Adedamola Tolani

Hossana Twinomurinzi

Exploring the effect of mobile apps on SMEs in Nigeria: a critical realist study

Keywords: Small and medium enterprises, dynamic capabilities, mobile apps, critical realism

An organisation's dynamic capabilities illustrate how the organisation renews its competencies in response to the evolving environment. This study explored the effect of mobile app usage on the dynamic capabilities (DCs) of SMEs in Nigeria from a critical realist viewpoint. Although literature suggests that mobile apps are used by SMEs, the elusiveness of mobile app usage in developing country contexts requires the investigation of the underlying mechanisms that explain how mobile apps enhance the DCs of SMEs. Using content analysis and retroduction, the study evaluated interview responses from 16 SMEs covering 5 states in Nigeria. The study revealed that mobile apps are used in SMEs in Nigeria (in the real domain) to carry out business processes (in the actual domain) using their DCs (in the empirical domain) for sensing business opportunities. The study suggests that despite the existence of government support for SMEs across Nigeria, these programmes are generally inaccessible and do not include the important ICT or mobile app elements. The study recommends the need for a contextual mobile app suited for SMEs in developing country contexts such as Nigeria.

Introduction

Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play key roles in economic and social development in all countries worldwide. In this era of globalised economies, mobile apps arguably enable SMEs to drive the economic growth of developing countries [START_REF] O'halloran | SMEs Get Productivity from Mobile Applications[END_REF]. Large organisations typically make intentional efforts to make the most of the technological advancements, but there is little research that shows the intentional efforts for SMEs more particularly in developing country contexts. There is nonetheless potential for SMEs to use mobile apps to sense new opportunities in rapidly changing environments. This paper draws on the theory of dynamic capabilities (DCs) to explore the effect of mobile app usage on the DCs of SMEs in Nigeria from a critical realist viewpoint. The DC framework is a strategic management paradigm that describes how organisations create, modify and/or recombine internal and external competencies to remain relevant in a rapidly changing environment [START_REF] Teece | Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management[END_REF]. The research investigated the role that mobile apps could be playing in enabling SMEs to function optimally within their contexts. Critical realism (CR), as a philosophical paradigm, aids in uncovering the underlying mechanisms that affect the DCs of SMEs in using mobile apps to sense opportunities. Specifically, the research aimed at answering the research question: How does mobile app usage influence the dynamic capabilities of SMEs in Nigeria from a critical realist viewpoint?

The remainder of the paper is structured as follows: the literature is reviewed, followed by the research approach. The findings are then presented in the next section. Finally, inferences, areas for further research and limitations are described.

2

Literature review

Small and medium enterprises in Nigeria

According to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN), 96% of businesses in Nigeria are categorised as small and medium enterprises [START_REF] Sani Abdullahi | The Nature of Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs): Government and Financial Institutions Support in Nigeria[END_REF]. SMEs are defined by the National Council of Industries as businesses with 5 to 199 employees and total costs excluding land of not more than 500 million naira (equivalent of US$1.30 million). A major characteristic of Nigeria's SMEs relates to ownership structure or base, which largely revolves around a key individual or family. The majority of the SMEs are either sole proprietorships or partnerships [START_REF] Ogbo | The Role of Entrepreneurship in Economic Development: The Nigerian Perspective[END_REF]. They tend to survive financially, provide for families and sustain their businesses due to their dynamism, innovations, efficiency and small size, which allows for faster decision making [START_REF] Bello | SMEs in Nigeria[END_REF]. SMEs are beneficial to the growth of Nigeria's economy as they provide the breeding ground for the development of entrepreneurial and managerial talent, the critical shortage of which is often a great handicap to economic development. The continuous development of these highly skilled resources and strong information technology adoption are key to the sensing and seizing of new business opportunities. Oyelaran-Oyeyinka [START_REF] Oyelaran-Oyeyinka | FSS 2020 International Conference SME: Issues, Challenges and Prospects[END_REF] states that the enabling factors that drive SMEs in Nigeria include a basic technology knowledge base, entrepreneurship, legal and regulatory structure, basic physical and technological infrastructure, and financial and incentive structures.

Mobile apps

Mobile apps have been a driving force in the success of some of the world's most valuable organisations, allowing them to operate a unique business model driven by seamless global operations [START_REF] Bezerra | The Mobile Revolution: How Mobile Technologies Drive a Trillion Dollar Impact[END_REF]. Mobile apps have enabled organisations to serve their customers and win prospective business by mobilising their desk-based operations to increase business productivity and achieve market advantage [START_REF] O'halloran | SMEs Get Productivity from Mobile Applications[END_REF]. According to Bezerra [START_REF] Bezerra | The Mobile Revolution: How Mobile Technologies Drive a Trillion Dollar Impact[END_REF], the adoption of mobile apps can enable fast-growing SMEs to grow their revenue two times faster and add jobs eight times faster than their competitors. Mobile apps enable SMEs to seamlessly take effective decisions and planned and strategic risks while carrying out their business processes [START_REF] Bula | Evolution and Theories of Entrepreneurship: A Critical Review on the Kenyan Perspective[END_REF]. Mobile apps have changed the business landscape for SMEs, creating a new channel for communication, on-the-go customer engagement, promotion of products and services, point-of-purchases for products and customer service, and facilitating multitasking and effective decision making of SMEs. Mobile app usage has changed the way SMEs do business in Nigeria and achieve market advantage over competitors. The research therefore sought to provide answers to the following research sub-question: SR1: What mobile apps are predominantly used by SMEs in Nigeria?

Dynamic capabilities

DCs are defined as the ability to achieve new forms of competitive advantage by integrating, building and reconfiguring internal and external competencies to address rapidly changing environments [START_REF] Teece | Dynamic Capabilities and Strategic Management[END_REF]. The DCs of SMEs can be harnessed to continuously create, upgrade and keep relevant SMEs' unique asset base by aligning their resources with market needs through the sensing of opportunities [START_REF] Teece | Explicating Dynamic Capabilities: The Nature and Microfoundations of (Sustainable) Enterprise Performance[END_REF]. Sensing opportunities involves the ability of SMEs to identify how to interpret new events and developments, which technologies to pursue and which market segments to target [START_REF] Teece | Explicating Dynamic Capabilities: The Nature and Microfoundations of (Sustainable) Enterprise Performance[END_REF]. SMEs need to continuously improve on their capabilities to sense new opportunities. They are able to gain competitive advantage in dynamic environments when they consistently develop and renew capabilities over time as new goals appear, in order to respond to opportunities [START_REF] Mohamad | The Concept of Dynamic Capability for Managing Technology and Change[END_REF].

