TY - JOUR
T1 - Supply-side hurdles in internet B2C e-commerce
T2 - An empirical investigation
AU - Cheung, Michael Tow
AU - Liao, Ziqi
N1 - Funding Information:
Manuscript received October 18, 2001; revised April 19, 2002. This work was supported by the Hong Kong Baptist University under Research Grant FRG/99-00/II-26. M. T. Cheung is with the School of Economics and Finance, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong (e-mail: [email protected]). Z. Liao is with the Department of Finance and Decision Science, Hong Kong Baptist University, Kowloon, Hong Kong (e-mail: [email protected]). Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TEM.2003.819649
PY - 2003/11
Y1 - 2003/11
N2 - Given Hong Kong's special circumstances of small physical size, advanced infrastructure, and low shopping cost, a survey is designed under which supply-side problems in Internet business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce are indirectly revealed by responses on the demand side. Difficulties arising from the reluctance to answer questionnaires on the part of e-firms wary about trade and innovation secrets and their small number at the outset are thereby overcome. Survey data on demand-side obstacle factors in the form of perceived low e-shopping comparability, e-shopping inconvenience, e-transaction insecurity, and poor Internet privacy, together with orientation toward social interaction and low awareness on the part of consumers, translate into information on notionally matching supply-side hurdles. Regression analysis and hypothesis testing indicate statistical significance for the above hurdle factors in terms of impact on individual unwillingness to shop online. These results add to the inductive basis for future research into a general demand-supply theory of Internet B2C e-commerce and offer an empirically-grounded position against which the effects of later supply-side changes can be evaluated. Useful information also follows for engineer-managers seeking to compare marginal improvements in supply-side problems, particularly in the form of estimated substitution ratios.
AB - Given Hong Kong's special circumstances of small physical size, advanced infrastructure, and low shopping cost, a survey is designed under which supply-side problems in Internet business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce are indirectly revealed by responses on the demand side. Difficulties arising from the reluctance to answer questionnaires on the part of e-firms wary about trade and innovation secrets and their small number at the outset are thereby overcome. Survey data on demand-side obstacle factors in the form of perceived low e-shopping comparability, e-shopping inconvenience, e-transaction insecurity, and poor Internet privacy, together with orientation toward social interaction and low awareness on the part of consumers, translate into information on notionally matching supply-side hurdles. Regression analysis and hypothesis testing indicate statistical significance for the above hurdle factors in terms of impact on individual unwillingness to shop online. These results add to the inductive basis for future research into a general demand-supply theory of Internet B2C e-commerce and offer an empirically-grounded position against which the effects of later supply-side changes can be evaluated. Useful information also follows for engineer-managers seeking to compare marginal improvements in supply-side problems, particularly in the form of estimated substitution ratios.
KW - Consumer perceptions
KW - Demand-side obstacle factors
KW - Empirical results
KW - Internet business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce
KW - Notionally matching supply-side hurdles
KW - Thought-experiment-based survey
KW - Unwillingness to e-shop
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0442311250&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TEM.2003.819649
DO - 10.1109/TEM.2003.819649
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:0442311250
SN - 0018-9391
VL - 50
SP - 458
EP - 469
JO - IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
JF - IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management
IS - 4
ER -