Abstract
Electronic commerce is rapidly replacing the old ways of doing business. Although many studies have been conducted on the adoption of various forms of e-commerce, there are few on this topic in African countries; in particular, there is no research on Tanzania. Therefore, this paper analyzes the factors determining e-commerce and their impact on its adoption in Tanzania. This paper extends the technology acceptance model (TAM) to an empirical study analyzing the factors influencing e-commerce adoption in Tanzania. A survey involving 111 respondents including Tanzanian government officers was conducted, and structural equation modeling was used to assess the model for the influence of three new factors: national policy initiatives, technology infrastructure, and trust in e-commerce adoption. The results show thattechnology infrastructure is an important factor in e-commerce adoption, and national policy initiatives are important in building online trust and improving technology infrastructure in Tanzania. Therefore, government policy makers need to encourage the presence of good technology infrastructure and build trust in e-commerce through national policy initiatives such as e-commerce promotion. Limitations of this paper are that the respondents are limited to people who have access to the Internet and some might not have enough knowledge about e-commerce. Further, the survey is conducted only in Tanzania; therefore, the results may differ in other African countries.
Highlights
In recent years, research interest in new bottom of the pyramid (BOP) (Prahalad & Hart, 2002) markets such as Africa and India has been growing, leading to many studies on this topic across the world
Based on the theoretical background and the extensive literature review described in Section 2, we developed the model shown in Figure 1 that extends the technology acceptance model (TAM) by including three additional factors, namely national policy initiatives, technology infrastructure, and trust
The research model in this paper extended TAM by including three new factors: national policy initiatives, technology infrastructure, and trust
Summary
Research interest in new bottom of the pyramid (BOP) (Prahalad & Hart, 2002) markets such as Africa and India has been growing, leading to many studies on this topic across the world. Many research efforts focus on activating BOP markets, and electronic commerce (in short, e-commerce) is one such effort (Chironga et al, 2011, Eyring, Johnson & Nair, 2011). Murphy (1998) stated that the use of e-commerce can reduce costs for both buyers and sellers in completing transactions and can boost economic growth in the medium and long term by improving market development and efficiency. In this manner, e-commerce replaces the old ways of doing business as it increases efficiency in business transactions in terms of cost, time, and effort
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
