Factors and Barriers to Cloud Computing Adoption for Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Kuwait

PURPOSE: This study aims to examine the relevance of factors that research has identified as barriers to the widespread adoption of cloud computing, particularly for digital transformation and IT adoption by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Kuwait. DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH: This research investigates the independent economic factors, such as the level of trust in an organisation and the importance of cost saving, and social factors affected by cultural factors, such as the power distance between a superior and their subordinates and the desire to avoid uncertainty. The impact of cyber security and IT complexity on business-to-business IT adoption will also be examined. The research has also identified moderators, such as the effect of fairness and organisational (procedural and distributive) justice, as important predictors of IT diffusion in a sector. FINDINGS: Based on our findings, the overall aim of our study is to provide a general macro and micro strategy to enable the development, usage, and adoption of cloud computing in Kuwait for SMEs. Our findings suggest that all socio-economic factors in the form of trust in supervisor, economic factors in the form of cost saving, the social-cultural factors in the form of power distance and uncertainty avoidance, justice in the form of procedural justice, security factors in the form of cyber security, and technical knowledge in the form of complexity do have an effect on the adoption of cloud computing for SMEs. The results suggest the strong need to look at the adoption of cloud computing from an interdisciplinary perspective, encompassing not only the technical side but the socio-economic and behavioural side of cloud computing adoption.