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Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216
Abstract
By combining two independent research streams, we examined the determinant factors of strategic value and adoption of
electronic commerce as perceived by top managers in small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in the midwest region of the US.
We proposed a research model that suggested three factors that have been found to be influential in previous research in the
perception of strategic value of other information technologies: operational support, managerial productivity, and strategic
decision aids. Inspired by the technology acceptance model and other relevant research in the area, we also identified four factors
that influence electronic commerce adoption: organizational readiness, external pressure, perceived ease of use, and perceived
usefulness. We hypothesized a causal link between the perceived strategic value of electronic commerce and electronic commerce
adoption. To validate the research model, we collected data from top managers/owners of SME by using an Internet survey.
# 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
0378-7206/$ see front matter # 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.im.2003.12.010
198 E.E. Grandon, J.M. Pearson / Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216
and promote their business, compared to 9% who and argued that executives rely on their perceptions
established one to sell or market online. Similarly, in determining whether a particular IT investment
in a survey of 444 SMEs during 2002, Pratt [47] found creates value for the firm.
that many SMEs were reluctant to conduct transac- The majority of the research has proposed a direct
tions on line; more than 80% were only using the causal link between IT investment and firm perfor-
Internet to communicate (via e-mail) and gather busi- mance. However, Li and Ye [37] empirically tested the
ness information. Does this mean that top managers/ moderating effects of environmental dynamism, firm
owners of SMEs do not realize the strategic value strategy, and CIO/CEO relationship on the effect of IT
e-commerce to their business or does this mean that investment on firm performance and found that IT
they encounter significant barriers to implementing it? investment appears to have a stronger positive impact
Here, we focused our attention on this under- on financial performance when there are greater envir-
studied segment of business organizations [19] onmental changes, the strategy of the company is more
where research findings on large businesses cannot proactive, and closer CIO/CEO ties. In a similar line of
be generalized; e.g. Welsh and White [66] identified inquiry, Lee [36] created a multi-level value model
important differences in the financial management that connects the use of IT to a firms profit; she
of small and large businesses while Ballantine et al. pointed out that the effect of incorporating IT should
[5] identified unique characteristics of SMEs as lack not be considered alone and argued that there are other
of business and IT strategy, limited access to capital variables that can influence the relationship. Her IT
resources, greater emphasis on using IT and IS to business value model incorporated other variables,
automate rather than informate, influence of major such as origination cost, cycle time, loan officer
customers, and limited information skills. Similar retention, control over external partners, and market-
assertions and findings are given in other papers ing effort and she found that IT can reduce cycle time
[14,18,32,40,46,51]. and cost, and change the way business is run. She
concluded that one has to know what other variables
to manage and how to manage them in order to make
2. Literature review IT investments profitable.
Few studies have focused on the perceptions of top
This study represents a fusion of two independent management regarding the strategic value of e-com-
research streams: the strategic value of certain infor- merce. Amit and Zott [4] is one of the few that has
mation technologies to top managers and factors that tried to deal with this and even though they focused
influence the adoption of IT. The former has been on e-business, their results can be generalized to
studied by Subramanian and Nosek [60] and others e-commerce [28]. They examined how 59 American
(e.g. [6,11]) while the latter has been investigated by and European publicly traded e-business firms create
Davis [21] and others (e.g. [1,30,35,65]) primarily value. Approximately, 80% were SMEs (with less
through the technology acceptance model (TAM). than 500 employees). They developed a value-drivers
model which included four factors found to be sources
2.1. Perceived strategic value of IT of value creation: transaction efficiency, complemen-
tarities, lock-in, and novelty. Some of these factors are
Many studies have focused on the relationship also found in Saloner and Spences [56] work.
between IT investment and firms performance in large Through an empirical study of 73 firms (some of
corporations. For example, Hitt and Brynjolfsson [27] them SMEs), Subramanian and Nosek identified three
investigated how IT affects productivity, profitability, factors that were found to create strategic value in IS:
and consumer surplus. They found that IT increases operational support, managerial productivity, and stra-
productivity and consumer surplus but not necessarily tegic decision aid. In each of these factors they utilized
business profits. Barua et al. concluded that the pro- different items that were found to have high conver-
ductivity gains from IT investments have generally gent validity and reliability. Their factors seem to be
been neutral or negative, while Tallon et al. [62] applicable to e-commerce. Due to a lack of research
measured IT payoffs through perceptual measures in identifying factors that create strategic value of
E.E. Grandon, J.M. Pearson / Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216 199
e-commerce, their model was used as the basis for the Igbaria et al. determined the factors affecting
strategic value portion of this study. personal computer acceptance in small businesses.