Owoseni and Twinomurinzi [START_REF] Owoseni | The use of mobile apps to enhance SMEs in conditions of uncertainty: A case study from Lagos, Nigeria[END_REF] identify the following DCs among SMEs in Lagos: collaboration and product repackaging, repricing of offerings, customer feedback, referrals and usage of social media and the internet as adaptive DCs, imitation and adaptation of product offerings and product packaging and price adjustments of product offerings as innovative DCs. Teece [START_REF] Teece | Explicating Dynamic Capabilities: The Nature and Microfoundations of (Sustainable) Enterprise Performance[END_REF] suggests that each of the above DCs dovetails into the micro-foundation of DCs: the ability to sense opportunities, which leads to business transformation. This paper focuses on the ability of SMEs in Nigeria, beyond Lagos, to sense business opportunities using mobile apps.

In the next section, the philosophical lens that guided the research, critical realism, is presented.

Critical realism

Critical realism (CR) is a realist meta-theoretical social paradigm by Bhaskar [START_REF] Bhaskar | A Realist Theory of Science SE -Radical Thinkers[END_REF] to illustrate the significance of well-understood objectivity by distinguishing knowledge from existence. CR defends the critical and emancipatory potential of rational enquiry and was well suited to this research in exploring the DCs of SMEs while using mobile apps. CR can aid in uncovering the mechanisms behind mobile app usage whether these are empirically observable or not. In CR, the researcher is encouraged to use his/her own experience in a rigorous manner to assist in the development of plausible and defensible explanations [START_REF] Hobáin | A Critical Realist study of Dynamic Capabilities in SMEs[END_REF]. The ideological perspective of CR illustrates that the world exists independently of what we think about it [START_REF] Zachariadis | Exploring critical realism as the theoretical foundation of mixed-method research: evidence from the economics of IS innovations[END_REF] by merging a realist ontology with a relativist epistemology to evaluate the underlying mechanisms and structures behind phenomena, to create theories that are not just concentrates of data [START_REF] Mats | Reflexive Methodology: New Vistas for Qualitative Research[END_REF]. CR served as the philosophical foundation to uncover the underlying mechanisms that enhance the DCs of SMEs in sensing opportunities using mobile apps in Nigeria. According to Bhaskar [START_REF] Bhaskar | A Realist Theory of Science SE -Radical Thinkers[END_REF], an objective reality can be identified and described in three hierarchical strata of reality -the real, actual and empirical.

The real includes social structures, natural objects and powers that actually exist whether we like it or not, independent of our perception of them. Some are observable and others are not. Causal generative mechanisms emerge from the social structures in the real" domain of CR [START_REF] Elder-Vass | Re-examining Bhaskar's three ontological domains: the lessons from emergence[END_REF]. These causal mechanisms produce the events which we wish to uncover in this study [START_REF] Mingers | Realizing Information Systems: Critical Realism as an Underpinning Philosophy for Information Systems[END_REF]. The actual domain of CR consists of observable events that occur as a result of the interactions of causal mechanisms (i.e. the real) [START_REF] Mingers | Realizing Information Systems: Critical Realism as an Underpinning Philosophy for Information Systems[END_REF]. The empirical is a CR domain where events occur through the observations of 'experiences', meaning the noticeable observations of the subjects being examined in this study [START_REF] Jeppesen | Critical Realism as an Approach to Unfolding Empirical Findings: Thoughts on Fieldwork in South Africa on SMEs and Environment[END_REF]. This research therefore sought to find answers to the following research sub-questions:

SR2: What are the causal mechanisms and structures in Nigeria that influence SMEs' ability to sense opportunities? SR3: What are the observed and unobserved events in Nigeria as a result of the 'real' events that influence SMEs' ability to sense opportunities using mobile apps?

SR4: What are the events within SMEs in Nigeria that influence their ability to sense opportunities using mobile apps?

Figure 1 below illustrates the relationship between the real, actual and empirical domains of CR. It shows how the structures and mechanisms in the real generate the events in the actual, and how the events that are experienced and observed through analytical methods are generated in the empirical domains of CR in SMEs [START_REF] Mingers | Realizing Information Systems: Critical Realism as an Underpinning Philosophy for Information Systems[END_REF].

Retroduction

Retroduction is the process of working backwards from the empirical to the underlying mechanisms in the real, critically aligning the structure and agency of SMEs in the layered ontology, for the purpose of probing, describing or even understanding the effect of mobile apps on the DCs of SMEs [START_REF] Eybers | Critical realism and retroduction[END_REF]. Structure and agency in CR involve the personal and socio-cultural factors in SMEs whose interactions enabled this research to apply retroduction as a mode of inference to investigate the conditions under which each causal mechanism will occur and be observed [20]. Retroduction enabled the critical investigation and discovery of how mobile app usage influences the capabilities of SMEs to sense new opportunities in Nigeria. Retroduction in this instance involved the observation and engagement of experiences of SMEs as decision makers and the real events of SMEs. In retroduction the researcher is encouraged to use his/her own experience in a rigorous manner to assist in the development of plausible and defensible explanations [START_REF] Hobáin | A Critical Realist study of Dynamic Capabilities in SMEs[END_REF].

Research approach

This research adopted the qualitative research approach which focuses on exploring and understanding the meanings attributed to a social or human problem to enable a researcher to generate theories through observation [START_REF] Morgan | Integrating Qualitative and Quantitative Methods[END_REF]. Qualitative research involves questions and procedures to collect data in the participant's setting. The data is analysed inductively, building from particulars to general themes, and the researcher makes interpretations of the meaning of the research data.

