Individual Agency, Dynamic Contextual Factors and E-Commerce in Smes
Keywords:
SMEs, E-commerce adoption, TOE framework, Individual agency factors, Emerging economies, PakistanAbstract
This paper explains the role of dynamic contextual and agency factors in the adoption of electronic commerce (e-commerce) in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Pakistan. The authors conducted eight multiple qualitative case studies which include 24 face-to-face semi-structured interviews and were analysed using NVivo. It was found that the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) and other extended micro-level (individual agency) factors significantly influenced the decision-making process of managers of Pakistani SMEs in adopting e-commerce practices. The managers should focus on factors such as being ready for digital, hiring ICT professionals, lack of customers to change their preference from the traditional selling approach to e-commerce, securing support from government and local institutions, and understanding the features and individual agency of their owner-managers. In addition to these factors, there is a need to enhance the information and communication technology (ICT) infrastructure to enable manager to prepare and adopt e-commerce practices in their firms. This article builds on Tornatzky and Fleischer’s TOE framework with the micro-level factors of individual agency. Furthermore, this article offers some implications for policy makers, governments and local Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) development agencies.
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