A model to enhance the perceived trustworthiness of Eastern Cape essential oil producers selling through electronic marketplaces

Eastern Cape Province farmers in the natural essential oils industry are yet to fully realise the use of electronic commerce (e-commerce) platforms, such as electronic marketplaces (e-marketplaces) for business purposes. This is due to the issues that include lack of awareness, poor product quality, untrusted payment gateways and unsuccessful delivery that are associated with e-marketplaces. As a result, farmers do not trust e-marketplaces and therefore hesitate to engage in e-marketplaces for business purposes. This is further complicated by natural essential oils buyers‟ tendency of preferring face-to-face interaction with a supplier rather than online interaction as they need quality assurance. As such, this research proposes a model to enhance the perceived trustworthiness of natural essential oil producers in the Eastern Cape Province selling through e-marketplaces. The model constitutes the factors that could be considered in assisting essential oil producers to create a perception of trustworthiness to buyers in e-marketplaces. These factors were evaluated amongst five organisations involved in the production, retail or processing of essential oils using a multiple-case study methodology. The study‟s use of multiple-case study was applied within the interpretivist paradigm and five cases were considered. Interviews, document analysis and observations were used for data collection. Data analysis was done using within-case analysis followed by cross-case analysis to establish factors of trust. The essential oil producers based in the Gauteng, Kwazulu-Natal and Western Cape provinces were cases that had been successfully using e-marketplaces for a notable period of time. Accordingly, factors that contributed to the successful use of e-marketplaces informed the proposed model of this research. The model proposes that perceived trustworthiness of enterprises in e-marketplaces can be achieved through following the uncertainty reduction stages (Entry, Personal and Exit) and applying uncertainty reduction strategies (passive, active and interactive)

Antecedents of Suppliers’ Participation in Business-to- Government (B2G) Electronic Auction Markets: Thai B2G E-Auction

Despite business-to-government (B2G) electronic auction (e-auction) markets being a way for suppliers to create opportunities for market expansion and for trading activities, the effort to understand the behaviour of suppliers participating in these markets has been lacking. Low supplier participation has been a major problem in Thai e-auction markets. In this paper, we propose a framework to explain suppliers’ intention to participate, and the level of participation in B2G e-auction markets. We posit that suppliers’ participation depends on organizational motivation, and their capabilities. The conceptual framework draws from the Motivation-Ability Framework, Transaction Cost Theory, Institutional Theory, and Resource-Based Theory. It proposes that three key constructs - efficiency motive, legitimacy motive, and organizational capabilities influence suppliers’ intention to participate as well as their participation level in B2G e-auction markets. The conceptual framework may be useful to better understand the key reasons for suppliers to participate in B2G e-auction markets. We also provide rationale for each of the Proceedings of SIG GlobDev’s First Annual Workshop, Paris, France December 13th 2008 Dolpanya et al. Suppliers’ Participation in B2G E-Auctions proposed constructs by drawing on our understanding of the Thai electronic auction market as well as the existing literature

Measurements, feedback and empowerment: Critical systems theory as a basis for software process improvement

Despite business-to-government (B2G) electronic auction (e-auction) markets being a way for suppliers to create opportunities for market expansion and for trading activities, little has been done to understand the behaviour of suppliers participating in these markets. In this paper, we propose a framework to explain suppliers’ intention to participate, and the level of participation in B2G eauction markets, which will be tested in the Thai B2G e-auction markets. Low supplier participation has been a major problem in the Thai e-auction markets. We posit that suppliers’ participation depends on organisational motivation, environmental uncertainty, and their capabilities. The conceptual framework draws from the Motivation-Ability Framework, Transaction Cost Theory, Institutional Theory, and Resource-Based Theory. It proposes that four key constructs - efficiency motive, legitimacy motive, environmental uncertainty, and organisational capabilities influence suppliers’ intention to participate as well as their participation level in B2G e-auction markets. The conceptual framework is developed by drawing on our understanding of the Thai electronic auction market as well as from extensive literature. We believe this framework may be useful to better understand the key reasons for suppliers to participate in B2G e-auction markets

Regional E-Marketplaces and B2B portals for SMEs: Are some of them failing because of a mismatch between Motivation and Ability?

