The inhibitors to the adoption of electronic commerce (EC) techniques are both the real and the perceived risks or costsassociated with the implementation and participation of an organisation in an electronic commerce environment. some of the perceived risks, on closer examination, are not real, and indicate the need for a better understanding of the essentials to effective use of electronic co...

Acceptance of online shopping adoption by individuals has been a concerning issue for researchers in the past decade. However, most research has focused in evaluating the attitudes and intention to use electronic commerce from the shoppers’ perspective, neglecting to analyze the behavior and attitudes of those who have not adopted e-commerce yet: the nonshoppers. The objective of this study is ...

With the increasing importance of EC (Electronic Commerce) across the Internet, the need for agents to support both customers and suppliers is growing rapidly. But the lack of standard on product ontology, message and negotiation protocol between agents and brokering makes full automation of EC infeasible. In this paper, we describe an open infrastructure for agentbased EC and design a virtual ...

The use of Electronic Commerce (EC) technologies enables Small-to-Medium sized Enterprises (SMEs) to improve their efficiency and competitive position. However, there is a lack of a comprehensive framework that gives a multi-faceted account for the phenomenon of EC technologies adoption by SMEs. This paper therefore develops a theoretical framework of EC technologies adoption which is composed ...

Trust is certainly going to be a key factor for Electronic Commerce (EC) to become universally accepted. It has always been the catalyst of any traditional commercial activity: without trust in their counter-parts neither consumers nor merchants will ever engage themselves in any transactions. Similarly, if trust and confidence in the new digital environment of EC cannot be provided, users will...

In the midst of promising perceived benefits, the electronic commerce (EC) environment entails greater challenges than those posed by conventional trade. In addition to privacy and security concerns, researchers and businesses alike are increasingly aware that the lack of trust for online vendors experienced by consumers constitutes a serious barrier to the widespread adoption and successful pr...

Electronic commerce (EC) activities are growing rapidly on the Internet. One area that receives little publicity is that of auctions and bidding. However, these interrelated activities can become a major EC factor due to the creation of special online brokering services as well as electronic auctions and bids offered directly by private and public organizations. This paper provides a discussion...

Internet technology has been used increasingly to enhance the global competitiveness of various industries through the widespread applications of cost effective electronic commerce (EC). In this paper, we focus on information infrastructure, flow coordination, and EC front-end for supply chain management. Three main modules are proposed to conjoin various business organizations and to strengthe...

The web is being heralded as a global marketplace, and globalization is seen as one of the key drivers for the diffusion of electronic commerce (EC). In stark contrast to the enthusiasm for a global electronic marketspace we have collected empirical support for the premise that much web-based commercial activity is regionally focused. Based on a brief introduction of the notion of regions, we w...