E-Commerce Adoption in Small Businesses: Cases from New Zealand

Abstract

Electronic commerce (EC) adoption in small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is confronted with different difficulties. This is due to reasons relating to the SME’s structure and to their surrounding environment. This research is interested in identifying factors influencing EC adoption and success in SMEs. A review of the technological innovation adoption (TIA) research in SMEs provides useful insights into factors influencing adoption. Thus, this research attempted to achieve two main objectives. Initially, this research examined the prior TIA factors in order to check for their relevance to EC adoption research in SMEs and accordingly, developed an adoption framework made of fifteen factors. Secondly, this research attempted to examine the impact of the developed framework on EC adoption in three New Zealand (NZ) SMEs. The research findings and the emerging implications suggested the weakness of the EC phenomenon in NZ SMEs and pointed to a unique perspective concerning the adoption context of the cases. These issues are discussed in this research raising different theoretical, methodological and professional contributions and implications.