Background of researchers

The primary researchers are practising software developers, with core expertise in operations and service management, process re-engineering and technology advisory services. They have 24 years' experience (combined) in the ICT and financial services sector. They are also managers in the Nigerian financial sector with responsibilities for organisational transformation initiatives, technology advisory management, process improvement and performance management.

Reliability and validity

The reliability and validity of a research study are essential criteria to determine the quality of research using a qualitative research approach based on credibility, neutrality, consistency and trustworthiness [START_REF] Bashir | Reliability and Validity of Qualitative and Operational Research Paradigm[END_REF]. The researchers ensured that the research findings represented the information extracted from the data collected and were a correct interpretation of the participants' views [START_REF] Guba | Competing paradigms in qualitative research[END_REF]. Credibility of this research contributes to the trustworthiness of the data collected for the research. This was achieved through prolonged engagement of participants, persistent observations, referential adequacy and member checks [START_REF] Myburgh | Qualitative methods: a research approach worth considering[END_REF]. The researchers ensured consistency by following the research methodology until the conclusion of the research, and they ensured neutrality by confirming that the research was free from bias. In this study, the researchers took the following steps:

1. Critical review of existing subjects 2. Design of a research instrument based on dynamic capabilities 3. Approval of ethical clearance received from the host university 4. Adoption of consistent coding and categorisation methods 5. Review of identified codes and categories

Case study

A case study is a qualitative research method that investigates an existing phenomenon in its real-life context, especially when the boundaries between the phenomenon and context are not clearly evident [START_REF] Soy | The case study as a research method[END_REF]. The intrinsic type of case study allows this research to gain a deeper understanding of a particular phenomenon [START_REF] Hasa | Difference Between Case Study and Ethnography[END_REF].

It enables researchers to collect data using interviews, participant observations, questionnaires, checklists and analysis of recorded data [START_REF] Balaraju | Case study and Ethnography[END_REF].

Population and sample

The states of Lagos, Oyo, Abuja, Kano and Kaduna in Nigeria made up the population group of this research. SMEs were the unit of analysis. As such, this study used purposive (judgemental) sampling to identify 16 SMEs in the population group defined by SMEDAN [START_REF] Smedan | [END_REF] to participate in and provide feedback for interviews.

Data collection

The researchers collected data through fieldwork in the form of interviews. Interviews allowed the views, experiences and beliefs of SME participants on the research subject to be explored. The responses from participants were transcribed into text and analysed using applicable coding analysis methods on Atlas.ti. This data collection strategy enabled data to be generated, which was discussed and examined to provide answers to the research sub-questions.

Data analysis

Content analysis was used as the analysis method to uncover meaning from the data collected. It offered objective guidelines in the coding of the text and drawing inferences from the data collected [START_REF] Prasad | Content analysis: A method of Social Science Research[END_REF]. The analysis involved the following steps [START_REF] Björn | Analysis of Generative Mechanisms[END_REF]:

1. Information was extracted on the reasoning of SMEs from feedback received from participants by thoroughly reading through the interview transcripts. 2. Initial codes were generated and categorised by organising the data collected in a meaningful and systematic way. The coding was carried out using the descriptive and in vivo coding methods to assign codes to text and the codes were quantified or counted based on the code frequencies.

Coding was carried out by categorising assigned codes based on their relationships to the research question. 3. Abduction reasoning was adopted to understand and analyse the causal mechanisms to generate new theoretical assumptions. 4. Retroduction was carried out to provide explanations on the data gathered and new theoretical assumptions using CR by identifying something significant about the research questions. 5. The theoretical assumptions were connected to generate specific contexts to explain the subjects of study.

Discussion of findings 4.1 Demography

The SMEs in this study included 16 business types that cut across 7 industries. The size of the SMEs ranged from 2 to 50 employees with an average business age of 7.5 years.

Content analysis: critical realist constructs of SMEs in Nigeria

The analysis was structured using the constructs of critical realism: real (causal mechanisms), empirical and actual. 414 unique codes in total were identified. The categorisation of the codes using their anchor codes and frequencies was used to group the codes into 112 real, 41 actual and 261 empirical (supplementary material) constructs.

Real (causal mechanism) constructs of SMEs in Nigeria

The real is described as the social structures, real objects and powers that exist independent of our perception of them, whether observed or not. 112 unique codes were identified as real. The unique codes were categorised into 3 groups based on the relationships of the unique codes, namely ICTs (mobile apps) (65), market limitations (5) and organisational constraints (42).

The frequency of codes suggests that mobile app objects exist as causal mechanisms within SMEs. The 16 SMEs that participated in this study used a total of 27 mobile apps with a total usage frequency of 65 and an average of 2 mobile apps per SME. The mobile apps were categorised into 5 categories: payment apps ( 4), ecommerce apps (3), social media apps (42), productivity apps [START_REF] Mats | Reflexive Methodology: New Vistas for Qualitative Research[END_REF] and custom apps [START_REF] O'halloran | SMEs Get Productivity from Mobile Applications[END_REF]. The code categorisation suggests that SMEs use social media apps primarily to sense business opportunities. The top 3 mobile apps used by SMEs were Facebook at 18.4% adoption, Instagram at 15.4% adoption and WhatsApp at 15.4% adoption. Some SMEs used custom-built mobile apps for sales and marketing, and productivity apps for accounting, communications and documentation purposes, while others used e-commerce apps for online sales.

This provides answers to the research sub-question: What mobile apps are predominantly used by SMEs in Nigeria?

Feedback received from participants on their usage of mobile apps includes the following:

"

yes, we do that through our Facebook and Instagram page and few sponsored ads online through Facebook and Instagram sponsored ad, it is relatively okay in terms of price and it is readily available at any time." "diamond bank app, I use them for transferring funds to my suppliers" "I use the WhatsApp for the WhatsApp status for posting my work and I use it for to interact with my clients my customer" "Yes, I use LinkedIn mainly to get industry trends, hmmm to get information from other people in the business"

The code categorisations confirm that SMEs use mobile apps to run business operations but encounter unskilled human resource issues, lack of financial access, regulatory issues and taxation issues that affect their capabilities to sense business opportunities.