Regional e-marketplaces (REMs) and B2B portals for SMEs are one type of initiative introduced by local governments and regional consortiums in Australia to improve uptake of e-commerce by small and medium enterprises (SMEs). However, a number of them have failed or are floundering. This paper examines a failed REM in Western Australia from a motivation-ability perspective. Results indicate the need for REM sponsors to match motivation for REM development with resources and to seek strategic partnering to meet resource shortfalls. Matching motivation and resource capabilities can lead to better focused REMs/portals and may improve their chances of success

Trust and Experience in Online Auctions

This paper aims to shed light on the complexities and difficulties in predicting the effects of trust and the experience of online auction participants on bid levels in online auctions. To provide some insights into learning by bidders, a field study was conducted first to examine auction and bidder characteristics from eBay auctions of rare coins. We proposed that such learning is partly because of institutional-based trust. Data were then gathered from 453 participants in an online experiment and survey, and a structural equation model was used to analyze the results. This paper reveals that experience has a nonmonotonic effect on the levels of online auction bids. Contrary to previous research on traditional auctions, as online auction bidders gain more experience, their level of institutional-based trust increases and leads to higher bid levels. Data also show that both a bidder’s selling and bidding experiences increase bid levels, with the selling experience having a somewhat stronger effect. This paper offers an in-depth study that examines the effects of experience and learning and bid levels in online auctions. We postulate this learning is because of institutional-based trust. Although personal trust in sellers has received a significant amount of research attention, this paper addresses an important gap in the literature by focusing on institutional-based trust

Assessing the success and evaluating the benefits of government-sponsored regional internet-trading platforms for small and medium enterprises: A Western Australian perspective

The Internet has been viewed as an opportunity for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to efficiently compete in the global arena with their larger counterparts by overcoming distance and size. However, research has shown that actual uptake of Internet e-commerce by SMEs has been lagging behind that of larger companies. Fearing a growing digital divide between large companies and SMEs, some governments have taken specific measures to encourage SME participation in ecommerce. One of the more direct government initiatives to hasten the progression of SMEs on the e-commerce adoption curve is the creation, sponsorship and management of regional Internet trading platforms for these enterprises. Such a move is predicated on the belief that these platforms will offer SMEs a low-cost introduction to participation in Internet trading platforms without the need for significant technology investments, allowing them to reap benefits like lower costs, improved customer service and new levels of innovation through knowledge-sharing

Evaluation of the performance of e-commerce using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP): business perspectives on e-commerce / Sid Sirisukha

The purpose of this study is to employ the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to evaluate electronic commerce (e- commerce) types. An important contribution of this study is the identification of business perspectives on e-commerce types. This study articulates distinctive characteristics of the types of e- commerce and management processes that extend the range of applicability across diverse business segments. The Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) helps the decision maker such as business executives to prioritize alternatives in B2B, B2C, and C2B as e- commerce types, so that the best one can be selected. As business innovation has relied increasingly on partnerships between business and supplier, there is a different perspective of how business executives view their business process and competitive advantage. Based on the findings from this study, one important way for business people to be heard is to devote their time to create competitive advantage and develop shared domain knowledge which appear as the most influential construct in the AHP model. Business executives need to understand the leverage points of the industry, the history and current issues of the e-commerce, and to learn to apply business- oriented objectives in the application of technology to gain competitive advantage. This change in view would help focus their attention on e-commerce technology and ideas that will produce the most benefit and create competitive advantage, rather than those that offer the most technical promise

B2B Electronic Marketplaces in Supply Chain Management: Analyzing Recent Research Activities

Since their rise during the 1990s, business-to-business (B2B) electronic marketplaces have been subject to numerous scientific articles. Especially during the dot-com era, these research efforts have been accompanied by several start-ups such as CommerceOne, with mixed market success. For researchers looking for promising areas of IS research, these facts raise the question whether B2B electronic marketplaces still constitute a viable option which is worth focusing on. The work at hand strives to answer that question by conducting a literature analysis covering the period from 2005 to 2009. We examined 11 major IS-journals as well as three major IS conferences in search of articles dealing with or relating to B2B electronic marketplaces. The analysis of the data gathered throughout that process provides an overview of the B2B electronic marketplace research of the past five years from multiple perspectives. Our analysis indentifies several research opportunities for researchers, e.g., by indentifying research methods that have not been applied to examine certain topics, or by identifying geographical regions that have been under-researched regarding the application of B2B electronic marketplaces. Further, our work will help practitioners seeking reliable information regarding B2B electronic marketplaces to indentify publication outlets relevant for this field of research

Adoption of B2B Exchanges: Effects of IT-Mediated Website Services, Website Functionality, Benefits, and Costs

Prior studies investigating business-to-business (B2B) e-commerce adoption have predominantly focused on institutional and transaction-cost theories while neglecting the influence of IT-based design characteristics on B2B e-commerce adoption. This study probes the design features of B2B exchanges, and their effects on perceived benefits, perceived costs, and intentions to adopt such exchanges. In this paper, we propose that the degree of website functionality provided by a B2B exchange positively influences the intentions of companies to adopt that exchange. Towards supporting this proposition, we identify a set of IT-mediated website services salient to B2B exchanges. We propose a theory that an aggregation of these services, what we refer to as website functionality, impacts potential B2B exchange users’ assessments of the costs and benefits of the services as well as their intentions to join the B2B exchange. This paper identifies website functionality in B2B exchanges and explicates the theoretical influences of such functionality