An empirical investigation of factors affecting e-collaboration diffusion in SMEs

Organizations today operate in a complex, unpredictable, competitive and global business environment. Organizations have responded to these challenges by implementing collaborative supply chain management (SCM) which allows their organizations to gain competitive advantages. E-collaboration implementation is one of the key technologies to facilitate the success of SCM, which allows the integration of business processes and the sharing of information among supply chain members. E-collaboration has been implemented with considerable success in the supply chain by organizations such as Infineon and Wal-Mart. However, these large organizations have more financial and technical resources compared to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Little research on the implementation of e-collaboration has focused on the perspective of SMEs. Furthermore, most studies on e-collaboration implementation have traditionally examined the adoption stage of e-collaboration tools instead of a multi-stage diffusion process of technology. The main objective of this study is to understand the factors that influence the diffusion of e-collaboration in SCM among the SMEs. This study proposes a research model to examine a stage-based e-collaboration diffusion process in SMEs. An integration technology adoption model based on Technological-Organizational-Environmental (TOE) framework, Interorganizational Relationships (IOR), and Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) is proposed and empirically validated.