Abstract
The increasing use of information technology in enterprises’ daily operations has led to multiple innovative ways to run a business, including electronic commerce (hereafter, e-commerce). However, firms with fewer resources, such as small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), are more reluctant to use electronic channels during transactions. This aversion to contemporary business models is a result of these companies’ lack of knowledge and capabilities regarding e-commerce. To improve their businesses, SMEs’ managers and decision makers could benefit from a methodological framework that fosters a deeper understanding of the determinants of e-commerce. This study sought to explore the use of fuzzy cognitive mapping to address this need. The results are grounded in the knowledge and experience of a panel of experts in e-commerce. The fuzzy cognitive map (FCM) developed shows that entrepreneur profile, market, operational management, marketing and promotions, website and digital platform, and products present the highest centrality indices as determinants of SME e-commerce. The findings offer a better understanding of the cause-and-effect relationships between these determinants. The advantages, limitations, and shortcomings of our constructivist proposal are also discussed.
Highlights
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in contemporary societies
The objective of the first group session was to identify the determinants of SMEs’ e-commerce practices and structure these factors into a cognitive map that could be converted into an fuzzy cognitive map (FCM)
Beyond its compliance with the literature, the cognitive structure developed in this study identifies a more diverse group of factors and appraises their influence on SMEs’ e-commerce practices in a transparent and logical way
Summary
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a crucial role in contemporary societies. Ways to promote SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce include clarifying the structure of ecommerce and understanding entrepreneurs’ beliefs about it. These methods, necessitate the incorporation of the perspective of multiple stakeholders and their personal values and expectations, which requires the application of structuring methods capable of dealing with subjective information and uncertain contexts (Cunha & Morais, 2017). The present study sought to identify the determinants of SMEs’ e-commerce practices and structure these factors using fuzzy cognitive mapping. Section three describes the procedures followed to develop a structured understanding of SMEs’ e-commerce practices, as well as discussing the results and limitations of the FCM constructed. The last section concludes the paper by presenting the methodological framework’s contributions and a roadmap for future research
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