The impact of IT adoption during a pandemic on multinational enterprise performance: evidence from Indonesia

Purpose – This study aims to examine how technological, organisational and environmental factors shape information technology (IT) adoption in multinational enterprises (MNEs) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and how adoption affects economic and operational performance. Design/methodology/approach – An interpretivist qualitative multiple-case study was conducted with three MNEs in Indonesia. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with four key informants and analysed using thematic coding in NVivo, supported by source, technique and time triangulation. Findings – IT adoption was influenced by all three TOE dimensions. Perceived usefulness was more salient than perceived financial benefit. Top management support and company size were central organisational drivers, although size created benefits only when supported by competent human resources. Environmental pressures differed by lifecycle stage: established MNEs were mainly shaped by government regulation, whereas the growth-stage firm relied more on competitive benchmarking. IT adoption supported productivity, profitability, inter-party coordination and real-time information access during remote-working conditions. Research limitations/implications – The study is limited to three Indonesian cases during the acute pandemic period; the findings are analytically transferable rather than statistically generalisable. Practical implications – Managers should prioritise technologies with clear operational utility, secure visible senior management commitment and align adoption governance with firm size and regulatory exposure. Originality/value – The study extends the TOE-Diffusion of innovation perspective to crisis-driven IT adoption and identifies organisational lifecycle stage as a moderator of environmental adoption pressures.