Efficiency impacts of information and communication technologies in the Nigerian printing and publishing industry

The study reported in this paper examines the use of ICTs and their efficiency impacts in the Nigerian printing and publishing industry. The findings provide evidence of the diffusion of ICTs in the industry, and regression of technical efficiency scores on firm characteristics and indicators of ICT investment showed that age of firm, age of main production equipment, size of firm and ownership structure have no significant impact on technical efficiency of firms in the research sample. Factors that have significant impact on technical efficiency of firms include physical capital, sales turnover, proportion of workers with higher education, and three aspects of ICT investment (viz., investment in computers, investment in computer software, and investment in e-business facility). The results demonstrate that ICT investments have significant positive impacts on technical efficiency, but firms are however prone to adopting hardware without requisite in-house ICT skills and adequate knowledge of software. Promoting ICT investment should therefore, be accompanied by deliberate efforts to guide firms to acquire ICT skills and software in tandem with investment in ICT hardware.