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Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. X, No. Y, xxxx 1
Copyright © 20XX Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.
The influence of gender on the adoption of
technology among SMEs
Barbara J. Orser* and Allan Riding
Telfer School of Management,
University of Ottawa,
55 Laurier Ave., E, Ottawa, ON, K1N 6N5, Canada
Email: orser@telfer.uottawa.ca
Email: riding@telfer.uottawa.ca
*Corresponding author
Abstract: This study explores the influence of gender on adoption of
information technology (IT) among owners of small firms. In the small firm
context, owner-managers are central to decision-making, including IT adoption.
This potentially allows gender-related factors to influence the IT adoption
decision. Accordingly, the research literature associated with female business
owners is used to comment conceptually on gender-related factors subsumed
among accepted antecedents of IT adoption decisions. Empirical findings are
based on 21 key informant interviews. The study documents numerous
perceived gender-related influences embedded within IT adoption among
owners of small- and medium-sized enterprises, such that women are less likely
than men to adopt IT. The implications for research, policy and practice are
discussed.
Keywords: gender; women entrepreneurs; information technology; technology
adoption model; digital competencies; ICT; IT.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Orser, B.J. and Riding, A.
(xxxx) ‘The influence of gender on the adoption of technology among SMEs’,
Int. J. Entrepreneurship and Small Business, Vol. X, No. Y, pp.xxx–xxx.
Biographical notes: Barbara J. Orser (MBA, PhD) is a Deloitte Professor at
the University of Ottawa Telfer School of Management, co-author of Feminine
Capital. Unlocking the Power of Women Entrepreneurs (Stanford University
Press, 2015 with Catherine Elliott), Founding Chair of the Canadian Task Force
for Women’s Business Growth (2009–2011), Co-Chair, Women Entrepreneurs
Ontario Collective (2015–2016) and an advisor to Innovation, Science and
Economic Development Canada, Status of Women Canada, Women in
Communication and Technology, and WEConnect International.
Allan Riding is Deloitte Professor in the Management of Growth Enterprises
(with Professor B. Orser). This professorship was established to develop a
better understanding of the business characteristics, strategies and
environments that drive enterprise growth. In this context, his primary research
is the financing of SMEs. His work spans bank financing, loan-guarantee
programs, angel and venture capital, and initial public offerings. Current,
research focuses on the preferences for, and access to, financing sources for
knowledge-intensive small firms, and financing impediments to international
trade.
2 B.J. Orser and A. Riding
1 Introduction
This research explores the nexus of gender and adoption of information technology (IT)
among women entrepreneurs. This work is important because, according to the United
Nations (2014a), rates of adoption of IT among entrepreneurs differ by gender. Yet, few
studies have explicitly examined gender barriers that inhibit IT adoption among
small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)1. To the best of our knowledge, this is
among the first studies that explicitly report on the influence on the adoption of
technology among SMEs.
Recent studies of technology adoption challenge the notion that adoption of IT is
gender neutral (Lagesen, 2012; Martin and Wright, 2005; Everett, 2004; Rommes et al.,
2012). Levy et al. (2005) documented that low usage of IT is a barrier to SME growth
and is among the underlying causes behind the so-called ‘productivity paradox’
(Venkatesh and Morris, 2000; Venkatesh et al., 2000). In particular, institutions such as
OECD (2002) and United Nations (2014b) and scholars (Prasad et al., 2001; Raymond et
al., 2005; Orser, 2011) report that, compared to male counterparts, women entrepreneurs
are less aware of the ways in which IT can be used to facilitate the growth and
internationalisation of their firms. Accordingly, insights are needed to inform public
policy goals of ‘a globally equitable information society’ [United Nations, (2014b), p.9]:
“The importance of this … has been affirmed in many forums, including the
World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) and in the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) of the United Nations … As ICT becomes
increasingly vital to innumerable aspects of everyday life globally, attention …
[needs to] be directed to digital divides, among which the gender divide is a
major concern.”
Accordingly, there remains a need for richer information about how and why gender
relates to the likelihood of IT adoption in commercial settings. The work also responds to
evidence of ‘technological gender gaps’ (Canada and Brusca, 1993) fuelled by gender
differences in technology and financial literacy.