Among the factors that directly influence personal
2.2. Information technology adoption computer acceptance were perceived ease of use and
perceived usefulness. The intra-organizational (inter-
Davis proposed TAM, a model that has been tested nal computing support and training, and management
in many studies (e.g. [26,59,61]). Lederer et al. sum- support) and extra-organizational (external computing
marized sixteen articles that tested the model for support and training) variables were hypothesized to
different technologies (e.g. ATM, e-mail, Netscape, influence adoption through perceived usefulness and
Access, Internet, Word, and Excel). In their model, ease of use. Inconsistent with research in large firms,
they considered beliefs about ease of use and per- relatively little support was found for the influence of
ceived usefulness as the major factors influencing internal support and training on perceived ease of use
attitudes toward use, which, in turn, affected intentions and usefulness. However, perceived ease of use turned
to use. out to be an important factor in explaining perceived
Many other studies have attempted to describe the usefulness and system usage. It was also found that
factors influencing IT adoption in SMEs. For example, perceived usefulness is a strong antecedent of system
Iacovou et al. studied factors influencing the adoption usage.
of electronic data interchange (EDI) by seven SMEs in In order to develop an integrated model of IS
different industries; they included perceived benefits, adoption in SMEs, Thong [63] specified four contex-
organizational readiness, and external pressure. To tual variables as primary determinants of IS adoption.
measure perceived benefits they used awareness of He highlighted the fact that the technological innova-
both direct and indirect benefits. Variables measuring tion literature has identified many variables as possible
organizational readiness were the financial and tech- determinants of organizational adoption but this
nological resources. In order to measure external suggest that more research is needed to identify
pressure, they considered competitive pressure and the critical ones and provided four groups of vari-
its imposition by partners. The results suggested that ables: CEO, IS, organizational characteristics, and
a major reason that small firms become EDI-capable is environmental characteristics.
due to external pressure (trading partners). In a similar Based on the literature, Premkumar and Roberts
study, Chwelos et al. [17] considered the same factors [49] identified the use of various communication
influencing the adoption of EDI in 286 SMEs. They technologies and the factors that influence their adop-
considered the trading partner as influencing external tion in small businesses located in rural US commu-
pressure and readiness while external pressure was nities. The technologies studied included EDI, online
considered to be influenced by the dependency on data access, e-mail, and the Internet. The factors
trading partner and enacted trading partner power. As studied as potential discriminators between adopters
in the case of Iacovou et al., external pressure was the and non-adopters of communication technologies
most important factor contributing to intent to adopt were grouped into three broad categories: innovation,
EDI. Kuan and Chau [34] determined the factors organizational, and environment characteristics.
influencing the adoption of EDI in small businesses Within the innovation factor, they included relative
using a technology, organization, and environment advantage, cost, complexity, and compatibility. Orga-
framework. The technology factor incorporated per- nizational characteristics included top management
ceived direct and indirect benefits of EDI. The orga- support, and IT expertise. Finally, within the environ-
nization factor consisted of perceived financial cost mental characteristics variable, competitive pressure,
and perceived technical competence. The environ- external support, and vertical linkages were consid-
ment factor was similar to external pressure in ered. The results suggested that relative advantage, top
Iacovou et al.s study but included a new variable: management support, and competitive pressure were
perceived government pressure. There, perceived factors influencing the three communication technol-
indirect benefits were not found to be a significant ogies. Compatibility, complexity, external pressure,
factor. and organizational size were found to be significant
200 E.E. Grandon, J.M. Pearson / Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216
discriminators between adopters and non-adopters of executives on the adoption of e-commerce. They
online data access technology. Cost was found to be an found that all the component items of the normative
important discriminant factor only for the adoption and control beliefs differentiated between adopters
of the Internet. IT expertise was not found to be an and non-adopters. In the behavioral beliefs (attitude)
important factor that discriminates between adopters group, however, only some items (e-commerce
and non-adopters. Finally, vertical linkage was found enhances the distribution of information, improves
to be an important discriminant factor for online data information accessibility, communication, and the
access and the Internet adoption. speed with which things get done) were found
The adoption of the Internet was also studied by to differentiate adopters from non-adopters. Table 1
Mehrtens et al. [41]. In order to develop a model of summarizes the factors involved in the process of
Internet adoption, they conducted a case study on technology adoption.
