Patterns of e-commerce adoption and intensity. Evidence for the european union-27

Resumen

One of the most significant economic trends of recent years is the growing use of the Internet for conducting business, and in particular to purchase and sell online without temporal or spatial restrictions. In this context the aim of this paper is to explore both the adoption of e-commerce and the extent of its use across EU-27 firms. We analyze in parallel the factors driving online buying and selling. The intensity of adoption is examined by looking at the percentage of sales and purchases, respectively, made online. Our results show that the decision to adopt e-commerce depends mainly on the perceived impact ICT adoption would have for the firm. Furthermore, size, absorptive capacity, market environment, and competitive pressures are positively correlated with adoption. Our results also throw some light on the cross-country diffusion of ecommerce. The substantial differences in adoption rates are mainly explained by income levels. In addition, countries that are more open to trade tend toward higher e-commerce diffusion.