Infrastructural and Organizational Factors Enabling E-business in Sub-saharan Africa: a Case-based Research Proposal

This research proposal uses a case study approach to investigate the pertinent factors affecting e-business in SSA from the perspective of national infrastructure and organizational factors. I present a general framework that explains what pertinent factors affect e-business in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). The primary dependent variable is E-business Outcomes, consisting of both E-business Capabilities and E-business Value. The predictor variables are Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Policies (consisting of General ICT Policies and E-business Policies), Government Institutions, the Commercial Environment, and ICT Transfer Implementation. Based on an action research methodology, the research will specifically focus on eight representative cases in Ghana and study these cases intensively to understand how the predictor variables in my framework affect e-business outcomes in these organizations. In this research program, I expect to demonstrate that e-business capabilities and e-business value, while related, are distinct in their nature and in their contributing factors, in addition to developing a model of how environmental infrastructure—technological, political, and commercial—produces effective e-business outcomes in SSA. Finally, two important elements of this model have not been previously studied empirically, particularly not qualitatively with rich description: the institutional and commercial environment in which businesses operate; and a distinction between general policies on information and telecommunication technologies and those specifically tailored to e-business.