Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of High Technology Management Research journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/hitech Examining the critical success factors of cloud computing adoption in the MSMEs by using ISM model Rakesh D. Raut a,⁎ , Bhaskar B. Gardas b , Manoj Kumar Jha c , Pragati Priyadarshinee d a Operations and Supply Chain Management, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Room No. 515, Administration Building, 2nd Floor, Vihar Lake, Mumbai, 87, India b Mechanical Engineering Department, 8, Saboo Siddik Polytechnic Road, New Nagpada, Byculla, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400008, India c Marketing Management, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Mumbai, 87, India d National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Room No. 342, Hostel No. 3, Vihar Lake, Mumbai, 400087, India ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Cloud computing adoption (CCA) Critical success factors (CSFs) Drivers Interpretive structural modeling (ISM) Multi-criteria decision analysis MSMEs ABSTRACT For cutting down cost and improving the efficiency of enterprises, adoption of innovations in ICT especially in cloud computing applications is the need of the time in the highly competitive global environment. It has been noted that generally, the Indian MSMEs are not utilizing the CC applications for the promotion of their business activities and are not availing their benefits. Hence, in the present investigation, the critical success factors (CSFs) for cloud computing adoption (CCA) in the Indian micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) are identified through an exhaustive literature review and expert opinions. The association between the identified factors is established by employing an interpretive structural modeling methodology that is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) approach. Later, the MICMAC analysis is carried out for identifying the factors having high influential power. The results of the study revealed that a CSF namely ‘previous technological experience’ is the most significant factor having the highest driving power. The findings of this research are intended to guide cloud service provi- ders, enterprise managers, and governmental bodies in formulating the strategies and policies for effective implementation of cloud computing facilities and harness the benefits of the same. This study makes a significant contribution to the knowledge base of CC adoption for future research in the subject field. 1. Introduction 1.1. Overview of the cloud computing The cloud computing term refers to technology which is based on the internet through which information is stored in servers and is provided Software as a Service (SaaS) and on request to the customers. Its influence is very active on clients and organizations. Clients would be able to access their data and documents from any device, and organizations can rent their computer power (both software and hardware) and storage from a service provider (Etro, 2009). It is believed to be a propitious way for firms to save on IT expenditure, save allocated space, reduce consumption of electricity, improve product & service delivery, provide competitive ad- vantage, help in creating more jobs, and lower the risks associated with maintaining and owning hardware infrastructure (Alford & Morton, 2009; Armbrust et al., 2010; Erenben, 2009; Gangahar, 2017; Kim, Kim, Lee, & Lee, 2009; Misra & Mondal, 2011). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hitech.2017.10.004 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: rraut@nitie.ac.in, rakeshraut09@gmail.com (R.D. Raut). Journal of High Technology Management Research xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx 1047-8310/ © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Please cite this article as: Raut, R.D., Journal of High Technology Management Research (2017), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hitech.2017.10.004