Actual (observed/unobserved events) constructs of SMEs in Nigeria

The actual is described as events that occur whether observed or not as a result of the causal mechanisms identified above. 41 unique codes were identified as actual. The unique codes were administrative operations [START_REF] Teece | Explicating Dynamic Capabilities: The Nature and Microfoundations of (Sustainable) Enterprise Performance[END_REF], expenditure monitoring [START_REF] Mohamad | The Concept of Dynamic Capability for Managing Technology and Change[END_REF], financial management (3), business reporting (2), create organisational policies (1), outsourcing services (1), project management (2), sales and marketing (5) and knowledge development [START_REF] Bula | Evolution and Theories of Entrepreneurship: A Critical Review on the Kenyan Perspective[END_REF]. The frequency of the codes illustrates that various business processes exist as observed and unobserved events in SMEs. This research suggests that these business processes are influenced by the mobile apps used by SMEs to sense business opportunities.

Feedback from the SMEs was as follows:

"The finance being the backbone of the business is managed meticulously with respect to forecast and budget by increasing revenue (price and quality sold) and by judicious spending of expenses where necessary."

"The human/personnel resources department are mainly the ones with the responsibility of knowledge development"

The events identified above provide answers to the research sub-question: What are the observed or unobserved events in Nigeria that influence SMEs' ability to sense opportunities using mobile apps?

Empirical (observed) constructs of SMEs in Nigeria

These are described as events that are observed through formal, analytical and theoretical approaches [START_REF] Basden | Bhaskar's Critical Realism[END_REF]. 261 unique codes were identified and categorised into 10 groups. The frequency of the code categorisation illustrates that SMEs have various DCs: training and capacity development (52), sales and marketing [START_REF] Hasa | Difference Between Case Study and Ethnography[END_REF], carry out market research [START_REF] Elder-Vass | Re-examining Bhaskar's three ontological domains: the lessons from emergence[END_REF], interaction and participation (63), product marketing and research (45), review operations [START_REF] Hobáin | A Critical Realist study of Dynamic Capabilities in SMEs[END_REF], create new product ideas [START_REF] Owoseni | The use of mobile apps to enhance SMEs in conditions of uncertainty: A case study from Lagos, Nigeria[END_REF], carry out marketing strategy [START_REF] Mingers | Realizing Information Systems: Critical Realism as an Underpinning Philosophy for Information Systems[END_REF], access government SME programmes [START_REF] Bezerra | The Mobile Revolution: How Mobile Technologies Drive a Trillion Dollar Impact[END_REF] and product branding [START_REF] Owoseni | The use of mobile apps to enhance SMEs in conditions of uncertainty: A case study from Lagos, Nigeria[END_REF]. This study suggests that SMEs have the capabilities to run their business operations using mobile apps.

Feedback from the SMEs is as follows:

"yes, we do that through our Facebook and Instagram page and few sponsored ads online through Facebook and Instagram sponsored ad, it is relatively okay in terms of price and it is readily available at any time." "www.jakesbooksmed.com you can also go on konga and jumia and still have us there as part of our online, you click on jakes books medical equipment on konga, if you google it, it will bring out our shop. The same thing with jumia."

"and social media of recent which we delve into. So, ICT has helped to showcase our new offering and to reach out to people who we think will need our services"

Other SME participants said: "No, because I have not heard of such programme organized by government agencies" "they are not fully up to task and it is a challenge to them even finding most of us and I will actually say they are not up and doing with their responsibility in terms of identifying the right SMEs and providing certain solutions to that problem. So they are not helping boost ability to grab new opportunity"

This study reveals that events generated through observation in the empirical domain of CR in SMEs in Nigeria are their capabilities to manage product sales and marketing, create new product ideas, manage product branding, attend training and access government programmes. This identifies their existing competencies to gain competitive advantage. The events identified above provide answers to the research sub-question: What are the events within SMEs in Nigeria that influence their ability to sense opportunities using mobile apps?

Retroductive reflection

Retroduction is the process of working backwards from the empirical to the real, attempting to describe the relationships that result in the observable events. The findings in this study showed that SMEs have the dynamic capabilities despite having to satisfice in using freely available ICT (mobile apps). The mobile apps enable SMEs to carry out their business processes to sense new business opportunities. These business processes are, however, hampered by market limitations and organisational constraints such as unskilled human resource issues, lack of financial access, regulatory issues and taxation issues. SMEs are therefore forced to learn to use ICT in ways which work for them.

Further, this study reveals that SMEs use ICT to access general market information that is not localised for their environment using the internet. This is not effective for sensing new business opportunities. This leads to SMEs' inability to have adequate information on SME programmes to receive the necessary capacity development and funding support.

The capabilities of SMEs are a result of the usage of different ICTs (mobile apps) as shown in Figure 2 In Nigeria, the unstable policy environment and the ineffective policy implementations by critical government agencies have impacted on economic growth and development [START_REF] Etuk | Small And Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) And Nigeria's Economic Development[END_REF]. This has raised the need for SMEs to constantly look for alternative ways of exploring new business opportunities [START_REF] Okello-Obura | SMEs and Business Information Provision Strategies: Analytical Perspective[END_REF].

Conclusions were drawn about how the use of mobile apps can influence the capacity of SMEs to sense business opportunities in Nigeria. Based on the findings stated above, there is a need for SMEs to use mobile apps to easily access government programmes, attend training, manage projects, carry out research on markets and products, access market reports and provide customer support.

Contribution of study

This research presents a critical realist investigation of the real, actual and empirical domains of CR in SMEs in Nigeria. The result of this research serves as a methodological and practical contribution to knowledge which can be adopted by SMEs to use mobile apps effectively to sense new business opportunities. This study also provides details for solution requirements to develop an SME contextual mobile app to enable access information on government programmes, renewal of organisational processes, allocation of resources, knowledge development and transfer, and effective decision making.

Conclusion

This study examined the effect of mobile apps in SMEs to sense new business opportunities in Nigeria. The research was conducted using a qualitative research approach from a critical realist viewpoint. The study suggests that despite the existence of government support for SMEs across Nigeria, these programmes are generally inaccessible and do not include the important ICTs or mobile apps. This study confirms that ICTs (mobile apps) (real domain) are used by SMEs to carry out business processes (in the actual domain). These are influenced by their DCs such as (empirical domain) sensing new business opportunities in Nigeria. SMEs in Nigeria satisfice with free apps for banking, e-commerce, social media, productivity for their sales and marketing, collaboration and payment operations.

