Facilitating Communication

Read this article. It posits that investments in information technology enhance supply chain business performance. As you read the Literature Review, think about how advances in technology have increased your own productivity.

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