seven SMEs. First, they considered four SMEs that
had adopted the Internet. Based on Iacovou et al.s 2.3. Causal link
work and the results of the preliminary analysis, they
devised their model using perceived benefits, organi- Support for the causal link between perceptions
zational readiness, and external pressure as determi- of strategic value and adoption comes from different
nant factors. Then, to provide theoretical replication studies that associate individual perceptions and beha-
they considered three non-IT SMEs, of which two had vior. The theory of planned behavior (TPB) is a well
adopted the Internet and one had not. All the factors established intention model that has been proven
were found to affect Internet adoption by the small successful in predicting and explaining behavior
firms. Chang and Cheung [12] also determined factors across a wide variety of domains, including the use
that influence Internet/www adoption with similar of information technology [2]. In general terms, the
results. TPB establishes that perceptions influence intentions
In a more recent study and following a similar line which in turn influence the actual behavior of the
of inquiry, Riemenschneider et al. [55] studied the individual. By considering the intention to adopt
factors that influence web site adoption by SMEs. e-commerce as the target behavior, the use of intention
They proposed a combined model using the theory models theoretically justifies the causal link between
of planned behavior (TPB) [3] and TAM. They tested perceptions and adoption of e-commerce.
individual models, partially integrated models, and This causal link has been studied and the results
fully integrated models by using structural equation indicate that managers perception and attitudes
modeling. They found that the combined model pro- toward other types of IT are strongly associated with
vided a better fit. its use; e.g. hypotheses developed by Jarvenpaa and
The emerging field of e-commerce has not been Ives [31] suggested a CEOs involvement in IT and
ignored in the analysis of adoption. Mirchandani and active personal participation in IT management were
Motwani [42] investigated the factors that differentiate associated with a firm being progressive in its use of
adopters from non-adopters of e-commerce in small IT. They defined involvement as CEOs perceptions
businesses. The relevant factors included enthusiasm and attitudes concerning IT and participation as
of top management, compatibility of e-commerce with the CEOs activities or substantive personal inter-
the work of the company, relative advantage perceived ventions in the management of IT. They conducted a
from e-commerce, and knowledge of the companys survey study involving 83 firms from four different
employees about computers. The degree of depen- industries and found strong support for the relation-
dence of the company on information, managerial ship between involvement (favorable perceptions of
time required to plan and implement the e-commerce IT) and progressive use of the IT. However, the link
application, the nature of the companys competition, between CEOs participation in IT management and
as well as the financial cost of implementing and progressive use of the IT was found to be moderate.
operating the e-commerce application were not Similar research was performed by Sanders and
influencing factors. Similarly, Riemenschneider and Courtney [57], Reich and Benbasat [53], and Bush
McKinney [54] analyzed the beliefs of small business et al. [8].
Table 1
Summary of factors of IT adoption in SMEs
Iacovou et al. [29] External pressure, perceived benefits, organizational EDI adoption practices 7 SMEs (n < 200) 7 different industries
readiness
Chwelos et al. [17] Readiness, external pressure, perceived benefits EDI adoption 268 SMEs (n/a) Manufacturing, services,
government, etc.
Kuan and Chau [34] Technology organization environment EDI adoption 575 SMEs (n < 100) Not specified
Igbaria et al. [30] Intra-organizational factors, extra-organizational Personal computer 203 SMEs (n < 100) Manufacturing and engineering
factors, perceived ease of use perceived usefulness
Thong [63] CEO characteristics, IS characteristics, organizational IS adoption 166 SMEs (n < 100) Not specified
characteristics, environmental characteristics
Premkumar and Relative advantage, top management support, Online data access, e-mail, 78 SMEs (n < 90) Manufacturing, retail sales and
Roberts [49] organizational size, external competitive pressure and the Internet wholesale trade, service, finance,
insurance, others
Mehrtens et al. [41] Perceived benefits, organizational readiness, Internet adoption 7 SMEs (n < 200) IT industry, clothing manufacturer,
external pressure entertainment, transport
Mirchandani and Enthusiasm of top management, compatibility, E-commerce adoption 62 SMEs (n < 200) Not specified
Motwani [42] relative advantage knowledge of the companys
employees about computers
Riemenschneider and Attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral control E-commerce adoption 184 SMEs (n < 500) Defense, agriculture, oil and
McKinney [54] gas, manufacturing
Riemenschneider Attitude, subjective norm, perceived behavioral Web site adoption 156 SMEs (n < 500) Service/sales, government, retail,
et al. [55] control, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use (web presence) banking, medical, manufacturing
a
n represents the maximum number of employees considered in the criteria to define a SME.