Finally, scholars, such as Dy et al. (2016) and Katherina Kuschel and Lepeley (2016),
argue that studies of women and technology are neglected. This work is one part of a
research program that examines gender influences in entrepreneurial skills and IT
competencies. The study therefore seeks to inform two streams of research: the gendered
nature of entrepreneurship, and theoretical models of the technology adoption process.
To report on this research, the next section presents a review of studies that have
examined the factors that relate to IT adoption among SMEs, and the potential role of
gender. The summary of the literature leads to the study propositions. The empirical
methodology relies on qualitative analyses of 21 in-depth interviews with small business
practitioners, IT professionals and women entrepreneurs. A summary of findings,
including illustrative quotes, is then presented. The conclusion considers the potential
implications for theory and practice.
The influence of gender on the adoption of technology among SMEs 3
2 Literature review
2.1 Factors in IT adoption
Entrepreneurship scholars have identified numerous catalysts to IT adoption that reflect
individual, operational, and external factors (see Iacovou et al., 1995; Lefebvre et al.,
1991; Levy et al., 2005). Barriers are also reported. However, only two studies in the
entrepreneurship literature were found that explicitly examine the influence of gender
with respect to IT adoption within innovation-driven economies.
• MacGregor and Vrazalic (2008), report that male business owners were primarily
concerned about organisational fit, while women business owners were more
concerned with technical issues. The statement ‘e-commerce is not suited to our
products/services’ was associated with firm size for male business owners, but not
for women. Also, the barrier, ‘we do not have the technical knowledge in the
organisation to implement e-commerce’ was associated with education and market
focus for male but not for women business owners.
• Wood and Hoeffler (2013) observed that the acquisition of IT signals that the
entrepreneur is innovative and/or technologically savvy, impressions that increased
positive evaluations of secondary traits, such as leadership and professional success.
Signalling effects differed by gender, where the adoption of IT was associated with
stronger benefits accruing to women than to men.
In addition to these studies, models of the technology adoption process provide initial
insights about how gender might influence IT adoption among entrepreneurs. However,
these models are yet to be tested in the context of SMEs, where founders are central to
organisational-level decision-making. For example, predicated on expectancy theory and
reasoned action (Fishbein and Ajzen, 1975), the ‘technology acceptance model’ (TAM)
(Davis, 1989; Davis et al., 1989) suggests that IT adoption is predicated on perceived
ease of use and perceived usefulness. In a meta-analysis of research regarding the TAM,
Legris et al. (2003) report that the model has been employed to identify factors that
facilitate the acceptance and rejection of technology, and that relate to the rate of
technology integration and user satisfaction. The authors conclude (p.297) that the model
provides a reasonable depiction of user’s intention to use technology. Legris et al. (2003,
p.201) also cite Venkatesh and Davis (1996, 2000) where:
“The extended model accounted for 40–60% of the variance in usefulness
perceptions and 34–52% of the variance in use intentions. Both social influence
process (subjective norm, voluntariness, and image) and cognitive instrumental
processes (job relevance, output quality, result demonstrability, and perceive
ease of use) significantly influenced user acceptance.”
Among large firms, the work of Venkatesh et al. (2003a, 2003b) provides an extension of
the TAM framework for examining the influence of gender on IT adoption. Venkatesh
and colleagues identify the following key antecedents of the adoption decision:
• performance expectancy: the extent to which using the system is perceived as a
means of attaining gains in job performance
• effort expectancy: perceived ease of use/complexity
• social influences: social factors, norms, and image
4 B.J. Orser and A. Riding
• facilitating conditions: organisational and technical infrastructure support.
These constructs have also been validated in the IT adoption literature.
2.2 On the role of gender
Venkatesh and colleagues speculated that gender could influence the constructs of IT
adoption, for several reasons:
• Gender and age play moderating roles, where job-related factors can change through
time. For example, gender can supplant family-oriented responsibilities.
• Effort expectancy may be more salient for women than men, particularly those who
are older with relatively little experience with an IT system.
• Women may be more sensitive to others’ opinions. Hence, social influences may be
more salient for women compared to men in forming an intention to use technology.
These insights are relevant to the current study in two important ways. First, while
empirical evidence is limited, it is reasonable to expect that gender differences are
embedded within social and cognitive instrumental processes that influence IT adoption.
