Operational indicators for measuring organizational e-readiness based on fuzzy logic: A challenge in the Agricultural Organization of Guilan Province, Iran

Information and communications technology has exponentially grown in recent years and has played a significant role in organizational development. The main purpose of this study was to collect the data needed for the introduction of a new tool for assessing e-readiness in the Agricultural Organization of Guilan Province, Iran. The study population includes agricultural organization experts and researchers who were familiar with the concepts of IT and the organization status. Based on the relevant literature review, the e-readiness indicators which had theoretically been proposed and practically used by researchers over the past 10 years were identified. Then some parameters were introduced for examination and prioritization. These indicators represented the spatial and temporal factors as well as the characteristics of the condition of the Agricultural Organization of Guilan Province. The proposed structural model included seven factors (Infrastructural, Human, Educational, Government, Management, Socio-cultural and Legal) and 44 indicators. After that, based on the experts’ points of view, the coefficient of significance for each of the selected factors and indicators was measured using Minkowski fuzzy screening method. The results obtained from structured questionnaires show that all of the seven main factors and 40 indicators out of 44 indicators were appropriate for assessing electronic readiness and the final model of assessing e-readiness. Furthermore, the results indicated that the most important factor in assessing e-readiness is the human factor and then stand other factors such as educational, infrastructural, management, government, legal and socio-cultural.