201
202 E.E. Grandon, J.M. Pearson / Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216
Organizational
Readiness
Organizational
Support
External
Pressure
Managerial Percep. of
Adoption
Productivity Strat. Value
Perceived
Ease of Use
Strategic
Dec. Aids
Perceived
Usefulness
Table 2
Summary of adoption factors in the current study
3. What are the factors involved in the decision to 4.2. Data collection
adopt e-commerce by top managers/owners of
SMEs? The data were gathered by means of an electronic
survey administered during Spring 2002. The process
was carried out in three steps. First, a sample of 1069
4. Methodology small and medium size businesses were identified
from various sources that focus on SMEs. We identi-
4.1. Subjects fied the company name, a contact person, an e-mail
address for that person, an address, and a telephone
We targeted top managers of small and medium size number. The contact person was typically the owner of
business from a variety of industries in the midwest the business or a top-level manager. Second, an initial
region of the US. In our study, we considered the e-mailing that identified the purpose of the study, a
number of employees as the principal criterion in request to participate, and an opt-out feature was sent
determining whether a firm qualified as an SME since to all potential respondents; 136 of these messages
other categorizations involving revenue, total capital were returned due to incorrect addresses or that the
and/or other types are more difficult to apply and can organization was no longer in business. An additional
result in misleading classifications. The number of 101 individuals indicated that they were unable or
employees varies according to the agency providing were unwilling to participate.
the definition. For example, the US Small Business Thirdly, approximately one week after the initial
Administration (http://www.sba.gov) uses a cut-off of mailing, a second electronic mailing was sent to
fewer than 500 employees. Harrison et al. [25] and the remaining 832 potential respondents. This elec-
Iacovou et al. utilized a cut-off of 200 employees. For tronic message directed them to the web site where
this study, we have used less than 500 employees. the survey instrument was located. One hundred
204 E.E. Grandon, J.M. Pearson / Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216
Organizational
Readiness
Organizational
Support External
Pressure
Managerial Percep. of
Adoption Compatibility
Productivity Strat. Value
Perceived
Strategic Ease of Use
Dec. Aids
Perceived
Usefulness
strategic value construct, the first run of the factor of multiple dependent variables and multiple indepen-
analysis resulted in items that did not load as expected dent variables. By simultaneously considering both,
on the intended factors. Two items were dropped from it is possible to control for moderator or suppressor
the analysis and the construct was recalculated. effects that may exists among various dependent
The results of this confirmatory factor analysis variables [39].
resulted in five factors loading cleanly with a total In canonical analysis there are criterion variables
explained variance of 74.9%. Thus, we revised the (dependent variables) and predictor variables (inde-
proposed model and considered a fifth factor, which pendent variables). The maximum number of cano-
we named compatibility to better describe the items nical correlations (functions) between these two sets
used (see Fig. 2). The results are quite interesting. of variables is the number of variables in the smaller
Previous research has found compatibility an impor- set [23]. In our case, the number of variables for
tant factor that influences the adoption of IT. In our the perception of strategic value construct is three
study, compatibility emerged freely as a significant while the number of variables in the adoption con-
independent factor. struct is five. Thus, the number of canonical functions
The items considered in the final instrument are extracted from the analysis is three; i.e., the smallest
shown in Appendix C. The following table shows the set.
rotated component matrix. In order to test the significance of the canonical
Convergent and discriminant validity was achieved. functions we followed the guidelines given by Hair
Table 6 shows that all items have loading greater than et al. They suggest three different measures to inter-
0.50. They also loaded stronger on their associated pret the canonical functions:
factors than on others. Thus, convergent and discri-
(a) the significance of the F-value given by Wilks
minant validity were demonstrated. Table 7 shows that
lambda, Pillais criterion, Hottelings trace, and
alpha values range from 0.76 to 0.95 for the perceived
Roys gcr;
usefulness of e-commerce factor. As in the case of the
(b) the measures of overall model fit given by the
strategic value construct, the reliability of the adoption
size of the canonical correlations; and
construct turned out to be very high.
