Gender Differences in the Usage of Information andCommunication Technologies (ICT): The Case for

Entrepreneurs in Bangladesh*Ruba Rummana, Sirajuddaula Shaheen, Naznin Chaity, Rifat Bokhari,

Liana Anwar, Ifte Khyrul Amin Abbas and Nusrat WahidAhsanullah University of Science and Technology, Bangladesh,

Rizwana Subhani, Asian Institute of Technology, Thai Land,Rumana Rashid, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia,

and Md. Iqbal Bahar Chowdhury, United International University, Bangladesh.Email: *rubachy@yahoo.com

Abstract—The paper attempts to investigate the gender dif-ferences in ICT usage, professed system attributes, and en-trepreneurial traits among entrepreneurs of Bangladesh. Thestudy was done on 200 entrepreneurs through structured ques-tionnaire. We adopted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)in this study to examine the differences in professed usefulness,professed user friendliness, and ICT usage between male andfemale entrepreneurs in Bangladesh. Results show that maleentrepreneurs are more flexible and persevering as comparedto female entrepreneurs. Mean perceptions of system’s useful-ness and user friendliness are significantly higher for femaleentrepreneurs than for males. Risk-taking propensity is an impor-tant technology usage determinant among female entrepreneursbut not among males. Innovativeness is associated with usageby both entrepreneurs. There is a strong impact of professedusefulness on system usage by male and female entrepreneurs.There is no significant association between professed user friend-liness and usage. Overall ICT usage, usage of basic and advancedsystems, and systems usage for administrative, planning, andcontrol purposes do not differ based on gender. Such findingsled to some implications on the basis of which lastly severalrecommendations are made.

Index Terms—Entrepreneur, Information and CommunicationTechnology, Professed Usefulness, Professed User friendliness,Gender Differences.

I. INTRODUCTION

The use of information and communication technology(ICT) in business is of immense importance. The understand-ing of businesses to use, accept and utilize ICT for achievingoptimal effectiveness is growing day by day,. ICT in generalhas become the major facilitators of business activities in theworld today [1]. Hence, business organization investments inICT have increased significantly in Bangladesh.

The important impetuses for this study are - the increasingnumber of women-headed enterprises and the extensive role oftechnology in business and enterprise performance . The objec-tives of the present work, therefore, include the understandingof the fundamental issues of technology adoption decisions ofmale and female entrepreneurs in Bangladesh as well as thedifferences in their trait perceptions and usage of ICT. Theoutcome of this study is crucial in the sence that it would

lead to important policy implications for male and femaleowned entrepreneurship and businesses, providing appropriatestrategies for technology upgradation, greater usage of existingtechnologies and assisting in management change.

II. LITERATURE REVIEW

Although advances in technology continue at a fast pace, theuse of emerging information and communication technologieshas not been commensurate [2] or has fallen below expecta-tions [3]. Sichel in his work [4] had argued that low usageof systems is a plausible explanation for the ’productivityparadox’. As such, an understanding of the salient factors thatdetermine ICT usage among male and female entrepreneurs isimportant for researchers, system designers, and vendors.

Davis adapted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)in his study [5] to examine the differences in professedusefulness, professed user friendliness and ICT usage betweenmale and female entrepreneurs. TAM was adapted from theTheory of Reasoned Action [6] to understand the causal chainlinking external variables to technology usage intention andactual use in a workplace. TAM is chosen for this study forfurther understanding of technology acceptance and usage be-havior, users’ perceptions of the system’s usefulness and userfriendliness, as well as their associations with entrepreneurialtraits. Moreover, the TAM provides valid instrument whichhas been extensively used to investigate a range of issues inthe area of user acceptance and usage of technologies [7].TAM defines relationships among professed usefulness (U),professed user friendliness (UF), behavioral intention (BI),and behavior (B). Specifically, that certain external variablesinfluence behavioral intention to use, and actual usage, in-directly through their influence on professed usefulness andprofessed user friendliness. Davis [5] defined professed use-fulness as ”the degree to which a person believes that usinga particular system would enhance his or her productivity”,and professed user friendliness as ”the degree to which aperson believes that using a particular system would be freeof effort”. Ndubisi et. al [2] adapting the TAM examined

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the influence of entrepreneurs’ traits on technology usage,indirectly through their influence on professed usefulness andprofessed user friendliness. Entrepreneurial traits that werefound to determine usage were innovativeness, risk-takingpropensity, perseverance, and flexibility.

III. METHODOLOGY

A total number of 200 entrepreneurs (male 100 and female100) who are the members of the Dhaka Chamber of Com-merce and Industries (DCCI) were interviewed and the primarybusiness activities of the respondents’ organizations includemanufacturing, sales, education, designing, construction, etc.

