Factors influencing the adoption of electronic business in the purchasing activities within a business organization using an extended technology acceptance model

The implementation of electronic business systems has gained significant attention within business organizations. These systems have transformed the approach in which industries market, promote and sell their products and services. The adoption of these systems can increase competitive advantage, achieve cost savings and create differentiation within a market. Therefore, in order to fully leverage investments in information technology, it will be important for business organizations to gain a clear understanding of the characteristics and behavior of customers who adopt electronic business technology. Several research studies have used developed technology acceptance models to determine the influences on the adoption of various technologies. However, limited research has explored the influence of electronic business technologies in a business-to-business environment. This study expands current research to develop a model which identifies the factors having a significant influence on the users\u27 perception to adopt electronic business technology in a purchasing environment. The model developed by this study, Electronic Business Technology Acceptance Model (EbTAM), identifies and explains the influences on the use of electronic business technology. The additional constructs, which expand the original technology acceptance models, provide substantial evidence on the attitudes supporting electronic business technology adoption. The results of the study support the findings of previous studies which assert the influence of subjective norms, self-efficacy, web skills, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness on the behavioral intent to use technology. The external factors associated with the competitive and customer environment illustrated a significant influence on the user\u27s behavior. The study concludes that as the customer orientation increases within the organization, the user\u27s reliance on electronic business systems decreases suggesting that these systems do not replace the need for traditional marketing tasks. The results of this study EbTAM models does not support the influence of the system\u27s ease of use as a predictor on the intention to adopt technology. This suggests that the perception of whether these systems are useful is the dominant factor leading to adoption. This research study also analyzes the impact of several demographic factors: age, education and experience