There is an opportunity to develop an ICT artefact (preferably a mobile app) that is better suited for SMEs to enhance their capabilities to carry out business processes effectively.

Limitations of the study

This research focus was limited to DCs in Nigerian SMEs. Further research should be considered to identify the adaptive, absorptive and innovative DC manifestations of SMEs in Nigeria and how mobile apps influence the DCs.

Fig. 1 .

 1 Fig. 1. Domains of CR[START_REF] Mingers | Realizing Information Systems: Critical Realism as an Underpinning Philosophy for Information Systems[END_REF]

  below. CR domains of SMEs in NigeriaThey use different types of ICT tools -this indicates the opportunity to create an SME ICT artefact, i.e. mobile app, that improves the DCs of SMEs to overcome the market limitations and organisational constraints in Nigeria. Also, the artefact should integrate with SME government agencies to enable SMEs to easily access localised information on market trends, developments and SME programmes. The artefact should allow SMEs to enhance their capabilities to carry out business processes effectively in sensing new business opportunities. This research positioned itself within the CR perspective to understand how mobile apps influence the capabilities of SMEs to better sense opportunities in changing market dynamics through retroduction. In this study, the real constructs of CR in SMEs suggest that causal mechanisms and structures that affect SME capabilities to sense business opportunities in Nigeria are ICTs (i.e. mobile apps), market limitations and organisational constraints. The actual constructs of CR in SMEs suggest that the observed or unobserved events in Nigeria that influence SMEs' ability to sense business opportunities are their business processes. The generative mechanisms identified in this research are the ICTs (mobile apps) used in SMEs in Nigeria, namely payment, e-commerce, social media and productivity apps.

	Business Processes -Administrative Operations, Expenditure Monitoring, Financial Management, Business Reporting, Create Organisational Policies, Outsourcing Services, Project Management, Sales and Marketing, Knowledge Development Actual Domain Implication of research findings ICTs (Mobile Apps) -Payment Apps, E-Commerce Apps, Social Media Apps, Productivity Apps, Market Limitations, Organisational Constraints Real Domain Fig. 2. 5	Dynamic Capabilities -Training and Capacity Development, Sales and Marketing, Carry out Market Research, Interaction and Participation, Product Marketing and Research, Review Operations, Create New Product Ideas, Marketing Strategy, Access Government SME Programmes, Product Branding Empirical Domain


Tupokigwe Isagah

Maria A Wimmer
email: wimmer@uni-koblenz.de.

Recommendations for M-Government Implementation in Developing Countries: Lessons Learned from the Practitioners

Keywords: m-government, m-government design and implementation, recommendations of m-government services, m-government challenges

Researchers argue the potential of mobile technologies to bridge challenges of e-government in developing countries. Despite the demand, research on the design and implementation of m-government is still scarce. The current literature hardly provides comprehensive recommendations for implementing such services in developing countries. This paper aims to bridge the gap by examining the challenges of m-government services from the m-government practitioners of developing countries. Also, it explores the solutions applied by the practitioners to address the challenges. To achieve these goals, online questionnaire and interviews techniques were used to collect data. MAXQDA tool was used to analyze raw data, and we applied the PESTELMO method to categorize the challenges. Results show that designers are facing problems related to requirement engineering, stakeholder management, budget allocation and technology standards. We provide recommendations to improve m-government designs in the future to ensure accessibility and sustainability of services. The recommendations are applicable to government organizations and practitioners of mobile public services.

Introduction

Researchers argue that the dissemination of mobile devices in emerging economies is far greater than desktop and other ICT devices for accessing public services, also known as e-government devices (see statistics of mobile users in Africa Whilst for a developed nation, where all 'e' and 'm'-government services are assumed to be available everywhere, the same cannot be said of emerging economies[ CITATION OEC11 \l 1033 \m Zef11]. In the latter, e-government infrastructure may exist in urban areas; large areas of potentially barren rural areas are better and more effectively served by m-government. To accomplish this, a guidance to cope with prevailing country context such as political, economic and environmental conditions during design process is imperative.

The literature presents challenges of m-government services; these include challenges reported by end-users (cf. [ CI-TATION Isa17 \t \l 1033 ]), which are the results of poor designs implemented by designers, developers and architects of m-government services, also referred to as m-government practitioners in this paper. These practitioners are the key players in designing the services. They are expected to understand objectives, examine functional requirements of services thoroughly and derive non-functional requirements that contribute to smooth operation of application and services[ CITATION Isa183 \t \l 1033 ]. Since these practitioners are playing a major role, it is essential to identify and analyze their challenges which leads to poor designs. Such investigation of designers' challenges is scant in the literature at the point of writing this paper.

This paper presents part of the results of ongoing research in the design of m-government services in developing countries. The paper addresses the gap in the literature by conducting an empirical study from m-government practitioners to identify encountered challenges during the design process. The paper also explores solutions used to overcome the challenges. The objectives of this paper are narrowed into two research questions: What are the challenges faced by the m-government practitioners which results to poor design and poor service usability? What recommendations can be provided to the practitioners to address the identified challenges?

This paper contributes to the literature by providing empirical findings from m-government practitioners of developing countries. The paper proposes recommendations that can guide m-government practitioners in the design process. The reminder of the paper is as follows: Section 2 presents related work of m-government challenges and recommendations. Section 3 outlines research design applied to answer research questions whereas section 4 illustrates results from empirical study. Section 5 introduces set of recommendations to improve m-government services. Subsequently, research implication and conclusions are communicated in section 6.

Literature Review

According to the UN global e-government surveys, mobile devices are prominent in promoting equal access to service for citizens living in remote areas [ CITATION Uni12 \m Uni14 \m UN18 \l 1033 ]. The previous survey unveiled the significance of broadband technology for sustaining e-public services in low economy societies[ CITATION Uni163 \l 1033 ]. This is because the technology is cheaper than the previous e-government sophisticated connections. Also, Zefferer and Teuf pointed out the significance of a well-established mobile network infrastructure in enhancing communication between governments of developing countries and their people[ CITATION Zef11 \l 1033 ]. Mobile devices such as cellphones were already successful used in these counrties to transfer money (see in [ CITATION Hug07 \l 1033 ]), thus, citizens are familiar with the technology. Therefore, developing countries should focus on delivering their services via mobile devices to promote Sustainable Development Goals2 (SDGs) and overcome e-government challenges.

