S-commerce: competition drives action through small medium enterprise top management

Abstract

This study investigates the factors influencing the continued use of S-commerce in small and medium enterprises (SMEs), focusing on the roles of top management (TM) support, competitive pressure (CP), facilitating conditions, and service quality. Data were collected from 341 SME owners and analyzed using SEM. Data was analyzed with SmartPLS using a two-step approach. The findings indicate that TM support significantly impacts the continued use of S-commerce by influencing facilitating conditions and service quality while CP affects TM behavior and usage continuity. However, the findings reveal that operational factors, such as infrastructure and service quality, play a more critical role in sustaining S-commerce engagement than external pressures. Facilitating conditions, in particular, were found to have a strong influence on service quality and platform engagement, underscoring the importance of technical and organizational resources. The study extends prior research by highlighting the interplay between internal and external drivers in fostering the continuous use of S-commerce, offering practical insights for SMEs and future research directions.