Course Title: Professional Doctorate in Business Administration (Research)

Thesis Title: Determinants of SMEs’ adoption of information and communication technology (ICT) and their impact on organizational performance in Indonesia 

Supervisors: Dr Muniappan Perumal and Dr Majharul Talukder

This research examines technology innovation adoption in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The study deploys results from a survey of more than 300 users in SMEs in three main land in Indonesia, which are: Java Island, Bali Island and Kalimantan Island. A structural model will be tested to examining the hypothesized relationships among the following constructs: organizational factors, individual factors, social factors, attitude toward adoption, technology adoption behavior, firm performance (i.e., profit, growth, and market share), and firm characteristics, such as size, duration/age, and industry as moderating variables. This study will also focusing on the usage of social virtual network such as facebook as a new strategy to promoting the product that can be used by SMEs in Indonesia to promoting their products virtually. Facebook, twitter, mySpace is new trends in the information era which have some benefits for SMEs such as well-known portal and free of charge. It will significantly help SMEs to reduce the cost in marketing of their products. It also help SMEs in Indonesia to reach a new market around the world.

Recently, in Indonesia it is difficult to find the articles or empirical study that examines the relationship between internet usage and SMEs.  The contribution of this study is to give evidence that the usage of internet or ICT theoretically will give the benefits for SMEs that use the internet or ICT.  The aim of this study is expected can give a motivation and encourageing SMEs in Indonesia to learn and use the internet for their business processes.  This study will also show the benefits of the internet or ICT usage for the SMEs.