The Role Of Information And Communication Technologies(ICT)Adoption In Small And Medium Enterprises(SMEs):

In the present worldwide economy,Information and Communication Technologies(ICT)has been displayed as an imperative key device to conquer the various difficulties that make Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs)defenseless.Despite the fact that it as of late got a huge significant impact on the success of information-rich economies Countries,numerous developing countries are still not getting needy upon the pattern.It is therefore important for this thesis to examine the main role of Information and Communication Technologies(ICT)adoption in Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs):Evidence from Yaounde and Douala(Cameroon).This research main Objectives are to analyzes the demographic and others factors that influence and prevent the adoption of Information and Communication Technologies(ICT).Also,from the deep literature review,we could develop a conceptual framework which enables us to build eight hypotheses in order to analyses the role of ICT adoption among SME performance.ICT adoption tools considered in this research include Internet;fax Machines,Printer,Telex and Scanner.Moreover,External factor(Environmental uncertainty),Firm(number of plants,firm size and age)and Owner manager Characteristics(Gender,Age and education)respectively were used as moderating variable to analyses the direct relationship between ICT adoption and Firm performance in Cameroon.To demonstrate empirically these hypotheses,we administered a questionnaire to a sample of 400 managers of SMEs in Yaounde and Douala(Cameroon)targeting the adoption of ICT and all the independent variables identified in the literature and 200 usable questionnaires were returned.This quantitative research approaches through a survey was used at the initial stage,to give an exploratory preview of the SMEs and to collect data from the two cities(Yaounde and Douala)in Cameroon.In order to analyze the study collected data,a structural equation modeling(SEM)approach through the technique of Partial least squares-structural equation modeling(PLS-SEM)was used.The research results show that ICT has a positive impact on SME performance,but does not support the logic that Firm and owner’s manager characteristics moderately influences the relationship between ICT adoption and firm performance but instead reveals it moderating influence is through external factor(environmental uncertainty)and owner manager education.Also,analysis results help in demonstrating that a Very often used of ICT Adoption can increase the performance within the SMEs in Cameroon(Douala&Yaounde)through the ability Penetration of new markets,Prompt response to market changes,Exploitation of network,Opportunities improving operational,Improving customer services,increased their sales and facilitated the creation of new products and services and finally provided them with competitive advantages.Meanwhile on the other hand,Lack of ICT infrastructure(e.g.internet access),Employees IT skills level is too low,Slow Internet connection,Cost of ICT maintenance,Lack of financial resources to buy ICT tools,Lack of Return on Investment(ROI)and Resistance to change(old way of working)greatly contribute in limiting SMEs from adopting ICT.A research limitation regards the sample size;this is due to the instability situation of facing Cameroon,time and financial constraints.We sample size focused on two cities in Cameroon and this may limit generalization of the study results.it should be noted that Cross-sectional data collection is a huge problem because that data during a given period of time could be different from those of another time frame with this fast globalization world.Followed by difficulties of persuading some respondents to participate that led to non-response because they felt insecure divulging relevant information about their businesses to us even though we gave them the entire guarantee that all the information were going to be treated with all confidentiality only for our research purpose.Talking of implications for practice,the finding of this research provide valuable contributions to owner managers and decision makers by helping them understand the role of Information and Communication Technologies(ICT)adoption in Small and Medium Enterprises(SMEs)based on an analysis of benefits and barriers found in this study and the moderate effect of external factor(Environment uncertainty)the relationship between ICT adoption and SMEs performance in Cameroon.Also,the different framework offers a blueprint for the adoption of ICT among different SMEs which can be proposed to other SMEs in different regions within Cameroon as well as other developing countries,especially in Africa.The framework would helps SMEs to differentiate the main key adoption issues that can enable or block their further effective utilization of more sophisticated ICT tools,and thus putting all in process it could be handled in practice.Despite few studies that have examined ICT adoption among SMEs performance,this study explores the direct effect of ICT adoption to firm performance,moderating role of external factor(Environment uncertainty),firm and owner manager characteristics in ICT adoption and SMEs performance relationship and more importantly explain the adoption of ICT using 200 sample of SMEs in Cameroon identifying the quantitative form of the role of the benefits and challenges of these innovation.Not only will the findings be helpful to other researchers that are engaged in having a deep the comprehension of the adoption of e-business and its roles but also the research recommendations assist in resolving the problems facing small and medium enterprises(SMEs)in Cameroon.