Artificial Intelligence in Business and Social Development: Evidence from Business Owners in Abak Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria

Abstract

Artificial intelligence (AI) is rapidly reshaping how enterprises operate and how communities experience economic and social change, yet evidence on how small business owners in rural and semi-urban Nigerian local government areas engage with AI remains scarce. This study examined artificial intelligence in business and social development, drawing on business owners in Abak Local Government Area, Akwa Ibom State, Nigeria. Anchored on the Technology Acceptance Model and the Diffusion of Innovation Theory, the study adopted a descriptive survey design. A population of two hundred (200) business owners drawn from five (5) purposively selected business clusters in Abak was used, out of which one hundred and eighty (180) copies of a structured questionnaire were administered and one hundred and seventy (170) were completed, returned and found usable, representing a 94.4 per cent response rate. Data were analysed using mean, standard deviation and chi-square statistics. Findings indicate that the extent of AI adoption among the sampled business owners was moderate, with mobile-based and social-media-embedded AI tools more prevalent than dedicated analytics or automation systems. AI adoption was found to have a significant positive effect on business performance and a significant positive effect on social development in the study area. The study concludes that artificial intelligence, although still at an early diffusion stage among small business owners in Abak, holds considerable promise for enterprise growth and community-level social development where awareness, infrastructure and skills gaps are addressed. It is recommended that government agencies, financial institutions and polytechnic-based entrepreneurship centres intensify digital and AI-literacy interventions targeted at small business owners in semi-urban within the local government areas.