Challenges of E-commerce Adoption in the Ghanaian Hotel Industry

Abstract

Electronic-commerce has become an important channel for conducting business. Researchers as well as market executives are trying to better understand online consumer behavior. The internet offers customers, businesses among others, inexpensive and convenient way of conducting online business. Vigorous, consistent, trusted and efficient e-commerce systems have become very essential to the development of all major economies especially a developing country like Ghana. To remain relevant in today’s global competitiveness, developing countries (Ghana) must adopt a safe and reliable electronic commerce system which will serve as the backbone for economic development. In the process of e-commerce adoption, encouraging the acceptance of consumers becomes a crucial factor.The main rationale of this study is to investigate the challenges of e-commerce adoption in the hotel industry from the consumers’ perspective in Ghana. Many studies and models have inspired technology and information systems research. Factors that retard consumers’ predisposition or decision to adopt have been well captured. However, studies on e-commerce adoption in the hotel industry are not so evident in Africa especially Ghana. In particular, this study applied the theory of technology acceptance model (TAM) to explore customers’ adoption of an e-commerce technology in Ghana. The proposed model in the context of this study was tested quantitatively. In order to underscore the causal effects of the independent variables on the dependent variable (e-commerce adoption), a structural equation modelling was employed to analyse the data. Data was collected and analyzed from a representative sample size of 300 respondents selected across the capital of Ghana. A survey questionnaire type was administered to users of hotel related self-service systems (hotel check-in, in –room video viewing, video gaming on demand, hotel booking, and hotel reservation) in Ghana. Respondents were made to answer closed-ended questions constructed in accordance to, technology acceptance model and other prior attempts to establish similar relationship in the existing empirical literature on e-commerce adoption. In summary, this study makes significant contribution to theory with respect to exploring challenges affecting e-commerce adoption by consumers in Ghana. Additionally, this study makes contribution to theory in e-commerce adoption literature in Ghana. It also provides a socially constructed view of the antecedents of e-commerce adoption in a developing country context. Strategies for improving e-commerce development in Ghana are presented in addition to the managerial implications of the research finding General Terms: E-Commerce, Hotel Industry Keywords: Adoption, E-Commerce, Hotel Industry. DOI : 10.7176/EJBM/11-27-14 Publication date :September 30 th 2019