Studying the impact of environmental, organizational and technological factors on adoption of e-commerce in Kerman Maftul Cheshmeh Company

Abstract

With respect to increasing importance of development of information and communication technology and application of e-commerce as a way of doing business by companies around the world, the current study is done to identify effective environmental, organizational and technological factors on adoption of e-commerce in Kerman Maftul Cheshmeh Company. In this study, electronic commerce (EC) model is used to analyze effective factors on adoption of e-commerce in the company. The study is done using a questionnaire and seven factors including government facilities, technological infrastructures, management support, cultural factors, human resources, financial resources and market elements. In addition, technology acceptance model (TAM) is used to analyze the approach and social perceptions of managers and experts toward e-commerce. This model is used in the form of a second questionnaire with two important factors including perception from benefits and ease of application of technology. The two questionnaires were distributed among 30 managers and experts of Kerman Maftul Cheshmeh Company. Results of the gap analysis between current and ideal states showed that, from cultural factors and management support dimensions, the company is in good condition but should devote more budgets for technological infrastructures and train human resources. Government support should be increased and via adoption of e-commerce, the company must improve its competitive advantage. Using Spearman coefficient of correlation and TAM model, a significant relationship was found between government facilities and market factors. The research hypotheses were approved by Wilcoxon test. Using Friedman test, the factors were ranked based on their importance as follows: technological infrastructures; management support; government facilities; human resources; financial resources; cultural factors; and market factors. On the other hand, based on the current conditions, the factors were ranked as follows: management support; cultural factors; financial resources; technological infrastructures; market factors; human resources; and government facilities. Key words: E-commerce, information technology, electronic data interchange.