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A roadmap to adopting emerging technology in e-business: an empirical study

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Abstract

This study explores the readiness of enterprises for developing emerging e-business technology. A three-staged e-business technology roadmap is proposed, from pre-e-business, to transactional e-business, and then to on-demand e-business. We use the diffusion of innovation theory to identify a series of enterprises’ internal capabilities and environmental drivers that can explain enterprises’ e-business adoption along our proposed roadmap. The model is validated in a survey of 175 businesses from the Taiwanese PC industry. The results show that enterprises’ internal capabilities are more influential than the environmental drivers when the enterprises move from the pre-e-business stage to the transactional e-business stage. As enterprises start to migrate to on-demand e-business, environmental factors play a critical role in determining the adoption. The implications of this study are multi-fold. Enterprises can use this model to evaluate their current readiness for the adoption of emerging e-business technology. By locating their current status in the roadmap, they can also understand the steps they should take to improve their readiness.

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Acknowledgment

This research was supported by the E-Business Emerging Technology Research project of the Institute for Information Industry and was sponsored by MOEA, R.O.C.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management Information Systems, National Chengchi University, NO.64, Sec.2, ZhiNan Rd., Wenshan District, Taipei City, 11605, Taiwan, ROC

    Hsin-Lu Chang

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  1. Hsin-Lu Chang
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Correspondence to Hsin-Lu Chang.

Appendix A. Instrument

Appendix A. Instrument

Which one of the following best describes your current EP status? Please choose only one option.

 

EP1.

You process the orders via traditional means such as telephone, fax, and email

EP2.

You login to the customer Web Portal to receive purchase orders. Other procurement activities, such as order confirmation, change notification, shipping notice, etc. are exchanged through telephone, fax, or email

EP3.

Use of EDI to exchange procurement information between your and your customer’s system

EP4.

Use of Web-services, XML, or other Internet-based technologies to integrate your order management process with your customer’s procurement process. Procurement information can be automatically exchanged between your IT system (e.g., ERP) and your customer’s IT system (e.g., ERP)

With regard to the EP chosen in the above question, please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements on the scale of 1 (strongly agree) to 7 (strongly disagree).

I

Technological readiness (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.862)

 T1.

Your company has made significant technical investments in implementing the EP

 T2.

Your company’s expertise in the e-business is codified and can be transferred to new e-business applications at virtually no incremental cost (e.g., your company’s experience in developing EDI systems can help implement other e-business systems, such as EP)

 T3.

Your company has a good telecommunications infrastructure to support the EP implementation. (e.g., email, Internet, or Intranet)

 T4.

Your company has integrated IS applications (e.g., ERP) encompassing different business areas

 T5.

Your company has used various security technologies (e.g., firewall) to protect your data on the Internet

 T6.

Your company has followed industrial standards (e.g., RosettaNet or RFID standards) to exchange information with trading partners

II.

Organizational readiness (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.822)

 OR1.

In your company, a significant portion of the budget is spent for the adoption or implementation of EP and e-business initiatives

 OR2.

In your company, the top management strongly supports EP adoption or implementation

 OR3.

In your company, you include intensive training for using EP

III.

Supply chain readiness (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.914)

 S1.

Your trading partners are willing to join committees or work groups for EP development

 S2.

Your trading partners provide training seminars or share system implementation expertise to help your EP implementation

 S3.

Your trading partners support your company’s business process reengineering efforts related to the EP adoption (e.g., providing the technological or financial support)

 S4.

Your trading partners are willing to conduct process reengineering in order to implement IOS more smoothly

IV.

Readiness of coordination (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.898)

 C1.

You have open and frequent communications between you and your trading partners

 C2.

There exists an equal sharing of risks, burden, benefits, and appropriate incentives between you and your trading partners

 C3.

Your company trusts that confidential/proprietary information shared with your trading partners will be kept strictly confidential

 C4.

You and your trading partners are undergoing some supply chain collaboration projects (e.g., product design, quality control, as well as forecasting and inventory management)

 C5.

You and most of your trading partners have very similar IT infrastructure in terms of the IT availability, maturity, compatibility, and reliability

 C6.

You and your trading partners have compatible company culture (e.g., business mission or value)

 C7.

You and your trading partners’ top management provide similar support with regard to the development of IOS

V.

Readiness of market forces (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.730)

 M1.

The research and design activities of your company are heavily dependent on the assistance of your trading partners

 M2.

In your company, a large proportion of production material is procured from several key trading partners

 M3.

Your trading partners strongly influence your decision to adopt EP

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Chang, HL. A roadmap to adopting emerging technology in e-business: an empirical study. Inf Syst E-Bus Manage 8, 103–130 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10257-009-0111-y

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