Leading the challenges of implementing new technologies in organizations

Organizations in general and small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in particular acquire new technology innovation (NTI) to bolster their competitiveness, but they often find that the outcomes of efforts to effectively implement them are disappointing. This raises the question—how organizations can improve the NTI process and particularly how senior leaders influence it. By employing a qualitative methodology—sourcing and analyzing data derived from 28 in-depth interviews with internal and external sources (CEOs, implementation managers, and professional technology integrators)—we delineate the ways whereby organizations and their leaders can facilitate the NTI process. Our research reveals the main hurdles of the NTI process in SMEs and the role of senior leadership in harnessing the employees to engage in a complex and challenging process, creating conditions to overcome technology-related and non-technology-related hurdles to more fully realize the potential of the acquired new technology. In so doing, we contribute to the literature of technology management and innovation by enhancing our understanding about the leadership influences on the NTI process.