The rapid expansion and adoption of the Internet throughout the entire world,
increased purchasing power and huge market of developing countries, and recent
extensive movement of globalization create enormous opportunities for E-Commerce
(EC) to diffuse throughout the whole world. From this perspective, it is a challenging
and burning issue for market researchers to conceptualize the proliferation and
globalization of Information and communication Technology (ICT) and EC, for
both consumers and countries, and also from a global perspective. Diffusion of the
Internet has made a revolutionary change in the methodology of operating business.
Therefore, it is both an interesting and challenging issue to address, explore,
and conceptualize proliferation of EC and also adoption, cultural resistance, and
evolution for global consumers. This book is designed to conceptualize the functions,
proliferation, diffusion, cultural resistance, and impact of EC on the global
economy. The book is engaged in addressing the adoption of and cultural resistance
to Business-to-Consumer (B2C) EC of global consumers. Therefore, mentioning
E-Commerce (EC) will signify and mean B2C E-Commerce in this book unless it is
mentioned otherwise. However, some significant relevance of Business-to-Business
(B2B) E-Commerce and E-government (EG) will also be investigated and revealed
in a comparative and comprehensive manner in this book. The overall mission of
this book reflects the contemporary issues of EC in a comprehensive manner and is
engaged in providing basic paradigms, concepts and understandings of EC proliferation
and globalization, plausible resistances and barriers due to socio-economical
and cultural differences, religious beliefs, availability of resources, education and
training, and government controls between developed and developing countries, and
their impact on the future international market economy. By nature, practice, and
method of proliferation, EC is inherently global. Nevertheless, its present adoption,
operation, and proliferation are basically limited in developed countries to highly
technology-oriented people. Therefore, for true globalization of EC, its adoption,
usage, proliferation, and barriers in economically, culturally, and technologically
diverged countries need clear understanding. We aim to address these issues and
develop sequentially the paradigms and theoretical framework of scope and barriers
of diffusion of Internet-based economy in different segmented markets, especially in
the developing countries. We also provide an integrated view of EC diffusion from
developed to developing countries and comprehensive concepts of the standardized
market of globalized EC in this book. The book also organizes inference to understand
differences in the adoption and usage criteria of EC between developed and
developing countries in organizational, financial, market, and consumer aspects.
To conceptualize the aforementioned concepts and ideas, the book shall fulfill the
following objectives:
1. To address and discuss concepts and theories relevant to consumers’ behavioral
intentions, trust disposition attitude, purchase behavior, cultural differences,
technology acceptance attitude, and adoption and proliferation of ICT
2. To provide an understanding of the necessity for EC proliferation from a
globalization perspective
3. To identify the present condition, intentions, and fundamental capabilities of
different segmented countries to adopt EC, possible barriers and resistance
from socio-economical and cultural aspects, and its impact on the globalization
of EC and the international market economy
4. To conceptualize multilevel factors affecting adoption, usage, and proliferation
of EC among consumers of different segmented countries and to provide
inference to understand the differences between developed and developing
countries from this perspective
5. To explore, identify, and organize global issues and policies related to the diffusion
of ICT and public and private organizational and market implications
on both a macro and micro level for diffusion of ICT throughout the world
through the emerging movement of globalization
These objectives are explored using ICT, marketing, service quality, organizational
reformation, and globalization theories and related discourses. Addressing
culture and its impact on certain apparently non-stoppable technology diffusion
trends is always a challenging issue. This challenge imports more vulnerable debates
when it is associated with international market economy, digital divide, and
the burning issue of globalization. We, therefore, very much careful to address the
debates, bypass them, and raise the debates in pertaining proliferation of EC and
its semantic effect on pragmatic market economy.
The proliferation and globalization of EC throughout the world, the barriers
due to socio-economical, cultural, and political factors, and the impact on future
international market economy are recent areas for practitioners, researchers, and
policymakers to address, investigate, and conceptualize. Only recently a few practitioners
and researchers have started to explore this issue of EC diffusion in difxiii
ferent segmented countries which is anticipated to provide enormous opportunities
for the 21st Century. National and international policymakers are also starting to
analyze different aspects of this issue through different globalization paradigms. As
a result, only a few conference and journal papers as well as technical and policy
recommendation reports have been published in this area. As far as it is known,
there are no books yet published specifically related to this burning issue of the
contemporary international market. As a result, at present, practitioners, academics,
and policymakers who are searching for information in this issue, have to spend a lot
of time and effort identifying, gathering, and synthesizing literature from different
fields. Therefore, this book will have significant implications and will contribute
potential advantages to the existing literature. We organize the book to impart to
readers the necessary background information, concepts, and strategies to build the
paradigms and fundamental discourses of globalization of EC. Then we discuss the
principal issues of Internet economy related to scope and barriers for proliferation
of EC globally and develop theoretical concepts of the pertaining effects of these
diverged phenomena on the international market economy.
