Website Adoption and Functionality

For both B2C and B2B e-commerce transactions, a common characteristic of the e-commerce environment in global firms is that organisations must have a website, which is in contrast with the old traditional Electronic Data Interchange (EDI) where computers with the same type of application would exchange business information. A corporate website is a key tool for marketing an organisation’s products and services to the outside world (Uzoka et al., 2007), even though the use of Internet and e-mail may also provide a medium for business exchange for individual online consumers. In a study in a B2C environment, Green & Pearson (2011) noted that website usability greatly contributes to several outcomes that are critical for businesses to attract and retain customers.

Previous studies in e-commerce adoption and use have also focused on website development, quality and strategy amongst other factors (Karakaya & Shea, 2008; Hong & Zhu, 2006; Beatty et al., 2001). One of the early concerns amongst researchers was on the state of corporate websites, as illustrated in the study by Beatty et al., (2001) on how US firms had adopted web technology. In developing countries, the trend in designing websites for SMEs has faced its own challenges such as the lack of funds, organisational readiness, poor ICT skills and expertise, and lack of planning amongst others. Beatty et al., (2001) observed that there were many companies with corporate websites but few who actually obtained business value from them. A drawback to website usefulness includes having too little information regarding the activities of an organisation or having too much information or irrelevant displays that do not add much business value to the SMEs (Thongpapanl & Ashraf, 2011). Payment functionalities were rarely activated due to reasons of security, trust, and lack of credit cards for most individual consumers residing in developing regions of the world (Olatokun & Kebonye, 2010; Cloete et al., 2002).

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Amidst a myriad of websites, it is essential to characterise what an e-commerce website looks like. Several researchers have discussed the quality of websites although different perspectives are represented in what academics and practitioners want (Green & Pearson, 2011). Choudhury & Choudhury (2010) identify thirteen characteristics of e-commerce websites. These are:

1) security, 2) appearance, 3) adequate information about products and services, 4) speed in downloading the pages, 5) navigation friendly, 6) search option/search engine, 7) hyperlinks to other information, 8) information on member facilities, 9) history and profile of the company, 10) ability to obtain information in a limited number of pages instead of browsing several pages, 11) option for providing feedback from customers, 12) visitor statistics, and 13) availability of interactive online activities.

The stated characteristics can assist to characterise SME websites in developing country contexts such as Botswana although some of the described features may not necessarily manifest as above, due to the peculiar and idiosyncratic nature of the SME under consideration. These characteristics have been applied in Chapter five to evaluate the status of SME websites in the study.

In a study of US firms, Hong and Zhu (2006) tested for drivers and inhibitors affecting e- commerce adoption and non-adoption at the migration level. They found that there were three drivers for e-commerce adoption: technology integration, web functionalities and web spending. Amongst the inhibitors to e-commerce adoption, Hong and Zhu (2006) discovered three unexpected findings:

1. that EDI use did not prevent firms from adopting internet-based e-commerce and that firms with EDI were less motivated to adopt new technology as a replacement, 2. that partner usage was found to inhibit e-commerce adoption in firms, and

3. that perceived obstacles did not have significant impact on the adoption.

Hong and Zhu (2006) argue that for e-commerce to be of value, organisations’ websites must have an element of revenue-generating business activities over the Internet. This perhaps has been in response to many organisational websites for small businesses being likened to catalogues (Karakaya and Shea, 2008) meant to just provide information about the company

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and the contact details. However, allowing credit card payments through organisational websites has been a key security concern among SMEs (Molla & Licker, 2005a), and requires a lot of re-organisation in the operation of internal business processes (Humphrey et al., 2003). Many SME websites especially in developing countries have been designed to offer information about the company, and the products and services that they offer, and nothing more (Uzoka et al., 2007).

In a longitudinal study of B2C e-commerce adoption decisions, Rodriguez-Ardura & Meseguer-Artola, (2010) argue that understanding e-commerce issues is still a challenge even in developed countries. Using an integrative approach to analyse influence of environmental, technological, and organisational factors over a long period of time, the authors claim to be able to determine B2C e-commerce adoption factors holistically. Their findings indicate that key factors enabling e-commerce adoption are derived from the development or enrichment of the consumers’ consumption patterns, the technological readiness of the market forces, the firm’s global scope, and its competences in continuously innovating.

The growth and application of B2C e-commerce have been motivated by several consumers who can access Internet through PC’s from their homes (Oppenheim & Ward, 2006) or through their mobile devices at any location (Apulu et al., 2011; Bell & Loane, 2010). These developments have begun to show prominence among the working-class in developing countries such as Botswana (Iyanda & Ojo, 2008) although the majority of households are still unable to have access due to other limitations in their local environment.