The influence of personal, family and social variables on technology-oriented venture creation: Theoretical case of internet cafés in Bloemfontein, South Africa

Abstract

In an increasingly competitive, technology-driven world, the pressure for small, technology-oriented firms in developing countries to be productive and efficient has never been more intense. For technology-oriented firms such as internet cafés, which are now in constant competition with inexpensive, low threshold, ubiquitous technologies such as mobile phones and social media for availing internet resources and providing personalised learning environments respectively, the need to understand the critical determinants of the establishment and sustenance of small technology-oriented ventures demands rigorous investigation. Despite the central place of internet cafés as the dominant points-of-access of internet resources for low socio-economic groups in South Africa, there is paucity of in-depth knowledge on the critical variables influencing the establishment of such technology-oriented ventures. This research gap is attributed to the independent and fragmented examination of micro-level (personal demographic variables such as gender, age, income and language of manager/owners), institutional (such as family role models, family entrepreneurial values and support) and macro-level variables (as manager/owner’s prior scientific literacy such as their participation in STEM subjects, social prejudice) that shape and influence the creation of technology-oriented ventures. The thesis of this theoretical paper, therefore, is that an integrated perspective that combines these micro-level, institutional and macro level factors would provide a more inclusive, authentic view of the process of establishing small internet cafés in emerging economies. The contribution of this paper is an integrated conceptual framework premised on the combined influences of determinants of technologyoriented ventures and their implications for technology oriented venture creation.