The contingent role of dependency in predicting the intention to adopt B2B e-commerce

ABSTRACT

A review of existing Electronic Commerce adoption literature reveals that the prevailing theoretical frameworks implicitly assume that organizations are independent and have complete control over their decisions to adopt innovations. Given the fact that organizations are often constrained by and depend on their environment and exchange partners to survive, this paper proposes that Resource Dependency can either be a facilitator or inhibitor of the role of Technological, Organizational, and Environmental (TOE) motivating factors. Using 239 valid responses from supply chain managers in Jordan, the study found partial support for the role of Resource Dependency as a moderator. The findings provide insights on how Resource Dependency between partners drives different patterns of innovation acceptance among potential adopters, regardless of several technological and organizational motivations to innovate. The results suggest that predicting how innovation is diffused within a market needs a detailed understanding of the inter-dependence structure among the supply chain members.

KEYWORDS:

• B2B e-commerce
• innovation adoption
• dependency
• Resource Dependence Theory
• technology
• organization
• and environment framework
• Innovation Diffusion Theory
• Jordan

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes on contributors

Dr Abdallah Alsaad is an Assistant Professor in the business school at Jadara University. Dr Alsaad holds an undergraduate degree in MIS from Al-balqa University, a master degree in MIS from Yarmouk University, and a PhD in E-business from University Utara Malaysia. His teaching and research interests are in the area of business administration and management information systems. His current research involves end-user computing, cyberloafing, adoption of information technology. He has published many refereed articles in journals such as Computers in Human Behavior and Telematics and Informatics.

Dr Rosli Mohamad is a Senior Lecturer at Tunku Puteri Intan Safinaz School of Accountancy (TISSA-UUM), College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia. He is currently serving the School as the Head of Audit and Information Systems department. His primary research interest includes accounting information systems, e-business, e-commerce, and ICT-related issues in Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs).

Dr Noor Azizi Ismail is a Professor at Othman Yeop Abdullah Graduate School of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia. He is currently on secondment as Deputy Director General of Higher Education (Public Universities) at the Ministry of Higher Education. His primary research interest includes accounting, information systems and entrepreneurship.