1 Factors Influencing the Adoption and Use of ICT by Small and Medium Sized Enterprises in Nigeria 1 ONYEDIMEKWU OKECHI Training Manager, AfriHUB Nig Ltd (ICT Solutions for Africa), Federal college of Education (T), P.M.B 11, Omoku, Rivers State. okesonab@yahoo.com 2 ORUAN MEMOYE KEPEGHOM (AMCPN) Lecturer, Computer Science Department, Federal college of Education (T), P.M.B 11, Omoku, Rivers State. oruanmemoye@yahoo.com PAPER PRESENTED AT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, EDUCATION, ARTS, MANAGEMENT & THE SOCIAL SCIENCES (ISTEAMS) MAY 31 – JUNE 01, 2013, UNIVERSITY OF IBADAN, IBADAN, NIGERIA. ABSTRACT This study investigated how the following factors: Perceived Usefulness; Perceived ease of use; Perceived cost of deploying ICT; Owner/Top management support; Organizational Readiness, influence the adoption and use of ICT Systems (Mobile Phones, Computer Systems, Use of Business software, Access to Internet, Use of Email, Use of Bulk SMS, Use of Enterprise Website) by Small and Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) in Nigeria. Hypotheses were derived from the extant literature on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and Technology-Organization-Environment Model (TOE). Questionnaire was used which included a five-point Likert scale having the ratings of “strongly disagree” (1) to “strongly agree” (5) for use by respondents in indicating their response to each of the items asked. 37 SMEs in Omoku Town, Abua Town and some part of Port-Harcourt main city all in Rivers State, Nigeria, were selected. The research result shows that 54.1 percent of the SMEs use computers, showing that more than half of the SMEs have actually adopted and used ICT systems and services, 91.9 percent use GSM/TELEPHONE for communication, 35.1 percent use internet facility,18.9 percent have corporate websites, 13.5 percent use BULK SMS for communicating to their customers. The mean of all the variables is more than 3.0, thus all the hypotheses are supported. Perceived usefulness of ICT had a mean of 4.11 showing a clear understanding of the usefulness and benefit of ICT by SMEs in Nigeria. On the average the respondents agreed that ICT systems and services are not easy to use. Most of the SMEs Owner/Top Managers agreed that the cost of deploying ICT systems and services is high and could be an inhibitor, this agreed with earlier research by Irefin, Abdul-Azeez and Tijani (2012). Management of SMEs should provide adequate pre-training to their employees on how to use ICT systems in business at all levels. Keywords: ICT, ICT Adoption, ICT Use, Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. 1 BACKGROUND Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has become indispensable for all kinds of businesses. In fact, ICT capability is essential to participation and engagement in modern society. The development in telecommunications and improved business software developments has impacted enormously on the applications of ICT and their uses in businesses. ICT can be used to find, develop, analyze and present information, as well as to model situations and solve problems, most especially business oriented ones. It enables rapid access to ideas and experiences