Identification of roles and factors influencing the adoption of ICTs in the SMEs of Pakistan by using an extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

Identifying prosperity characteristics in small and medium-sized enterprises of Pakistan: firm, strategy and characteristics of entrepreneurs

“…The SME sector is considered the backbone of any economy. As per the Small & Medium Enterprise Development Authority (SMEDA), the number of SMEs in Pakistan is around two million, and they contribute 40% of the GDP and 25% of Pakistan's exports (Nazir and Khan, 2022). Therefore, finding the prosperity characteristic among successful SMEs in Pakistan will have great implications.…”

“…Previous studies (Hyder and Lussier, 2016; Raza et al , 2018) have explored various characteristics that prevent Pakistani SMEs from performing better in the local business context. Lack of innovation is one of the reasons why Pakistan ranks 108 th out of 128 countries in the Global Innovation Index report (Nazir and Khan, 2022). According to Hyder and Lussier (2016), lack of financial capacity and expertise are the prime reasons for Pakistani SMEs that stop them from actively and/or extensively engaging in innovation-related or capacity-building innovation activities.…”

Dynamic contextual factors, individual agency and adoption of e-commerce in SMEs

“…Better awareness may lead to benefits such as 1) using e-commerce as an essential marketing tool (Qalati et al, 2020), 2) increasing foreign trade (especially exports) by granting SMEs access to global markets, 3) reducing administrative burdens and restrictions, and 4) enabling a rapid response to changes in consumer demand (Wagner Mainardes, de Almeida and de -Oliveira, 2019;Kraus et al, 2020). Most SMEs in emerging economies, however, remain unaware of these benefits either due to various internal and external dynamic Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) contextual factors (Molla and Licker, 2005;Kartiwi, H. and Suhaimi, 2018) or because of presence of less developed manufacturing bases with only rudimentary infrastructure in the industry in their respective countries (Nazir and Khan, 2022). As a consequence of this unawareness, SMEs in emerging economies lag behind their peers in developed countries (Molla and Licker, 2005) in embracing e-commerce practices and reaping their benefits.…”

“…Pakistan is a semi-industrialised emerging economy located in South Asia. With a population comprising of 220+ millions inhabitant, Pakistan is the 5 th most populus country in the world and has a Gross National Income (GNI) of USD 1,629 per capita (Nazir and Khan, 2022). SMEs constitute ~99% of total economic establishments in Pakistan and together these contribute 40% to Pakistan's GDP (Nazir and Khan, 2022).…”

“…With a population comprising of 220+ millions inhabitant, Pakistan is the 5 th most populus country in the world and has a Gross National Income (GNI) of USD 1,629 per capita (Nazir and Khan, 2022). SMEs constitute ~99% of total economic establishments in Pakistan and together these contribute 40% to Pakistan's GDP (Nazir and Khan, 2022). To facilitate SMEs, the Government of Pakistan (GoP) established Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) and tasked it with the responsibility to formulate industrial policies in order 1) to promote and facilitate the financing of SMEs nationally and 2) to contribute to the training and education of entrepreneurs (Hyder and Lussier, 2016).…”