The Adoption of Internet Commerce by SMEs in the South of Italy: An Environmental, Technological and Organizational Perspective

Abstract

This study is an investigation of the environmental, organizational and technological drivers of Internet commerce adoption and implementation in small businesses. To conduct the study, the Tornatsky and Fleischer model was adopted and tested in seven small businesses located in Southern Italy. The main contribution of the study lies in the fact that it shows that the environmental context has a key role in the adoption and implementation of e-commerce in SMEs. This is over and above factors related to technology characteristics (e.g. benefits and barriers) and organizational characteristics (e.g. slack resources) that have been extensively investigated elsewhere. Environmental factors of special importance are government intervention, public administration and external pressure from competitors, suppliers and buyers.