However, of the studies included in the meta-analysis of Legris et al. (2003), only one
(Venkatesh and Morris, 2000) explicitly examined gender and experience, finding that
(again, among corporate workers) technology use was more strongly associated with
perceptions of usefulness among men than among women. Conversely, technology
adoption among women was more strongly associated with ease-of-use perceptions and
subjective norms, although the effect of subjective norms diminished over time2,3.
Second, while there was considerable variation in types of technology (for example,
text-editor, email, spreadsheet, voice mail, customer dial-up system, personal computing,
word processing, telemedicine, multifunctional workstation, debugging tool) and sample
frames (e.g., students, professionals, salesmen, brokers, physicians, supervisions,
bankers) none of the studies reviewed by Legris and colleagues examined technology
acceptance in the context of SMEs.
These findings align with early studies about attitudes and sex-role stereotyping of
computer adoption. For example, in a meta-analysis of related studies, Whitely (1997,
p.3) concluded that one would expect an interaction between gender and stereotype
acceptance, given that:
“…men and boys because they are socialized to believe that computers are
more appropriate to them. Conversely, the hypothesis implies a negative
relationship for women and girls: greater acceptance of the belief that
computers are inappropriate to them should lead to less positive attitudes. In
addition, the relationship between stereotype acceptance and attitudes might
vary as a function of attitude component. Because the social stereotypes deal
with gender differences in ability, acceptance of the stereotype might be more
closely related to feelings of self-efficacy than to global affective responses or
to beliefs about computers’ positive and negative effects on society.”
While Whitely’s rationale was advanced a generation ago, it is acknowledged that the
proportion of women who pursue STEM education (science, technology, engineering and
mathematics) remains substantially below the proportion of men who do so.
The influence of gender on the adoption of technology among SMEs 5
Within the context of IT adoption and innovation, Prowess (2008) reports gendered
perceptions among women entrepreneurs in the advanced technology sectors: that 40% of
women respondents perceived they had experienced gender-related difficulties in starting
their business. Challenges included limited access to networks, assumptions that women
are not as technically competent and conflicts between the role of entrepreneur and
mother.
Orser et al. (2012) also report personal-, firm- and industry-level gender barriers
among Canadian female entrepreneurs engaged in the commercialisation of technology.
The most frequently mentioned challenges included: personal barriers, such as
self-efficacy (sense of credibility, perceived lack of credentials, confidence, know-how);
performance expectations (for example, differing performance benchmarks); and
structural factors such as lack of social capital, networking opportunities, and a sense of
belonging. Statements suggested that both men and women held responsibility for the
gendering of occupational roles and practices (for example, women who do not help
women, men who only hire men). Orser et al. (2007) also report gender differences in
digital skills and experience among entrepreneurs.
2.3 Study propositions
In part, these observations reflect stereotypical perceptions about women in technology,
where both men and women identify women as being less adept at understanding and
using technology. The findings also suggest that the association of gender and IT
adoption is confounded by the construction and operational practices of an enterprise,
potentially including firm size and gender. As noted, most of the relevant research has
been conducted using questionnaires and quantitative techniques and in the context of
large firms4. In such organisations, corporate support, technology experts, and peers
arguably constitute an environment that differs from that of SMEs. Among SMEs,
however, the primary owner is also pivotal to technology adoption decisions, thereby
allowing for the presence of gender as a factor influencing IT adoption. Accordingly, the
discussion leads to the following two study propositions.
1 the key antecedents of technology adoption identified in the context of large firms
(performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influences, and facilitating
conditions) include a gendered element in the small firm context
2 business owners face gender-related barriers to technology adoption.
This study seeks to consider these issues in the context of SMEs and employs analysis of
qualitative data to add richness to the findings of previous studies.
