This article considers the possibility of a link between organisational performance and information technology (IT) investment intensity in SME organisations practising e‑Commerce for the period 20012002. The answers to the research questions note that in top performing organisations; (i) IT costs as proportions of operating costs were higher; (ii) IT costs as a proportion of turnover was lower, than in weak performing organisations; and (iii) that a positive correlation exists between the Computerisation Index (CI) and the Operating Costs ratio. The investigation also reveals that Chief Executive Officers (CEO)'s expect additional output while planning e‑Commerce operations and keeping IT budgets constant. Evidence is presented that company performance is linked to the level of IT investment intensity in the sample of organisations investigated, even though more output was expected from the IT department.

The business community in the past decade has been characterised by debate over the value or effectiveness of e‑Commerce and how this type of technology needs to be implemented. During this period the business world has witnessed many examples of failures of Internet based business. There is little doubt that the high failure rate in Dot.Coms had much to do with misconceptions regarding the ease with which e‑Commerce could be implemented. Unrealistic expectations caused tried and tested business rules to be abandoned as hyperbole over took sound business sense. Although it is clear today that the Internet and the Web can facilitate business processes to add value to organisations, this technology has to be managed with considerable care. This paper reports on a case study conducted in kalahari.net, a well known South African e‑Tailing business. This case study highlights several valuable lessons to do with the evaluation of an e‑Commerce investment and how to ensure its success. Specifically the case study closely examines aspects of kalahari.net's IS management policy, and identifies a set of preliminary e‑Commerce success dimensions.

With the continued growing investment in WWW technologies by e‑Commerce businesses the measurement of Information Systems (IS) effectiveness in this business sector has become increasingly important over the last decade. As business users, especially in the SME sector, have become reliant on outsourced IS service providers for a wide range of services, the quality of service rendered by the latter is an important issue which impacts on IS effectiveness. Researchers have since the 1990s recognised the importance of service quality as a measure of IS performance. The literature suggests that IS service delivery to e‑Commerce businesses needs to be evaluated differently to that of traditional brick‑and‑mortar businesses. There is however a paucity of research regarding IS evaluation in e‑Commerce environments, including that of the application of service quality principles. It is thus difficult for managers of IS service providers in this context to develop a complete picture of the effectiveness of the IS they deliver. This paper reports on a study which investigated whether IS service quality criteria and dimensions applied in large brick‑ and‑mortar organisations, are also applicable to SME e‑Commerce businesses in the tourism sector in South Africa. In pursuit of this objective an IS‑adapted SERVQUAL instrument was tested in an e‑Commerce SME environment. The research results indicate that, although SERVQUAL principles are applicable to the e‑Commerce SME context, the service quality dimensionality is different. The research derived four new dimensions for service quality expectations of e‑ Commerce SMEs viz., Credibility, Expertise, Availability and Supportiveness. A fifth dimension is the Tangibles dimension, which is retained from SERVQUAL. Furthermore the results indicate that the Credibility dimension was the most important dimension in this research context, while the Tangibles dimension was the least important.

Since the advent of the Internet, B2C e‑Commerce has grown substantially across the globe. Whilst much research has examined factors influencing adoption of e‑commerce, not as many studies have investigated the post‑ adoption phenomenon of success. Those studies that have investigated IS success and the extensions required to accommodate e‑commerce have mainly been conceptual. Few have attempted to test and validate the models empirically. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap. By drawing from the technology acceptance model, expectation‑confirmation theory and IS success theory, a revised conceptual model was derived. The model and relationships were tested and validated using data gathered from 166 online consumers in South Africa. 7 interrelated dimensions of B2C e‑commerce success were confirmed, namely service quality, system quality, information quality, trust, perceived usefulness, user satisfaction and continuance intentions. Direct relationships between dimensions were identified. These showed that user intentions to continue using an online retail site are directly influenced by perceived usefulness, user satisfaction and system quality. User satisfaction is directly influenced by service quality and perceived usefulness, whilst perceived usefulness is directly influenced by trust and information quality. Trust in the online retailer is directly influenced by service quality and system quality. The implications of these and other findings are discussed.

The increasing number of Jordanian Internet users should naturally be reflected in e‑commerce conversions. However, this is not the case. While social‑media users in Jordan are becoming more engaged and involved in social‑media transactions, e‑commerce activities have not experienced a similar trend. This issue has been identified in the literature as the e‑commerce awareness paradox, wherein customers are partially aware but are not engaged. This points to a missing link between different levels of awareness and e‑commerce process engagement. This paper presents the results of research that has investigated and evaluated the awareness of e‑commerce among customers. In order to gain insight into customers’ awareness, data were collected from 386 participants. The data analysis identified that partial and full customer awareness are critical factors in the adoption and success of e‑commerce. Furthermore, four distinctive levels of awareness are identified, namely awareness of products and services (AOP/S), awareness of payment (AOP), awareness of delivery (AOD) and awareness of brand (AOB). This research contributes to the literature by providing a novel framework in which levels of awareness are mapped to four main processes of electronic commerce. The framework will be useful to e‑commerce practitioners as a basis to evaluate prospective customers’ levels of awareness, thereby to assist identifying precisely where they need to focus on the online acquisition journey.

A number of regional Internet electronic marketplaces (REMs) have failed or are floundering, partly due to the lack of proper evaluation of their costs and benefits. This paper uses a conceptual REM Success Model to examine the costs and benefits of a REM in Western Australia. The model has been derived from an extension to the Updated DeLone & McClean IS Success Model. The findings from the case study indicate that the REM Success Model, which includes cognisance of SME‑profile and motivation of the market maker, allows up‑front identification of the costs and benefits to all stakeholders.

This paper presents the process of developing an evaluation instrument specifically for the evaluation of e‑Commerce Web sites from the first‑time buyer's viewpoint. The development process is based on theoretical discussions of the Web evaluation and Web user satisfaction literature. A draft evaluation instrument was developed. To enhance its reliability and validity, several iterative trials on e‑Commerce Web sites were conducted. Some modifications were made to the instrument. The final version is capable of evaluating e‑ Commerce Web sites effectively. The instrument provides implications to both Web evaluation practitioners and academics.

The scope of this paper is to investigate whether SMEs take into consideration the cost dimensions (tangible and intangible, direct and indirect) and follow the investment appraisal techniques proposed in literature as relevant and suitable in relation to e‑commerce adoption. More specifically, we analyse the importance placed by the EC adopters on specific cost elements, types of budgets and investment appraisal techniques in relation to EC decision. Furthermore, we aim at understanding the reasons, both quantitative and qualitative, that drive SMEs to embark on such an investment. Our empirical evidence is based on the responses to questions found on a structured questionnaire answered by Greek firms that have already adopted EC. Our findings indicate that cost, in general, is not a major issue for Greek SMEs when deciding to implement EC, while the strategic benefits they aim at gaining from EC applications play a critical role in the adoption decision.