E-commerce diffusion in high-income developing countries: determinants of e-commerce adoption and post-adoption of Saudi enterprises
The ubiquitous nature of e-commerce in developing countries demands an innovative conceptualisation of its adoption and post-adoption that responds to various contextual circumstances. Despite efforts made to investigate e-commerce adoption in developing countries, the literature suggests that the focus is mostly on a single perspective of a single adoption stage and concentrates on specific locations. To extend our understanding of the phenomenon, an exploratory phase is undertaken through a literature review as well as an exploratory investigation. Consequently, a holistic framework is integrated that includes organisational and environmental factors, in addition to innovation attributes. The framework is empirically validated using a statistically representative sample size of 384 enterprises of various sizes and industries in a high-income developing country from a poorly investigated region. The empirical analysis shows that perceived benefits as well as mimetic pressure are more influential for the adoption of e-commerce and scope of use than the utilisation amongst adopter organisations. In addition to coercive pressure, the readiness of financial institutions, IT industry and the government affect the scope of e-commerce use. For adopter firms, the extent of e-commerce adoption is influenced by business process readiness, government readiness and security. Commitment, especially from top managers, is a key determinant that links e-commerce adoption to the extent of adoption and the scope of e-commerce use. The findings indicate that the proposed models are sufficiently reliable in discriminating not only adopters from non-adopters, but also the extent of adoption and use across the value chain. Together, this research offers a multi-perspective framework of e-commerce adoption and post-adoption in high-income developing countries and identifies the factors that affect e-commerce adoption, and how these effects vary across adoption stages. It presents insight into various issues that influence e-commerce adoption and post-adoption in this little-explored region, which will be of interest to researchers, practitioners and policy makers.
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