Title: Critical factors of ASP acceptance in SMEs: an empirical study of Chinese ASP clients

Authors: Xiang-Hua Lu

Addresses: School of Management, Fudan University, Shanghai, 200433, P.R. China

Abstract: The adoption of ASP is experiencing a revival after cold reception by the market and initiates further study to guide industry development. The retrospective study of current ASP clients| acceptance is helpful for a better understanding of ASP acceptance motivation. This paper identified 11 critical factors after considering the ASP value expectations and Chinese IS implementation uniqueness. One hundred and forty-seven current ASP clients of Shanghai are surveyed to test these critical factors. Data analysis reveals that significant acceptance facilitators of ASP include: application service quality, infrastructure assurance, vendor reliability, contract pricing, top management orientation and industry or supply chain drive and IT capability. Some specific Chinese features also are found to explain ASP acceptance in SMEs in China as well. These empirical results are useful both for vendors to optimise the business model and clients to make decisions.

Keywords: application service provision; ASP acceptance; Chinese SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; critical factors; China.

DOI: 10.1504/IJECRM.2008.021102

International Journal of Electronic Customer Relationship Management, 2008 Vol.2 No.4, pp.297 - 314

Published online: 04 Nov 2008 *

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