Browsing by Subject "Digital Innovation"

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    Open Access
    Enablers of and barriers to digital innovation success: a comparative study of structured versus unstructured technology innovation environments in Kenya
    (2025) Mutegi, Lorna; Van Belle, Jean-Paul
    Western theories dominate research on digital innovation in the Global South, neglecting contextual differences. Further, current research lacks focus on how structured versus unstructured innovation environments affect digital innovation success in these contexts. This study's investigation and findings centre on the phenomenon of ‘digital innovation success', focusing on digital startups and innovators in Kenya. The study has two objectives: to isolate the enablers of and barriers to digital innovation success in Kenya and to compare the success factors between structured versus unstructured innovation environment. This study uses multiple cases with semi-structured interviews, document reviews, and media analysis. Kleine's Choice Framework was used as the core theoretical lens, from which a conceptual model that guided data analysis was developed. The framework enabled visualisation of digital innovation success systemically and holistically as a development outcome that digital innovators in the Global South strive to achieve. The framework was also used to identify and evaluate the conditions (agency and structure resources) under which digital innovation success opportunities emerge within structured and unstructured environments, thereby revealing their differences and similarities. The study findings in respect of the first objective revealed Entrepreneurship Support Organisations and Innovation Intermediaries as the most influential contextual factor on digital innovation success in Kenya. Results for the second objective revealed structured environment as a significant enabler of success in Kenya but warns against assuming all structures are neutral. The study's first theoretical contribution is an explanation of contextual enablers of and barriers to digital innovation success in the Global South. Second, a theoretical demonstration of how Kleine's Choice Framework can be used as a lens for Information Systems research and for building a conceptual model. The study's first practical contribution is that digital innovators can make informed decisions on the innovation environment that best fits their strengths and startup needs. Second, government and policy makers can better tailor their support for each environment. Further, the study highlights the difference between startups and MSMEs, urging tailored policies for digital startups. Third, investors can leverage the study findings to invest strategically in digital innovation ventures in the Global South.
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    Open Access
    Perceptions of value consumption of digital business platforms by informal sector Traders in South Africa
    (2023) Makholwa, Clement; Reyneke, Mignon
    This research project is a quantitative enquiry focused specifically on the value consumption of digital business platforms (DBP's) in relation to how informal sector traders (IST's) are using them to buy, sell and market their product and services in their daily trade functions. This study has adopted the approach of classifying the social media platforms, internet banking platforms and mobile payments platforms, as a single collective and defined under the banner of Digital Business Platforms. The advantage to this approach, is that it provides a multi-dimensional view of the perceived value-axis based on positive and negative experiences of using a variety of digital platforms including messaging, payments, and banking applications on their mobile phones in their daily trading functions. This study examines the positive experiences of perceived value (PV), collectively in the form of social value (SV), emotional value (EV) and functional value (FV). On the opposite end of the value spectrum, are the negative experiences of perceived risk in the form of price risk (PR) and technical barriers (TB) for the same group of informal sector traders. Understanding the relational impacts of these positive and negative experiences of value consumption, may lead to an understanding of their influence in the perceived usefulness (PU) and the perceived ease of use (PEoU) of DBP's. The results of these relationships will shed some light towards the behavioural intention (BI) to adopt DBP's and their actual usage in the long term. The analysis yielded the following results: for positive experiences, emotional value had the least impact on both perceived ease of use and usefulness and functional value was higher than social value. This means that IST's place more value on the utility of DBP's, than the emotional and social values. Regarding the negative experiences, price risk had the most significant impact on the willingness to adopt DBP's by ISTs.