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International Journal of Information Management 26 (2006) 428–441
www.elsevier.com/locate/ijinfomgt
Challenges in the adoption of E-Commerce technologies in
India: The role of organizational factors
Monideepa Tarafdara,Ã, Sanjiv D. Vaidyab
a
College of Business Administration, University of Toledo, 2801 W. Bancroft Street, Mail Stop # 103, Toledo, OH 43606, USA
b
Management Information Systems Group, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Diamond Harbour Road, Joka, P.O. Box 16757,
Alipore Post Office, Kolkata 700027, India
Abstract
Organizations differ significantly in their inclination to deploy E-Commerce (EC) technologies. It is necessary to analyze
the factors that determine the organizational inclination to deploy EC technologies because this would help firms design
appropriate interventions in order to control it. This paper proposes a framework that explains the influence of
organizational factors on the propensity to employ EC technologies. The framework is based on qualitative data on EC
adoption from four firms in the financial services industry in India. It explains why organizations vary in their propensity
to deploy EC technologies, and highlights the role of top management, aspects of organization culture, characteristics of
Information Systems professionals, and organization structure. Overall, the paper provides a structure by which specific
organizational drivers of EC deployment can be analyzed and controlled and relevant managerial issues can be addressed.
r 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
Keywords: Electronic commerce adoption; Developing nations; IS professionals; Organizational factors; Case study
1. Introduction
1.1. Motivation
Many firms in developing countries are in the preliminary stages of the adoption of E-Commerce (EC).1 The
transition of firms in these countries to more sophisticated levels of EC use and adoption depends in part, on
the extent to which they are inclined to use these new technologies for their business. Not all organizations are
equally strongly inclined towards adopting EC (Iacovou, Benbasat, & Dexter, 1995; Mehrtens, Cragg,
& Mills, 2001). Studies (Beatty, Shim, & Jones, 2001; Crook & Kumar, 1998; Iacovou et al., 1995; Payton,
2000; Premkumar, Ramamurthy, & Nilakanta, 1994) have suggested that the extent of EC adoption depends
on the attitude of the organization towards EC technologies and the inclination or the propensity to deploy
and use them. These findings have parallels in studies on the individual acceptance of technology (Davis,
ÃCorresponding author. Tel.: +1 419 530 2442; fax: +1 419 530 2290.
E-mail addresses: monideepa.tarafdar@utoledo.edu (M. Tarafdar), sdvaidya@iimcal.ac.in (S.D. Vaidya).
1
In this paper, E-Commerce has been defined as ‘‘the use of the Internet and other networking technologies for conducting business
transactions’’ (Turban et al., 2004).
0268-4012/$ - see front matter r 2006 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
doi:10.1016/j.ijinfomgt.2006.08.001

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Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989; Venkatesh & Davis, 2000), and the diffusion of innovations in organizations
(Cooper and Zmud, 1990; Rogers, 1995). Understanding of the causal factors behind differences in
organizational inclination towards EC adoption is essential for enabling organizations to assess the extent to
which they are inclined to develop, deploy and use EC. It also gives pointers to possible factors, which can be
controlled in order to alter and manage the extent of this inclination. Existing research does not provide an
analysis of factors that lead to these differences.
This paper examines and identifies factors that determine the organizational inclination for the adoption of
EC, and explains the nature of their influence. It also points towards appropriate management interventions
for managing these factors, so as to increase the organizational inclination towards EC deployment. In doing
so, it provides a framework for identifying and directing relevant issues for managing organizational and
cultural aspects of the EC adoption process.
1.2. Research objectives
We report the results of an exploratory study on EC adoption in four firms based in India. India forms an
interesting context and domain for the study. This is because economic liberalization, initiated in India in the
1990s, has resulted in attempts at overall modernization and information technology (IT) adoption across
industries, as domestic companies have responded to increased competition resulting from a de-regulated
economic environment. At the same time, there is a relative lack of familiarity with, and confidence in IT,
among organizations. Reliable IT infrastructure is also largely absent. Organizations in India have
encountered organizational and cultural problems during the adoption and implementation of new IT in
general (Dasgupta, Agarawal, Ioannidis, & Gopalakrishnan, 1999). As a result, all firms are not positively
inclined towards the adoption of EC technologies and many are wary of taking the first steps towards
introducing them.
We addressed the following research questions.
1. What are the organizational factors that determine the extent to which organizations in India are inclined
towards developing EC technologies?
2. How do these factors, individually and together, influence the inclination to use such technologies?
Given the motivation for our research and the emergent nature of the problem domain, we adopted a
qualitative, multiple case study based research method (Yin, 2003; Lee, 1989). The rest of the paper is
structured as follows. Section 2 contains a description of the literature. Section 3 describes details of the
research design, data collection and analysis. Sections 4 and 5 present the results of the study, and the
framework that was developed. Section 6 concludes with a discussion of the contributions and implications for
further research.
