the study suggest that perceived usefulness is a strong predictor of users’ continuance intention, followed by satisfaction with broadband usage as a significant but weaker predictor. SMEs in a more competitive business environment and whose key executive possesses greater IT knowledge are more likely to use broadband. DOI: 10.4018/irmj.2010102603 IGI PUBLISHING This paper appears in the publication, Resources Management Journal, Volume 23, Issue 1 edited by Mehdi Khosrow-Pour © 2010, IGI Global 701 E. Chocolate Av nue, Hershey PA 17033-1240, USA Tel: 717/533-8845; Fax 717/533-8661; URL-http://www.igi-global.com ITJ 5494 36 Information Resources Management Journal, 23(1), 35-52, January-March 2010 Copyright © 2010, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. broadband may present specific challenges for smaller companies but this is not well researched (Bruque & Moyano, 2007; Dardan, Kumar, & Stylianou, 2007; Morgan et al., 2006; Premkumar, 2003). It is then important to examine broadband adoption issues for SMEs. Moreover, in the Information Systems (IS) literature, there seems to be an emphasis on pre-adoption and adoption of technology (e.g. Benamati & Rajkumar, 2008; Venkatesh et. al., 2003). In contrast, limited research addresses issues pertaining to post-adoption behavior. The implementation of IT can truly be considered ‘a success’ when a significant number of users have moved beyond initial adoption and use the system on a continued basis (Adams, Nelson, & Todd, 1992; Bhattacherjee, 2001). Examining the determinants of IT post-adoption and continuance by users is essential for ensuring productivity payoffs from IT investment. In an attempt to fill the gap in the literature, the current study utilizes the IS continuance model (Bhattacherjee, 2001) to examine the post-adoption behavior of SMEs with regards to broadband usage. In addition, to shed greater light on the post-adoption environment, this paper will examine organizational aspects that affect the post-adoption behavior of SMEs. Guided by the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework (Tornatzky & Fleischer, 1990), the study theorizes that firm size, cost, industry sector, competitive pressure and key executive’s IT knowledge affect continuance intention. In this regard, the paper extends the IS continuance model to an organizational context where both continuance behavior and organizational factors are pertinent. It is similar to how studies of adoption have extended existing adoption models (e.g. Benamati & Rajkumar, 2008). The research questions guiding the current study are: (1) What are the factors affecting broadband continuance intention after its initial adoption? (2) Does the Post-Acceptance model of IS continuance hold up in the SME context? Understanding how broadband is adopted and used is important for researchers, practitioners and policy makers, particularly those who intend to encourage greater broadband and Internetbased technologies adoption and usage, and assess the impact of its adoption. THEORETICAL BACKGROUND AND RESEARCH MODEL Characteristics of SMEs SMEs are firms that have fewer employees, lower annual turnover and assets than large firms such as multi-national companies. SMEs also differ from large organizations in five key areas. First, decision-making is centralized in a reduced number of people (Thong, Hong, & Tam, 2006). Key decisions such as IT adoption are made solely by high authority individuals in the firm, such as the CEO or IS manager. Second, SMEs have constrained resources which limit their application of IT compared to large firms (Teo, 2007). Third, there is limited long-term planning (Premkumar, 2003) as a result of their highly competitive business environment. Fourth, there is greater dependence on external expertise and services for IS (Premkumar, 2003). Fifth, SMEs face larger risks in IS implementations than large firms due to less resources and limited education about IS (Bruque & Moyano, 2007). Post Adoption and the IS Continuance Model Previous research has shown that consumer adoption and continuance behavior is influenced by different factors (Karahanna, Straub, & Chervany, 1999; Limayem, Cheung, & Chan, 2003). Many researchers have focused on the adoption decision through ‘intent to adopt’ (Venkatesh et al., 2003). Although this may be useful, more is needed to understand the actual usage of IT. For instance, actual usage could facilitate IT value, which is lacking in literature (Porter, 2001). Karahanna et al. (1999) developed and compared a model of pre-adoption and post-adoption. They found that pre-adoption attitudes were affected by perceived usefulness, ease of use, result demonstrability, visibility, 16 more pages are available in the full version of this document, which may be purchased using the "Add to Cart" button on the product's webpage: www.igi-global.com/article/post-adoption-phase-broadbandsmall/38909?camid=4v1 This title is available in InfoSci-Journals, InfoSci-Journal Disciplines Library Science, Information Studies, and Education. Recommend this product to your librarian: www.igi-global.com/e-resources/libraryrecommendation/?id=2