Developing an instrument for cloud computing adoption by small and medium - sized enterprises

Abstract

This paper presents a method of developing an instrument for Cloud Computing (CC) adoption by Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). To achieve this outcome, this paper firstly evaluates the suitability of Technology-Organization-Environment Framework and Actor Network Theory for CC adoption by SMEs. It then explains how to discover the constructs and their relationships, and subsequently, how to designate and evaluate the constructs as formative or reflective. Constructs that are used in many fields, including information systems are not purely reflective and not purely formative. Although a researcher might use an instrument previously validated and reliable in another context, the direction of causality between the measures and constructs should still be re-examined to determine whether they are reflective, formative or mixed.