Measuring SME Owners’ Acceptance to Adopt ICT Using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

Abstract

In Malaysia, the Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) are mostly focused on their development of businesses through innovation and it is indeed a competitive ground for all SME owners. It is crucial to create a conducive environment to ensure the growth of the business and to grab all opportunities. Thus, it is argued that the adoption of the application of ICT in running the business operations is crucial where the benefits of adopting ICT include maintaining the business sustainability and allow local and global competition. This paper presents a survey done with 220 SME owners in Malaysia and their age range is from 20 to 25 years old. The study is to gain an understanding on the SME owners’ acceptance to adopt the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) for their business using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) theory. The outcome shows that Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Attitude towards usage and Behavior Intention to use has significantly affect the SME owners’ acceptance to adopt ICT in their business operation. The results are important to the training provider to design and plan the suitable training to encourage SME owners to fully adopt ICT.