Sample size selection is based on the formula for samplesize determination while sampling from finite population. Atconfidence level of 90%, with 10% confidence interval, usingMacorr Sample Size Calculator [8] - the required number ofsamples stands at 180. However, to make it a round one,we have decided to survey at least 250 entrepreneurs. Inreality, we targeted 250, and actually achieved interviewing200 entrepreneurs, which is still above our targeted numberof samples. Entrepreneurs were surveyed using structuredquestionnaire made up of four parts.

• Part 1 measures the actual system usage with threeindicators (such as use of a wide variety of softwarepackages in CBIS environment; the number of businesstask performed using systems; and frequency of systemusage). ICT usage was measured in terms of current usageor actual usage behavior of entrepreneurs unlike mostprevious research [5], which have measured usage basedon intention. Straub et. al [9] had questioned intentionas a predictor of actual behaviour. Venkatesh [10] calledfor future research using actual usage instead of usageintention to test the TAM, hence based on Szajna [11]actual usage was used in the present study.

• Parts 2 and 3 respectively measure professed usefulnessand professed user friendliness with items taken fromDavis et. al [5] and Ndubisi et. al [7]. Measures ofprofessed usefulness in this study are perceptions thatusing IT will increase productivity, improve job perfor-mance, enhance job effectiveness, and be useful in thejob; and professed user friendliness is measured in termsof how clear and understandable is the interaction withsystem, ease of getting the system to do what is required,mental effort required to interact with the system, anduser friendliness of the system.

• Part 4 measures the traits of entrepreneurs (such asinnovativeness risk-taking propensity, perseverance, andflexibility) using items adapted from Harper [12] andKitchel [13]. Test of Differences were applied and theresults and discussed in the ensuing section.

A. Flowchart of TAM

Fig. 1 depicts the results of application of TAM on ICTusage, entrepreneurial traits, professed usefulness and userfriendliness favoring either male or female or both the en-trepreneurs.

Fig. 1. Flowchart of TAM.

Parameter Traits of Perseverance Flexibilityt-value 2.386 3.380p-value 0.015 0.001

TABLE ITRAITS OF PERSEVERANCE AND FLEXIBILITY FOR MALE ENTREPRENEURS

IV. RESULTS

Significant difference is found regarding the age of busi-ness run by male and female entrepreneurs. Young maleentrepreneurs ,running business for 5-10 years have strongerdependency on ICT then their female counterparts(t-value= 3.333; p-value = .002).Male entrepreneurs engaged inexport also have greater use for ICT compared to femaleentrepreneurs engaged in export (t-value = 3.533; p-value =.001). Results show that there are no significant differences inthe mean scores of innovativeness and risk-taking propensity.From the Table I, it has been seen that the male entrepreneursshow significantly higher traits of perseverance and flexibilityas compared to female entrepreneurs. Scores for the twoconstructs are much higher for male entrepreneurs than forfemales.

Regarding to professed usefulness and user friendliness,the study unveils significant differences based on gender asobserved in Table II. Mean professed usefulness of ICT forfemale is 18.26 and for male is 17.04, while mean userfriendliness for female is 15.93 and for male is 14.25. Table IIIshows that female entrepreneurs have stronger perceptions ofthe usefulness and user friendliness of the systems comparedto male entrepreneurs. As women tend to focus on the methodsfor completing a task while men focus on outcome, there isa mixed result. Female entrepreneurs focus on both outcomeand process. Perception of usefulness and user friendliness oftechnologies were more prominent for female than for male.As female entrepreneurs are less flexible than the male, suchrelative inflexibility could lead to better perceptions of existingsystems. For male entrepreneurs who seem to be more flexible,frequent replacement of existing applications could affect howthey appreciate existing system’s characteristics, such as userfriendliness and usefulness.

There is no significant difference in overall usage of ICT(t-value = .498; p-value = .597) between male and femaleentrepreneurs. Specifically, there is no difference in usage of

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Parameter Male Entrepreneurs Female EntrepreneursMean Professed Usefulness 17.04 18.26Mean User Friendliness 14.25 15.93

TABLE IICOMPARISON OF MEAN PROFESSED USEFULNESS AND USER

FRIENDLINESS FOR MALE AND FEMALE ENTREPRENEURS

Parameter Perceptions of Usefulness User Friendlinesst-value 3.633 5.561p-value 0.001 0.001

TABLE IIIPERCEPTIONS OF USEFULNESS AND USER FRIENDLINESS FOR FEMALE

ENTREPRENEURS

basic systems (t-value = .988; p-value = .325) or advancedsystems (t-value = -.626; p-value = .533) based on gender.Also no differences were found in the usage of systemsfor administrative tasks (t-value = .116; p-value = .908), forplanning purposes (t-value = -1.109; p-value = .202), or forcontrol purposes (t-value = 1.823; p-value = .078) betweenmale and female entrepreneurs.

