Investigating the End-Customers’ Acceptance of the Virtual Supply Chain: The Case of Grocery Retailers in Egypt

Abstract

One of the emerging concepts that gained popularity in many countries is virtual supply chain (VSC). Since the end-customer is a key player in the success of integrating the VSC in any business, this chapter focuses on examining the end-customers’ acceptance of using technology through the technology acceptance model (TAM) to investigate the potential application of VSC in the grocery retailers’ sector in Egypt. A survey-based questionnaire was used to assess the Egyptian customers’ acceptance of virtual shopping. The questionnaire consisted of 44 questions that focused on the five variables of TAM: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward using the virtual shopping, intention to use virtual shopping, and the actual use of the virtual shopping. The structural equation model (SEM) was applied to test the research hypotheses. The data analysis revealed a strong relationship between the five TAM variables which concludes the acceptance of the Egyptian customers’ for VSC. The data only focused on customers in the city of Alexandria which might limit the generalizability of the research results.