E Commerce

It is generally believed that Business to‐Consumer (B2C) e‐commerce will help firms to improve
productivity to the global market both in developing and developed countries. This study
examines the extent of B2C websites communication differentiation on cultural ground. Through
a content analysis, Hofstede's and Hall's cultural factors were examined in 64 B2C e‐commerce
websites of Pakistan and Australia. To test for the difference an independent samples t‐test was
conducted. The results show that B2C websites somehow reflects the cultural environment that
surrounds the online buyers. It appears that to influence online buyers to purchase, firms need
to develop culturally adapted websites. This study provides some indications that the cultural
trend in B2C websites is providing opportunities to business firms to make changes to their
market strategies to better trigger their online sale by targeting two different cultures.
The purpose of this study is to identify enablers of and barriers to E‐Commerce in Tanzanian
small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Tanzania is classified as a least developed country
(LDC) and has received relatively little research attention with respect to E‐Commerce in the
SME sector. The study is qualitative in nature and a set of semi‐structured interviews were used
to collect data. 32 SMEs were interviewed. A thematic analysis approach was used for reporting
SME's experiences, perspectives, and meanings, whilst examining the ways in which events,
realities, meanings, and experiences come about. The study unearthed contextual
understanding of E‐Commerce and the challenges faced by Tanzanian SMEs. Factors
perceived to be conducive for E‐Commerce, include the availability of business resources,
specifically business relationships with ICT foreign companies; top management support; the
use of mobile technology for interactive and transactive purposes with consumers and suppliers;
and the strategic use of mobile phones to avoid ICT‐related challenges such as those
associated with fixed line telephone and Internet‐enabled desktop computing
Building trust and understanding their relationship with consumer online purchasing decisions is
important to business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce firms seeking to extend their reach to
consumers globally. This study addresses the gap in the knowledge about this relationship by
studying the cognitive and affective responses of consumers towards a B2C e-commerce
website. Based on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S–O–R) model, this study examines the
moderating role of individual consumer culture on the relationship between web design (website
accessibility, visual appearance (colour and images) and social networking services), consumer
behaviour (religiosity), privacy, security, emotions (fear and joy) and interpersonal trust (iTrust),
cognitive and affect-based trust concerning online purchasing intentions. The motivation of this
study includes testing and comparing individual consumer cultural values (individualism and
uncertainty avoidance) difference moderators in proposed multi-perspective model of online
interpersonal trust (iTrust) across two different societies (Australia and Pakistan). This research
applied a quantitative methodology and a cross-sectional survey design approach. In order to
empirically test the research model, surveys were conducted in Pakistan and Australia. A total
of 270 participants from Pakistan and 255 from Australia responded to the survey. The data of
the survey were analysed with the SEM-Partial Least Square (PLS) approach using SmartPLS
3.0. The results of the analysis generated mixed findings. It was found that depending on the
stimulus (S) towards which a reaction is made provides a signal regarding the cognitive and
affect-based trust (Organism) of B2C e-commerce website, which influence consumers
purchase intentions (Response) at the individual level across culture. The results of this study
highlight the need to consider individual consumer level cultural differences when identifying the
 E Commerce
mix of e-commerce strategies to employ in B2C websites, not only at the country level but also
in culturally diverse country such as Australia.