e-readiness of consumers for e-commerce adoption: a...

E-READINESS OF CONSUMERS FOR E-COMMERCE ADOPTION:

A CASE STUDY IN SRI LANKA.

A study submitted in partial fulfilment

of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Science in Information Systems Management

at

THE UNIVERSITY OF SHEFFIELD

By

AROODGUHAN RATNANANTHAN

September 2011

Masters Research Dissertation 2011

Aroodguhan Ratnananthan 1

Abstract

Background: Research studies state that an individual‟s / entity‟s readiness to use electronic

means for daily activities, the eReadiness, significantly impacts their ability to adopt e-

commerce. The state of eReadiness is a three dimensional construct that constitutes e-readiness

of businesses, consumers, and e-enabling environment. However, consumer eReadiness has

received less focus compared with the other two dimensions. Therefore this research focuses on

this area choosing Sri Lanka as a context.

In Sri Lanka, despite the recent significant developments, eCommerce adoption has still moved

very slowly. This could be a reflection of less emphasis being placed on individuals‟ eReadiness.

Aim: The study has focused on testing the hypothesis that eCommerce adoption is at the lower

level in Sri Lanka due to lack of consumer eReadiness . Based on the findings, a model to

improve eReadiness of consumers for eCommerce adoption in Sri Lanka will be proposed.

Methods: A quantitative based well-structured online questionnaire designed to accommodate

more of close-ended with some provision to open-ended answers was developed, adopting some

ideas tested in previous studies. It was openly distributed to 180 potential respondents across Sri

Lanka using various networks including personal contacts. However the response rate was only

56.7%.

Results: The research was conducted with 102 participants responding to the survey; where

93.1% had internet access and 90.2% were internet adopters. However, only 45.1% of

respondents were eCommerce adopters. Based on the analysis of survey findings age,

employment status, lack of awareness, economy, and attitude have impact on eReadiness of

individuals for eCommerce adoption.

Conclusion: The hypothesis model for improving eReadiness for eCommerce adoption in Sri

Lanka has received support to some extend and some of the features have been modified based

on the survey and interpreted findings. This is well discussed in the discussions. Future work can

be expanded from this to both developed and developing countries to confirm the applicability

for business entities.



Acknowledgments

My sincere gratitude and appreciation goes to all who provided me tremendous support

throughout the research and helped to accomplish this dissertation.

My first and foremost thanks and praise goes out to GOD, the Almighty, who has always been

working in ways that I do not always see. When things seemed impossible, He has shown me the

way and made everything possible for me. His amazing love and comfort have kept me moving

on, even at times when I fell sick in between the tight schedules. Thank you Abba Father,

without You it would have been an impossible journey for me.

My heartfelt thanks to my family in Sri Lanka; this long awaited achievement cost them several

sacrifices which cannot simply be described. I dedicate this achievement to my family,

especially my mom. I also extend my sincere thanks to my family and friends who have put in

great efforts to help me in distributing my questionnaire and followed up on my behalf to get

everything done on time. Without their support I would not have been able to achieve my

targets on time. My special thanks go to my wife who has extended her untiring support to help

in distributing and following up the survey on my behalf in Sri Lanka, and proofreading the

entire documentation of my dissertation with me.

Mentoring comes with dedication, willingness, and the true spirit of interest to edify the fellow

student. Dr. Angela Lin was a great mentor and the best critic of my work, and she also

provided me her continuous support and guidance. I was truly inspired by her knowledge, skills

and style of guidance which provided me with the tremendous opportunity to learn and explore

several ideas and acquire knowledge, and to use this for my research under her supervision. My

sincere gratitude and appreciation goes to her for her great support and guidance.

I extend my sincere gratitude and appreciation to my cousin sister and her husband for

sponsoring my stay in UK. Without their support, it would have been an expensive stay in UK

and on the other hand, I could not even have thought of coming to Sheffield, and achieving my

post-graduate degree in one of the most prestigious universities in the UK, the University of

Sheffield.

Finally, this will not be complete without me thanking all my lecturers and friends at the

University of Sheffield; they made my life awesome during my stay in Sheffield, which I will

remember forever. My love, appreciation and best wishes to them all.



Table of Contents

Abstract ........................................................................................................................................... 1

Acknowledgments ........................................................................................................................... 2

Listing of Tables and Figures .......................................................................................................... 6

Tables ............................................................................................................................. 6

Figures ............................................................................................................................ 6

1. Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................................................. 8

1.1. Introduction to Chapter I ..................................................................................... 8

1.2. Inspiration to the Research Topic ........................................................................ 8

1.3. Research Focus and Context ............................................................................... 9

1.3.1. Background Information of Sri Lanka ........................................................... 10

1.4. Rationale for the Research ................................................................................ 11

1.5. Research Questions, Aim, and Objectives ........................................................ 13

1.5.1. Research Questions: ................................................................................... 13

1.5.2. Aim: ........................................................................................................... 13

1.5.3. Objectives:.................................................................................................. 13

1.6. Dissertation Outline ........................................................................................... 14

1.6.1. Chapter 1 Introduction ............................................................................... 14

1.6.2. Chapter 2 Literature review ....................................................................... 14

1.6.3. Chapter 3 Research Methodology .............................................................. 14

1.6.4. Chapter 4 Findings and Data analysis ........................................................ 15

1.6.5. Chapter 5 Discussion ................................................................................. 15

1.6.6. Chapter 6 Conclusion ................................................................................. 15

1.6.7. References and Appendices ....................................................................... 15

1.7. Synopsis of Chapter 1 ........................................................................................ 15

2. Chapter 2 Literature Review .................................................................................................. 18

