Integrating TAM and TOE Frameworks and Expanding their Characteristic Constructs for E-Commerce Adoption by SMEs

Abstract

Electronic Commerce has increased the global reach of small and medium scale enterprises (SMEs); its acceptance as an IT infrastructure depends on the users’ conscious assessment of the influencing constructs as depicted in Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), and Technology-Organization-Environment (T-O-E) model. The original TAM assumes the constructs of perceived usefulness (PU) and per- ceived ease of use (PEOU); TPB perceived behavioural control and subjective norms; and T-O-E firm’s size, consumer readiness, trading partners’ readiness, competitive pressure, and scope of business operation. This paper reviewed and synthesized the constructs of these models and pro- posed an improved TAM through T-O-E. The improved TAM and T-O-E integrated more con- structs than the original TAM, T-O-E, TPB, and IDT, leading to eighteen propositions to promote and facilitate future research, and to guide explanation and prediction of IT adoption in an organ- ized system. The integrated constructs- company mission, individual difference factors, perceived trust, and perceived service quality improve existing knowledge on EC acceptance and provide bases for informed decision(s).