The Eco-System of Firm Technology Adoption

Abstract

In a not too distant future, most products and services are likely to be digitized (Hollebeek and Macky 2019). Meanwhile, business processes get digitized largely due to the digital sophistication of customers and the lower costs and efficiency associated with digitized operations (Tiago and Veríssimo 2014). Many firms have therefore moved their operations to the digitized world where innovative technologies are used for business operations. The kinds of technologies adopted include big data mining (Wu et al. 2014); cloud computing (Zhang et al. 2010); social media (Rigby 2011); networking (Kaplan and Haenlein 2010); cyber security (Von Solms and Van Niekerk 2013); and mobile app/technologies (Barrett et al. 2015). This phenomenon however disrupts many industries (Christensen and Raynor 2003), and in some cases, creates large losers who are unable to reinvent themselves back into the business environment. The adoption of such innovations, according to Rogers (1962, 2010), happens at the individual level where attitudinal and perceptual factors relate directly to adoption; firm level where internal and industry environmental characteristics relate directly to adoption; and at the societal level where collective macro-level actions relate directly to adoption. Individuals as well as organizations exist within a society and interact. An uncharted question is how these various actors relate to each other as the firms adopt the innovations for business processes.