Sector Driven Variations on E-commerce Adoption Barriers in Regional Small Businesses: An Australian Study

Despite being a described as a "business enabling technology", e-commerce has not been embraced by the small businesses sector to the extent that it has in larger organisations. This situation has arisen due to a number of e-commerce barriers faced by small businesses. A number of studies have examined these barriers, however, our understanding of their role in e-commerce adoption remains somewhat superficial. This paper presents the results of a large study of Australian small businesses located in a regional area which explored the relationship between business sectors (industrial, retail and service) and e-commerce barriers. The results indicate that service sector small businesses are more discerning about e-commerce barriers than their industrial and retail counterparts. The study has implications for e-commerce adoption initiatives by government organisations