The Effects of Consumers, Competitors and E-Commerce Intensity on Business Performance in Malaysia

Abstract

The growth in electronic commerce in Malaysia reached a new peak in 2020 with a market value of RM30.2 billion. This paper focuses on the factors that contribute to business performance in Malaysia based on the technology, organization and environment framework. The research included electronic commerce intensity as a mediator and a moderator. The SMART-PLS analyses show that the significant direct factors for business performance are consumer influence, competition influence, and electronic commerce intensity. However, top management’s emphasis on e-commerce and technological competence did not affect business performance. The structural model explained 67.5 per cent of the variance in e-commerce intensity and 66.3 per cent of the variance in business performance. Findings also show that e-commerce intensity significantly mediated competition influence and customer orientation to impact business performance. Furthermore, electronic commerce intensity moderated store presence to produce different levels of business performance. The results of the importance-performance map analysis show that the organization that wants to improve business performance must work to enhance its consumer orientation, counteract the influence of the competition, enhance its e-commerce intensity and enhance its consumer orientation. Finally, the research discusses the theoretical and practical implications of the findings.