2. Literature survey
All organizations are not equally inclined to develop and deploy new IT. The adoption of new IT
applications is influenced largely by factors related to overall organizational attitudes and culture (Cooper &
Zmud, 1990). Ginsberg & Venkatraman (1992) have suggested that different managers and organizations
adopt different attitudes towards IT, depending on its perceived usefulness in the context of their work, and on
organizational norms regarding the acceptance of new IT. Similar findings have been reported in the literature
on EC adoption. Iacovou et al. (1995) and Crook and Kumar (1998) suggest that organizations may be
differently inclined towards EC adoption. The literature identifies two broad aspects, top management and
organization culture, that influence organizational inclination to adopt EC.
2.1. Aspects of organizational leadership—the role of top management
Top management attitudes towards adoption of EC differ across organizations. A proactive approach and
active championship on part of top managers can lead to the adoption of EC systems (Beatty et al., 2001;

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Crook & Kumar, 1998; Grover, 1993; Premkumar & Ramamurthy, 1995). The following characteristics of
leaders help create a positive organizational inclination for EC adoption.
First, leaders can influence the extent of EC adoption by clearly defining the role that they want EC to play.
Premkumar & Roberts (1999) and Payton (2000) have suggested that top management often provides the
initial impetus for the initiation of EC projects. Crook and Kumar (1998) have reported that in organizations
that are proactive and aggressive adopters of EC, leaders play a visible and vocal part in planning for new
systems and specifying desired organizational returns from the adoption of EC.
Second, senior managers play an important part in guiding and completing projects relating to new EC
applications. Support of top management, for new EDI related projects for example (Payton, 2000;
Premkumar & Ramamurthy, 1995), and championship of EC projects (Grover, 1993), has been seen to
encourage organizations to adopt EC.
Third, top management plays a role by providing infrastructure for adoption of new EC technologies.
Grover (1993), Crook and Kumar (1998) and Beatty et al. (2001), suggest that a proactive approach on part of
leaders in providing resources to EC initiatives, positively affects the organization’s inclination to adopt EC.
In this context, top management can help by sponsoring projects, ensuring the availability of technical and
human resources and eliminating unnecessary bureaucratic procedures (Kempis & Ringbeck, 1998).
2.2. Aspects of organization culture
Studies suggest that the core values of a firm can predispose it towards a particular strategic alternative or
technology (Pettigrew, 1979; Van de Ven, 1986). Similar findings have emerged with respect to organizational
inclination to adopt EC. Payton (2000) suggests that end user support and political issues play an important
role in determining the organizational inclination to adopt EC. There are two aspects of organization culture
that can influence the propensity to adopt EC.
First, managers’ exposure to EC technology, through interactions with vendors and professional associations
increases their awareness and understanding of it. This has a positive influence on their inclination to consider
new IT, as reported by Nambisan (1999). Iacovou et al. (1995) and Mehrtens et al. (2001) report that the existing
level of sophistication of IT usage influences the inclination for EC adoption. Organizational IT capabilities,
technical knowledge and skills (Mehrtens et al., 2001; Slywotzky, 2000) and IT sophistication (Chwelos,
Benbasat, & Dexter, 2001) increase the inclination to adopt different EC technologies. While Mehrtens et al.
(2001) and Crook and Kumar (1998) report that the level of IT knowledge among functional managers and end
users determines the extent to which the organization would be inclined to adopt EC, Chircu and Kauffman
(2000) have found that inability to acquire skill and expertise in new technologies, and a lack of training and
education form significant barriers to the adoption of EC systems.
Second, some organizations have cultures that support discussion of new and innovative ideas related to IT.
This has a positive influence on the ability and inclination of managers to develop and adopt applications with
new technology. Hoffman and Klepper (2000) have found that ‘‘sociable cultures’’, where ideas and
innovations with respect to IT are freely shared, can potentially help to strengthen the organizational
inclination towards new IT adoption. IT champions (Beath, 1991) for example, can accelerate the
development and adoption of new technology. A favorable organizational attitude towards systems
innovation increases the adoption of EC technologies (Iacovou et al., 1995; Mehrtens et al., 2001). It has also
been suggested that the context, need and preference for EC varies across firms. Premkumar et al. (1994),
Premkumar and Ramamurthy (1995) and Chircu and Kauffman (2000) argue that different organizations feel
the need for EC to different extents. Moreover, EC technologies which are perceived as being consistent and
compatible with past systems and present needs are more likely to be adopted than those which are not (Beatty
et al., 2001).