Table 1 Barriers to IT adoption among SMEs
Demand side: personal-level
Awareness
Perceived lack of need or understanding about ICT
opportunities
Lack of understanding about how to implement technology
Difficulty in accessing quality of independent advice
Blackburn and Athayde
(2000), Cavalcanti (2006),
Ndubisi and Jantan (2003),
Wainwright et al. (2005) and
Lucchetti and Sterlacchini
(2004)
6 B.J. Orser and A. Riding
Table 1 Barriers to IT adoption among SMEs (continued)
Demand side: personal-level
Skills and competencies
Lack of ICT management skills
Limited experience in the use of these system
Difficulties in sourcing skilled personnel
Lack of technology adoption strategy
Inability to harness and utilise data
Forfás (2006), Washah
(2011), Archer et al. (2008)
and E-Business Enterprise
Learning for Women (2013)
Cognition
Fear for security breaches of information
Adversity to innovative business practices
Lucchetti and Sterlacchini
(2004)
Demand side: organisational-level
Resources
Access and use of capital to purchase IT
Legacy costs: expenses associated with the cost of maintaining
and upgrading ICT systems
Lack of employees with appropriate technical skills
Insufficiency of infrastructure support
Time and effort to acquire ICT skills; lack of training for
owners/staff
Matlay and Addis (2002),
Lucchetti and Sterlacchini
(2004), Forfás (2006),
Washah (2011) and
Harindranath et al. (2008)
System compatibility
Lack of inter-organisational ICT systems (for example, online
supply chain systems)
Complexity: owners tend to learn while adopting; limited
number of cost-efficient, online systems with required
flexibility and ease of use for SMEs
Archer at al. (2008)
Security
Threat of espionage, hackers and viruses
European Commission (2006)
Supply side: industry-level
Market interventions
Lack of affordable technical and managerial assistance;
difficulty in assessing quality of service
Laissez-faire policies, lack of fiscal incentives by suppliers,
governments
Lack of information flow between users/suppliers
Iacovou et al. (1995),
Belo-Martínez et al. (2013)
and European Commission
(2006)
Training
Lack of timely, practical training or incentives
Limited collaboration between public and private knowledge-
based service providers
Failure to contextualise products and services for SMEs,
including use non-technical language
Belo-Martínez et al. (2013)
and E-Business Enterprise
Learning for Women (2014)
The influence of gender on the adoption of technology among SMEs 7
3 Methodology
This research relies on qualitative analysis of interview data. The methodology responds
to Dana and Dumez (2015, p.155) who argue, that: “…deductive qualitative research is
theory-driven and makes use of a conceptual model…” providing researchers with focus
and orientation. Furthermore, qualitative research seeks to analyze “… players or agents
as they act; it relies on their narratives, intentions, the terms of their actions and
interactions (the how)”. To do so, 21 interviews were conducted with 22 respondents who
were knowledgeable about the issues faced by women business owners. To reflect a
variety of perspectives, interviews were conducted with:
• seven directors of regional centres whose mandates focused explicitly on supporting
women business owners with respect to enterprise start-up and growth
• six senior executives of women’s business organisations whose mandates related to
advocating on behalf of and mentoring women business owners
• four senior managers of organisations that focused on mentoring male and female
business owners with respect to enterprise startup and growth
• three female entrepreneurs active in supporting women entrepreneurs (e.g. board
members of enterprise centres, associations)
• two senior managers of ICT-related industry associations.
Collectively, the informants reflected a diversity of experience that related to issues faced
by business owners; all had knowledge about challenges faced by women’s enterprises.
Themes were aligned with the framework implied by the two study propositions, for
which the key open-ended questions were the following:
• Are there basic or advanced digital skills associated with internationalisation of the
firm?
• Are there gender-related barriers to acquiring any of these skills or competencies?
• What if any, gender-related barriers do women business owners encounter in
identifying, selecting or operationalising digital technology?
Interviews were administered by telephone, audio recorded and transcribed. Following an
interpretive, deductive methodology (Dana and Dumez, 2015), analysis included
line-by-line examination of statements and statement coding on a sentence and then on a
concept basis5.
4 Findings
4.1 Antecedents of technology adoption
4.1.1 Performance expectancy
With respect to performance expectancy, respondents described gender influences in the
adoption decision as being associated with:
8 B.J. Orser and A. Riding
• Perceived value of technology where women are less likely to understand what they
need and want from technology compared to males.
• Knowledge gap, with three informants stating: women do not know what they don’t
know.
• Lack of familiarity with how technology can (in itself) create business opportunities:
while women were perceived as being particularly adept in the use of social media,
they were seen as less likely to translate such knowledge into business development
opportunities.
