E-Business Adoption at the Firm Level: Comparing the Predictive Power of Competing IS Adoption Models

E-business adoption research at the firm level has a strong grounding in both prior and current IS research. When designing empirical studies, researchers choose among a variety of base adoption models. This study is the first to empirically compare three prominent models regarding their explanatory power: the technology-organizationenvironment model, the task-technology-fit model, and the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology. Therefore, a within-subject study was conducted using data gathered from 204 firms in the German wood industry. The results demonstrate that each model can contribute in its own way to the understanding of different stages. Surprisingly, the most parsimonious model in terms of explanatory variables was revealed to have a constant and comparably high degree of explanatory power at all stages of e-business adoption. The results provide insights into the explanatory power of base models and can serve as guidance for the base model choices of future studies.