The findings of the literature survey have been summarized in Fig. 1. The literature describes two broad
factors that influence organizational inclination towards EC deployment. However, the combined effects of
these factors have not been studied, and the interactions between them have not been understood. For
instance, both top management support and an organizational culture that supports innovation, lead to a
positive attitude towards EC adoption. However, there is no explanation of how EC adoption would be
affected if one of these factors were present, and the other is not. Considering possibilities such as these, the

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Aspects of Organizational Leadership
IS planning and IS role definition
[Crook & Kumar 1998, Premkumar & Roberts 1999, Payton 2000]
Support for new projects
[Scarborough & Lannon 1988, Grover 1993, Premkumar
&Ramamurthy 1995, Payton 2000]
Infrastructure Design
[Grover 1993, Premkumar &Ramamurthy 1995, Kempis & Ringbeck Inclination for adopting EC
1998, Payton 2000] technologies.
[Premkumar et al 1994, Beatty et al 2002,
Aspects of Organizational Characteristics
Chwelos et al 2001, Mehrtens et al 2001,
Iacovou & Benbasat 1995, Crook &
Core values of a firm
Kumar 1998]
[Pettigrew 1979, Van de Ven 1986]
Understanding of Technology
[Iacovou & Benbasat 1995, Crook & Kumar 1998, Nambisan 1999,
Mehrtens et al 2001, Slywotzky 2000, Chircu & Kauffman 2000,
Chwelos et al 2001]
Expression and discussion of IT related innovative ideas
[Scarborough &Lannon 1988, Beath 1991, Grover 1993, Premkumar
et al 1994, 1995, Iacovou & Benbasat 1995, Chircu & Kauffman
2000, Hoffman & Klepper 2000, Mehrtens et al 2001]
Information Technology Champions
[Beath 1991, Grover 1993]
Fig. 1. Literature survey.
objective of this research was to understand in an integrated manner, the effect of different factors on the
organizational inclination to deploy EC technologies.
3. Research design
3.1. Research methodology
Our intent was to explore and analyze the factors that influence the organizational inclination to deploy EC
technologies. A qualitative method of enquiry was adopted in view of the lack of literature and the nature of
the research questions (Strauss & Corbin, 1998; Yin, 2003). Qualitative methods have been productively
applied where there is a need to describe and explain the phenomenon under study (Kerlinger, 2000; Markus,
1997; Yin, 2003). These methods have been used in Information Systems (IS) research, for example, for
explaining processes of technology adoption and studying the use of EC (Crook & Kumar, 1998; Hart &
Saunders, 1997; Iacovou et al., 1995; Majchrzak, Rice, Malhotra, & King, 2000; Trauth, 2001).
Broadly there are two aspects to qualitative research. First, there is the data, which can come from sources
such as interviews, reports and documents, and secondary industry information. Second, there are the
procedures for data analysis that are used to interpret the data. These procedures, collectively known as
‘‘coding’’ (Yin, 2003) consist of identifying conceptual categories from the data and relating them to one
another. We briefly describe these two aspects below.
3.2. Data collection
We used a multiple case study design (Lee, 1989; Yin, 2003) to collect the data. Four firms were selected in
the financial services industry in India, as the sites for this study. It was decided to confine the study to one

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industry, to neutralize cross industry variances such as intensity of competition and product—market
characteristics, and to ensure consistency for purposes of comparison. This was done because we felt that these
factors could also have a bearing on the extent of EC adoption. The financial services industry was chosen as it
provides an appropriate empirical backdrop for studying EC deployment for a number of reasons. First, the
industry was deregulated in the early 1990s, which led to new competition from foreign companies. This
resulted in an increase in industry wide spending on IT, to enhance infrastructure and gain competitive parity.
Second, the information intensity of the financial sector being high, companies in this industry are among the
most sophisticated users of IT in the country. Third, they have also been among the earliest to adopt EC
technologies, particularly in the B2C sector.
The financial services sector in India consists of broadly two kinds of organizations. First, the relatively
‘‘older’’ companies were established before economic liberalization in 1991. Second, there are the ‘‘newer’’
firms that were established after 1991. In general, these two kinds of organizations differ quite clearly in their
organizational characteristics. Those established before 1991 tend to have a more conservative leadership,
unionized employees, and have been slow to adopt EC. Those established after 1991 have a relatively younger
workforce and are often advanced users of IT and EC. We selected two organizations of each kind. The four
companies differed in the extent of EC adoption and provided four different kinds of organizational settings
within which the influence of organizational factors on the inclination to adopt EC technologies was explored.
