Technology adoption decision among food manufacturers: what are the critical factors?

Technology is one of the enablers that can help firms improve their performance. Firms with high technology adoption will have a huge competitive advantage over their competitors. Among the advantages of using technology are improve product quality, gain more productivity, slash production error and boost profit. Most of the SMEs are well aware about these advantages. However, the adoption rate among the SMEs in Malaysia is still below the target, hence the technology usage among them must be increased. This study was conducted with the aim to identify the critical factors that affect technology adoption decision. The SMEs food manufacturers formed the entire samples of this study. Primary data was collected from 124 firms through face-to-face interview. The data was analysed using descriptive and factor analysis. The results obtained suggest that technology adoption decision among the firms surveyed is influenced by four factors namely readiness and information availability, support instrument, financial and perception