Drivers and inhibitors to E-Commerce adoption: Exploring the rationality of consumer behavior in the electronic marketplace

This research reports on the findings of a mail consumer survey conducted in Finland to (i) build an understanding of the rationales for adopting or rejecting the Internet and ecommerce by consumers, and to (ii) explore the relationship between e-commerce adoption decisions and perceived channel value, seen as the balance of power between the overall benefits that are likely to accrue by using the Internet, and the overall barriers encountered to using it or to deriving the sought benefits. Identifying the primary drivers and inhibitors to Internet and e-commerce adoption, and showing that e-commerce adoption/rejection is based on rational consumer behavior when seen from the proposed value perspective, the study contributes to and extends our understanding of the Internet as a medium for commercial use in the B2C arena.