The specific EC technologies that were included in the study were Internet based banking systems and stock
trading systems. We promised anonymity to these companies. Therefore, we shall refer to them as PioneerCo,
Table 1
Description of companies and interviewees
Organization: Brief description Number of Background of interviewees
interviewees
Pioneer Co 3 1. Executive head of one of the largest regional offices,
PioneerCo was a stock and securities exchange and the who over saw the implementation of EC technologies
largest user of IT in the country, with one of the largest 2. IS chief of the same office who was responsible for
corporate satellite networks in the world. All customer- EC implementation and was in charge of
based transactions were electronically executed and infrastructure and maintenance
existing products were delivered through the EC 3. Junior IS Executive
infrastructure
AdvancedCo 3 1. Executive head of one of the largest regional offices,
AdvancedCo was one of the first privately controlled who over saw the implementation of EC technologies
financial and banking companies to be set up after 2. IS chief of the same office who was responsible for
liberalization of the Indian financial sectors. EC EC implementation and was in charge of
technologies were introduced in its banking operations in infrastructure and maintenance
1999. At the time of the study, more than 50% of the 3. Senior functional executive
institutional customers and 30% of the retail customers
used the Internet to conduct their transactions
LateCo 5 1. Present company CEO
LateCo was one of the oldest financial services 2. Past CEO whose organizational tenure had been 25
companies in the country. At the time of the study, none years
of the crucial processes of the company were based on 3. IS chief who was responsible for IT acquisition and
EC technologies maintenance
4. Junior IS executive
5. Senior functional executive
LaggardCo 4 1. Executive head of one of the largest regional offices
LaggardCo was one of the largest government-controlled 2. IS chief of the same region
(federal) banks in India. The firm had lagged behind 3. Senior functional executive
other firms in the industry, in the deployment of EC 4. Manager of one of the largest branches of the bank
technologies. The company’s crucial processes, although
computerized, did not primarily use the Internet as a
medium for information transfer and exchange

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AdvancedCo, LaggardCo and LateCo. Three or five people were interviewed in each organization. The length
of each interview varied from thirty minutes to an hour. Brief descriptions of each company and the
interviewees have been provided in Table 1.
We collected data from multiple sources. First, we used the literature to develop an interview schedule. We
then interviewed five managers from two firms (other than the firms we studied), for discussions on general
validity of the questions. Based on their suggestions, we modified some of the questions. The interviews with
managers from the four firms were conducted face-to-face by one of the co-authors, and formed the primary
source of data. Although we used the interview schedule to guide our questions, we were open to new findings,
which we expected would emerge. Information about the following was collected.
1. Inclination of the organization to adopt EC technologies, as analyzed by studying existing and planned EC
applications.
2. Characteristics of organizational leaders, with respect to their orientation towards EC deployment.
3. Elements of organization culture and the nature of their influence on EC deployment.
4. Additional factors which could influence the inclination to adopt EC technologies.
5. Possible interactions of the different factors, and their effect on the inclination to adopt EC technologies.
Additionally, the following secondary sources of data were used.
1. Industry data from Center for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) databases, business and technology
press reports and web sites, for information on how the company was externally perceived, in the context of
its use of EC technologies.
2. Documents of configurations of existing and past information systems.
3. Internal administrative records of the companies (minutes of meetings, etc.), to determine the
organizational influences responsible for EC adoption.
3.3. Data analysis
The data was transcribed, and the process of coding (Miles & Huberman, 1994; Strauss & Corbin, 1998;
Yin, 2003) was used for analysis. We used axial coding to identify portions of the data that corresponded to
concepts identified in the literature. These included instances from the data that described aspects of
organizational leadership and culture. Open coding was done to categorize parts that revealed new factors. As
described in Section 5, these included instances of the data that revealed the influence of IS professionals and
the extent of centralization. In the following sections, we describe the findings from the study. We first describe
briefly, the ‘‘within-case’’ analysis (Yin, 2003), that is, the data from each of the four companies. We then
present the ‘‘across case’’ analysis, that is, we describe the different factors that influence the inclination
towards EC adoption, by identifying the major conceptual themes across the cases.
4. Within case analysis—brief description of cases
As described in Table 2, the four companies provided four different kinds of organizational settings within
which the influence of organizational factors on the inclination to adopt EC technologies was explored.
PioneerCo and AdvancedCo were pioneers in their respective sectors, and were among the first to adopt EC
technologies. LaggardCo and LateCo used EC technologies either in a limited way or not at all. These were
among the last in their sectors to adopt these technologies.
4.1. PioneerCo
PioneerCo was one of the most sophisticated users of EC technologies in Asia. Its first EC systems were
installed in 1999, when online connectivity was provided to clients through Internet based electronic links. The
company was the largest user of IT in the country and had one of the largest corporate satellite networks in the

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Table 2
Within case analysis—summary of case study observation
Company Case observations in line with existing theoretical concepts which explain EC adoption New observations which propose a more complete understanding of EC adoption
Characteristics of leadership Specific aspects of the organization culture Characteristics of IS professionals Decision making characteristics Inclination to adopt EC technologies, as
given by existing and planned EC
technologies, in the organization
PioneerCo Enthusiastic about the use of EC Organization as a whole aware of the CIO a central part of the top management Decision-making regarding the Organization a proactive adopter of
technologies. importance of EC in the operations of the team and greatly able to influence the acquisition and deployment of EC.
company. organizational perspective towards EC. EC technologies centralized. More than 80 % of consumer related
Employees enthusiastic about using new CIO an active member of many IS operations carried out through
technologies and processes. professional associations. Internet based B2C distribution
Attempts at innovation with EC. IS managers well integrated with managers channels.
of the other functional areas and had a
good understanding of the business
requirements from EC.
