Abstract
Small and medium enterprises contribute enormously to the economic development of most countries. Their contribution among other things, is seen in creating employment, generating foreign exchange through export involvement and innovation stimulation. Given these contributions, there are continuous efforts to improve the sustainability of the small and medium sized enterprise (SME) sector. One way that SMEs could improve their sustainability is through the adoption of e-commerce. However, most SMEs have been reluctant to implement e-commerce in their operations. To understand this behaviour, more research is necessary. This study examined the motivation for adopting e-commerce among business to business (B2B) small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and the extent to which these influence customer satisfaction and loyalty. Data for this sudy was obtained through an online survey from owners/managers of B2B SMEs and their customers in South Africa and Nigeria. These countries were chosen because they are the economic hub of Africa and have the highest concentration of SMEs on the continent.
Data were collected randomly from 1300 participants out of which 700 were B2B SME owners/managers and 600 were customers selected randomly from the B2B SMEs in South Africa and Nigeria, using a quantitative approach. The reason for the use of two sets of participants is the consequence of the objectives of the study. Thus, the owners or managers were used to generate data for e-commerce adoption among the studied SMEs and the customers were used to generate data for the link between e-commerce adoption and customer satisfaction and subsequent loyalty. The primary statistical method used to assess the validity of the measurement model and test the hypotheses was the partial least squares regression analysis with the aid of structural equation modelling. The outcome of the integrated conceptual model's testing revealed that the model provides a solid explanation for not only the adoption of e-commerce but also that e-commerce adoption enhances customer satisfaction and subsequent customer loyal. Results of the analysis on e-commerce adoption in the overall sample from both countries showed that the technological, organisational and the environmental characteristics are significant predictors of e-commerce adoption among the studied B2B SMEs in Nigeria and South Africa as they emerged as salient drivers that influence e-commerce adoption between the participating B2B SMEs.
However, in the country-specific samples, the results of the multi-group analyses showed that
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different contextual factors influence the adoption of e-commerce by the Nigerian and South African SMEs. Nevertheless, analysis on the data for customer satisfaction from both contries revealed that the results were the same. The study thus established that the same factors are responsible for both customer satisfaction and loyalty in relation to ecommerce adoption in Nigerian and South African B2B SMEs.
While the TOE and DOI models have been shown in the study as essential drivers of e-commerce adoption decisions by B2B SMEs in Nigeria and South Africa, the results also establish that e-commerce adoption greatly influences customer satisfaction and loyalty. The findings of this study, therefore, does not only have wider implications on e-commerce adpotion but also that e-commerce adoption is a key determinant of customer satisfaction. In this vein, operators of B2B SMEs in the sampled countries are required to be more enthusiastic and make concerted efforts towards e-commerce adoption, and where necessary, make room for flexibility in every aspect of their operations to keep abreast with prevailing Information technology (IT) innovations for enhanced customer satisfaction and loyalty. These findings also serve to add to the literature on the emerging body of knowledge about adopting e-commerce from the perspective of B2B SMEs in developing countries.