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This paper uses Theory of Constraints (TOC) improvement questions to measure how employees' demographics influence their adoption of various Information Technology Equipments (ITEs) in organisations. Survey questions in the form of a Likert scale are prepared to address these possible effects. The number of total participants was 216 and they were from two universities: Argosy University, Atlanta campus; and Brigham Young University, Provo campus. The research question for this study asked how the factors of age, gender, race, and education level positively or negatively influence employees' attitudes toward ITE adoption at their place of employment. A Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient was computed to assess the relationships and the Kruskal–Wallis and the Mann–Whitney U tests were used to compare the independent groups. The results suggested that there was a correlation among age, race and education level and indicated that age negatively correlates with employees' level of comfort with ITE use. There was a statistically significant difference at the 0.01 level between White and Black participants.

It is well established in previous research that female and minority entrepreneurs are less successful with business ventures in comparison to whites and males. In that same literature, motivation and growth expectations have been shown to be positively associated with business success. This paper examines how motivations and business goals differ by gender and race and how they affect disparity in business outcomes. Using data from the Second Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics (PSED II), we find that stronger motivations for financial gain have a negative effect on business survival rate for black women and Hispanic men. In contrast, the effect is positive for black men and Hispanic women. When considering interactions between financial motivations, race and gender, various significant effects were found and are detailed in the paper. It is important for researchers and practitioners who want to promote entrepreneurship to understand the differences and adapt advisory and training curricula accordingly.

Research has shown that credit discouragement is one of the most significant barriers deterring small businesses from accessing credit. Although credit discouragement is often associated with diminished expectations for successfully obtaining credit, the underlying causes of this phenomenon have not been explored fully. Adapting Loury’s (2021) feedback effect theory to the credit market, this study provides insights into the effect of race and emotional distress on credit discouragement among individual microentrepreneurs (IMEs) in Brazil. Using survey data collected in Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, the study confirms that Black and Brown IMEs who reported emotional distress in bank branches had a greater credit discouragement rate than those who did not. We also confirmed Brazil’s pigmentocratic pattern of inequality, with higher discouragement among Black IMEs compared to Brown and White IMEs.