Research methodology

Sample and data collection

The data for this research were collected from Harare, the largest city in Zimbabwe. The research-sampling frame was the Small to Medium Enterprise Association of Zimbabwe. The database of the small and medium enterprises was obtained from the Ministry of small to medium enterprise development in Zimbabwe. Students from the University of Zimbabwe were recruited to distribute and collect the questionnaires after appointments with target small businesses were made by telephone. Of the total of 180 questionnaires distributed, 162 usable questionnaires were retrieved for the final data analysis, representing a response rate of 90.0%.


Measurement instrument and questionnaire design

Research scales were operationalised on the basis of previous work. Proper modifications were made in order to fit the current research context and purpose. 'Information technology use' measurement used a six-item scale adapted from Chen and Paulraj. 'Collaborative communication' measurement used a seven-item scale, whilst 'network governance' used a four-item scale measurement, which was adopted from Paulraj et al. Finally, 'relationship longevity' was measured using a five-item scale, which was adapted from Ganesan. All the measurement items were measured on a five-point Likert-type scale that was anchored by 1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree in order to express the degree of agreement.


Respondent profile

Table 1 presents the profile of the participants. The profile indicates that almost close to three quarters of the participating small businesses employed less than 50 workers (73.0%), whilst more than a quarter had a workforce above 51 employees (27.0%). More than half of the participants had less than five years working experience (57.0%), more than a quarter of the participants had five to ten years working experience (33.0%) and less than a quarter had more than ten years working experience (10.0%). Also, more than three quarters of the participating employees earned a monthly salary that was more than US$200 (84.6%) and the remainder earned a salary that was less than US$200 (15.4%). The article also indicated that the majority of the participants belonged to the manufacturing sector, which occupied 54.3%, whilst the service sector occupied the remainder.

TABLE 1: Sample demographic characteristics

Demographic Characteristics Frequency %
Gender Male 99 61.1
Female 63 38.9
Total 162 100
Age \leq 30 72 44.4
31 - 60 59 36.4
\geq 60 31 19.2
Total 162 100
Marital Status Married 106 65.4
Single 56 34.6
Total 162 100
Number of employees \leq 20 63 38.9
21 - 50 55 34.0
\geq 51 44 27.1
Total 162 100
Participants working experience \leq 5 years 92 56.8
5 - 10 years 54 33.3
\geq 10 years 16 9.9
Total 162 100
Monthly salary in US dollar   \leq US $200 25 15.4
US $201 - US $400  91 56.2
\geq US $400 46 28.4
Total 162 100
Industry Manufacturing 88 54.3
Service 74 45.7
Total
162 100