Manager’s Adoption of New Smart Retail Technology at Clicks Group

SRT is the interactive retail system that offers retail services to customers via a network of smart or intelligent objects and devices that can sense the environment and engage in real-time data collection, communication, interaction and feedback and it can be integrated to the physical stores. The fourth industrial revolution is driving companies across the globe to familiarize themselves with technology and to innovate. Retail industry has been at the forefront of innovation, amongst other industries with the goal of driving efficiency, cost reduction, relevance, profitability, customer retention and a quest to remain competitive. South African companies are not any different as this innovation has seen technology transformation move into brick-and-mortar stores and the online market. The key factor of innovation in retail is the smart retail technology (SRT). The adoption of technology is imperative so that organisations not only develop policies but are able to gain value and achieve the desired outcomes. The adoption of technology operates as means to allow management to actively contribute in an environment of continued innovation with strategic benefits, therefore, indicating the significance and value of understanding the perspective of technology adoption and shape organisational strategy and its practices. Managers are key drivers of adoption and their actions significantly contribute to achieving an alignment between the company and external environment. The primary objective of this study is to explore the perceptions and attitudes of lower to middle level managers towards technology adoption at Clicks stores in South Africa. This study is specifically focused on managers’ adoption of smart retail technology at Clicks by analysing factors such as facilitating conditions, institutional culture, demographics, knowledge, manager’s attitudes (SRT ease of use) and managers attitudes (SRT benefits) as dependent factors and SRT adoption as an independent factor. An empirical study consisting of an online survey (QuestionPro) was conducted with 211 employees who work for Clicks in South Africa. The data was then analysed using STATISTICA with help from a statistician and the results presented in the form of descriptive and inferential statistics. The key findings from this study indicated that institutional culture influencing SRT adoption, manager’s knowledge about SRT and store manager as a designation, all have an influence on manager adoption of SRT at iv Clicks. Recommendations were made to management on what steps can be taken to drive SRT adoption at Clicks.Thesis (MA) -- Faculty of Business and Economic science, 202