Post-Adoption Variations in Usage and Value of E-Business by Organizations: Cross-Country Evidence from the Retail Industry.

Author List: Zhu, Kevin Xiaoguo; Kraemer, Kenneth L.;
Information Systems Research, 2005, Volume 16, Issue 1, Page 61-84.
Grounded in the innovation diffusion literature and the resource-based theory, this paper develops an integrative research model for assessing the diffusion and consequence of e-business at the firm level. Unlike the typical focus on adoption as found in the literature, we focus on postadoption stages, that is, actual usage and value creation. The model thus moves beyond dichotomous "adoption versus nonadoption" and accounts for the :missing link"-actual usage-as a critical stage of value creation. The model links technological, organizational, and environmental factors to e-business use and value, based on which a series of hypotheses are developed. The theoretical model is tested by using structural equation modeling on a dataset of 624 firms across 10 countries in the retail industry. To probe deeper into whether e-business use and value are influenced by economic environments, two subsamples from developed and developing countries are compared. The study finds that technology competence, firm size, financial commitment, competitive pressure, and regulatory support are important antecedents of e-business use. In addition, the study finds that, while both front-end and back-end capabilities contribute to e-business value, back-end integration has a much stronger impact. While front-end functionalities are becoming commodities, e-businesses are more differentiated by back-end integration. This is consistent with the resource-based theory because back-end integration possesses the value-creating characteristics of resources (e.g., firm specific, difficult to imitate), which are strengthened by the Internet-enabled connectivity. Our study also adds an international dimension to the innovation diffusion literature, showing that careful attention must be paid to the economic and regulatory factors that may affect technology diffusion across different countries.
Keywords: back-end integration; e-business; firm performance; innovation; international perspective; IT investment; resource-based view; technology diffusion; usage; value
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#108 0.149 model research data results study using theoretical influence findings theory support implications test collected tested based empirical empirically context paper
#224 0.146 complexity task environments e-business environment factors technology characteristics literature affect influence role important relationship model organizational contingent actual map dimension
#143 0.143 value business benefits technology based economic creation related intangible cocreation assessing financial improved key economics assess question created create understanding
#59 0.097 capabilities capability firm firms performance resources business information technology firm's resource-based competitive it-enabled view study value infrastructure results organizational model
#49 0.085 adoption diffusion technology adopters innovation adopt process information potential innovations influence new characteristics early adopting set compatibility time initial current
#164 0.081 countries global developing technology international country developed national economic policy domestic study foreign globalization world government nations innovative technological especially
#168 0.069 firms firm financial services firm's size examine new based result level including results industry important account does suggests characterize limited
#221 0.063 competence experience versus individual disaster employees form npd concept context construct effectively focus functionalities front-end knowledge-intensive stage explores set definition