IS professionals were proactive in solving
technical problems of end users.
AdvancedCo Guarded and cautious about the use Organization as a whole appreciative of the Head of IS function (who also supervised Central top management team Fairly widespread adoption of EC.
of EC Technologies. importance of EC. EC initiatives), a member of the top in consultation with the line
Not against their use in principle. Organizational members not very management team. managers took decisions
innovative on their own, as regards the use IS professionals provided innovative regarding the acquisition and
of EC However, they followed the solutions to difficult and important end deployment of EC technologies.
instructions of the IS personnel and did not user problems.
offer any resistance. IS department conducted regular feedback
surveys to find out the requirements of the
user departments and the areas where
training and development was required.
LaggardCo Did not consider the use of EC Active unionized resistance to the adoption Head of the IS function did not have any Decision making regarding the EC technologies not adopted in any
technologies to be strategically important of EC. authority to take decisions relating to EC acquisition and deployment of crucial process.
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for the company. Employees not aware about the strategic acquisition and deployment. EC technologies, taken by the
and operational benefits from the use of IS professionals did not make proactive central top management team,
EC technologies. attempts to convince top management or in consultation with the line
Reluctance to use EC technologies. educate employees about the benefits of managers.
emerging EC technologies. Implementation of new
technology decentralized and
controlled by individual
departments.
LateCo Against the adoption of EC for critical Middle and junior managers indifferent to the Head of IS function did not have the Decision-making regarding the Adoption of IT in crucial processes was
processes. use of EC. authority to influence decisions regarding acquisition and deployment of minimal, only in response to competitive
the acquisition and deployment of EC. EC technologies was imperatives or regulatory pressures.
He was unpopular with other managers, centralized.
and did not have good personal and
M. Tarafdar, S.D. Vaidya / International Journal of Information Management 26 (2006) 428–441
professional relationships with executives
from other departments.
IS professionals did not interact with end
users in other departments.

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world. All customer-based transactions were electronically executed and services were delivered through the
EC infrastructure. PioneerCo was at the forefront of new EC technology acquisition in the industry and
regularly upgraded its infrastructure in line with new technology developments and new product introduction
plans.
The organizational leadership was strongly inclined towards acquisition and deployment of EC
technologies. The CEO was convinced about its strategic impact and necessity and considered the EC
infrastructure to be a central part of the operations of the company. Top management encouraged employees
to be innovative about the use of IT in general and EC in particular. Most employees were professionally
qualified, with degrees in economics and finance. They were keen to learn about the use of new EC
technologies. For instance, line managers had conceived of and influenced the design of a data warehousing
system to store customer data.
The CIO was part of the company’s top management and knew about the use of EC in the financial services
industry, worldwide. There was close interaction between the IS function and the top management, regarding
strategic possibilities of EC applications. Decisions to introduce new products and services were taken by the
central board of directors in consonance with the suggestions of the CIO. IS professionals interacted regularly
with line managers and proactively provided end user support, for maintenance and development projects.
New ideas regarding design, enhancement and maintenance of EC technologies were generated within the IS
department through brainstorming and suggestion box schemes. The IS professionals liked working with new
technologies and were well integrated within the mainstream organization.
4.2. AdvancedCo
AdvancedCo was one of the first privately controlled financial and banking companies to be set up after
liberalization of the Indian economy in the early 1990s. It had made significant investments in IT. The
organization introduced EC technologies in its banking operations in 1999. Initially a website was developed
and used as brochure-ware, to present information about different products and services. Subsequently,
customers could log in and retrieve information about their accounts from the bank database. At the time of
the study, more than half of the institutional customers and a third of the retail customers used the Internet to
conduct their transactions. The company had sophisticated transaction processing and disaster recovery
systems and was among the first Indian banks to introduce Internet banking facilities.
Organizational leaders were favorable towards the introduction of EC technologies. However, they were
wary of making fundamental technology driven changes in their products and processes based on new and
untested technology. EC related decisions were taken centrally by the top management team, based on the
inputs provided by the line managers. The CIO participated in these. At the time of the study, AdvancedCo
had the largest number of Internet customers for any one bank in India, and was planning to get into Internet
based cash management services for its institutional customers. Most functions heavily used IT and many of
the customer interface functions were Internet based. Even though end users—managers and staff—were not
directly involved in IT related innovation, they appreciated the importance of IT and followed instructions
from IS personnel. EC champions were present in middle management and used their role in the IT decision-
making processes to push through EC projects.
