The Use of E-Business in Agribusiness: Investigating the Influence of E-Readiness and OTE Factors

AbstractAbstractThis study explores antecedents to sector based e-business use. Sectoral e-business studies are valuable to understand the absorption of e-business in different economic sectors, the specific challenges of using e-business across different sectors and the potential of different sectors to integrate into the global digital value chain. Drawing from the perceived e-readiness model (PERM) and the Organizational, Technological and Environmental (OTE) framework, an integrated e-business use model is proposed. Data were collected from a survey of firms in the horticulture sector in Australia. Empirical analysis of the integrated model show that e-business use within the horticulture sector is at the initial state of maturity. In terms of the antecedent factors, this research shows that technology competence, financial commitment, perceived environmental e-readiness and organizational size are influential factors that directly affect e-business use. Perceived organizational e-readiness has an indirect influence on e-business use. The implications of these findings to both global IT management and e-business research are discussed. Practitioners such as governments, horticulture associations, growers and growers associations and digital marketplace operators, through understanding these factors affecting e-business use, can make effective decisions to develop their support, capabilities and offerings respectively.KEYWORDS: E-Business UseTOEE-ReadinessAgribusinessHorticulture Additional informationNotes on contributorsAlemayehu MollaAlemayehu Molla is an Associate Professor, School of Business IT, RMIT University. He holds a Bachelor degree in management, a Master degree in information science, and a PhD in information systems. He researches in the areas of Green IT, digital business, and development informatics with more than 80 publications including in the European Journal of Information Systems, International Journal of E-commerce, Journal of E-commerce Research, Information & Management, Internet Research, and The Information Society Journal.Konrad PeszynskiKonrad Peszynski is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Business Information Technology at RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia. Dr Peszynski obtained his PhD in 2006 exploring the role of power and politics in system selection and implementation. His specific research interests currently include supply chain management and associated green technologies, e-business, e-procurement and the social aspects of information.Siddhi PittayachawanSiddhi Pittayachawan is a lecturer in the School of Business Information Technology, RMIT University. He earned his PhD addressing trust issues in B2C e- commerce. His research interests are trust, online shopping, service science, management, and engineering and Green information systems. He specialises in quantitative research methodology, measurement, and statistics.