Suppliers’ behavior on the post-adoption stage of business-to-business e-reverse auctions: An empirical study

Reverse e-auctions are increasingly being used as an alternative business-to-business e-procurement model to exchange products and services among enterprises. Despite their high interest from the academic community, there has been limited empirical study focusing on their post-adoption stage. Based on extant literature dealing with their e-business model and building on emerging concepts in B2B e-commerce, this paper intends to investigate the impact of various factors on suppliers’ level of use of e-reverse auctions by examining their internal and external environment. A relevant conceptual framework is developed and examined on data collected from 60 supplying firms that currently utilize e-reverse auctions. These are analyzed through factor analysis and multiple discriminant analysis. Findings show that firms get influenced to a greater extent by their top management strategic practices and competitors’ business actions. The results also provide interesting insights and useful hints to both researchers and practitioners.

► A conceptual framework on the unexplored post-adoption stage of B2B e-RAs is developed.
► Internal and external factors affecting suppliers’ level of e-RAs use are examined.
► Top management strategic support is regarded as the most important factor.
► Partners’ pressure has no impact on suppliers’ behavior in e-RAs.
► Both internal and external factors, as categories, impact on the level of e-RAs use.