Micro-enterprises (businesses with one to five employees) lie at the heart of the American economy but are not well-researched. It is believed that technology adoption has the potential to spark strong growth among micro-enterprises, but current technology adoption models are tailored for large businesses and do not consider the human, social, and economic inputs peculiar to micro-enterprises. This research investigates how access to, and use of technology may lead micro-enterprises to build capabilities that will help them increase their net income and hire more employees. Framed as a specification of Amartya Sen's capability perspective, this research seeks, through a qualitative inductive multiple case study methodology, to generate concepts and theory tied to both the IS and the IT for Development literature. The contribution of this research is a carefully structured analysis of micro-enterprise IT Adoption that has implications for understanding micro-enterprise needs, how micro-enterprises function, and how micro-enterprises access and use technology to grow. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]