Factors affecting SME owners in adopting ICT in business using thematic analysis

Abstract

In Malaysia, Small Medium Enterprise (SME) has become the main contributor for the income generation and employment thus are expected to increase country's GDP growth. Hence, it is important for the SME owners to ensure the sustainability of their business in today's business settings that has moved to digital businesses in which technology is used to create new value in business models, customer experiences and the internal capabilities that support its core operations. Yet, there are still local SMEs who did not fully utilized the advantages of adopting Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in their business operation and transactions. This paper presents an interview done with 12 SME owners that operates their businesses in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. The study is to gain an understanding on the factors affecting SME owners in adopting ICT in their business by using the Thematic Analysis method. The outcome shows that there are two central themes that affect ICT usage in SME which are the (1) Internal Factor and (2) External Factor. Further, we identified two (2) components that effect the Internal Factor, namely Company (capital, company's age, less skilled workers and family business) and SME Owners (time, education, perceptions and experiences) and another two (2) components that affect the External Factor, namely Technology (high cost, complicated, system's security and stability) and Regulators (government's initiatives, training skills and no urgency). Hence, the result is important to the SME owners and management as well as the government or the authorities to resolve these issues in order to increase the ICT usage among the SME owners in Malaysia. © 2020 Science and Information Organization.