SaaS adoption and onboarding · Peer-reviewed empirical study or research synthesis
A Systematic Literature Review to Uncover SaaS Adoption Issues by SMEs – Reasons and Solutions to the Adoption Problem
Adenuga, O. A., Kekwaletswe, R. M., & Adenuga, O. T. (2020). A Systematic Literature Review to Uncover SaaS Adoption Issues by SMEs – Reasons and Solutions to the Adoption Problem. International Journal of Data and Information Systems (IJDIS).
Plain-English take
The review coded 58 issues, 32 causal associations, and 26 treatments; security and operational/support problems were especially frequent and important. Founder-use interpretation: Useful as a risk and onboarding checklist, not as an estimate of SaaS conversion or churn effects; validate locally by segment, geography, and product category.
How much weight to give this
3.5/5 Useful empirical or synthesis evidence with context-specific transfer limits
The 1–5 evidence-check score is a practical reading aid, not a formal peer review or a probability that a conclusion is true. It combines design strength (2 points), sample reporting (1), comparison/control clarity (1), and how much of the paper could be checked (1). Access affects how confidently this directory can assess a study, not the study's underlying quality. Blinding is reported separately because it is not relevant to every design.
Scored from the described study design; an analytical or review design is not treated as a randomized field estimate.
The setting and reported sample detail are stated explicitly; size alone does not establish representativeness.
The reported comparison or synthesis method is described from the retrieved article record.
A publisher page or abstract was directly retrieved; full methods access was not established.
Double-blind? Blinding is not stated in the publisher record reviewed; that does not establish whether blinding was or was not used.
Research question
What the authors investigated
Which issues are reported in research on SaaS adoption by small and medium enterprises, and what responses are proposed?
Design
Systematic literature review across six academic databases: 682 records retrieved and 42 SaaS-adoption articles selected, focused on SME adoption.
Sample and setting
Systematic literature review across six academic databases: 682 records retrieved and 42 SaaS-adoption articles selected, focused on SME adoption.
Reported result
What the study found
The review coded 58 issues, 32 causal associations, and 26 treatments; security and operational/support problems were especially frequent and important.
This is a paraphrase of the source. Check the original paper for definitions, estimates, statistical uncertainty and analysis details.
Scope and transfer
Limitations to keep in view
Evidence is secondary literature rather than a new firm-level causal sample; findings depend on database search, inclusion, and coding choices.
Possible founder application
Useful as a risk and onboarding checklist, not as an estimate of SaaS conversion or churn effects; validate locally by segment, geography, and product category.
Evidence access
Publisher abstract or article landing page captured; full-text access not established.
Publisher article page directly retrieved with Firecrawl (reference 01a122bc-9402-767b-9e18-21a6789d656d). The annotation follows the retrieved title/abstract or landing-page record; full methods and correction notices were not independently reviewed.
If only an abstract or metadata was available, the profile is limited to claims supported there. A paper's paywall does not change its evidentiary status, but it limits what we can substantiate from accessible text.