Developing countries responded to the call by introducing mobile public services in their societies. For example, USHAHIDI app is evidenced in Kenya to provide real-time information and quick response to communities during disasters through ping technology 3 . In Tanzania, citizens pay taxes and utility bills such as water and electricity via mobile transactions 4 ; this improves the quality of service by saving time unlike cash payments. Likewise, India developed mobile public services ranging from information provision, interaction, transaction and engagement services in order to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery 5 .

Despite these initiatives in developing countries, several challenges exist on service design and implementation. For instance, research conducted in India on m-government revealed a lack of m-government strategy, poor awareness of services and a high cost of smart phones as challenges which hinder the adoption of the services [ CITATION Sar13 \l 1033 ]. These challenges are similar to results from a study conducted in Sub-Saharan countries on m-government design that further determined poor security, a lack of predefined legal standards and poor collaboration and cooperation among public and private sector as bottleneck of m-government implementation [ CITATION Mun14 \l 1033 ]. Our previous study categorized existing challenges of m-government design and implementation from literature comprehensively and urged the need to address them[ CITATION Isa17 \t \l 1033 ].

The design and implementation of m-government services require a strategy which includes understanding the stakeholders of the services, particularly users, service provider and practitioners. Isagah and Wimmer pointed out the influence of practitioners to the usage of services since they are responsible in making major design decisions such as determining requirements and design characteristics[ CITATION Isa183 \t \l 1033 ]. Their study also indicated the need for a well-designed back-end infrastructure to support the smooth delivery of government services. Their argument complements the previous study which stressed a need for a good foundation of ICT infrastructure and systems (e-government systems) for successful m-government implementation [ CITATION Kum071 \l 1033 ]. Henceforth, m-government practitioners require both front-end (mobile application development) and back-end (information systems) to deliver successful services.

Despite the importance of m-government practitioners in the implementation of services, the current literature lacks research from the designers' perspective [ CITATION Lön161 \l 1033 ]. The literature comprises m-government opportunities, drivers, challenges and design approaches such as framework and guidelines reported by end-users and service providers (see in[ CITATION Bak14 \m Isa17 \t \l 1033 ]). Also, m-government practitioners lack a comprehensive knowledge of addressing the requirements[ CITATION Isa183 \t \l 1033 ]. Thus, there is a need for identifying the challenges faced by these practitioners and exploring them in order to propose solutions. This paper bridges the gap by conducting such a study in the developing country. Accordingly, it proposes recommendations for improving m-government services. The objectives of this paper were achieved by applying methods elaborated in the next section.

Research Methods

This paper presents insights from the m-government survey which was conducted to study the design and implementation of m-government services. The target group was m-government practitioners from developing countries. We deployed mixed approaches to achieve the objectives: an online questionnaire and a follow-up interview protocol. The former aimed to investigate the crucial requirements, design approaches and challenges of m-government services. The questionnaire consisted of closed and open questions. It explored demographic details, designers experience on m-government services, m-government service design approaches, requirements of m-government services, challenges of mgovernment services and recommendations for m-government design. The questionnaire was set online using Lime Survey tool, and the link was shared via email to experts spotted online and in conferences, group email lists, and professional forums such as LinkedIn and Twitter. Fifty two (52) m-government practitioners responded to the online survey.

Results from the online questionnaire were used to formulate interview questions. The aim was to deepen the understanding of m-government requirements from respondents and explore stakeholder management. Thus, interview participants were from respondents of online questionnaire. Twenty eight (28) respondents were willing to participate in the interview. We chose eighteen [START_REF] Mkude | E-Government Challenges: Methods Supporting Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis[END_REF] experienced respondents (who have designed more than five services) from the list and reached them via email. The email included interview questions which respondents could respond via email or by scheduling the interview. Twelve [START_REF] Hughes | M-PESA: mobile money for the "unbanked" turning cellphones into 24-hour tellers in Kenya[END_REF] participants acknowledged the request and took part in the interview via Skype call and in person. We recorded the interviews and transcribed data for analysis. The transcribed documents were sent to respondents for content approval to ensure data reliability and validity.

With regard to data analysis, MAXQDA 6 software was used to analyze quantitative and qualitative data. The data from the online survey was saved in the excel sheet and later exported to the MAXQDA tool for analysis. As for the interviews, transcribed documents were saved in the tool as documents, and we performed the analysis. The MAXQDA tool allowed us to generate codes that represented a particular context along the analysis. For example, a code challenge was generated to store all constraints of the of m-government services. These challenges were also categorized into other subcodes by using PESTELMO (Political, Economical, Socio-cultural, Technological, Environmental, Legal, Managerial and Organizational) factors[ CITATION Placeholder8 \l 1031 ]. The method is used to structure the recommendations as well.

Since this paper focuses o the challenges and recommendations of m-government, we communicate results related to the objectives in the next section.

4

Results from the Questionnaire and Interview, and Discussions A total of fifty two (52) respondents participated in the online survey. These participants answered at least ten (10) out of the fourteen ( 14) given questions. Among the ( 14) questions, few of them were optional. The demographic details of the respondents presented in this paper include country of residence and experience in designing m-government services. The former aims to inform the reader the origin country of respondents whereas the latter investigated the experience of the respondents in designing m-government services to support the reliability and validity of data. Respondents country of origin had no effect as the study focus on design processes which is mostly influenced by the experience. The questions were as follows.

 In which country do you reside?

Respondents were from the following countries along with the number of respondents: Tanzania [START_REF]E-Government for Sustainable Development[END_REF], India (9), South Africa (5), Turkey (5), Uganda [START_REF]eGovernment: Using technology to improve public services and democratic participation[END_REF], Kenya (4), Brazil (3), Nigeria (2), Malawi (2), Pakistan (2), Afghanistan (1), Albania (1), Lebanon (1) and Uzbekistan [START_REF]E-Government for the people[END_REF].

