{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,7,5]],"date-time":"2026-07-05T21:55:45Z","timestamp":1783288545846,"version":"3.54.6"},"reference-count":40,"publisher":"IGI Global Scientific Publishing","issue":"2","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015,4,1]]},"abstract":"<p>Electronic commerce (E-commerce) is a technological innovation that enables small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to compete on the same level with their larger counterparts. And it has the potential to improve efficiency and productivity in many areas and, therefore, has received significant attention in many countries of the world. A thorough analysis of the impact of the internet and e-commerce across firms, industries and economies is necessary to separate hype from reality. However, several researchers have called for the investigation of the association between the perceptions of e-commerce and the barriers to its adoption in developing countries. It is however on record that SMEs the world over are faced with significant challenges that compromise their ability to function and to contribute optimally to the respective economies where they operate. This study was conducted in three states of Nigeria (Lagos, Abuja and Enugu states) with the use of interviews to gather relevant data; the aim of which was to understand the challenges which serve as barriers to E-Commerce adoption by small and medium scale enterprises in the Nigerian context. Findings indicates that small and medium scale online present is at best unknown. The most common e-Commerce applications used by most SMEs include but not limited to the use of e-mails for communication purposes and a simple website for basic product information \u2013 information contained are usually outdated as most of these websites are hardly updated. Findings revealed, among others, that lack of and total absence of a regulatory framework on e-Commerce security, as well as technical skills, and basic infrastructures are some of the barriers to electronic commerce adoption. The findings however, provide a constructive insight to financial practitioners, governments as well as other stakeholders on the need to give e-commerce a place in all aspects of e-commerce activities.<\/p>","DOI":"10.4018\/ijide.2015040101","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2015,1,20]],"date-time":"2015-01-20T14:50:18Z","timestamp":1421765418000},"page":"1-19","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":28,"title":["Empirical Study of Barriers to Electronic Commerce Uptake by SMEs in Developing Economies"],"prefix":"10.4018","volume":"6","author":[{"given":"Edwin M.","family":"Agwu","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Business and Law, Middlesex University Business School, London, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Peter J.","family":"Murray","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Greenwich School of Management, London, UK"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"2432","reference":[{"key":"ijide.2015040101-0","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1145\/280324.280330"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-1","author":"K.Brown","year":"2000","journal-title":"The Interactive Marketplace: Business-to-Business Strategies for Delivering Justin-Time, Mass-Customized Products"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Byrne, D., & Ragin, C. C. (Eds.). (2009). The SAGE handbook of case-based methods. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Central Intelligence Agency (2008) World Fact Book: Nigeria. Retrieved January 12, 2013. Available at https:\/\/www.cia.gov.library\/publications\/the-world-factbook\/geos\/no.html","DOI":"10.4135\/9781446249413"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-3","unstructured":"Chaffey, D., Ellis-Chadwic, F., Mayer, R., & Johnston, K. (2009) E-Business and E-Commerce Management (4th edition) London: Financial Times Prentice Hall"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/0266242602203002"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-5","first-page":"3","article-title":"Comparing Innovation Capability of Small-and-Medium-Sized enterprises: Examining the Effects of Organizational Culture and Empowerment.","volume":"2010","author":"N.Demircan Cakar","year":"2010","journal-title":"Journal of Small Business Management"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-6","author":"A. M.Efendioglu","year":"2004","journal-title":"E-Commerce in developing countries: issues and influences"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1109\/HICSS.2000.926861"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/02635571111170785"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-9","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0166-4972(99)00034-6"},{"issue":"2","key":"ijide.2015040101-10","first-page":"91","article-title":"\u2018\u2019ICT adoption and use in the UK SMEs: A failure of initiatives?