MIDDLE-EAST.COM: Diffusion of the Internet and Online Shopping in Jordan and Turkey

Abstract

As Internet adoption is a fundamental antecedent to online commerce, differences in Internet diffusion between nations can be important. The emerging online markets represented by the developing nations of the Middle East are important, but not as well understood as the online markets of the developed nations of the world. This study makes a comparative analysis between Turkey, one of the more mature developing nations of the region, and Jordan, a smaller developing nation that has recently adopted important technology initiatives. This study suggests that the rapid advance of Internet user motivations and online shopping intentions in the Kingdom of Jordan appear to be a direct result of the new King's recent technology initiative.

Influence of social norms, perceived playfulness and online shopping anxiety on customers' adoption of online retail shopping

“…Since the questionnaire was distributed online, as expected the sample closely represents the average population of Turkish online customers. Also, the demographics of the sample are not substantially different from those reported in Stafford et al (2006)) and Ergin and Akbay (2008) studies. In the present study, 70.1 per cent of sample was male (vs 71.1 per cent in 2006 and 53.7 per cent in 2008 studies) and the largest number of participants, 41 per cent, ranged in age 26‐35 (vs 54 per cent in 2006 and 30.5 per cent in 2008 studies).…”

“…Since the questionnaire was distributed online, as expected the sample closely represents the average population of Turkish online customers. Also, the demographics of the sample are not substantially different from those reported in Stafford et al (2006)) and Ergin and Akbay (2008) (2003) and Ahn et al (2004) studies to measure the customer's beliefs regarding the efficiency and effortlessness of online shopping for attaining the shopping goals. Each scale included six slightly modified and adjusted items to adequately capture the online shopping context and avoid the dysfunctional translated statements.…”

Online tax payment systems as an emergent aspect of governmental transformation

“…While such transformational programs are showing widespread acceptance and use in more advanced nations, such as Taiwan (e.g., Fu et al, 2006), it must be remembered that these nations lead the world in e-Government systems implementation and utilization, as well as in technological development. Turkey is a special case, demonstrating an interesting combination of technological sophistication in terms of systems and infrastructure deployment, in concert with more modest adoption of systems at the individual citizen level (e.g., Stafford et al, 2006) Deeper understanding and assessment of accounting professionals, who are the major facilitating players in the transformational Turkish tax management system, would provide valuable opportunities for e-Government initiatives in this nation. Moreover, as of this writing, the e-Tax payment system in Turkey is completely voluntary and the target users of the system have not yet been provided by the government with tangible incentives for system use.…”

Customer online shopping anxiety within the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use Technology (UTAUT) framework

“…The sample demographics are provided in Table 1. The profiles were compared with those reported in the Stafford et al (2006), Ergin and Akbay (2008) and Celik (2011). The sample was comprised of 55.3 percent males and 44.7 percent females (vs. 53.7 percent and 46.3 percent in the 2008 study).…”