 How many mobile government services have you designed?

Forty-two (42) respondents have designed more than one m-government service whereas ten [START_REF]Gearing E-Government to support transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies[END_REF] respondents have not yet designed any m-government services. In this paper, we present the challenges of the experienced group.

 Please mention the utmost five design challenges of m-government services that you have experienced, or you might experience along your work

The question aimed to understand challenges of m-government design and implementation depicted in Table 1.

Results from the online questionnaire were investigated further in a follow-up interview by identifying challenges that arise in addressing requirements of m-government services identified in[ CITATION Isa17 \t \l 1033 ]. For each requirement, respondents were asked the following question.

 What are the challenges of addressing (requirement) of m-government services?

Error: Reference source not found depicts results from the respondents regarding challenges faced when addressing requirements. We further asked requested respondents to provide solutions to the challenges identified for each requirement. The question posed was: What are the proposed solutions to overcome the challenges identified in the previous question? Their feedback is presented subsequently for each requirement along with the number of respondents.

Usability: All respondents (12) indicated the need for stakeholder inclusion and engagement in deriving service objectives, requirements, and performing other important activities in the design process. The respondents also emphasized the significance of a rigorous pilot test to solve most of the challenges. Likewise, there is a need for service awareness (7 respondents) and the use of special code for government services (6 respondents) to promote the adoption of services in the society.

PESTELMO factors Challenges along with number of experienced respondents

Political challenge

Lack of support from the government (7) Economic challenges Insufficient funds to support the design (8) Socio-cultural challenges Lack of user requirement (30) Poor user involvement [START_REF]Gearing E-Government to support transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies[END_REF]

PESTELMO factors Challenges along with number of experienced respondents

Poor Lack of experts in the design and implementation of m-government services (8) Interoperability: Four (4) respondents demanded interoperable layer that will store all the information from subsystems and provide authorized data to connected subsystems. Six (6) respondents revealed the need for data sharing standards that can be commonly used to design m-government services. Along with standards, collaboration and cooperation of stakeholders in the designing process is crucial (2 respondents).

Integration: All respondents indicated a need for organizations must plan the process, identify risks and mitigation strategies before integration. Additionally, two (2) respondents urged designers to build e and m-government as one system to ease integration processes.

Scalability: Five (5) respondents highlighted a need for testing the service in a similar number of expected users. Such an approach will help designers to understand scalability constraints at early stages. While observing expected users, four (4) respondents stressed not scaling beyond boundary, i.e., services are provided to the target group. Also, there is a need of infrastructure update to facilitate scalability (3 respondents) and a continuous monitoring of peak times (3 respondents) to provide reliable solutions to scalability.

Usability Economic challenges

A lack of budget for designing m-government services [START_REF] Zefferer | Opportunities and forthcoming challenges of smartphone based m-government services[END_REF] High cost of smart phone, which leads to inaccessibility of data channels (5) Socio-cultural chalenges Illiterate users who cannot contribute to designing (5) A lack of service awareness to citizens [START_REF] Hughes | M-PESA: mobile money for the "unbanked" turning cellphones into 24-hour tellers in Kenya[END_REF] Technological challenges Unreliable m-government infrasturcture (7) A lack of usability standards at government level (8) A difference in mobile technology capabilities such as screen size variation and different resolutions [START_REF]Gearing E-Government to support transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies[END_REF] Poor content presentation (3) Managerial challenge Service inaccessibility due to poor collaboration among network providers [START_REF] Hughes | M-PESA: mobile money for the "unbanked" turning cellphones into 24-hour tellers in Kenya[END_REF] Interoperability Technological challenges A lack of common standards for sharing data [START_REF]Gearing E-Government to support transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies[END_REF]

Managerial challenge

Poor willingness of sharing information among departments [START_REF] Isagah | Addressing Requirements of M-Government Services: Empirical Study from Designers' Perpectives[END_REF] Organizational challenge A lack of skilled labor who understands the context of interoperability [START_REF] Hughes | M-PESA: mobile money for the "unbanked" turning cellphones into 24-hour tellers in Kenya[END_REF] Integration Technological challenge A lack of integration measures in government departments [START_REF]Gearing E-Government to support transformation towards sustainable and resilient societies[END_REF]

Managerial

A lack of coordination and coordination among departments in challenge determining types of standards for integration (6) Organizational challenge A lack of experts to address the requirement (5)

Scalability Technological challenge

Poor infrastructure such as outdated hardware and software [START_REF] Isagah | Addressing Requirements of M-Government Services: Empirical Study from Designers' Perpectives[END_REF] Organizational challenges A lack of skilled set within an organization to address the requirement [START_REF] Zefferer | Opportunities and forthcoming challenges of smartphone based m-government services[END_REF] Security and Privacy Technological challenge A lack of guidance to support the section of security measures for m-government services [START_REF] Isagah | Mobile Government: Challenges and needs for a comprehensive design approach[END_REF] Unreliable infrastructure, which threatens the security of services ( 5) Security and privacy: All respondents indicated a need for training designers on new security measures and privacy techniques. Training produce informed practitioners regarding the requirements. Three (3) respondents further pointed out the use of cloud technology to secure services for countries which cannot afford security physical infrastructure.

The illustrated challenges in Table 1 and Error: Reference source not found rationalize the challenges of m-government services pointed out by researchers from developed and developing countries (see summary of challenges in[ CI-TATION Isa17 \t \l 1033 ]).

In Table 1 respondents have not pointed out environmental and legal challenges. This is because the respondents either do not encounter or not aware of such challenges. Looking back to our previous study, similar respondents called for m-government design approach that considers legal aspects when they were asked to provide recommendations for m-government design framework[ CITATION Isa184 \t \l 1033 ]. Thus, respondents are aware of legal implication to service implementation. Henceforth, this paper argues on the need for having clear regulations and legislation on the design and implementation of m-government services that practitioners must be aware of and abide by them.

From Table 1, the most reported challenge is poor user interface design. This obstacle arises from the lack of predefined standards for designing m-government services which is also advocated by interview respondents, cf. Error: Reference source not found. Also, the incompatibility of applications in different devices is one of the most reported challenges. This is because m-government practitioners lack a clear approach to design services [ CITATION Isa183 \t \l 1033 ]. There is a need for guiding them in choosing proper technology depending on the type of service and target group.

