Theory-Based Instrumentation to Measure the Intention to Use Electronic Commerce in Small and Medium Sized Businesses

The adoption of information technology (IT) has been widely studied in the industrialized world. Particularly, the adoption of electronic commerce (ecommerce) has been a hot topic among researchers in the MIS community in recent years. However, only a tiny fraction of these studies have been devoted to developing countries and an even smaller portion of them have focused on small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). Due to the potential benefits that ecommerce may provide to SMEs and the fact that a small number of SMEs are currently using ecommerce, the objective of this study is the development of an instrument to study the initial adoption of ecommerce in SMEs in Chile. This instrument could also help other developing countries to determine the ecommerce adoption intention. The instrument is developed using Ajzen's Theory of Planned Behavior that suggests the steps to elicit important constructs from a target population. A detailed explanation of the elicitation process is offered and the final instrument is presented.

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