The CIO was a member of IS professional associations and was well connected with other CIO’s in the
industry. He was partly instrumental in convincing the top management to offer Internet based banking
services and plan for the required infrastructure. IS professionals were responsible for end user education and
support, maintenance, upgrades. End user feed back mechanisms were used to assess the effectiveness of the IS
department and identify training requirements.
4.3. LateCo
LateCo had a conservative approach towards IT and was strongly inclined against proactively introducing
IT driven changes in its operations. The acquisition of new IT was driven primarily by competitive pressures
and federal regulatory instructions. At the time of the study, none of the crucial processes of the company
were based on EC technologies.

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All IT decisions were centrally taken by a Central Board of Members (CBOM), which was the top
management team. CBOM members were IT averse and strongly against introducing EC driven innovations.
IT planning was executed top down. The general attitude of managers mirrored that of the top management,
in the extreme reluctance to use EC technologies. Employees were resistant to adopting and using IT, and
expressed their displeasure at regulatory requirements, which required the introduction of IT related changes
in crucial processes.
The IS department was headed by the General Manager of Systems and IT, and had four junior executives
and three data entry operators. The General Manager was not a member of the CBOM and did not have any
influence on their EC related decisions. The IS department did not have adequate technical skills and had in
the past, provided incorrect or non-operational solutions to end user problems. Hence they did not have the
confidence of other functional executives.
4.4. LaggardCo
LaggardCo was one of the largest government controlled banks in India. The firm had lagged behind
competitors in the deployment of EC technologies.
Senior managers and policy makers of the firm were professional administrators, bureaucrats and finance
professionals. They were indifferent to the possibilities of EC and a typical reaction was ‘‘We are a large
government bank and most of our customers are in the rural areas. We don’t see the Internet as being very
important for us.’’ IT planning was done centrally by the top management team in consultation with the line
managers and departmental heads. The implementation of IT initiatives was decentralized. More than three
quarters of the employees performed low skilled and clerical tasks. There were powerful employee unions
strongly opposed to the adoption of IT in general and were determined to block the introduction of EC.
Overall, the employees did not have any awareness regarding EC technologies.
The IS department was headed by a senior manager, who reported to the head of the finance function. He
was not an IT professional and did not proactively follow technological developments in the field. He did not
independently take decisions relating to EC deployment and he did not have significant influence on top
management, to be able to change their inclination towards IT. Most IS personnel had earlier worked in other
functions and were subsequently trained to take over the tasks of the IS function such as database
administration and maintenance. They had no formal education in computer hardware or software. They
provided end-user technical support when asked for, but did not proactively interact with end users.
5. Across case analysis—organizational factors that affect the deployment of EC technologies
In this section, we present findings across the four case studies and develop a framework to explain the role
of different organizational factors on EC adoption in Indian organizations. The four case studies have shown
that organizations differ in their inclination for using EC technologies. Some organizations believe that the use
of EC technologies can yield operational and strategic benefits, and hence strongly favor their adoption.
AdvancedCo and PioneerCo are examples of such companies. Others, like LateCo and LaggardCo, are
skeptical about the benefits of EC, and reluctant to deploy them. Such firms typically adopt EC only after
being forced to, by competitive or environmental pressures.
The ‘‘across case’’ analysis showed that there are four factors that influence the organizational inclination
towards deploying EC technologies. Two of these factors, ‘‘Leadership Characteristics’’ and ‘‘Organizational
Characteristics’’ have been mentioned in the literature and were confirmed in our findings as well. They were
analyzed through ‘‘axial coding’’. In addition, we found two more factors, ‘‘Characteristics of Information
Systems Professionals’’ and ‘‘Organization Structure’’ that influenced EC adoption. These were analyzed
through ‘‘open coding’’. The four factors are described below and shown in Table 3 and Fig. 2.
5.1. Leadership characteristics
Organizational leaders influence the adoption of EC technologies by virtue of their formal authority.
Leaders who are well informed about emerging technologies can induce other managers to consider their use.