Furthermore, challenges reported in the empirical study reveal the need for a well-design back-end process (ICT infrastructure) to provide effortless integration of mobile technology to the available services. The challenges unveil further the potential of other environmental factors related to political, managerial and organizational context to support the adoption of technology. Thus, the next section present recommendations which consider multiple views that can improve the design of m-government.

Recommendations for successful design and implementation of m-government services

From the discussions in a previous section, this paper presents a set of recommendations to improve the design and implementation of m-government services in developing countries. The recommendations are categorized by PESTELMO method as follows.

1. Political recommendations: We recommend political leaders and representatives to support the implementation of mgovernment services (cf. Table 1). The support includes promotion of m-government campaigns in societies; provision of enough budget to complete the project and sustain it; formulation of policies, and promotion of m-government strategy which should be implemented in organizations.  We recommend m-government practitioners to consider available policies in government or organizations to ensure the support from top leaders and service sustainability. 2. Economic recommendations: Based on the findings from Table 1, Error: Reference source not found and desk research, we recommend  Government or organization to have a repository for storing documents and solutions so as to allow reusability of materials for cost saving.  Government organizations to deliver their services via affordable mobile channels such as signaling channel (SMS and USSD). These channels are compatible to all mobile devices and do not require internet connectivity to access information.

Socio-cultural recommendations:

The political recommendation highlighted in this paper contributes to solving socio-cultural challenges, i.e. promoting awareness of the service to people. Also, we recommend:  The government organization to provide training to end-users. Provision of such training at an early stage helps to understand end-users needs and address them.

 The use common channels that are already accepted by users in the community to ensure the acceptance of the services.  End-users to participate in pilot test to ensure a target service meet their needs. 4. Technological recommendations: This category provides the recommendations as follows.  We recommend the adoption of defined standards for delivering public services via mobile technologies. The standards include user interface and content presentation of data channels, user interface and content presentation of signaling channels, and the use of specific codes (for SMS and USSD) for accessing government services.  Practitioners are recommended to conduct usability tests to tech-savvy and non-tech-savvy people. This approach helps to draw a mutual conclusion on revising the usability requirement and it increases service acceptance.

 It is recommended to use a cross-platform framework when designing data channels such as mobile apps to ensure compatibility.

 We recommend the government to formulate standards that should be commonly used in organizations to establish reliable back-end processes. These include principles, guidelines and formats. Such standards should assist m-government practitioners in organizing data and infrastructure to the ease sharing of resources, easy integration and scalability.  Government organizations are recommended to update their infrastructure to keep up with the latest security measures and ensure the performance of services.  Designers are recommended not to scale beyond the scope.  Designers are recommended to explore the infrastructure of organization and target user to determine type of channels that can be delivered through available infrastructure 5. Environmental recommendations: We recommend  The use offline techniques to ensure that apps and services work when there is no connectivity. Information to be processed can be uploaded when devices regain the connectivity. Such techniques overcome the environmental nature and geographical restrictions of developing nations.  Designers to use technologies and other resources that have no effect on the environment when implementing m-government services. 6. Legal recommendations: We provide recommendations as follows.  Government organizations must have a legal framework in place. The framework should provide a common understanding of m-government legislation and regulations, legal implications of m-government services.  Designers should abide to legal framework entities throughout the design process so as to ensure service acceptance and sustainability.  End-users must understand the legal implication of a service concerned. The service provider is required to create this awareness to end users before deploying the service in the user environment.

Managerial recommendations:

The recommendations in this level are:  Government organs and departments, and private sector are recommended to cooperate and coordinate in implementing m-government services. Through their cooperation and coordination, challenges related to addressing the requirements will be reduced. Also, the cooperation and coordination reduce application and service redundancy within an organization.  M-government practitioners must identify all parties related to the service (public and private) and engage them in the designing process.  Stakeholders of m-government services must be committed to the design process to ensure completion of project on time. 8. Organizational recommendations: We provide the following recommendations.  Government organizations should provide training and workshop to their employees to update them with new technologies related and associated risks.  Government organization delivering its services via mobile devices is recommended to have its back-end processes well planned and organized to support a smooth integration of mobile technology for service delivery.  Government organizations should have clear goals and derive specific objectives related to the service goal, and handle them to the concerned m-government practitioners.

Conclusions

M-government implementation is potential in developing countries since mobile devices are the most prominent tools for connecting government to its society. The literature presents research on the success factors, challenges faced by users and general recommendations on the m-government services. However, there is a lack of research on designers' side to explore the practices used to design the services and challenges faced. This paper bridges the gap by examining the challenges of m-government designers, explores their ways of addressing the challenges and proposes recommendations for improving m-government services in developing countries.

The paper contributes to the m-government literature by providing extensive recommendations for improving the services from strategic, design and implementations. Such comprehensive recommendations are lacking at the point of writing. Government organizations from the developing countries that require delivering their services via mobile devices can apply the recommendations. These recommendations will help them to improve the design of m-government services by considering important activities that are crucial in the process to produce proposer and useful designs.

The sample size from online survey and interviewees are not large enough to generalize the findings from the developing countries. Therefore, future studies should focus on increasing the sample size to have strong recommendations to government and m-government practitioners of developing countries. Also, future studies should target evaluating the recommendations in m-government projects to assess their application and validity.

  1 and[ CITATION Uni12 \l 1033 ]). The massive increase of mobile penetration in such countries strengthens the connectivity of government to people [ CITATION UN10 \l 1033 ]. People can now access public services via mobile devices, also referred to as m-government[ CITATION Kus03 \l 1031 ]. M-government tackles existing challenges of e-government such as the digital divide, immobility nature of e-government devices and a high cost of the devices and infrastructure in developing countries [ CITATION OEC11 \l 1033 \m Uni12 \m Eur15].

Table 1 .

 1 Challenges of m-government design reported by respondents of the online questionnaire (N=42)

Table 1 .

 1 Challenges of addressing requirements of m-government services reported by interview respondents (N=12)

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