THE ANTITHETICAL EFFECT OF CYBERCRIME ON SMALL MEDIUM ENTERPRISE SMES: PUBLIC ASSESSMENT

Abstract

Notwithstanding the emergent indications and fears about the effect of cybercrime, only a few speculative studies have explored the topic to complement those published by consultancy firms, cybersecurity companies, and private institutions. The review of all these studies shows that there is no consensus on how to delineate and measure cybercrime or its effect on Small and Medium Scale Enterprises. Against this background, this research paper had four objectives namely to: determine the effect of Cybercrime on Small and Medium Scale Businesses; identify the real cost of Cybercrime to Ghana SMEs; identify the reasons for the increase of cybercrimes in Ghana SMEs and; identify the causes of cybercrime in Ghana SMEs. A cross-sectional study is used to assess the burden of cost or IT needs of a population and are particularly useful in informing the planning and allocation of IT resources. The study consists of forty-nine (49) participants. The target population is small and medium enterprises in Ghana. Simple random sampling was used to recruit and select the study respondents. As the name implies, simple random sampling means that, in this case, small and medium enterprises in Ghana will be chosen entirely by chance, and each of these enterprises in Ghana has an equal chance or probability of being selected. Furthermore, eight small and medium enterprises in Ghana were involved. And these SMEs include businesses that buy and sell, transportation companies, etc. The findings of the research confirmed the assumptions put forward since there were statistically significant variations in the proportion of people who participated in cybercrime activities based on their age and the size of the business in which they worked.