The determining factors of small and medium-sized enterprises' electronic commerce adoption

In this study, it is aimed to determine the strategic value perceived by SMEs in starting electronic trading, whether they have the necessary infrastructure and resources for e-commerce and whether e-commerce affects their marketing and financial performance. Data were collected through questionnaires to find out these objectives. A survey instrument was used to collect data from 260 voluntary enterprises from SMEs operating in the Ankara – Ivedik organized industrial zone. The scales used in the survey questions were taken from the researches of Grandon and Pearson (2004), Bulut, Yilmaz and Alpkan (2009), Kuivalainen and Sundqvist (2004) and Weerawardena (2011). The expressions in the questionnaire are designed with a 5-point Likert (1 - Strongly Disagree, 2 – Disagree, 3 - Neutral, 4 - Agree, 5 - Strongly Agree) type rating format. The confirmatory factor analysis revealed that strategic value of e-commerce consisted of three factors; organizational support, managerial efficiency and tools to facilitate decision-making. The applicability of e-commerce is examined on five factors; organizational readiness, compatibility, external pressure, ease of use, and perceived usefulness. "Firms' benefits from e-commerce" section was handled under two topics: the influences of e-commerce on marketing and e financial performance. The mean values of perceived strategic value of e-commerce, the adoptability of e-commerce and marketing and financial performance variables are all above 4 (on the Likert-type scale of 5), indicate that manager's benefits from e-commerce, they are ready and willing to adopt e-commerce and e-commerce increase the marketing and financial performance. In the study, the effects of electronic commerce on the marketing and financial performance of the enterprises are considered as the dependent variables. The regression analysis indicates that "perceived usefulness of e-commerce", one of the dimensions of the "e-commerce adoptability" variable, has a significant effect on the marketing performances of the enterprises. The dimensions of perceived usefulness of e-commerce, compatibility and external pressures of e-commerce adoption variable have impacts on marketing performance. The conclusion part presents the findings and discussions, the contribution of the study to the literature and the industry, the limitations of the study and the suggestions for the researchers who will work on the same subject in the future.