Chapter 8: Information and Communication Technologies

Title: Critical factors affecting the growth of e-commerce adoption: a cross-cultural comparison of American, Korean and Kazakhstan

Reference: WORLD SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OUTLOOK 2006 pp. 265 - 273

Abstract/Summary: This study examines critical factors affecting the growth of Electronic commerce (E-commerce) by consumers in the three countries of USA, Korea and Kazakhstan. The researchers conducted three surveys in the cities of Boston, Seoul and Almaty during the period from 2003 to 2004, and presented findings derived from the surveyed results concerning the critical factors that affect E-commerce adoption and consumers' purchasing frequencies on the internet. Preliminary analysis of the data suggests that student respondents are concerned with online payment security, on-time delivery, privacy, easy of ordering, information about products and price offerings as either the benefits or risks of E-commerce adoption. Further applications of factor analysis and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) between the three survey groups support the existence of country differences in the perceived benefits and risks of E-commerce adoption. While process and information utilities are the common facilitators of E-commerce adoption across countries, process risk is the main drawback for Kazakh consumers. The study concludes that the effects of Information Technology (IT) are moderated by the level of national economic development and by individual users' experience on the internet.

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