Extent of E-Procurement Usage: An Empirical Study of Small and Medium Sized New Zealand Manufacturing Businesses

This paper describes a project which aims to investigate the extent of e-procurement usage at the organizational level and to examine the key factors that influence the extent of e-procurement usage in New Zealand (NZ) small and medium enterprises (SMEs). An integrated model is developed based on the Technology-OrganizationEnvironment (TOE) framework and Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory. It is hypothesized that the extent of eprocurement usage is influenced by the technological (i.e. relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity), organizational (i.e. top management support and employees’ knowledge), and environmental (i.e. external pressure) contexts. This study employs a quantitative research methodology using a cross-sectional survey approach and a qualitative analysis of respondents’ free comments incorporated at the end of each construct of the survey. The model is tested using data from 120 senior managers. Our results demonstrate that relative advantage, employees’ knowledge, and external pressure have a significant influence on the extent of eprocurement usage.