Page 46 - IJSA, Vol. 7, No 1, 2024

International Journal of Science Annals, Vol. 7, No. 1, 2024
рrint ISSN: 2617-2682; online ISSN: 2707-3637; DOI:10.26697/ijsa

the internet (North et al., 2020; Raimo et al., 2023; considered to be a good return (Salah & Ayyash, 2023).
Spanò et al., 2023). The collected data were analyzed using SPSS version
The aim of the study. To explore and explain 28. A reliability test was also conducted in this present
digitalisation factors influencing the DC of SMEs in the study. Scholarly work by Hall et al. (2023) states that the
healthcare sector. prime reason for conducting a reliability test is to
To realize the aim, the research question was formulated examine the level of consistency of the survey
as what are the digitalisation factors influencing the DC questionnaire. A plethora of research (e.g., Dzomonda
of SMEs in the healthcare sector? & Fatoki, 2019; Martinez-Corona et al., 2020) has
indicated that a questionnaire is considered reliable if
Materials and Methods Cronbach’s alpha (CA) is greater or equal to 0.7
As the aim of this present study was to explore and (Cheung et al., 2023; Ogujiuba et al., 2023). As
explain digitalisation factors influencing the DC of documented in Table 1, Cronbach’s alpha was
SMEs in the healthcare sector, a deductive research determined to be 0.886, which is considered excellent,
approach was followed. A sampling frame was acquired since it exceeded the recommended value of 0.7.
through the South African Small Enterprise
Development Agency (SEDA). According to a survey Table 1
Reliability Result of the Data Collection Instrument
undertaken by SEDA (2021), the number of registered
SMEs, including those in the healthcare sector, in the
Gauteng province of South Africa during the first
quarter of 2021 was 786,027. The study sample size was,
therefore 384. This sample size is in line with Krejcie
and Morgan (1970) who stated that a population that is
between 75,000 and 1,000,000 is well represented by a
sample size of 384. The present study was designed as a cross-sectional
The present study was cross-sectional in nature since study envisioned obtaining data from five hundred (500)
data collection only occurred at one specific point in SMEs operating in the Healthcare sector. Three hundred
time. A self-administered survey questionnaire was (300) responded accordingly. Table 2 presents the
employed to obtain data from the SMEs operating in demographical statistics of respondents. The
Gauteng province. A total of 500 survey questionnaires demographic variables include gender, age (years),
were sent to 500 SMEs operating in the Healthcare education, job position, sector, use of DTs, and types of
sector. Of the 500 questionnaires, only 300 were DTs used.
returned. This meant a response rate of 60.0%, which is
Table 2
Demographical Statistics of Respondents

44