The role of trust and dependency on e-procurement adoption: an empirical analysis

Abstract

Firms often have to integrate with supply chain partners to remain competitive in today’s business environments. Information technology (IT) such as E-procurement help supports the integration of supply chain activities between partners in their daily business operations. Literatures identified that trust is important in IT adoption decisions and firms also have to adopt IT initiative when they become dependent to their suppliers or customers. This paper discussed the influence of inter-organizational trust and dependency factors on the e-procurement adoption decisions by manufacturers in Malaysia. Data were collected through survey questionnaire and the samples are manufacturing companies from various industries. Influence of trust and dependency factors were empirically tested using the Partial Least Square Regression (PLS) analysis, to determine whether they significantly influence adoption or not. Findings indicate that dependency did have a significant impact on adoption decision but not trust. The interaction of both factors however did influence adoption. Discussions of the findings together with direction for further studies are then discussed.