ASSESSMENT OF THE EXTENT OF UTILIZATION OF e-MARKETING APPLICATION BY SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES IN SOUTH EASTERN STATES OF NIGERIA

SOURCE:

Faculty: Education
Department: Vocational Education

CONTRIBUTORS:

Okeke, K. C.
Okeke, B. C.

ABSTRACT:

The need for small and medium scale enterprises to utilize Information and Communication Technology ( ICT) applications to boost their business necessitated this study which bordered on assessing the extent Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) utilize e-marketing applications in their business operations in South- Eastern States of Nigeria. Five research questions guided the study and five null hypotheses were tested. Survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study consisted of 1,846 SMEs (owners / managers) in the area. Stratified random sampling techniques was used for the study. The instrument for data collection was a 5-point rating scale questionnaire which has 80 items in five clusters. The arithmetic mean was used to analyze data in respect of research questions while t-test statistics was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. Finding of the study indicated that the extent SMEs in the area of the study utilize all the identified e-marketing applications was low. Significant difference was found in the respondents mean ratings on the extent which they utilize all the applications as a result of their experience, gender, level of computer literacy and educational attainments. The findings therefore suggest that the widely reported failure of SMEs in Nigeria could be attributed to their inability to adapt to the new e- technology of the present time. It was concluded among others that for SMEs owners/managers to survive and experience growth in business, they should acquire more advanced computer skills and integrate fully e-marketing applications into their businesses to enhance their business growth and survival in the present globalized marketing competitive age.

Recently browsed