AI Adoption Barriers for SMEs in Addis Ababa: A TOE-Based Analysis within the Digital Ethiopia 2025 Framework
Abstract
Ethiopia’s transition toward a knowledge-based economy has created new opportunities for digital growth, yet small and medium enterprises in Addis Ababa continue to face a significant gap in artificial intelligence adoption. This study uses a qualitative systematic review and the Technology-Organization-Environment framework to synthesise evidence from 2024–2026 institutional and policy sources. The findings show that the main barriers are technological, including high hardware costs and limited access to local-language data; organisational, including low digital literacy and talent shortages; and environmental, including a weak private-sector AI ecosystem and compliance uncertainty. The paper concludes that Ethiopia’s next phase of digital policy should move beyond infrastructure expansion and focus on SME enablement through fiscal support, open local datasets, and affordable AI services.
Keywords
sme technology adoption ethiopia
digital transformation smes ethiopia
ai adoption barriers
barriers to ai adoption
ethiopia artificial intelligence
Fikremarkos Belay
TOE framework
Digital Ethiopia 2025
SMEs Addis Ababa
artificial intelligence adoption
Citation
58 CitationsBelay, F. (2026). AI Adoption Barriers for SMEs in Addis Ababa: A TOE-Based Analysis within the Digital Ethiopia 2025 Framework. Global Youth Science Journal, 2(1). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19498316
Belay, Fikremarkos. "AI Adoption Barriers for SMEs in Addis Ababa: A TOE-Based Analysis within the Digital Ethiopia 2025 Framework." Global Youth Science Journal, vol. 2, no. 1, 2026. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19498316.
Belay, Fikremarkos. "AI Adoption Barriers for SMEs in Addis Ababa: A TOE-Based Analysis within the Digital Ethiopia 2025 Framework." Global Youth Science Journal 2, no. 1 (2026). https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19498316.
Belay, F. (2026) 'AI Adoption Barriers for SMEs in Addis Ababa: A TOE-Based Analysis within the Digital Ethiopia 2025 Framework', Global Youth Science Journal, 2(1). Available at: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19498316.
@article{GYSJ2026Belay,
title={AI Adoption Barriers for SMEs in Addis Ababa: A TOE-Based Analysis within the Digital Ethiopia 2025 Framework},
author={Fikremarkos Belay},
journal={Global Youth Science Journal},
volume={2},
number={1},
year={2026},
url={https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19498316}
}
TY - JOUR TI - AI Adoption Barriers for SMEs in Addis Ababa: A TOE-Based Analysis within the Digital Ethiopia 2025 Framework JO - Global Youth Science Journal VL - 2 IS - 1 PY - 2026 UR - https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19498316 AU - Fikremarkos Belay ER -
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