Building upon Rogers’ Paradigm of the adoption of an Innovation by an Individual within a Social System (Rogers, 1962), this dissertation proposes a simple but robust theoretical adoption framework, which classifies innovation adoption factors into three dimensions: Decision Entity (DE: an individual or an organization), Decision Object (DO: the information technology to be adopted), and Decision Context (DC: the environment where a decision is made).
I operationalize the classification framework through an empirical investigation of critical factors underlying the adoption of the online direct sales channel (ODSC) by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Synthesizing existing studies on the adoption of e-Commerce technologies among SMEs, I propose a research model on the impact of DE, DO and DC factors on an SMEs’ behavioral intention to embrace ODSC. Those factors include perceived relative advantage and perceived ease of use (DO factors), risk propensity, resource slack, and expertise in the Internet (DE factors), and perceived competitive pressure (DC factor).
I develop, validate, and administer an Internet-based survey to a sample of SMEs in the State of Ohio in the United States. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) on an initial model and a revised model reveals that DE factors including risk propensity and resource slack, DO factors including perceived relative advantage and perceived ease of use, and a DC factor, perceived competitive pressure, significantly impact, directly or/and indirectly, SMEs’ behavioral intention to embrace ODSC. Expertise (a DE factor) is found not to have any direct or indirect effect on an SME’ behavioral intention to embrace ODSC.
This dissertation has several significant contributions: First, the classification model proposed in this dissertation not merely provides a simple but robust framework for categorizing extant IS adoption factors in the literature, but also provides an effective approach for identifying new factors in future IS adoption studies. Second, the ODSC Model, which is empirically tested in this dissertation, will not only enhance our knowledge of SMEs’ adoption of ODSC, but also improve our understanding of the adoption and diffusion of IS innovations among SMEs in general. Finally, the findings of this study also provide useful information that may help policy-makers and business decision-makers create a favorable environment that stimulates the adoption and use of ODSC among SMEs.