Optimizing Mobile Commerce to Improve Small and Medium Enterprises Markets

Abstract

Mobile commerce (m-commerce) enables individuals and organizations to buy and sell products on the internet. Despite the growth of m commerce in developed countries, research studies indicate that Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in developing countries are still far behind in adopting m-commerce. The theory of Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) was adopted to underpin the study. A quantitative approach was used in this study. The researcher collected data from a random sample of 150 SMEs in South Africa, in the Limpopo province. The study used structural equation modeling (SEM) to analyze data. In this study, the results of SEM indicate that trialability is the most significant factor in predicting the adoption of m-commerce in South African SMEs. Furthermore, the findings of this study also show that relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, observability and owner/manager characteristics are not significant in predicting the adoption of m-commerce in South African SMEs.