The gap between rhetoric and reality: public reluctance to adopt e-commerce in Australia

Like every OECD country, Australia is actively encouraging its citizens and business to adopt the advantages of e-commerce. However, while Australian Federal and State Governments are investing millions in encouraging e-commerce take-up research findings based on two projects designed to facilitate e-commerce take-up indicate that while there is a high level of acceptance of e-commerce in principle, there seems to be a high degree of reluctance to practice it. This paper looks at some of the obstacles to e-commerce take-up encountered in two projects which sought to encourage e-commerce take-up