• Relatively less ability to link technology to decision making: informants described
gender differences in financial acumen and understanding about the importance of
software tools (for example, customer relationship management) on firm
performance – particularly during the earlier stages of firm development. Illustrative
statements about how informants perceived performance expectancy include:
“… there are gender barriers in understanding emerging technologies and how
to leverage them … [For example] women are highly skilled in the use of social
media, but don’t know how to translate this into business opportunities … This
is more complex than simply going on the cloud and making mobile payments
… It is the knowledge of how to use their digital skills.
“There is a need to go beyond the firm’s content knowledge … You cannot
grow your business, … unless you have some kind of customer relationship
software and ability to understand how to use it.”
Several informants that suggested the acquisition of IT skills and systems are, for women,
a lower priority than operational considerations. For example:
“Women are too busy to look at technology. They don’t make technology a
priority … So technology flies under the radar … They don’t realize how much
easier and productive it can be.”
Gender differences in focus were also observed:
“Women business owners are more likely to focus on working in the business
and not on the business.”
“It relates to having the time and resources to know what kind of technology
can assist them, be it social media, CRM, measuring outputs … Often, women
are focused on the core business. They don’t recognize resources that can help
them.”
4.1.2 Effort expectancy
With respect to effort expectancy, ease of use, perceived capabilities, and confidence and
comfort with technology, were perceived to differ by gender. Women were perceived as
more likely than men to believe that they are not capable of using the technology. Prior to
start-up, males were also seen as more likely to have been introduced into technology
through gaming. As such, many women who enter business ownership don’t
prototypically have the same context of using technology.
“Women are underrepresented in the sciences and technology … Yes, there is
an issue about comfort level of technology.”
The influence of gender on the adoption of technology among SMEs 9
4.1.3 Social influences
Previous engagement in technology was seen to enhance technical skills, comfort and
confidence. Informants referred to the absence of women in STEM. The implications
were evidenced in statements suggesting that women are less likely to know what
products are available, what questions to ask, or how to acquire suitable technologies.
“Many of the challenges are related to why we don’t have many women in
STEM, including lack of understanding of and interest in technology.”
“Women have fewer skills and hence, the need to learn about technology is
lower on the list of the many challenges of starting a small business … ‘Tech
adoption is something that I’ll get to next week.’”
4.1.4 Facilitating conditions
In the context of SMEs, facilitating conditions relate to the degree to which a business
owner believes that infrastructure exists to support technology adoption. Statements
included:
a references to gender differences in networking behaviour, including patronising
behaviour of network members
b reliance by women on others for IT advice (often males, domestic partners). Such
reliance was seen to compromise the quality of information, lending to an
incompatibility of IT systems
c nature of business support, where the commercialisation of technology is favoured
over the adoption of technology, particularly among service firms.
Illustrative statements follow:
“Formal and informal social and business networks are helpful to understand
what technologies are being used … While it is helpful to see [other] women
business owners using technology in their businesses, their networks tend to
address the personal issues of running the firm versus … financial and
technology adoption issues.”
“She experienced a lot of ‘head patting’ when she would go into any of the
circles that were supposed to support her. She felt that others thought she was
running a nice little business. She saw all these guys around that were
developing apps without any revenue. She was operating a profitable business.
There are such stark differences.”
“[Many] women begin in service businesses with market demand and then
adopt technology to sell the service. Most technology adoption programs are
developed around the notion that the business owner develops a widget first.
Women aren’t doing that … When I go to innovation sector events … women
are now beginning to win the competitions but these women represent less than
20 percent of participants. The reason that they are winning is that they already
developed a market.”
“The biggest barrier is that traditionally women have not been involved in tech
and therefore they don’t have a base understanding and familiarity … They are
more likely to let others tell them what they need. And 90 per cent of the time
it’s a male voice … They don’t know how to identify and select technology, so
they rely on others … This is more pronounced with women.”
10 B.J. Orser and A. Riding
“Women tend to rely on advice of friends or partners, lending to systems that
may not be appropriate … They construct weak legacy systems that can
become incompatible as the firm grows.”
4.2 Owner and firm characteristics
Females, and in particular older business owners, were described as bringing less
technological experience to start-up:
“The younger generation does not consider technology as an after thought. But
with so many women entrepreneurs in their 40s and 50s starting businesses,
many are out of their comfort zone…”
It was perceived that being less experienced, females may be less familiar and hence, less
inclined to understand the operational risks associated with adopting (or not adopting) a
technology:
“The classic barriers of tech adoption are more profound [for women]. There is
a lack of women in tech … Similarly, women lack comfort with the technology
and learning about the technology.”
