A Cross-Country Study of Electronic Business Adoption Using the Technology-Organization-Environment Framework

In this study, we developed a conceptual model for electronic business (e-business or EB) adoption incorporating six adoption facilitators and inhibitors, based on the technology-organization-environment framework. Survey data from 3,100 businesses and 7,500 consumers in eight European countries were used to test the model. We conducted confirmatory factor analysis to assess the reliability and validity of constructs. To examine whether adoption behaviors differ across different e-business environments, we divided the full sample into high EB-intensity and low EB-intensity countries. The fitted logit models demonstrated four findings: (1) Technology competence, firm scope and size, consumer readiness, and competitive pressure are significant adoption drivers, while lack of trading partner readiness is a significant adoption inhibitor. (2) As EB-intensity increases, two environmental factors—consumer readiness and lack of trading partner readiness—become less important. (3) In high EB-intensity countries, e-business is no longer a phenomenon dominated by large firms; as more and more firms engage in e-business, network effect works to the advantage of small firms. (4) Firms are more cautious into adopting e-business in high EB-intensity countries, which seems to suggest that the more informed firms are less aggressive into adopting e-business.