(c) the redundancy measure of shared variance.
5.4. Canonical analysis Table 8 shows the corresponding multivariate test of
significance with 15 degrees of freedom while Table 9
Canonical analysis is a multivariate statistical shows the measures of overall model fit in the three
model that studies the interrelationships among sets canonical functions. Note that the strength of the
E.E. Grandon, J.M. Pearson / Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216 207
Table 6
Rotated component matrix
Component
1 2 3 4 5
relationship between the canonical covariates is given are statistically significant at the 0.01 level, from
by the canonical correlation. the overall model fit (Table 9) it can be concluded
Even though the multivariate test of significance that only the first canonical function is significant
shows that the canonical functions, taken collectively, (P < 0:01). This conclusion is consistent with the
canonical R2 values showed in Table 9. For these data,
Table 7
in the first canonical function the independent variables
Reliability analysis explain approximately 42% of the variance in the
dependent variables; the second canonical function
Construct Cronbachs alpha
explains approximately 7%, and the third one explains
Organizational readiness (OR) 0.81 only 1.5%. This is not unusual since typically the first
Compatibility (CC) 0.88 canonical function is far more important than the
External pressure (EP) 0.76
others.
Ease of use (EU) 0.95
Perceived usefulness (PU) 0.95 Even though the first canonical function was
deemed to be significant, it has been recommended
that redundancy analysis be utilized to determine
Table 8
Multivariate test of significance Table 9
Measures of overall model fit
Test name Value Approx. Hypoth. Error Sig. of
F DF DF F Canonical Canonical Canonical F-statistic Probability
function correlation R2
Pillais 0.501 3.529 15 264.00 0.00
Hotellings 0.801 4.523 15 254.00 0.00 1 0.644 0.415 4.028 0.000
Wilks 0.535 4.028 15 237.81 0.00 2 0.266 0.071 0.986 0.448
Roys 0.415 3 0.122 0.015 0.446 0.720
208 E.E. Grandon, J.M. Pearson / Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216
Table 10
Canonical redundancy analysis
which functions to use in the interpretation. Redun- variable is irrelevant in determining the relationship
dancy is the ability of a set of independent variables, to or that it has been partialed out of the relationship
explain the variation in the dependent variables taken because of a high degree of multicollinearity. Cano-
one at a time. Table 10 summarizes the redundancy nical weights are also considered to have low stability
analysis for the dependent and independent variables from one sample to another. As in the case of weights,
for the three canonical functions. The results indicate canonical loadings are subject to considerable varia-
that the first canonical function accounts for the high- bility from one sample to another. For that reason, and
est proportion of total redundancy (94.7% including in order to increase the external validity of the find-
both dependent and independent variables), the second ings, the canonical cross-loadings method has been
one accounts for 3.5%, and the third one accounts only chosen.
for 1.8%. In addition, the redundancy indexes are These correlate each of the original observed depen-
higher for the first canonical function than for the dent variables directly with the independent canonical
second. Therefore, only the first canonical function is variate, and vice versa. Table 11 shows that almost all
considered for interpretation. of the canonical cross-loadings are significant for both
In order to interpret the selected canonical function, dependent and independent variables (cut-off >0.3)
three methods were employed: canonical weights, with the exception of organizational readiness (OR).
