E-commerce adoption by travel agencies in Jordan
Author
Alrousan, Mohammad Kasim
Date
2015Type
Thesis
Publisher
Cardiff Metropolitan University
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The advents of information and communication technologies (ICTs), especially the
Internet applications, have become indispensable tool to the tourism industry. ICTs have
had a major influence in changing the structure of this industry, to be information intensive
industry. Travel agencies category of SMEs , have a vital role in tourism;
managing, coordinating and supplying all aspects thereof, such as transport sector,
hospitality sector and leisure attractions.
The factors affecting e-commerce adoption by SMEs have been well-documented in
developed countries, but inadequate studies have been conducted regarding e-commerce
adoption in the developing countries; particularly in Arab countries. Moreover, it has
been found that in spite of potential benefits for travel agencies of adoption of ecommerce,
travel agencies are commonly regarded as slow adopters of e-commerce,
lagging far behind the developed countries.
Therefore, the focus of this study is on investigating the factors affecting e-commerce
adoption by focusing on Jordanian travel agencies. To achieve this objective; an
integrated conceptual framework was developed on the basis of previous models and
theories relevant to ICTs and e-commerce adoption, namely Rogers’ Diffusion of
Innovation model, the Technology-Organisation-Environment model and Hofstede’s
Cultural Dimensions theory. The conceptual framework was developed for the
explanation of the factors affecting e-commerce adoption by travel agencies. These
factors were used to identify different levels of e-commerce adoption. These levels
include: non-adoption, e-connectivity, e-window, e-interactivity, e-transaction and e-enterprise.
The quantitative method was applied in this study for data collection using self-administrated
questionnaire distributed to 300 Jordanian travel agents. The total number
of valid questionnaires was 206, constituting a response rate of 68.6%. The descriptive
analysis was used to explain demographic profiles of participants and current state of ecommerce
adoption level. Multinomial Logistic Regression was used to test the research
hypotheses. The research findings revealed that there are three different adoption levels
of e-commerce by Jordanian travel agencies: e-connectivity, e-window and e-interactivity.
The results showed that relative advantage, observability, business/partner
pressure, uncertainty avoidance and government support were the significant predictors
differentiating e-window from e-connectivity. Moreover, relative advantage,
observability, financial barriers, power distance, business/partner pressure and
government support proved to be significant predictors differentiating between e-interactivity
and e-connectivity. It was also found that observability, competitive
pressure, firm size and complexity were significant predictors differentiating between e-interactivity
and e-window. On the other hand, the results showed that compatibility,trialability, employees’ IT knowledge, top management support, manager’s attitude, and
customer pressure were insignificant predictors of any of the e-commerce adoption
levels.
Upon that, it can be argued with confidence that different levels of e-commerce adoption
are affected by different factors. This entails the necessity of addressing the above ten
significant predictors as they can be useful for managers, IT/web vendors and policy
makers in drawing a roadmap and strategies for expanding the use and benefits of ecommerce
adoption. Moreover, the conceptual framework of the study provide a best
explanation of factors affecting e-commerce adoption levels in travel agencies as an
example of SMEs, which contribute to the knowledge in the area of information systems
particularly in the context of e-commerce adoption in developing countries.
Description
PhD Thesis
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