Title: Perceived barriers to e-commerce adoption in SMEs in developing countries: the case of travel agents in Egypt

Authors: Mohamed Abou-Shouk; Mohammed I. Eraqi

Addresses: Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Tourism Studies Department, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt ' Faculty of Tourism and Hotels, Tourism Studies Department, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt

Abstract: Travel agents, the typical category of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), face the threat of disintermediation of the global travel market. Although e-commerce adoption supports their survival, travel agents are slow adopters of technology. The barriers to e-commerce adoption in small enterprises are well-examined in developed countries, however it is not rigorous to generalise these studies to developing countries without empirical results. This study, using structural equation modelling with a sample of 411 travel agents, aims to investigate the perceived barriers to e-commerce adoption in Egyptian travel agents. The research findings reveal that technology attributes and resource limitations are the most perceived barriers from managers' viewpoint.

Keywords: e-commerce barriers; small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; travel agents; developing countries; Egypt; perceived barriers; e-commerce adoption; electronic commerce; structural equation modelling; SEM; technology attributes; resource limitations.

DOI: 10.1504/IJSOM.2015.069652

International Journal of Services and Operations Management, 2015 Vol.21 No.3, pp.332 - 353

Received: 08 Feb 2014
Accepted: 16 Mar 2014
Published online: 29 May 2015 *

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