Owner’s growth aspirations were associated with IT adoption. Observations were
associated with risk-taking, investment strategies and entrepreneurial intensity. Risk
propensity was defined in the context of financing start-up and adopting new
technologies:
“The problem is that tech support programs [including those that provide
access to capital access] don’t match the growth aspirations of women.
Investors want to turn the firm’s growth into ‘the hockey stick’.”
“Women have a tendency to not ask for capital…so, if we are talking about
cost of technology, they start out with less technology …This is a demand
issue, they are afraid that they’ll be rejected [by lenders].”
“They have a tendency to undercapitalize the firm and [so] don’t have funds to
purchase technology.”
“When you are risk adverse in business, there are so many technologies that are
available; women are not the kind to adopt technology. They need time …
Women are not early adopters of technology based on my own research and
working with entrepreneurs.”
Three informants identified domestic responsibilities as barriers to IT adoption.
Inferences suggest that male and females have different personal versus entrepreneurial
priorities, and that females assume a larger role in managing households. Furthermore,
female networking conversations tend to focus on personal versus professional/technical
concerns:
“For women-owned firms it is tougher. They have children to care for, so time
allowed to run the firm is limited. They take a larger role in relationships,
family dynamics, and depending on the age, children are a pre-occupation.
Older women become part of the sandwiched generation. This takes away time
from running the firm versus working in the business.”
Firm size and growth performance: informants also linked firm growth to IT acquisition:
“The larger the firm, the larger the revenue steam, the more capital … the
smaller the firm, the harder it is to acquire the technology.”
The influence of gender on the adoption of technology among SMEs 11
One key informant working in the advanced technology sector stated that she has faced
few gender-related challenges associated with technology adoption. She did, however,
describe the challenge of finding other female entrepreneurs within the sector:
“I don’t see many barriers because I’m surrounded by women who are career-
oriented. One barrier, had I not belonged to [name of business organization]
would be finding other women entrepreneurs and those who are interested in
tech … The people I socialize with are in technology. Chances are my social
network is familiar with technology. It is easier to get non-solicited advice … If
you came through a female discipline; you may have fewer women in your
network that understand technology.”
Informants identified gender differences with respect to:
• how females recognise opportunities and define or employ technology, as reflected
in comments about creating value and enhance service delivery
• language used to describe technology
• lack of media presence and absence of female role models who employ IT
• technologies that align with relational versus task-orientated behaviour.
“Women are building service businesses, but they are tech driven. I met a
physician and PhD scientist who could not find childcare for last minute, swing
shifts, etc. So, she developed an app that matches parents looking for service
and caregivers, nannies who are already licensed … I don’t understand how we
can shift the perception of male-dominated tech business. Tech is macho and
industrial. The market opportunities that women go after tend to focus on
making life easier with a large and motivated market.”
“We need to talk about the impact and why the tools are needed. With this
approach, women come in droves. But if you have to learn all the jargon first,
women leave the room … It’s like Goldilocks and Lego: women focus on the
relationship and outcomes versus focusing on the processes of building …
What is it you want to create with this [technology]? Building for building sake
is not as interesting.”
“We aren’t on the cover of magazines. There is one singular definition of
success. It’s all about go big or go home. Women don’t run business that
way… it is much more about a mind set about the need for role models and
inspirations.”
“Women are forging ahead in the area of social media. They are learning to use
Instagram, Pintrest and blogging … Social media aligns with women. They feel
comfortable with marketing, communications and services businesses. It is
marketing technology, the kind of technology that does not need knowledge of
coding and database management.”
4.3 Being female as an advantage
Gender differences were not universally negative, and the perception that female business
owners are less likely to adopt IT, while common, was not universal. It was observed that
women tend to support women. Being female can also enhance visibility and recognition.
“I would go to tech networking events and there were few females. People
came up and started to talk to me. You standout … It is a big advantage and
people remember you and your business name. In tech sectors, I can calculate
these [female business owners] on my hand … Women are very giving, they
12 B.J. Orser and A. Riding
want to give back. So, one asset is the international network of Canadian
women … They are more than willing to help.”
