The Effect of Organizational Culture on E-commerce Adoption

This paper describes the background for a study in progress of the effect of organizational culture on levels of e-commerce adoption. While e-commerce has been studied in detail, the importance of organizational culture in the level of e-commerce adoption has not been explored in depth. Organizational culture can be a limiting factor on the acceptance of technological change and has been linked with organizational performance. Organizational cultures with an emphasis on external orientation and flexible structure, “adhocracies,” are typified by leaders who are innovators and risk takers. An argument can be made that a culture promoting innovation and risk acceptance would provide needed support for higher levels of adoption of new technologies.