Electronic Publishing Adoption Maturity Model for Kenya’s Educational Publishers

Abstract

The adoption of electronic publishing (e-publishing) technologies is disrupting the traditional publishing industry. Kenyan educational publishers are reliant on print publishing; however, they are increasingly coming under pressure to adopt the new technology, with the change in curriculum being a catalyst. Unfortunately, there exists no framework to guide the adoption of digital publishing in the country. This study, therefore, aimed to investigate the extent of electronic publishing adoption, key resources necessary for the successful adoption of e-publishing by educational publishers in Kenya, and to create an adoption framework for this purpose. The study employed the Technology, Organisation, and Environment (TOE) Framework as its theoretical framework. This study was a mixed-methods research design, specifically a concurrent mixed-methods design. The research population was limited to educational publishers in Kenya who are registered with the Kenya Publishers Association. The study used a census for publishers. The respondents were 15 publishing firms. The data was collected through structured interviews. The data was coded and quantitatively analysed using SPSS, performing correlations and regressions. The regression model findings showed that technology (0.087), organisational culture (0.073), and organisational structure (0.069) had the most significant influence on the adoption of digital publishing. The study also proposes an Electronic Publishing Adoption Maturity Model (EPAMM) to gauge the extent of e-publishing adoption by educational publishers in Kenya. The proposed maturity model will provide publishers with a roadmap for adoption as well as a means for evaluating progress on it. This will enable publishers to identify areas of weakness and resolve them strategically.