Gender influences in ICT adoption
| Individual-level | ||
| Confidence | Women entrepreneurs rank themselves as less computer competent compared to men | Mack et al., 2017 |
| Expertise, time | Women retain less technological expertise to adopt ICT and have less time to gain required knowledge | Costin, 2012; Erumi-Esin and Heeks, 2015 |
| Knowledge about ICT capabilities | Among Internet retail businesses, women founders were less familiar with ICT capabilities | Jome et al., 2006 |
| Online activity | Women entrepreneurs are less likely to share information online. Once Internet skills were controlled for, men and women were equally likely to post materials on the Web | Hargittai and Walejko, 2008 |
| PovertyAccess to training | Women are more likely to live in poverty, experience time constraints, have limited access to ICTs and access to EET | UNCTAD, 2014b; Ameen and Wills, 2016; Erumi-Esin and Heeks, 2015 |
| Founder age | Younger business owners are more likely to adopt technology. On average, women start businesses at older ages | Kumar et al., 2008; Kusumaningtyasa and Suwartob, 2014 |
| Perceptions about technical issues in adopting ICT | Compared to men, women entrepreneurs were more concerned with technical issues (e.g., E-commerce is too complicated; ‘We do not have time to implement E–commerce’; ‘It is difficult to choose the most suitable E-commerce standard with so many different options’) | MacGregor and Vrazalic, 2008 |
| Firm-level | ||
| Firm size/scaleRisk taking | Firm size and scale are associated with the ability of small firms to hire staff to support ICT adoption.13 Growth orientation and risk propensity influence rate of IT adoption. Women-owned firms are, on average, smaller than firms owned by men. Gender differences in risk-taking behaviours are reported | Martin and Milway, 2007; Oly Ndubisi and Cengiz, 2005; UNCTAD, 2014a |
| Financial capital | Gender differences in access to and use of capital, the fiscal resources needed to purchase technology | Coleman and Robb, 2009, 2012, 2016 |
| Lending relationships | Preferential credit conditions are associated with more extensive use of ICT among SMEs: “[…] investment in ICT is likely to improve the quality of information that firms transmit to banks, as their financial and accounting cycle can largely be influenced by ICT through better-organized data entry and more efficient data processing and classification (Attom, 2013).” Women are more likely to report credit constraints | Pellegrina et al., 2017 |
| Confidence | Women entrepreneurs rank themselves as less computer competent compared to men | |
| Expertise, time | Women retain less technological expertise to adopt ICT and have less time to gain required knowledge | |
| Knowledge about ICT capabilities | Among Internet retail businesses, women founders were less familiar with ICT capabilities | |
| Online activity | Women entrepreneurs are less likely to share information online. Once Internet skills were controlled for, men and women were equally likely to post materials on the Web | |
| PovertyAccess to training | Women are more likely to live in poverty, experience time constraints, have limited access to ICTs and access to EET | |
| Founder age | Younger business owners are more likely to adopt technology. On average, women start businesses at older ages | Kumar |
| Perceptions about technical issues in adopting ICT | Compared to men, women entrepreneurs were more concerned with | |
| Firm size/scaleRisk taking | Firm size and scale are associated with the ability of small firms to hire staff to support ICT adoption.13 Growth orientation and risk propensity influence rate of IT adoption. Women-owned firms are, on average, smaller than firms owned by men. Gender differences in risk-taking behaviours are reported | |
| Financial capital | Gender differences in access to and use of capital, the fiscal resources needed to purchase technology | |
| Lending relationships | Preferential credit conditions are associated with more extensive use of ICT among SMEs: “[…] investment in ICT is likely to improve the quality of information that firms transmit to banks, as their financial and accounting cycle can largely be influenced by ICT through better-organized data entry and more efficient data processing and classification ( | |
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