REDWELL-EMOTONGHA Ebikebena
Department of Business Administration
University of Africa Toru-Orua, Nigeria
ebikebena.emotongha@uat.edu.ng
WECHIE Ibekwe
Department of Management
Rivers State University, Port Harcourt, Nigeria
wechie.ibekwe@ust.edu.ng
ABSTRACT
The study examined the influence of digital technology adoption on formalization of quoted organizations in
agricultural, banking, food and beverage industries in South-South Nigeria. The study adopted survey design while the population of the study was 33 quoted organizations in agricultural, banking, food and beverage manufacturing industries in South-South Nigeria. The study took a census. Primary data was collected from 3 senior management staff each in the 33 quoted organizations (making a total of 99 respondents) using semi-structured questionnaire. The validity of the instrument was ascertained using content and face validity, while reliability was measured using Cronbach Alpha. The instrument attained the threshold of .70. The multiple regression statistic was employed to test the influence of digital technology adoption on formalization in the studied organizations. The findings showed that digital technology adoption has more influence on formalization of quoted organizations in agricultural industry, than in quoted banking firm and further in foods and beverages firms. The study concludes that digital technology adoption influence formalization of organizations in agricultural industry than organizations in banking and foods and beverages firms in South-South Nigeria. The study therefore recommends that management of banking, agricultural and foods and beverages manufacturing firms South-South in Nigeria should adopt digital technologies if they intend to formalize their firms in terms of documentation and standardizing work process to survive in the turbulent operating environment.
Keywords: Digital technology, documentation, job standardization, formalization