One informant observed that females are more likely than males to adopt technology, and
that adoption is associated with scale and size, rather than owner gender:
“Actually, I find that women are more open to digital technology than men
within the realm of firms that I have worked with … It depends on the type and
size of company that will identify acceptance and barriers.”
Collectively, these findings serve to illuminate how gender and IT may be confounded by
personal, firm, and sector influences.
5 Summary, discussion and implications
Informants’ were consistent in describing, as factors in technology adoption among
SMEs, antecedents specified in the theories of technology adoption advanced among
larger firms. Respondents noted gender-related elements of all of the antecedents.
With respect to performance expectancy (perceived usefulness, extrinsic motivation,
job-fit, relative advantage, extrinsic motivation), informants suggested that women are
less likely to understand what IT is needed and are less familiar with using IT. Women
business owners were also seen to lack ability to link IT to decision-making, specifically
financial management and return on IT investment. Lack of familiarity with IT was
associated with the loss of commercial opportunities. Finally, informants suggested that
gender is evidenced in priority setting, where women tend to prioritise the core business
versus operational issues.
Effort expectancy (perceived ease of use, complexity) was witnessed by statements
about technical self-efficacy; however, informants also observed that women tend to lack
confidence or to perceive that they are relatively less capable of employing IT.
Statements referring to social influences focused primarily on perceptions that women are
underrepresented in IT, have few IT role models, bring a different context to assessing
IT, rely on domestic partners versus professionals for IT advice, and most often listen to
male voices for IT advice.
Facilitating conditions (defined as technical infrastructure) were cited as particularly
problematic for women. Informants described the need to establish good IT adoption
practices during enterprise start-up in order to build and integrate IT systems. Barriers
included limited access to professional IT networkers and patronising behaviour of IT
network members. External factors (defined as training intervention, supplier
expectations, industry norms or standards) included perceptions about gender bias in
business support services, where commercialisation of IT is favoured over programming
to support IT adoption. Conversely, women-focused business services were seen to
emphasise personal rather than technical (IT support) needs.
These findings are consistent with both propositions advanced. Most respondents
reflected the need for women entrepreneurs to understand operational aspects of IT,
including managerial insights offered by IT software systems (e.g., CRM, financing).
Informants suggested that women (especially older business owners) bring to
enterprise start-up less experience – and especially less technological experience – than
males. Domestic responsibilities were associated with IT adoption, where male and
female entrepreneurs have different personal and entrepreneurial priorities. Acquisition of
The influence of gender on the adoption of technology among SMEs 13
IT was perceived to be a lower priority for females whereas core or operational demands
were viewed as higher priorities.
Systemic factors were also perceived to impact IT adoption. Confounding influences
included: firm size; growth aspirations; access to IT networks; how females identify,
define and employ technology: and the absence of female role models (such as absence of
females with backgrounds in STEM disciplines).
Informants described advanced IT competencies and strategies. Many noted that
web-presence infers internationalisation. Most statements were associated with scaling
up, enhancing efficiencies and building customer relationships (such as, business models
that lever technology and platforms that enable videoconferencing and hiring remote
workers). Two theoretical implications are evidenced by these findings. First, the results
support social feminism, a perspective that presumes “…men and women are seen to be,
or have become, essentially different” [Ahl, (2006), p.597]. Gender is also viewed as
dynamic and interactive with technology: according to Lagesen, (2012, p.444):
“… associations with bodies, norms, knowledge, interpretations, identities,
technologies, and so on, are made and unmade in complex ways. Thus, gender
is fluid and flexible because new associations are established, while old ones
are dissolved.”
The study supports arguments that gender, technology and entrepreneurship are
co-constructed and shaped by or linked to sexual division of labour6:
“The logic of co-construction is quite simple: two variables or a set of variables
interact and constitute new (co-constructed) objects … Gender is generally
treated as a stable, pre-given category that shapes the technology under
scrutiny.” [Lagesen, (2012), p.443]
Second, the findings are consistent with extending the well-established antecedents of
technology adoption, from employees in large commercial environments, to the small
firm context. Statements added to stereotyping women entrepreneurs, insofar as females
were perceived as being less likely to value IT, understand functionality and deploy IT
compared the male entrepreneurs. However, structural factors, including lack of IT role
models, limited access to information networks and network member behaviour, also
reflected systemic gender differences.
Not all informants, however, agreed that gender negatively influences IT adoption.
