E-commerce Adoption in Nigerian Businesses

Abstract

Business organizations around the world engage in e-commerce (EC) and e-business to support business operations and enhance revenue generation from non-traditional sources. Studies focusing on EC adoption in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA) are just beginning to emerge in the extant information systems (IS) literature. The objective of this current study is to investigate factors impacting the acceptance of EC in small businesses in SSA with Nigeria as an example. A research model based on the Diffusion of Innovation (DIT) and the Technology–Organization–Environment (TOE) frameworks were used to guide this discourse. Such factors as relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, management support, organizational readiness, external pressure, and IS vendor support were used to develop relevant hypotheses. Questionnaires were administered to respondents in Nigeria and data analysis was performed using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) technique. Predictions related to relative advantage, management support, and IS vendor support were confirmed; the other hypotheses were unsupported by the data. The study’s implications for research and practice are discussed in the chapter.

The Relationship between the Frequency of Technology Use and Electronic Commerce Adoption among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises in Kuwait

“…Relative advantage is one of the technical characteristics most used in e-commerce adoption studies in various contexts (Ghobakhloo & Tang, 2013;Sin et al, 2016;Ahmad et al, 2014). Alam et al (2014), Sin et al (2016), andEkong et al (2012) found that relative advantage has a significant positive effect on the adoption of e-commerce. Ghobakhloo et al (2010) suggested that the higher the perceived benefits of e-commerce, the more likely an SME will adopt it.…”

“…Pressure from suppliers and customers refers to the degree to which a company or SME is pressured to adapt e-commerce due to the awareness and the culture of its customers or suppliers (Rahayu & Day, 2015) and their demand for the implementation of e-commerce in doing business (Ekong et al, 2012). In the other words, SMEs may adopt e-commerce technology due to pressure from their customers or suppliers (Sin et al, 2016;Olatokun & Kebonye, 2010).…”

“…to the e-commerce applications that have to fit the organisational context of SMEs to enable its adoption and was measured by a 5-item statement adapted from Ekong et al (2012) and Kurnia et al (2015). Perceived complexity (PCX) refers to the degree to which an SME perceives the adoption of e-commerce would be complicated which was measured by PCX 4-item statement adapted from Ekong et al (2012) and AlBar and Hoque (2017).…”

“…to the e-commerce applications that have to fit the organisational context of SMEs to enable its adoption and was measured by a 5-item statement adapted from Ekong et al (2012) and Kurnia et al (2015). Perceived complexity (PCX) refers to the degree to which an SME perceives the adoption of e-commerce would be complicated which was measured by PCX 4-item statement adapted from Ekong et al (2012) and AlBar and Hoque (2017). Organisational readiness (ORD) refers to the availability of IT and organisational resources to support the e-commerce adoption in SMEs which was measured by 4-item statement adopted from Huy et al (2012) and Kurnia et al (2015).…”

“…Organisational readiness (ORD) refers to the availability of IT and organisational resources to support the e-commerce adoption in SMEs which was measured by 4-item statement adopted from Huy et al (2012) and Kurnia et al (2015). IT knowledge (ITK) was measured by 4-item statement which includes skills and knowledge in using e-commerce, systems implementation, and training of employees adapted from Garg and Choeu (2015) and Ekong et al (2012). Competition pressure (COP) indicates the extent to which SMEs find themselves threatened by their counterparts within their industry or environment which was measured by with a 4-item statement, adapted from Garg and Choeu (2015) and AlBar and Hoque (2017).…”