The book contains four sections to provide, address, and explore four broad
fields of issues of EC proliferation. The first division discusses background and
general concepts related to EC as a global phenomenon. The second division explains
perceived service qualities and the strategic quality management practice of
EC for globalization. The third division conceptualizes EC adoption criteria, the
effect of diffusion and resistance, and the impact of ICT proliferation with particular
attention to developing countries. In this connection, this division also provides a
precise description of E-Government to conceptualize one of the major applications
of online systems in the public sector to encapsulate the digital divide as the irresistible
and undeniable force of ICT proliferation in developing countries. The fourth
division illustrates explicit paradigms of EC globalization and cultural adaptation in
developed and developing countries. This division also includes conclusion, future
trends, and detailed implications of the revealed paradigms. The four divisions are
again divided into 13 independent but sequential parts, called chapters. Each chapter
consists of a few sections and sub-sections. Excluding these regular sections
and sub-sections, abstract and a list of references are also included in each chapter.
In this book, we sequentially address the main issues and concepts of technology
diffusion, E-Commerce present status in developed countries and proliferation in
developing countries, socio-economic and cultural aspects as scope and barriers for
this proliferation and its impact on the international market economy and globalization.
This book intertwines different issues, as mentioned before, as a comprehensive
concept to present a holistic perspective of the future Internet market economy. A
brief description of each division, chapter, and section is provided below.
To conceptualize functions, proliferation, diffusion, cultural resistance, and impact
on the global economy of EC, we would like to address and explain some related
issues, concepts, and paradigms of EC as a global phenomenon at the beginning. The
first division of this book presents a general introduction and the related concepts
of E-Commerce. This division has two chapters to integrate those issues.
The first chapter is the general introduction part of this book. It addresses the
background of the topic, its origin and global aspects. It has three sections to deal
with the above-mentioned ideas.
Chapter II deals with the concepts of EC and its related issues in a global context.
This chapter consists of three sections with sub-sections. It includes an introduction
to EC and describes the evolution of one of its basic components, that is, the
Internet. Then this chapter sheds light on the definition, classification, distinct characteristics,
proliferation, adoption, globalization, and management issues related to
EC. This chapter also briefly explains the concepts of M-Commerce, an emerging
issue of the present market which is a subset of EC and E-Government (EG) which
is conceptually very close to EC.
The second division explains the distinct characteristics of EC to conceptualize
service quality of EC for global consumers and expands its scope to illustrate
strategic quality management practice. This division has two chapters.
When we conjecture that EC is inherently global, global consumers’ perception
of service quality, grounded on cultural and social diversity, is a potential criterion
to be addressed and analyzed. Chapter III of the book is designed to impart some
general ideas about expectation and performance of different service quality attributes
for B2C EC, as revealed by different researchers. This chapter is divided into
five sections with Section II further split into subsections.
Implementation of quality management practice in EC is a relatively new and
challenging area to researchers and management authorities. The proliferation of
EC provides an opportunity for quality management practitioners to conceptualize
quality dimensions suitable for globalization of EC. Chapter IV focuses on the quality
dimensions required for launching a successful global EC. Implementation of
quality management principles and practice in an EC context is a new theme which
needs extensive research in the future. This chapter is divided into five sections with
Section III divided into subsections.
The success of technology acceptance and successive diffusion is heavily dependent
on the adoption capability, the way it is diffused in private and public sectors,
and how it is adopted by the adopters. Diffusion of EC has multi-dimensional
aspects, and the process of diffusion is controlled by cultural diversity. Division III
is concentrated on the issues related to diffusion and adoption of EC and the impact
and resistance of proliferation globally. This division has five chapters.
Chapter V addresses, reveals, and reshapes different aspects of diffusion of
EC. The whole chapter is divided into six sections. Our fundamental efforts in this
chapter are designated to developing epistemological and ontological paradigms of
diffusion of EC which would contribute to form the desired framework of critical
factors of EC diffusion.
Drawing inference from the proposed EC diffusion framework in Chapter V, we
aim to investigate, identify, and illustrate the overall condition of some developed
and developing countries in terms of diffusion of EC in Chapter VI. In this chapter,
we have viewed some cases of diffusion of EC in the light of the theoretical framework
as revealed in Chapter V. We have divided this chapter into two sections with
Section II further divided into subsections.
