The Leadership Imperative: Technology Adoption and Strategic Management in Travel Firms in Jamaica

This innovative work combines the fields of e-tourism adoption and strategic management and identifies the combination of antecedents of technology adoption by distilling factors to identify the key determinant of the adoption of the internet for sales and marketing purposes in small, owner-managed travel firms. While it focuses on travel firms in Jamaica, it examines the general issue of firm characteristics which are associated with adoption behaviour such as strategy and resources, as well as external factors such as culture and the digital divide. In addition to external and firm factors, personal factors such as ownership and leadership are explored at various stages of adoption. The findings indicate that the role of leadership is much more significant than has been previously posited and therefore recommends a new theoretical model with practical implications for determining technology adoption.