| Pub. Date | : Jan, 2021 |
|---|---|
| Product Name | : The IUP Journal of Knowledge Management |
| Product Type | : Article |
| Product Code | : IJKM30121 |
| Author Name | : Wilson Nwankwo, Charles Oluwaseun Adetunji, Akinola Samson Olayinka, Kingsley Eghonghon Ukhurebor, Kingsley Ukaoha, Umezurike Chinecherem, Pascal Uchenna Chinedu, Benjamin Uchenna Benson |
| Availability | : YES |
| Subject/Domain | : Management |
| Download Format | : PDF Format |
| No. of Pages | : 25 |
Corporate adoption of emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) in enterprises are plagued with challenges. A majority of these challenges are traditional, in the sense that humans as social beings are not only interested in the convenience offered by technology but also in the social and economic effects such technology would exert on the social relevance of the individual. Understanding the principles of sociotechnical systems in functional organizations is a great credential that could reduce the negative responses to technology adoption, thereby promoting competitiveness and sustainability. The next decade would witness a consistent integration of AI and IoT into the business processes of both private and public sector owing to their projected immense potential. It is believed that the combined effects of these pervasive technologies would enhance effectiveness, competitiveness, sustainability and efficiency. This paper discusses the adoption of these emerging technologies in the formal sector vis-a-vis their socio-psychological and systematic implications. In the discussion, the technology acceptance and sociotechnical models are brought to bear, and a position is advanced on how an organization could explore the benefits of these models in a fast-changing technology society.
The formal sector contributes to a great extent to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in most economies globally (Foellmi and Josef, 2011), and this may be traced to their organized nature as opposed to the informal sector which does not necessarily adhere to the provisions of certain laws and policies that define or shape its existence (McCaig, 2015; McCaig and Pavcnik, 2015; Saracoglu, 2015; Odittah, 2016; and Damanhouri and Rana, 2017). Businesses in the formal sector, at all levels, create some change in the society, and this one feature is shared by production environments (Arvin-Rad et al., 2010). The converse of the foregoing is also true in the sense that the business environment exerts some impact on the business, for instance, several extraneous factors like geographical area, lifestyle of the local inhabitants, and environment-friendliness (conducive environment) are subsisting elements that may impact the kind and line of business the sponsors of such enterprises or entities may undertake in the future; the geographical area is on its own connected to other factors like 'proximity' to urban areas which in most cases, is the target where the highest demand for the products and services offered by a company is expected. The geographical location also connects to other factors like availability of raw materials, human capacity, and land. Both human capacity and land are two important factors of production (Tvaronavieiene and Lankauskiene, 2013) without which production or service offerings may not commence in the first instance. However, the importance of the aforementioned factors does not downplay the role of other factors of production like capital and entrepreneurship (Omiccioli and Quintiliani, 2004; Zonderland et al., 2005; Kayoko, 2018; and Whitson et al., 2018) which are the driving factors in the business. The impact of geographical location on a business entity is enormous and poorly sited businesses may suffer serious setbacks in the future. Many companies/industries in the formal sector often fail after commencement of operations for lack of due diligence in conducting a thorough assessment prior to localizing the business, and some have been found to relocate their businesses to other locations that are deemed to be more conducive and production-friendly.