Chapter VII is aimed at providing a fundamental conceptual framework for adoption
of EC by the consumers of developing countries. This chapter is divided into
five sections. After the introduction section, Chapter VII addresses and discusses
the existing literature to get a deep insight into the adoption criteria of EC. Then
it explains the adoption process and develops a theoretical framework for factors
enabling adoption of EC among consumers of developing countries. Finally, a
conclusion is drawn.
Chapter VIII is also designed to reveal adoption factors of Internet and EC
technologies. However, it is focused on Maritime Canada’s SMEs (small- and
medium-sized enterprises). This study intends to examine the impact of relevant
factors on the acceptance of Internet and E-business technologies in SMEs based
in a region of the country with relatively poor indicators. The study draws upon a
theoretical framework in the information system (IS) literature and other relevant
insights in discussing the topic. Based on the research hypotheses, an empirical
study is conducted. Then through proper statistical analysis, the discussions and
conclusion of the study are presented with managerial implications. The chapter
has six sections with subsections.
Chapter IX of the book explores and illustrates the overall impact of the Internet
economy among developing countries. We have not focused on developed countries,
because the positive effect of ICT on developed countries is quite obvious, and developed
countries have already utilized and are also capitalizing on full features of
ICT in the Internet economy by launching E-Government (EG) in the public sector
and also guiding EC in the private sector. However, developing countries are at the
preliminary stage in this context, so it is a challenging issue to address and evaluate
the impact of proliferation of the Internet economy on the developing countries for
the sake of globalization. This chapter is divided into six sections to conceptualize
the purpose of proliferation of the Internet economy, possible barriers, different
outcomes of the effect of this proliferation and barriers, and theoretical paradigms
of the impact of the Internet economy.
Division IV is designed to provide detailed theoretical explanations of issues
related to globalization of EC both for developed and developing countries by
shedding in-depth light on cultural adaptation capability. Evidences of findings
are also provided by some case studies. This division has four chapters including a
conclusive chapter which precisely comprehends the theoretical light of this book
with anticipating future trends and implications of the findings.
As one of the most topical issues, proliferation of EC and globalization has
substantially captured the attention of practitioners, academicians, policy makers,
and readers, and this has led to the development of a new theoretical framework to
encompass the globalization strategies of EC. In Chapter IX, we provide a theoretical
framework as the globalization strategy for EC. This chapter is divided into six
sections to explain the related concepts of EC globalization, issues of globalization,
existing literature of globalization of Internet economy, and globalization framework
with a conclusion.
The continuing growth in global online markets necessitates companies to attract
international consumers and motivate online transactions. Marketers are faced with
the question of whether to culturally adapt their web sites or launch standardized
global web sites. To conceptualize this issue, Chapter XI provides an insight as to
whether the Web is a culturally neutral medium of communication or a medium
impregnated with cultural values. Most marketers equate their ability to tap into the
global online market by simply creating multilingual international Web sites. This
chapter shows that effective international web presence is not just about translating
a Web site into a local language. A truly localized Web site is one that is linguistically,
technically and, most importantly, culturally customized to locale-specific
requirements. This chapter has six sections which sequentially describe localization
and cultural customization of Web sites with conclusive remarks.
The aim of Chapter XII is to provide deep insights into the cultural adaptation
of EC Web sites. This chapter deals with the same issues as Chapter XI; however,
it includes a more rigorous view of the cultural impact on globalization of EC. This
chapter has six sections with sub-sections to discuss the introduction to the issue,
literature review, and development of a theoretical framework, examples of good and
bad practices in Web site localization, conclusion, and marketing implications.
Chapter XIII is designed to comprehend and integrate the epistemological and
ontological paradigms of EC developed in this book through an extensive literature
review, case studies, and the theoretical concepts of psychology, sociology, service,
organization, marketing, international business, culture, and information technology
as the conclusion. Then this chapter explains the implications of the findings of this
book and anticipates future trends of EC as a global phenomenon. This chapter is
divided into four sections to present the introduction, conclusion, implications, and
future trends with a research direction.
This book provides exhaustive coverage on EC proliferation and globalization
issues as well as cultural adoption and barriers in this connection. The authors
hope that this will provide a significant contribution to the area of online systems
proliferation in general and, specifically, to the adoption, diffusion, and cultural
resistance of EC amongst global consumers.
However, in order to make further research progress and improvements in the
area of adoption, diffusion, resistance, and cultural evolution of EC, we would like
to welcome feedback and comments about this book from the readers. Comments
and constructive suggestions can be sent to us care of IGI Global at the address
provided at the beginning of the book.