canonical loadings, and canonical cross-loadings. The rank order of importance (determined by the
Table 11 shows the summary of these methods for absolute value of the canonical cross-loadings) for
the first canonical function considering both indepen- the perceived strategic value of e-commerce were
dent and dependent variables. organizational support (OS), managerial productivity
The interpretation of canonical weights is subject (MP), and decision aids (DA). Similarly, the rank of
to some criticism. For example, Hair et al. stated, a importance for the adoption construct contributing to
small weight may mean either that its corresponding the first canonical function were perceived usefulness
Table 11
Standardized canonical coefficients and canonical loadings for strategic value and adoption
employees varies between 10 and 200. Only five firms The canonical results reveal a significant rela-
had more than 200. Thus the sample may be biased tionship between the perceived strategic value of
toward smaller firms. e-commerce variables and the factors that influence
e-commerce adoption in SMEs. This means that those
top managers who perceived e-commerce as adding
7. Conclusions strategic value to the firm have a positive attitude
toward its adoption. From the canonical analysis, we
Throughout this study we attempted to build a conclude that the three factors proposed as determi-
model that explains how perceived strategic value nants of perceived strategic value of e-commerce have
of e-commerce influences managers attitudes toward significant impact on managers attitudes toward e-
e-commerce adoption. By studying two different commerce adoption with organizational support and
streams of research, we have proposed and validated managerial productivity as the most influential. Over-
a predictive model that suggest three factors as deter- all, we expect that the results will help managers
minants of the perceived strategic value of e-com- understanding of the relationship between the percep-
merce and five determinant factors for e-commerce tions of strategic value of e-commerce and its future
adoption in SMEs. adoption.
Ecommerce, is defined here as the process of buying and selling products or services using electronic data
transmission via the Internet and the www. Examples that do not fit this definition include electronic publishing to
promote marketing, advertising, and customer support. The mere use of electronic mail or the use of a web site for
electronic publishing purposes does not constitute ecommerce according to the definition above.
Section 1: General information
Gender Male Female
Age
Education High school 2-year college 4-year college
Master/MBA Doctorate Other
Years in present position
Years with present firm
Total number of employees
Industry in which your firm operates Manufacturing Education Government
Finance Wholesale Retail
Healthcare Construction Transportation
Insurance Other
Number of PCs in the firm
Does your firm have an Internet service provider? Yes No
Does your firm have a web site? Yes No
URL
Does your firm utilize electronic commerce? Yes No
E.E. Grandon, J.M. Pearson / Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216 211
Section 2: The following questions ask you about your perceptions of strategic value of electronic commerce.
Please indicate your agreement with the next set of statements using the following rating scale.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Strongly Disagree Somewhat Neutral Somewhat Agree Strongly
disagree disagree agree agree
Section 3: The following questions ask you about your perceptions of adopting electronic commerce. Please
indicate your agreement with the next set of statements using the same rating scale above.
Disagree Agree
1 Our organization has the financial resources 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
to adopt electronic commerce
2 Our organization has the technological 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
resources to adopt electronic commerce
Our organization perceives that electronic
commerce is consistent with. . .
212 E.E. Grandon, J.M. Pearson / Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216
Section 3: (Continued )
Disagree Agree
3 culture 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
4 values 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
5 preferred work practices 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
6 Electronic commerce would be consistent with 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
our existing technology infrastructure
7 Top management is enthusiastic about the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
adoption of electronic commerce
8 Competition is a factor in our decision to adopt 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
electronic commerce
9 Social factors are important in our decision to 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
adopt electronic commerce
10 We depend on other firms that are already 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
using electronic commerce
11 Our industry is pressuring us to adopt 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
electronic commerce
12 Our organization is pressured by the 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
government to adopt electronic commerce
13 Learning to operate electronic commerce 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
would be easy for me
14 I would find electronic commerce to be 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
flexible to interact with
15 My interaction with electronic commerce 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
would be clear and understandable
16 It would be easy for me to become skillful at 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
using electronic commerce
17 I would find electronic commerce easy to use 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
18 Using electronic commerce would enable 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
my company to accomplish specific tasks
more quickly
19 Using electronic commerce would improve 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
my job performance
20 Using electronic commerce in my job 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
would increase my productivity
21 Using electronic commerce would enhance 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
my effectiveness on the job
22 Using electronic commerce would make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
it easier to do my job
23 I would find electronic commerce useful 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
in my job
24 I would like to receive the aggregated results Yes No
of this survey
25 I am interested in participating further in Yes No
this study
E.E. Grandon, J.M. Pearson / Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216 213
Thank you for completing this survey. We recognize that your time is limited and we value your participation.
Please complete the following section if you answered YES to either question 24 or 25 and you would prefer to be
contacted at a different address than that shown on the cover sheet or if the person who completed this survey is not
the same as the person to whom it was originally sent.