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Table 3
Across case analysis—summary of leadership characteristics, organization characteristics and the role of IS professionals
Inclination to adopt EC High Fairly high Low Low
Extent of EC adoption Widespread Fairly widespread Minimal adoption Minimal adoption
adoption of EC adoption of EC of EC of EC
Organizational factors influencing EC PioneerCo AdvancedCo LateCo LaggardCo
adoption
Leadership Characteristics
Knowledge about emerging Yes Yes No No
developments in EC
Favorable attitude towards the Yes Yes No No
deployment of EC
Influence in ensuring the availability Yes No No No
of resources
Direct involvement in EC projects Yes No No No
Organizational Characteristics
Awareness and knowledge about EC Yes No No No
technologies amongst managers
Comfort with and enthusiasm for, the Yes Yes No No
use of EC
Existence of EC related innovation No Yes No No
Presence of EC champions No Yes No No
Characteristics of IS Professionals
Frequent interactions with Yes Yes
professional bodies and awareness
about current trends in EC usage
Technical capabilities for developing Yes
and implementing EC solutions
Actively push the deployment of EC Yes
solutions though interactions with top
management and end users
Mediating role of IS Professionals
Reinforcing relationship with top Yes (positive
management (centralized organization) influence on EC
Adoption)
Inhibiting relationship with top Yes (negative
management (centralized organization) influence on EC
Adoption)
Reinforcing relationship with Yes (positive
managers and end users (de-centralized influence on EC
organization) Adoption)
Inhibiting relationship with managers Yes (negative
and end users (de-centralized influence on EC
organization) Adoption)
Leaders who are positively disposed towards EC deployment encourage and support EC-based innovations.
Moreover, top management influence in matters of resource availability ensures that adequate money, time
and human talent are available for the initiation and completion of new EC projects. These aspects were
observed in AdvancedCo and PioneerCo, as shown in Table 3.
5.2. Organizational characteristics
Certain organizational characteristics determine the extent of EC adoption. For instance, awareness and
enthusiasm about emerging EC technologies, comfort with their use on part of managers, and the existence of

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Leadership Characteristics primarily influence the
inclination to adopt EC in centralized
organizations
Leadership Role of IS Professionals
Characteristics
Sound technical capabilities for
maintenance and development of systems
IS Professionals can
influence inclination to
Interaction with the external professional
adopt EC through their Organizational
environment, and strong awareness of
influence on Leadership
Inclination for
emerging technologies and their
Characteristics, in
adopting EC
implications for the business
centralized organizations
technologies
Active efforts to push for EC technology
investments
Organizational Good working relations with top
management. Capability to influence top
Characteristics
management thinking with respect to EC.
IS Professionals can
influence inclination to
High degree of interaction with and
adopt EC through their
influence on, end users, line managers and
influence on
opinion leaders
Organizational
Organizational
Characteristics, in
Characteristics
decentralized Awareness of end user and business
primarily influence
organizations requirements from EC. the inclination to
adopt EC in
decentralized
organizations
Fig. 2. A framework for analyzing the organizational drivers of EC deployment.
EC related experimentation and innovation positively influence EC adoption. So does the presence of EC
champions. EC champions are powerful individuals with high credibility who promote the use of EC, exercise
positive influence in the choice, evaluation and approval of EC projects, and help ensure the availability of
resources for EC projects. These aspects were found in PioneerCo and AdvancedCo, as shown in Table 3.
5.3. Characteristics of Information Systems (IS) professionals
The third factor that influences EC adoption relates to the characteristics of the IS professionals. The
following conditions demonstrate the role of IS professionals.
1. IS professionals interact frequently with external organizations and professional affiliates, and understand
emerging EC technologies, and their applicability for the business. This condition was observed in
AdvancedCo and PioneerCo.
2. They are technically capable or developing EC solutions in the context of the business and providing end
user support. This was observed in AdvancedCo.
3. IS professionals are convinced about the usefulness of EC for the business and can educate organizational
leaders, end users, opinion makers and other powerful people about the same. They actively push for
investments in new applications. This was found in AdvancedCo.
5.4. The influence of organization structure
The relative levels of influence of Leadership Characteristics and Organizational Characteristics on the
inclination to adopt EC depend on the centralization and decentralization of organization structure as
explained below.

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5.4.1. Centralized organizations and leadership characteristics
The extent to which Leadership Characteristics influences EC adoption inclination depends on the degree of
centralization. Leadership Characteristics is therefore the primary determinant of EC adoption inclination in
centralized organizations. Centralized organizations where Leadership Characteristics is favorable are likely
to have a strong positive inclination for adopting EC technologies. This was observed in PioneerCo and to
some extent, in AdvancedCo. Similarly if Leadership Characteristics is not favorable in centralized
organizations, EC adoption is expected to be low. This was observed in LateCo.
5.4.2. De-centralized organizations and organizational characteristics
In a similar way, Organizational Characteristics predominantly influences EC adoption in de-centralized
organizations. That is, if decision-making is de-centralized and Organizational Characteristics is favorable, the
inclination to adopt EC is high. This was observed in AdvancedCo. Conversely, if end users and line managers
in a decentralized organization are not favorably oriented towards the adoption of EC, then EC adoption is
likely to be low, as was observed in LaggardCo.
5.4.3. The mediating role of IS professionals
IS professionals play a mediating role in influencing EC adoption. The nature of the mediation depends on
the organization structure.
In centralized organizations, IS professionals can influence EC adoption, through their influence on top
management. If mutual relations are friendly and accompanied by exchange of ideas, IS professionals can
influence leadership attitudes about EC adoption. Therefore in centralized organizations, if IS professionals
are proactive about EC adoption and there is close interaction between the IS professionals and the top
management, then unfavorable attitudes of organizational leaders be changed to favorable ones, over time.
