Electronic Commerce - Role of Ecommerce in a Social Environment

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Sociopolitical barriers. Sociopolitical barriers can be explained in terms of formal and informal institutions. For instance, in Asia, personal relationships are important in businesses and anonymous online relationships threaten established interpersonal networks that have already been established and have a strong foothold in place. E-commerce is hindered whenever there is a preference for personal face-to-face communications over e-mails and precedence of established relationships over the Internet’s inter-personal efficiency. (Kshtetri, 2008)

Political barriers are applied in an organized way by formally appointed groups. Many countries lack laws that provide legal validity of digital and electronic signatures. Some countries treat Information and Communications Technology (ICT) products as luxury items and impose import duty, surtax, value added tax, sales tax, etc. (Kshtetri, 2008)

Legal barriers are among major hindrances to e-commerce in some countries. Countries that have a very low e-commerce adoption rate are known to have government regulations such as concern about privacy and security, lack of business laws for e-commerce, inadequate legal protection for Internet purchases and concern over Internet taxation. (Kshtetri, 2008)

Cognitive barriers. Cognitive factors are related to individuals and organizational decision makers. Many effects such as inadequate awareness, knowledge, skills, and confidence are deciding factors in whether and how ecommerce is used. The human, business, and technological resources of an organization coupled with a lack of awareness and understanding of potential opportunities, risk aversion and inertia often lead to a negative cognitive assessment of e-commerce. Consumers’ lack of awareness and knowledge of ecommerce benefits and their lack of confidence in service providers are also huge hindrances to e-commerce. Another element that comes under cognitive barriers is general and computer illiteracy and a lack of English language skills. Familiarity with and basic competence in the use of computers and networks like the Internet are necessary for involvement in electronic commerce and in the digital economy in general. (Wyckoff & Colecchia, 1999)

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References

Kwahk, K. Y., & Ge, X. (2012, January). The effects of social media on E-commerce: A perspective of social impact theory. In System Science (HICSS), 2012 45th Hawaii International Conference on (pp. 1814-1823). IEEE.

Kshetri, Nir. "Barriers to e-commerce and competitive business models in developing countries: A case study." Electronic commerce research and applications 6.4 (2008): 443-452.

Porter, M. and Millar, V. (1985). How information gives you competitive advantage. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved from http://www.palgrave.com/business/beynon-daviesbis2e/about/Chapter8.pdf

Turban, E., King, D., Lee, J., Liang, T. & Turban, D. (2012). Electronic Commerce: Managerial and social networks perspectives. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Wyckoff, A., & Colecchia, A. (1999). The economic and social impact of electronic commerce: Preliminary findings and research agenda. Organization for Economic.