Evaluating the critical determinants for adopting e‐market in Australian small‐and‐medium sized enterprises

Xiaoxia Duan, Hepu Deng and Brian Corbitt

Management Research Review, 2012, vol. 35, issue 3/4, 289-308

Abstract: Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to present an empirical investigation of the critical determinants for the adoption of e‐market in Australian small‐and‐medium sized enterprises (SMEs) within the technology‐organization‐environment (TOE) framework. Design/methodology/approach - A conceptual model is proposed for better understanding the adoption of e‐market in Australian SMEs. Structural equation modelling is used for testing and validating the proposed conceptual model based on the survey data collected from Australian SMEs. A logistic regression analysis is conducted for identifying the relationship between the critical determinants and the adoption of e‐market in Australian SMEs. Findings - A positive relationship is identified between the perceived direct benefit, top management support, external pressure, trust and the adoption of e‐market in Australian SMEs. The top management support emerges as the most critical determinant. The perceived indirect benefit, size and organization readiness, however, do not show a significant influence on the adoption of e‐market in Australian SMEs. Research limitations/implications - This study focuses on the investigation of the critical determinants in the adoption of e‐market in Australian SMEs. In order to gain an holistic understanding of the e‐market adoption in Australian SMEs, the impact of adopting e‐market on the performance of SMEs should be examined. Furthermore, this study does not distinguish the adoption of e‐market in SMEs between Australian metropolitan and rural areas. SMEs located in rural areas by the nature and location own specific characteristics such as a limited access to resources and less influenced by external pressure. The issues of their concern in the adoption of e‐market might be different from those located in metropolitan areas. Originality/value - This study contributes to the e‐market adoption research in proposing and validating a research model for the e‐market adoption within the TOE framework, and by highlighting the criticality of the determinants of adopting e‐market in Australian SMEs.

Keywords: Australia; Small to medium‐sized enterprises; Electronic commerce; E‐market; Technology adoption; Technology‐organization‐environment (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2012
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (9)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (text/html)
https://www.emerald.com/insight/content/doi/10.110 ... d&utm_campaign=repec (application/pdf)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:mrrpps:v:35:y:2012:i:3/4:p:289-308

DOI: 10.1108/01409171211210172

Access Statistics for this article

Management Research Review is currently edited by Dr Jay Janney and Prof Lerong He

More articles in Management Research Review from Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Emerald Support ().