Date of Award

7-2011

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Computer Science

First Advisor

Dr. Sajda Qureshi

Abstract

Micro-enterprises (businesses with one to five employees) lie at the heart of the American economy but are not well-researched. It is believed that technology adoption has the potential to spark strong growth among micro-enterprises, but current technology adoption models are tailored for large businesses and do not consider the human, social, and economic inputs peculiar to micro-enterprises. This research investigates how access to, and use of technology may lead micro enterprises to build capabilities that will help them increase their net income and hire more employees. Framed as a specification of Amartya Sen’s capability perspective, this research seeks, through a qualitative inductive multiple case study methodology, to generate concepts and theory tied to both the IS and the IT for Development literature. The contribution of this research is a carefully structured analysis of micro-enterprise IT Adoption that has implications for understanding micro-enterprise needs, how micro-enterprises function, and how micro-enterprises access and use technology to grow.

Comments

A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Copyright 2011 Travis Godwin Good.

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