Behavioral Influences on E‐Commerce Adoption in a Developing Country Context

Electronic commerce (e‐commerce) is rapidly gaining a prominent place in the global marketing matrix. The volume of transactions that are carried out over the Internet globally is extremely huge. It is estimated that in the next decade, e‐commerce activities would be a major source of foreign exchange, and a key indicator of national development. Studies show that e‐commerce development in developing countries, especially in Africa is comparatively very low. Infrastructural, economic, and management factors have been previously identified as contributing to the low level of e‐commerce development in developing countries. This study focuses on behavioural factors in the adoption of e‐commerce in developing countries. The results of the study show that perceived advantages, Internet and complexity, accessibility, and management support have statistically significant influence on the adoption of e‐commerce, while perceived disadvantages and other facilitating conditions do not significantly affect the decision to adopt e‐commerce. The study results tend to agree with the theory of planned behaviour, but attitude seems to weigh more than subjective norm and perceived behavioural control.

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