E-COMMERCE ADOPTION IN SMALL ENTERPRISES: AN AUSTRALIAN STUDY

Abstract

E-commerce is becoming one of the most significant business tools. Small enterprises should be encouraged to actively consider the adoption of e-commerce to improve business performance and explore new opportunities arising from the Internet, especially when the use of computing equipment and the adoption of the Internet among Australian population is growing rapidly. This study examined factors influencing e-commerce adoption in Australian small enterprise. Ten factors were found to be significantly influencing the adoption of the ecommerce. These predictors are relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, observability, decision maker competency, organisation's capacity, business type, organisation size, and contextual characteristics. Small enterprises should look at those ten factors very closely when they are embarking on e-commerce. In the meantime, the findings of this study provide suggestions (i.e., working on ten significant factors identified in this study) for relevant parties of ecommerce (including policy makers, small enterprises network associations, societies of the Internet and e-commerce, and ecommerce marketing practitioners) when they are promoting ecommerce among small enterprises who haven't yet adopted ecommerce.