Name:
Telephone:
Fax:
E-mail:
Address:
Adoption
Organizational readiness OR1 Financial resources to adopt e-commerce
OR2 Technological resources to adopt e-commerce
Compatibility C1 With culture
C2 With values
C3 With preferred work practices
External pressure EP1 Competition is a factor in our decision to adopt e-commerce
EP2 Social factors are important in our decision to adopt e-commerce
EP3 We depend on other firms that are already using e-commerce
EP4 Our industry is pressuring us to adopt e-commerce
EP5 Our organization is pressured by the government to adopt e-commerce
214 E.E. Grandon, J.M. Pearson / Information & Management 42 (2004) 197216
Appendix C. (Continued )
[21] F.D. Davis, Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and [39] M.A. Mahmood, G.J. Mann, Measuring the organizational
user acceptance of information technology, MIS Quarterly impact of information technology investment: an exploratory
(September 1989), pp. 319340. study, Journal of Management Information Systems 10 (1),
[22] F.J. Fowler, Survey Research Methods, second ed., Sage, 1993, pp. 97122.
Thousand Oaks, 1993. [40] S.C. Malone, Computerizing small business information
[23] P.E. Green, M.H. Halbert, P.J. Robinson, Canonical analysis: systems, Journal of Small Business Management (April
an exposition and illustrative application, Journal and 1985), pp. 1016.
Marketing Research 3, 1966, pp. 3239. [41] J. Mehrtens, P.B. Cragg, A.M. Mills, A model of Internet
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Perspectives and Cases on Electronic Commerce, Wiley, New professor at the school of Business
York, 2002. Administration at the Emporia State
[57] G.L. Sanders, J.F. Courtney, A field study of organizational University. She is currently a doctoral
factors influencing DSS success, MIS Quarterly 9 (1), 1985, candidate at Southern Illinois University
pp. 7793. where she received her MBA in Manage-
[58] G.P. Schneider, J.T. Perry, Electronic Commerce, Course ment Information Systems. Her research
Technology, Cambridge, MA, 2000. interests include database management,
[59] G.H. Subramanian, A replication of perceived usefulness and technology acceptance, e-commerce and
perceived ease of use measurement, Decision Science 25 (5 information technology adoption in small
6), 1998, pp. 863874. businesses. Her research has been published in Communications of
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measurement and instrument validation of perceived strategy Information Technology Management, and various national and
value of information systems, Journal of Computer Informa- international conference proceedings.
tion Systems (Spring 2001), pp. 6469.
[61] B. Szajna, Software evaluation and choice: predictive J. Michael Pearson is an associate
validation of the technology acceptance instrument, MIS professor of Information Systems at
Quarterly (September 1994), pp. 319324. Southern Illinois University at Carbon-
[62] P.P. Tallon, K.L. Kraemer, V. Gurbaxani, Executives dale (SIUC). He obtained his DBA in
perceptions of the business value of information technology: Information Systems from Mississippi
a process-oriented approach, Journal of Management Infor- State University. Before coming to SIUC,
mation Systems (Spring 2000), pp. 145173. Dr. Pearson served as department chair
[63] J.Y.L. Thong, An integrated model of information systems (Business Computer Information Sys-
adoption in small businesses, Journal of Management tems) at St. Cloud State University. Dr.
Information Systems 15 (4), 1999, pp. 187214. Pearson has presented several papers at
[64] J.Y.L. Thong, Resource constraints and information systems regional, national and international conferences. He has published
implementation in Singaporean small businesses, OMEGA articles in Communications of the ACM, Information & Manage-
29, 2001, pp. 143156. ment, Journal of Strategic Information Systems, Journal of
[65] V. Venkatesh, F.D. Davis, A model of the antecedents of Information Systems, Journal of Computer Information Systems,
perceived ease of use: development and test, Decision Decision Support Systems, Review of Business, Journal of Internet
Sciences 27 (3), 1996, pp. 451481. Commerce, Information Resources Management Journal and
[66] J.A. Welsh, J.F. White, A small business is not a little big Public Administration Quarterly. His research interests are in the
business, Harvard Business Review (JulyAugust 1981), areas of organizational planning, technology adoption, e-com-
pp. 1832. merce, management of quality, and IT project management.