Factors Affecting Business-to-Business Electronic Commerce Success: An Empirical Investigation

It is generally believed that Business to Business (B2B) e-commerce has a great impact on business performance improvement. Considerable research also shows that another dependent variable, B2B e-commerce success, can be a good overall measure of B2B systems. This paper investigated and examined the impact of several factors, which are either internal or external to the firm on B2B performance improvement and B2B e-commerce success. It is suggested that the various factors affect B2B success through business performance improvement. A research model was developed to test and evaluate these factors. A survey instrument was developed to examine the relationships between these factors and business performance. Survey data was collected online from 143 companies in the U.S.A. and Taiwan where their B2B e-commerce systems were operational for more than 1 year. Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique was used to assess the measurement and the structural model. Analyses and results of the pooled survey data suggest that the following factors are significant in the B2B e-commerce environments: (a) alignment of business and e-commerce strategy has a positive impact on business performance, (b) strong relationships between the trading partners have a positive influence on business performance, and (c) B2B e-commerce success is significantly influenced by business performance improvements. Thus, firms that seek to implement successful B2B systems should focus on business performance improvements. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]