Exploratory Factor Analysis for SME Entrepreneur Subjective Norm Instrument towards e-Commerce Acceptance during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic that has hit the world since the end of 2019 has resulted in the contraction of the country’s SMEs economic activities. To maintain business continuity, SME entrepreneurs have been advised to apply e-Commerce in their business routine. Throughout the crisis, subjective norms are seen as a dominant element in determining the implementation of SME entrepreneurial behaviour to accept new changes. Therefore, it is necessary to identify the factors that influence the subjective norms of SME entrepreneurs to accept e-Commerce. Despite this necessity, the delineation of the subjective norms constructed is still not comprehensive as there are limitations in terms of instrument development and the number of items to measure social influence. Hence, this study was conducted to explore item suitability, analyse the degree of validity and reliability as well as to validate the instrument for SMEs' subjective norms toward e-Commerce acceptance behaviour. A total of 159 SME entrepreneurs around Nilai and Seremban, Negeri Sembilan were selected as the respondents through random sampling technique. The results from Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) revealed two component factors of subjective norms which are Interpersonal Influence and External Influence explaining 81.981 percent of the total variance as conceptualised through this instrument. Meanwhile, the reliability index was above 0.9. Based on each analysis performed, it can be concluded that the instrument developed was very satisfactory and relevant in assessing SME entrepreneur subjective norms in accepting e-Commerce. Keywords: Subjective norms, exploratory factor analysis, e-Commerce, COVID-19, SME entrepreneurs.