E-business for Nations: A Study of National Level E-business Adoption Factors Using Country Characteristics-Business-Technology-Government Framework

Venkata Vijay K Durbhakula,Dan J Kim

doi:10.4067/s0718-18762011000300002

Abstract

Earlier studies on e-business adoption factors have been conducted from a firm level perspective or from a single country level perspective. In this study, we propose a framework entitled country characteristicsbusiness-technology-government model that addresses a theoretical perspective on e-business adoption factors required for a nation level e-business development. The major goal of this study is four-fold: (i) to review existing key literature on e-business across the countries and identify key factors affecting e-business adoption, (ii) to propose a research model based on the identified factors, (iii) to test the proposed model empirically using the national level macro economic data from secondary sources, and (iv) to provide insightful discussions for country administrators, policy makers, and academics. The limitations and future directions of the study are also discussed.

Highlights

Global electronic business (e-business hereafter, In line with Beyono-Davues’s definition (Beyono-Davies, 2004), we define electronic business as the use of the Internet and communication technologies in support of all business activities) trade volume is growing at a very rapid pace
We do not completely agree that only the Internet use by business increases e-business in a nation, we argue that e-business measured as the Internet use by business would yield an approximate estimation of e-business development in a country
Along with e-business use as a secondary data from Global Information Technology Report 2009, we develop a measurement of a country-level e-presence using the yahoo directory service

Summary

Introduction

Global electronic business (e-business hereafter, In line with Beyono-Davues’s definition (Beyono-Davies, 2004), we define electronic business as the use of the Internet and communication technologies in support of all business activities) trade volume is growing at a very rapid pace. According to US e-commerce statistics, the Internet trade volume is expected to reach $248.7 billion by 2014. This signifies an increase of 60 percent to the current scenario in 2009. The remaining countries like Japan, Australia, Korea, and India would make about $72.1 billion, $29.9 billion, $20.7 billion, and $6.5 billion respectively by 2015 [52]. As suggested by these reports, e-business growth is high in some countries, but some others are still behind the curve. The following would be an interesting and challenging research question: How and why do some countries better than others in country-level ebusiness development with government support? In other words, what are the dimensional factors that affect a country-level e-business development?

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