Diffusion of Innovation of E-Commerce among Service Sector SMEs in Malaysia During and Post-Pandemic Covid-19: A qualitative approach

Abstract

This study investigates the critical determinant for e-commerce adoption in Malaysian SMEs. It aims to see how the adoption of e-commerce influenced the food and beverages service sector in Malaysian SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic and to find out the benefits SMEs have gained from the implementation of e-commerce in Malaysia since the outbreak of the pandemic. Theoretically, the study develops an integrated framework to better understand e-commerce adoption in SMEs. At the same time, it leads to several significant findings that provide stakeholders with insight for developing appropriate strategies and policies to enhance the diffusion of e-commerce in Malaysia. Keywords: E-commerce; SMEs; Diffusion of Innovation; Qualitative Method eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2023. The Authors. Published for AMER and cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open-access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under the responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), College of Built Environment, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/e-bpj.v8iSI15.507