Factors Affecting Small and Medium-Sized Enterprise's Information Technology Absorptive Capability: An Empirical Study of Jilin Province in China

Abstract

In order to find out the key factors affecting the Information Technology (IT) absorptive capability of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), an empirical study is conducted in this paper. Based on the three-dimensional structure and the influence model of IT absorptive capability proposed by Cuiling Yu, and combined with the characteristics of SMEs, this paper proposes a new model of influence factors, and meanwhile makes an empirical study on the SMEs in Jilin province. Empirical results show that IT consulting, IT infrastructure and government support have significantly impacts on the three-dimension of SMEs' IT absorptive capability. On one hand, the paper reveals how the regions and industries as control variables influence the IT absorptive capacity of SMEs, on the other hand, the paper reveals that IT consulting has a special effect on IT absorptive capacity of SMEs.