Does ICT Policy Improve Interorganisational ICT for SMEs? A Dutch Policy Evaluation Study

Interorganisational ICT has become critical for the performance of both small and large organisations. SMEs however, traditionally lag behind in the uptake of these systems. In many countries, various policy programmes are initiated to improve ICT uptake by SMEs and support them in digital linking throughout their value chain. In the Netherlands, a nationwide policy programme was in place between 2002 and 2007 that is a prominent example of this type of policy initiatives. In this paper we present the results of an ex post evaluation of this programme, by comparing survey data collected among 516 participating SMEs with survey data collected among a control group of 124 SMEs. In bivariate analysis, significant differences are found between the two groups with regard to the adoption of several types of interorganisational ICT. These differences remain intact if split sampling of the groups is applied by size (small/medium) and sector (trade/finance/public). Furthermore, it is found that participants of the policy programme perceived significantly more added value of ICT. In interpreting these results however, pre-selection effects should be taken into account.