The Role of Gender in the Perception of barriers to E-commerce Adoption in SMEs: An Australian Study

The association between e-commerce barriers and gender has not been explored in-depth, even though it has implications for the adoption of this technology. This paper aims to add insight into how male and female SME owners/managers perceive different ecommerce barriers. The findings of a survey of 207 SMEs in Australia are presented, and show that females perceive technical issues to be a more important barrier than organisational issues. By contrast, male SME owners/managers are more concerned with the suitability and fit of e-commerce in the organisation, implying the need for a different focus in e-commerce initiatives. Additional findings show a greater differentiation of barriers within male owned/managed SMEs, which suggests the need for more customised e-commerce adoption program in these organisations.