CSFs of e-commerce admission in small and medium size enterprises (SMEs)

Abstract

Indeed, leaders in e-commerce have achieved a 41% improvement in cycle times and 10% reductions in
staff costs, whereas they have increased returns on investment to about 13-fold. Regarding these
advantages and opportunities, it seems that identifying success and failure factors involved in ecommerce implementation is necessary. So, the SMEs could take faster and easier actions in
developing e-commerce concerning these factors. This paper attempts to review the critical success
factors (CSFs) that affect e-commerce adoption in Iranian SMEs and determine the importance of each
factor using statistical techniques. In this regard, six hypotheses were defined on the premises of the
relationship between the independent variables of the modified TAM model and e- commerce adoption
using correlation tests. To perform this research, a number of SMEs implementing e-commerce in Iran
were selected as samples. The information was collected from officials of the information technology
units of enterprises. The results show that variables of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use,
innovative character of the enterprise, information technology maturity and subjective norms have a
significant positive impact on adoption of e-commerce in SMEs. However, the industry competitive
environment characteristics were found to have an insignificant correlation on the dependent variable.
By ranking the independent variables, the perceived usefulness was identified as an important factor
affecting the adoption of e-commerce in SMEs, while the variables of perceived ease of use, subjective
norms, information technology maturity and innovative character of the enterprise, follow as the next
ranks. In conclusion, some suggestions were given to the involved officials and industrial managers to
facilitate implementation and establishment of e-commerce in SMEs.