An investigation into the factors that influence the intention to use E-commerce : the Jordanian business-to-business market

Several researchers have suggested that behavioural decision theories from the field ofsocial psychology could provide a potential foundation for research on user behaviour.Generally, the majority of research in information technology adoption have utilisedone of four of the well-established theories (diffusion of innovation, theory of reasonedaction, theory of planned behaviour and technology acceptance model). Mostly thesetheories have proposed to measure attitudes toward behaviour and identify the role ofthese attitudes in shaping behaviours. Gaps in the previous theories were identified anda preliminary study was conducted to generate a better understanding of the status ofbusiness to business (B2B) e-commerce usage within Jordanian companies. Theliterature review led to the development of a conceptual model proposing severalfactors such as trusting information technology, security, legal issues, company size,cost, education infrastructure, foreign language skills and top management support,which could impact on the intention to use B2B e-commerce in Jordan. Therefore, thisstudy aimed to investigate and identify the major factors that affect the intention to useB2B e-commerce in Jordan.Following the development of the conceptual model, a research survey was developedand conducted to investigate the intention to use B2B e-commerce among Jordaniancompanies. The hypotheses that were derived from the conceptual model wereexamined through statistical analysis using factor analysis, Mann-Whitney U Test,Kruskal-Wallis Test, multiple and hierarchical regressions. The findings of this studysuggested that there are three main factors that tend to affect firms' intentions to useB2B e-commerce: trusting information technology and security, top managementexperience, perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. This study has a number oftheoretical and practical implications. It contributes to the state of knowledge in ecommerceadoption in developing countries and contributes to filling the previouslyidentified gaps in the literature on B2B e-commerce adoption by being the initial studyto deal with the intention of Jordanian companies to adopt e-commerce. The findings ofthis study are important and relevant to Jordanian and international companies and thegeneral and IT managers of these companies. Based on the findings of the study, a setof strategies were recommended which could be potentially used to enhance B2B ecommerceadoption in Jordan