One suggested that women are more likely to adopt IT than men, especially with respect
to social media and networking technologies. Two described ways in which being female
is advantageous; however, the majority of informants reported gender-related barriers to
IT adoption. Gender differences were most often attributed to personal attributes such as
education, lack of exposure and knowledge about IT solutions.
In terms of the implications for research, examination of the gendered influence of IT
adoption among entrepreneurs might focus on the antecedent of effort expectancy, given
evidence that effort expectancy is more salient for women (particularly older women)
compared to men (Venkatesh and Morris, 2000). Research might also consider the
association between gender and performance expectations of IT, controlling for systemic
differences in managerial experience, professional credentials (STEM, business, arts,
humanities, social sciences), owner age, firm maturation, and sector. Given the
importance of social influences, a second direction for research is to examine the extent
to which gender-focused versus mainstream SME business support services mitigate or
14 B.J. Orser and A. Riding
reinforce gender-role stereotyping with respect to IT, particularly at the early stages of
venture creation.
In terms of business practice, informants suggested that education can be an effective
means of addressing the digital divide. This includes enhanced knowledge about digital
technologies, especially with regards to levering software capabilities in financial
analysis and reporting; increased tacit knowledge about IT (for example, development of
technology plans that align with business plans and owner expectations); enhanced
analytical skills, especially with respect to usage of financial reporting tools such as
Excel; and a better understanding of how a firm’s online presence changes the nature of
international dealings.
5.1 Limitations
This qualitative study presents assessment criteria with which to examine sex-role
stereotyping and attitudes towards IT among entrepreneurs. However, several limitations
are noted. First, perceptual data may be idiosyncratic to the sample. For example, several
of the informants led female-focused small business support services. While it can be
argued that these individuals are particularly knowledgeable about gender-related barriers
to IT adoption among entrepreneurs, there may retain vested interests in exaggerating
gender differences. The next phase of the research will include examination of a
comparative cohort of informants that lead mainstream small business support services.
Also, we did not control for type of technology; gender influences arguably differ by type
of technology. For example, informants indicated that, compared to men, women
entrepreneurs are particularly adept at social media. However, the relative strength of
negative and positive antecedents of attitudes towards particular digital technologies is
not yet clear. Whitney (1997, p.13) provides a cautionary comment to this point,
reporting that while women have more negative beliefs than do men about computers,
there were no gender differences in positive beliefs:
“Combining across positive and negative items to form a single scale score
could, therefore, dilute the gender difference for the negative items, especially
if positive items outnumber negative items on the scale. Research on beliefs
about the effects of computers must, therefore, address the positive and
negative dimensions of the construct separately.”
Hence, future studies need to consider the relative influence of positive and negative
attitudes towards particular technologies.
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Notes
1 Those studies that have done so focused primarily on access to IT in developing economies
(UNESCO, 2010; Ndubisi and Cengiz, 2005) or commercialization of IT (Martin and Wright,
2005).
2 Interestingly, within the small business literature, gender norms influence entrepreneurial
intentions with respect to start-up intentions (Yordanova and Tarrazon, 2010; Wilson et al.,
2007; Zhao, 2005) and intention to grow the enterprise (Orser and Hogarth-Scott, 2003).
3 These differences were evidenced, even having controlled for potential confounding factors
identified in the organizational behaviour literature as influences on IT adoption (for example,
income, occupation, education, experience with computers in general). Venkatesh and Morris
(2000) present several explanations, arguing that men may be more driven by instrumental
factors (that is, perceived usefulness), while women are more motivated by process (perceived
ease of use) and social factors. Alternatively, men may consider productivity-related factors,
while women consider inputs from a number of sources including productivity when making
18 B.J. Orser and A. Riding
technology adoption and usage decisions. Arguing that IT adoption takes place in relational
settings, social influences (subjective norms) and gender are therefore seen to influence IT
acceptance and usage.
4 Table 1 provides a summary of additional studies that speak to technology adoption among
SMEs, but which only tangentially refer to women business owners.
5 The entirety of each interview was reviewed in order to ensure all relevant responses were
captured.
6 Feminist scholars also argue that in order to understand technology in society, one must
consider the interrelationships among non-human actors (such as, ITs) and how individuals
(such as, entrepreneurs) continuously reconstruct themselves and their actions (Lagesen,
2012).
