Barriers to Adopting Electronic Commerce for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Emerging Economies

With the availability of the Internet as an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tool, electronic commerce (e-commerce) has received much attention in many Western and developed countries. However, it has been given little attention in emerging economies, and therefore e-commerce adoption has been particularly difficult for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs). The purpose of this review paper is to explore several types of barriers that influence the adoption of e-commerce by SMEs in emerging economies. An exhaustive review of the literature was conducted on the subject. It further evaluates and extends Tornatzky and Fleischer’s (1990) Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework by adding a micro-level context - that of the ‘entrepreneurial (individual) characteristics of owner-managers’ to examine various contextual challenges SMEs face in adopting e-commerce in emerging economies. The paper examines a number of new dynamic and contextual barriers identified in the study, grouping them into four themes: technological, organizational, environmental and extended ‘entrepreneurial (individual) characteristics of owner-managers’. The paper sets up a new conceptual framework and has established a holistic view of contextual barrier themes for the coming years. In addition, this theoretical model provides us with the new barriers related to ‘entrepreneurial (individual) characteristics of owners/managers’ and ‘local business institutions in supporting e-commerce’ that influences the adoption of e-commerce by SMEs in emerging economies. Based on this extended framework, future areas of research can be determined, and owner-managers of SMEs, new entrepreneurs and government authorities in emerging economies will be able to identify emerging concepts in e-commerce.