Evaluating the Role of Individual Perception in IT Outsourcing Diffusion: an Agent Based Model

The decision to adopt innovations has been investigated using both international patterns and behavioural theories. In this work, an agent-based (AB) model is created to study the spreading of innovation in enterprises (namely, the adoption of Information Technology outsourcing). The paradigm of AB simulation makes it possible to capture human factors, along with technical ones. This makes it possible to study the influence of perception, and the resulting bias. This work is focused on small and medium enterprises (SME), in which a restricted managing pool (sometimes just one person) decides whether to adopt a new technology or not, and bases the decision mainly on perception.