Study on E-Commerce Adoption in SMEs Under the Institutional Perspective: The Case of Saudi Arabia

This article investigates and discusses the institutional factors influencing decisions of e-commerce adoption in Saudi small and medium enterprises (SMEs) from the temporal view. This article has been conducted in two phases: a full survey in 2013 and the follow-up targeted interviews in 2016. The analysis results demonstrated that there is a clear difference between initial e-commerce adoption and institutionalization in SMEs in terms of institutional predictors. When e-commerce was at its infant stage, governmental support and well-defined legal and regulations system were instrumental and served as mainly institutional forces to encourage firms to adopt e-commerce. As time went on and e-commerce became more business-driven, these effects become less important, even insignificant; instead of these, perceived market forces and perceived social awareness of e-commerce emerges as critical contributions to push SMEs to engage in e-commerce more sophisticatedly. KEywoRdS Adoption, B2B E-Commerce, Institutional Factors, Saudi Arabia, SMEs

[1]  Kenneth L. Kraemer,et al.  A Cross-Country Investigation of the Determinants of Scope of E-commerce Use: An Institutional Approach , 2004, Electron. Mark..

[2]  Yue Choong Kog.  Legal Issues of Integrated Network for Construction and Real Estate Sector , 2010 .

[3]  Alemayehu Molla,et al.  Perceived E-Readiness Factors in E-Commerce Adoption: An Empirical Investigation in a Developing Country , 2005, Int. J. Electron. Commer..

[4]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Development of an Instrument to Measure the Perceptions of Adopting an Information Technology Innovation , 1991, Inf. Syst. Res..

[5]  Michael S. H. Heng,et al.  The adoption behaviour of information technology industry in increasing business‐to‐business integration sophistication , 2010, Inf. Syst. J..

[6]  F. Chan,et al.  An empirical investigation of factors affecting e-collaboration diffusion in SMEs , 2012 .

[7]  Sanjay Gosain,et al.  Enterprise Information Systems as Objects and Carriers of Institutional Forces: The New Iron Cage? , 2004, J. Assoc. Inf. Syst..

[8]  Thompson S. H. Teo,et al.  Adopters and non-adopters of e-procurement in Singapore: An empirical study , 2009 .

[9]  Myung Jin Lee,et al.  Determining factors for the adoption of e-business: the case of SMEs in Korea , 2006 .

[10]  J. Oxley,et al.  E-Commerce Readiness: Institutional Environment and International Competitiveness , 2001 .

[11]  Manuel A. Nunez,et al.  Strategic alignment and value maximization for IT project portfolios , 2013, Inf. Technol. Manag..

[12]  Eric W. T. Ngai,et al.  Predicting the organisational adoption of B2C e-commerce: an empirical study , 2006, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[13]  Dechun Huang,et al.  Initial Adoption Versus Institutionalization of E-Procurement in Construction Firms: An Empirical Investigation in Vietnam , 2014 .

[14]  Changzheng Zhang,et al.  An Assessment Method of the Integrated E-Commerce Readiness for Construction Organizations in Developing Countries , 2013, Int. J. E Adopt..

[15]  Azyanee Luqman,et al.  Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce E-business Adoption amongst Smes: a Structural Equation Modeling Approach , 2022 .

[16]  A. Gunasekaran,et al.  Adoption of e-procurement in Hong Kong: An empirical research , 2008 .

[17]  Martin Skitmore,et al.  Critical stressors influencing construction estimators in Hong Kong , 2005 .

[18]  Nabeel A. Y. Al-Qirim,et al.  The Adoption of eCommerce Communications and Applications Technologies in Small Businesses in New Zealand , 2006, IEEE International Conference on Computer Systems and Applications, 2006..

[19]  Ling Zhu,et al.  The institutional environment for B2B e-commerce adoption: a quantitative study of electronics and textiles firms in Greater China and the USA , 2007, Int. J. Netw. Virtual Organisations.

[20]  Kim Aik Ng.  Survey on electronic procurement implementation in Malaysia construction companies , 2005 .

[21]  Sanjiv D. Vaidya,et al.  Challenges in the adoption of E-Commerce technologies in India: The role of organizational factors , 2006, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[22]  Vaggelis Saprikis,et al.  Suppliers' behavior on the post-adoption stage of business-to-business e-reverse auctions: An empirical study , 2013, Telematics Informatics.

[23]  Kenneth L. Kraemer,et al.  The Process of Innovation Assimilation by Firms in Different Countries: A Technology Diffusion Perspective on E-Business , 2006, Manag. Sci..

[24]  Vineet R. Kamat,et al.  Evaluation of Legal Risks for E-Commerce in Construction , 2006 .

[25]  A. Sohal,et al.  The relationship between supply chain factors and adoption of e-Collaboration tools: An empirical examination , 2009 .

[26]  Yan Xu,et al.  Managing electric power system transition in China , 2012 .

[27]  Princely Ifinedo,et al.  An Empirical Analysis of Factors Influencing Internet/E-Business Technologies Adoption by SMEs in Canada , 2011, Int. J. Inf. Technol. Decis. Mak..

[28]  Jeremy Nguyen,et al.  Factors Influencing e‐commerce Adoption by Retailers in Saudi Arabia: a qualitative analysis , 2011, Electron. J. Inf. Syst. Dev. Ctries..

[29]  R. Batenburg.  E-procurement adoption by European firms: A quantitative analysis , 2007 .

[30]  Chimay J. Anumba,et al.  VERDICT—An e-readiness assessment application for construction companies , 2006 .

[31]  Leelien Ken Huang.  The Contingent Role of Innovation between IT Management Sophistication and Strategic Alignment , 2009, J. Glob. Inf. Manag..

[32]  Lim Hock-Eam,et al.  Estimating the Determinants of B2B E-Commerce Adoption among Small & Medium Enterprises , 2011 .

[33]  Paul A. Pavlou,et al.  Predicting E-Services Adoption: A Perceived Risk Facets Perspective , 2002, Int. J. Hum. Comput. Stud..

[34]  Kenneth L. Kraemer,et al.  Post-Adoption Variations in Usage and Value of E-Business by Organizations: Cross-Country Evidence from the Retail Industry , 2005, Inf. Syst. Res..

[35]  Liew Voon Kiong.  Analysis of the State of E-Commerce Adoption by the SMEs in Northern Malaysia and Factors that Might Hinder its Adoption: An Empirical Study , 2004 .

[36]  Izak Benbasat,et al.  Predicting Intention to Adopt Interorganizational Linkages: An Institutional Perspective , 2003, MIS Q..

[37]  De Chun Huang,et al.  Initial Adoption vs. Institutionalization of E-Procurement in Construction Firms: The Role of Government in Developing Countries , 2014, Int. J. Enterp. Inf. Syst..