Innovation interdependence in the adoption of e- e-commerce e-commerce

Using the Internet is a necessary condition for purchasing based on e-commerce and in order to use the Internet an individual must use a computer. Therefore, there is a necessary interdependence between purchasing using e-commerce and using computers and the Internet. Consequently, based on the Innovation Interdependence framework (see section 2.9.1), the study of purchasing using e-commerce can be approached from an innovation interdependence point of view.

Many researchers have recognised the innovation interdependence nature of e-commerce.

For example, George (2002) stated that “as novice users of Internet gain experience, they will make their first Internet purchase, and as they become even more experienced, they can be counted on to purchase more often” (p. 176). Pavlou (2003) pointed out that “in contrast to traditional consumer behaviour, online transactions have certain unique dimensions, such as the extensive use of technology for transactions”

(p. 105). Similarly, Efendioglu and Yip (2004) argued that “the number of Internet users around the world has been steadily growing and this growth has provided the impetus and the opportunities for global and regional e-commerce” (p. 45).

Given the recognition that the adoption of computers and the Internet are determinants of the adoption of e-commerce, one could expect a large body of research addressing the relationship between e-commerce and its antecedent innovations. However, the review of the literature revealed an under emphasis in research on the adoption of the antecedent innovations of e-commerce. As Pavlou (2003) recently stated, consumer technology acceptance is a relatively under researched area in the consumer behaviour literature.

One of the likely reasons for this state may be the fact that consumer behaviour models have been put forward to explain a single behaviour. In these models, elements that are not directly related to that behaviour are treated as:

• external variables by TRA (Ajzen and Fishbein, 1980), TPB (Ajzen, 1988) and TAM (Davis, 1989);

• inhibitors by the Howard and Sheth (1969) model;

• individual or environmental factors by the Consumer Decision Model (Engel et al., 1995); and

• prior conditions by the Diffusion and Adoption of Innovations (Rogers, 1995).

An additional reason for the lack of focus on the adoption of the antecedent innovations of commerce may be the pro-innovation bias pervading research on the adoption of e-commerce. This bias has had many implications for research, such as a tendency to underemphasise the rejection or discontinuance of innovations (Rogers, 1995). Because innovation research has emphasised adoption, it is not surprising that the vast majority of research has focused on the individuals closer to the top of the ladder of adoption.

Participants are usually drawn from populations that uses, or have previously used, the Internet and thus it is assumed that these individuals have adopted the Internet.

Consequently, because researchers assume the individuals have adopted the Internet, they also assume that individuals have adopted the computer.

Despite the pervading assumption that the adoption of computers and the Internet has taken place, a few studies have attempted to examine the relationship between their adoption and the adoption of e-commerce. At the computer level, these studies have emphasised personal factors such as the access to computers (e.g. Wigand, 1997; Li et al., 1999; Shim et al., 2001), skills in computer use (e.g. Yang and Lester, 2005; Shim et al., 2001), computer training (e.g. Liao and Cheung, 2001) and computer knowledge (e.g.

Chang et al., 2005; Yang and Lester, 2005). Additionally, it has been suggested that frequency of computer usage (e.g. Bellman et al., 1999; Chang et al., 2005), number of years of use (e.g. Slyke et al., 2002; Chang et al., 2005) and computer experience (e.g. Worthy et al., 2004) influence the adoption of e-commerce. There are fewer studies examining the relationship between the perceptions of using computers and the adoption of e-commerce.

One of the exceptions is the study by Yang and Lester (2005) who looked at the correlation between computer anxiety and attitudes toward computers and the purchasing of textbooks online.

At the Internet level, the variables postulated to be related to the adoption of e-commerce are similar, although it must be recognised that the Internet factors have been more studied than computer factors. The Internet personal variables emphasised as associated to the adoption of e-commerce include access to the Internet (e.g. Wigand, 1997; Shim et al.,

2001; Efendioglu and Yip, 2004; Worthy et al., 2004), Internet skills (e.g. Yang and Lester, 2005), Internet knowledge (e.g. Li et al., 1999; Lee, 2002; George, 2002; Chang et al., 2005;

Worthy et al., 2004; Yang and Lester, 2005), frequency of Internet usage (e.g. Bellman et al., 1999; Efendioglu and Yip, 2004; Bellman et al., 1999; Chang et al., 2005), number of years of use (e.g. Bellman et al., 1999; Chang et al., 2005), Internet experience (e.g. Slyke et al., 2002; Worthy et al., 2004), email use (e.g. Bellman et al., 1999; Slyke et al., 2002) and involvement with the Internet (e.g. Goldsmith, 2002). Other researchers (e.g. Bellman, 1999; Kim et al., 2000) found that net-oriented lifestyles are associated with the adoption of e-commerce. At the attitude level, research suggests that attitudes toward the Internet correlate with online purchasing (Bellman et al., 1999; Yang and Lester, 2005). A few studies have examined the perceptions of adequate resources that can facilitate or inhibit behavioural intention to use e-commerce. For example, Shim et al. (2001) included Perceived Behavioural Control in their research model to understand whether or not a person perceived that he/she possesses requisite resources (knowledge about how to use the Internet) and opportunities (access to the Internet) needed to perform the behaviour in question.

A recent literature review on studies focusing on the adoption of e-commerce (Chang et al., 2005) further supports the conclusion that previous studies have neglected the adoption of the antecedent innovations of e-commerce. According to their study, computer/Internet issues have been dealt with as a consumer characteristic and restricted to specific uses of the technologies, knowledge, experience and usage. In general, a significant positive relationship was found between these variables and the adoption of e-commerce.

Although the aforementioned variables (skills, knowledge, access, use) can be related to the adoption of computers/the Internet, they tell little about why people actually adopt or not the antecedent innovations of commerce. Therefore, research into the adoption of e-commerce would benefit from an approach that does not isolate the adoption of the antecedent innovations from the adoption of e-commerce, that is, an approach that focuses on the complete innovation adoption network. One way to achieve this goal is by treating the adoption of each innovation (computer, Internet and e-commerce) as individual, but interrelated, phenomena. The next sections review the literature on the adoption of these three innovations.