\u2019\u2019","volume":"11","author":"G.Harindranath","year":"2008","journal-title":"Electronic Journal of Information Systems Evaluation"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-11","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.2307\/1251841"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","DOI":"10.4135\/9781446287958","author":"A.Holliday","year":"2007","journal-title":"Doing and writing Qualitative research"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-13","year":"2011","journal-title":"\u2018The impact of broadband on the economy: research to date and policy issues\u2019, Trends in Telecommunication Reform 2010-2011: Enabling Tomorrow\u2019s Digital World"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-14","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0969-6989(98)00028-9"},{"issue":"3","key":"ijide.2015040101-15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.1002\/j.1681-4835.2009.tb00277.x","article-title":"A framework to e-transform SMEs in Developing Countries","volume":"39","author":"M.Kapurubandara","year":"2009","journal-title":"Electronic Journal of Information Systems in Developing Countries"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-16","article-title":"E-Commerce Adoption in Developing Countries: an Indonesian Study","author":"S.Kurnia","year":"2006","journal-title":"San Diego International Systems Conference"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-17","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1177\/097172180701200203"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-18","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.im.2003.12.011"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-19","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.4018\/jeco.2010103004"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-20","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/08876040010340937"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-21","author":"S. B.Merriam","year":"1998","journal-title":"Qualitative research and case study applications in education"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-22","author":"S. B.Merriam","year":"2009","journal-title":"Qualitative research: A guide to design and implementation"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-23","unstructured":"Nwosu, S. (2011), \u2018Poverty as a norm \u2018, The Guardian Newspaper, 3 April, 2011, p.37"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-24","unstructured":"OECD. (2004a) \u201cICTs, e-business and SMEs\u201d Paper prepared for the 2nd OECD Conference of Ministers responsible for SMEs, Istanbul, Turkey, 3-5 July"},{"issue":"1","key":"ijide.2015040101-25","first-page":"42","article-title":"e-Commerce Technology Adoption by SMEs in Botswana","volume":"8","author":"W.Olatokun","year":"2010","journal-title":"International Journal of Emerging Technologies and Society"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-26","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/02635571011087428"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-27","author":"M. Q.Patton","year":"2002","journal-title":"Qualitative research & evaluation methods"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"16","DOI":"10.17705\/1CAIS.00116","article-title":"\u2018Current Technological Impediments to Business-to consumer Electronic Commerce\u2019.","volume":"1","author":"G.Rose","year":"1999","journal-title":"Communications of the Association for Information Systems"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-29","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1108\/08858620810894445"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-30","author":"D.Silverman","year":"2009","journal-title":"Doing qualitative research"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-31","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/j.im.2007.04.001"},{"issue":"1","key":"ijide.2015040101-32","first-page":"1","article-title":"Electronic Commerce Benefits and Adoption Barriers in Small and Medium Enterprises in Gweru, Zimbabwe","volume":"15","author":"D.Thulani","year":"2010","journal-title":"Journal of Internet Banking and Commerce"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-33","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1080\/1097198X.2002.10856317"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-34","unstructured":"Turban. E., king D., McKay J., Marshall P., & Lee J., & Viehland D., (2008) Electronic Commerce: A managerial Perspective Prentice Hall, (5 ed.)"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-35","unstructured":"Ukpabio, S. A. (2004), \u201cDevelopment of Small Scale Sector, What Role for the Federal Government Nigerian Banker\u201d, Vol. 17, No. 1."},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-36","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1016\/S0263-2373(00)00045-1"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-37","unstructured":"World Bank. (2012), \u2018\u2019An update to the World Bank\u2019s estimate of consumption poverty in the developing world\u2019\u2019. http:\/\/siteresources.worldbank.org\/INTTOVCALNET\/Resources\/Global_Poverty_Update_20_12_02-29-12.pdf (Accessed March 3, 2013)"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-38","author":"R. K.Yin","year":"2008","journal-title":"Case study research: design and methods"},{"key":"ijide.2015040101-39","author":"R. K.Yin","year":"2011","journal-title":"Qualitative research from start to finish"}],"container-title":["International Journal of Innovation in the Digital Economy"],"original-title":[],"language":"ng","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.igi-global.com\/viewtitle.aspx?TitleId=122226","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2022,6,1]],"date-time":"2022-06-01T11:32:07Z","timestamp":1654083127000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/services.igi-global.com\/resolvedoi\/resolve.aspx?doi=10.4018\/ijide.2015040101"}},"subtitle":[""],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2015,4,1]]},"references-count":40,"journal-issue":{"issue":"2","published-print":{"date-parts":[[2015,4]]}},"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.4018\/ijide.2015040101","relation":{},"ISSN":["1947-8305","1947-8313"],"issn-type":[{"value":"1947-8305","type":"print"},{"value":"1947-8313","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2015,4,1]]}}}