V. IMPLICATIONS

A. Overall Usage

Although there are no differences in overall usage basedon gender, usage frequency, usage determinants (such asprofessed usefulness and professed user friendliness), andtraits (such as perseverance and flexibility) show differencesbased on gender. Male entrepreneurs recorded higher usagefrequency than females. The difference in usage rate betweenmales and females may have to do with the needs of each,propensity to experiment with the different features and func-tions of the system (males are known to be more adventurouswith technologies), amount of time spent at work (femalesdue to family and work related activities that compete fortheir time, tend to work overtime less frequently comparedto males). Part of the longer working hours could be spentinteracting with systems. The differences in mean scores andthe t-test results show for perseverance and flexibility favormale entrepreneurs while Systems’ professed usefulness anduser friendliness are higher for female entrepreneurs.

B. Technology Usage by Men and Women Entrepreneurs

Perseverance and flexibility show no significant impact onusage of ICT in both categories of entrepreneurs. Traits explaintechnology usage by female entrepreneurs better than it ex-plains usage by males-60 percent and 20 percent respectively.The results further indicate that innovativeness is a strong de-terminant of usage among both male and female entrepreneurs,although the strength of the association is greater for femalesthan for males. Thus, 1 unit change in innovativeness willproduce higher rate of usage by females compared to males.Risk-taking propensity is an important determinant amongfemale entrepreneurs but not among male entrepreneurs. Forfemales, a unit increase in risk-taking propensity will result insignificant increase in usage rate, but not so with males.

C. Professed Usefulness

Based on the beta estimates, professed usefulness is astronger influence on usage among females than it is amongmales. This indicates that per unit increase in usefulnessperception by females culminates to a greater increase in usagecompared to their male counterparts. Thus, both males andfemales are outcome oriented in their adoption of informationand communication technologies. Professed user friendlinessis not a significant driver of usage for both males and females.Thus, entrepreneurs are not process oriented in their technol-ogy adoption. This may be because of their high need forachievement, which might compel them to continue to adoptsystems that are deemed useful in achieving their goals, eventhough there may be slight difficulty in use.

D. Comparison of ICT Usage of Male and Female En-trepreneurs

The results indicate that variations in ICT usage explainedby entrepreneurs’ traits (such as innovativeness, risk propen-sity, perseverance, and flexibility) 63 percent and 20 percentrespectively for female and male entrepreneurs. This impliesthat traits are much more salient in explaining technologyusage among women entrepreneurs than they are amongtheir male counterparts. Although innovativeness is a vig-orous determinant of usage among both male and femaleentrepreneurs, the strength of the coefficients is greater forfemale entrepreneurs than for males. Risk-taking propensity isan important determinant among female entrepreneurs but notamong male entrepreneurs. Because females generally havehigher risk-aversion than males, it is logical that the amountof risk the entrepreneur is comfortable with tends to affecttechnology usage by females than males. Perseverance andflexibility show no significant impact on usage of ICT in bothcategories of entrepreneurs.

E. Recommendations

In order to enhance technology uptakes and usage ofexisting technologies by systems designers and vendors, thefindings of the study are important for technology managementin small firms and in designing strategies. For example, sincemore and more women are setting up entrepreneurial venturesin this male dominated sector, designers and vendors ofnew technologies must understand the factors that are salientto each group of entrepreneurs that are likely to lead toacceptance and greater usage. This information will help informulating sound marketing strategies. Like, since risk-takingpropensity is an important driver for women entrepreneurs,systems designers should ensure that uncertainty is minimized.One way to do this is to provide comprehensive, user friendlymanuals that users can rely on in figuring out any usagedifficulty. Moreover, reducing user anxiety and enhancing selfefficacy and professed behavioral control can help to reduceprofessed risk and uncertainty. Vendors can achieve suchreduction through training and other confidence and capacitybuilding training techniques.

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VI. CONCLUSION

The paper provides a better understanding of the relevantdrivers of information and communication technologies amongentrepreneurs in Bangladesh. As far as the importance ofICT concern in the changing context of the digital world forbusiness expansion, the paper is a timely endeavor towards ad-dressing the pertinent issues and the appropriate ICT policiesfor the development of business in Bangladesh.

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