Browsing by Author "Elimringi, Richard"

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    Empirical analysis of determinant of microcomputer usage in Tanzania: a case of government ministries
    (University of Dar es Salaam, 2000) Elimringi, Richard
    As end-user computing (EUC) becomes more pervasive in organizations, a need arise to measure and understand the factors that make EUC successful. This study examines the current state of microcomputer usage in government ministries in Tanzania in an effort to identify factors that significantly contribute to usage. It focuses on the relationships between microcomputer usage and certain demographic variables, training, computer experience, task characteristics, and beliefs about microcomputers. It investigates daily microcomputer usage through the following indicators: time of use, frequency of use, number of software packages used, and number of tasks for which the system was used. Results have shown that end-users in government ministries in Tanzania very frequently spend a significant time using microcomputers while supporting very few business tasks and they use very few software packages. It was noted that end-users have received inadequate computer training with observations that computer training received from different sources of training have varied impacts on system usage. Prior computer experience, training, attitudes of users, and task characteristics were found to have significant impacts on system usage in the context of this study. It was revealed that, same factors contributing to microcomputer usage in one environmental setting are not having same impacts in another environmental setting. Reducing or abandoning tariffs imposed on IT resources, formulation of a national IT policy, introduction of computer courses in schools and other training institutions, and establishment of standards for computer education, are some of the steps recommended towards creating an IT enabling environment. Suggestions for future research areas are also recommended in this report.