This was observed in PioneerCo. Conversely, in LateCo, which was also a centralized organization, leadership
attitudes towards EC adoption were largely unfavorable. Characteristics of IS professionals was also not
favorable. Further, there was no interaction between IS professionals and the top management. Hence IS
professionals did not have any significant influence on top management attitudes towards EC. EC adoption
therefore remained low.
In decentralized organizations, IS professionals can influence line managers to consider the adoption of EC
technologies, where there is a high degree of interaction between IS professionals and line managers. Therefore
in decentralized organizations, if IS professionals are proactive about EC adoption and there is close
interaction between them and end users, then unfavorable attitudes of functional executives and line managers
can be changed to favorable ones, over time. This was observed in AdvancedCo where interactions with IS
professionals convinced line managers about the benefits of EC technologies and hence helped increase EC
adoption. Conversely, in LaggardCo, the IS department was indifferent towards EC adoption and there was
not much interaction between IS professionals and line managers. Hence IS professionals could not alter the
unfavorable aspects of organization culture. Therefore EC adoption remained low.
6. Discussion
In this section, we first describe managerial implications from this study. We then mention the contributions
and limitations of this research. Finally, we suggest areas and scope for further exploration.
6.1. Implications for managers
The findings of this study point to practical guidelines for managing relevant aspects of the adoption of EC
technologies.
Organizations having negative attitudes towards EC technologies and consequently, low EC adoption, can
follow appropriate management strategies depending on the organization structure. In primarily centralized
organizations, the emphasis should be to try and influence top management attitudes towards the adoption of
EC. This would, in general strongly influence EC adoption. An alternate management strategy would be to
ensure that IS professionals are favorably inclined towards EC, and then institute mechanisms to increase the

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extent of interaction between IS professionals and top management. The combined effects of these steps, over
a period of time, can increase EC adoption.
In de-centralized organizations, the predominant mechanism for increasing EC adoption would be to
influence the attitudes of functional executives and end users. Line managers, departmental heads and end
users should be encouraged to increase their understanding of the applicability of emerging technologies for
the business, through interactions with professional organizations and sources. EC innovation by users should
also be encouraged and EC champions given important responsibilities in EC projects. Simultaneously, IS
managers should be directed to interact with end-users and functional executives, such that they can educate,
influence and create awareness about EC technologies. This would, over a period of time, positively influence
attitudes towards EC technologies, as well as EC adoption.
This study shows that there is significant scope for IS professionals to influence organizational attitudes
towards deploying EC technologies, through their influence on top management leadership and on managers
and end users. Organizations should therefore find ways to enhance the capabilities of their IS personnel, with
regard to EC technologies. IS professionals should be encouraged to increase their knowledge about current
technologies, develop professional affiliations in their specialized fields and increase their understanding of the
business. Mechanisms and programs should also be instituted to increase the interaction between IS
professionals, line managers and end users, so that there are possibilities for interchange of ideas and transfer of
awareness and interest. The head of the EC initiatives within the organization should be made a member of the
top management team, so that he can take part in decisions determining the organizational focus towards EC.
6.2. Contributions, limitations and scope for further research
This paper identifies factors that influence the inclination to adopt EC technologies in Indian organizations.
The specific contributions are:
1. The paper explains how relationships between organization structure, leadership characteristics and
organizational characteristics determine the inclination to adopt EC. In this context, the influence of
decentralization/centralization on EC adoption has not been explored in current literature.
2. The study also reveals an interesting connection between the characteristics of IS professionals and the
overall organizational inclination towards the adoption of EC technologies. Although different
characteristics of IS professionals, such as business and technical orientation (Swanson, 1994), and extent
of coupling with the other functions (Scarbrough & Lannon, 1988; Venkatesh, 1999), have been discussed
in literature, the nature of the influence of IS professionals on the organizational inclination to adopt IT in
general and EC in particular has not been explored.
3. Overall, the framework identifies specific factors that can be controlled in order to change the
organizational inclination towards the adoption of EC technologies. It further develops management
prescriptions and interventions for increasing EC adoption.
A limitation of this study is that the conclusions are based on exploratory findings from a few case studies.
However, the qualitative approach used here was thought to be appropriate, given the lack of literature on the
adoption of EC in Indian organizations. The case studies have enabled us to develop detailed descriptions of
the different organizational aspects of EC adoption, so that we have been able to study and analyze the
different facets of the phenomenon in some depth. The model developed here serves as a point of departure for
lines for further research, for understating the role of organizational factors in general and IS professionals in
particular, in influencing the adoption of EC. Case studies and statistical testing in different industries would
further enhance the external validity and generalizability of this model.
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