2.1. Introduction to Chapter 2 .................................................................................. 18

2.2. Introducing Research Terms ............................................................................. 18

2.2.1. Definitions: eReadiness ................................................................................. 19

2.3. Correlation of Factors with Individuals ............................................................. 20



2.4. Intrinsic factors .................................................................................................. 21

2.4.1. Theoretical Foundation .............................................................................. 21

2.4.2. Synopsis of Intrinsic Factors ...................................................................... 24

2.5. Extrinsic Factors ................................................................................................ 26

2.5.1. Existing Models and Frameworks .............................................................. 26

2.5.2. Other Research Findings: Extrinsic Factors ............................................... 32

2.5.3. Synopsis of Extrinsic Factors ..................................................................... 34

2.6. Contextual Literature: Sri Lanka ....................................................................... 35

2.6.1. Developments and Government Interest on ICT ....................................... 35

2.6.2. Existing Research Studies on Sri Lankan Context ..................................... 37


3. Chapter 3 Research Methodology.......................................................................................... 41

3.1. Introduction to the Chapter 3 ............................................................................. 41

3.2. Research Approaches ........................................................................................ 41

3.2.1. Deductive research approach ..................................................................... 41

3.2.2. Quantitative methodology .......................................................................... 42

3.3. Methods of Investigation ............................................................................... 43

3.3.1. Literature Review ....................................................................................... 43

3.3.2. Research Framework .................................................................................. 43

3.3.3. Hypotheses Development .......................................................................... 46

3.3.4. Quantitative Survey .................................................................................... 49

3.3.4.2. Data Sampling ........................................................................................ 54

3.3.4.3. Data Analysis ......................................................................................... 55

3.4. Limitations of Research Methodology .............................................................. 55

3.5. Ethical Issues ..................................................................................................... 56


4. Chapter 4 Findings and Data Analysis .................................................................................. 58

4.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 58

4.2. Survey Results ................................................................................................... 58

4.2.1. Data Description......................................................................................... 58

4.2.2. Dispersion and Background of the Respondents ....................................... 58



4.2.3. Descriptive Analysis .................................................................................. 63

4.2.4. Advanced Statistical Tests Based Analysis................................................ 67

4.2.5. Other Statistics Collected from the survey on eCommerce Adoption ....... 88


5. Discussions ............................................................................................................................ 94

5.1. Introduction ....................................................................................................... 94

5.2. Test Methodologies and Justification ................................................................ 94

5.3. Discussions on hypotheses testing .................................................................... 95

5.4. Discussion on the hypothesis model and improving consumer eReadiness ... 100

5.5. Synopsis of Chapter 5 ...................................................................................... 103

6. Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 105

6.1. Introduction ..................................................................................................... 105

6.2. Revisiting Original Research Proposal ............................................................ 105

6.2.1. Research Questions: ................................................................................. 105

6.2.2. Aims ......................................................................................................... 107

6.2.3. Objectives ................................................................................................. 107

6.2.4. Recommendations .................................................................................... 109

6.3. Limitations ....................................................................................................... 113

6.4. Further research ............................................................................................... 114

6.5. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 114

Word Count: 21675 ..................................................................................................................... 115

References ................................................................................................................................... 116

Appendices .................................................................................................................................. 127

Appendix 1: Questionnaire & Survey Results ........................................................ 127

Appendix 2: Data Manipulation ............................................................................. 142

Appendix 3: Other Collected Statistics ................................................................... 164

Appendix 4: Questionnaire ..................................................................................... 167

(This will be attached only in the print) .................................................................. 167



Listing of Tables and Figures

Tables

Table 1:eReadiness Definition Table ............................................................................... 20

Table 2: Existing eReadiness Frameworks ...................................................................... 27

Table 3: Description to Questionnire ............................................................................... 54

Figures

Figure 1: eReadiness Construct .......................................................................................... 9

Figure 2: Factor Correlation ............................................................................................. 20

Figure 3: Existing Factors Relationship Diagram ............................................................ 44

Figure 4 Hypothesise Model for eReadiness of Consumers for eCommerce Adoption .. 46

Figure 5: Survey Design Approach .................................................................................. 50

Figure 6: Response Rate (Overall & Gender) .................................................................. 59

Figure 7: Response Rate (Geographical) ......................................................................... 59

Figure 8: Response Rate (Gender & Age) ....................................................................... 60

Figure 9: Response Rate (Economic Status) .................................................................... 60

Figure 10: Response Rate (Geographical Dispersion) ..................................................... 61

Figure 11: Response Rate (Internet Access & Usage) ..................................................... 62

Figure 12: Response Rate (Internet Speed) ...................................................................... 65

Figure 13: Response Rate (eCommerce).......................................................................... 65



Chapter 1

Introduction



1. Chapter 1 Introduction

1.1. Introduction to Chapter I

This chapter attempts to introduce the research context, provide an account of the

background information on the country being researched and the rationale for the

research, and outlines the research questions, aim, and objectives.

1.2. Inspiration to the Research Topic

Technology is becoming the driving factor of all world systems, and the impact of its

utilisation at various degrees in a contextual manner is widening. On the other hand,

the fast transition of technologies has brought the entire world onto the palm, in this

information era. Industrial revolutions of the recent past have triggered massive

transformations in the entire world order and its operations. Everything in the world

has started revolving around the term „e‟ [Electronic]. Internet has become the

primary source of communication and method of conducting business.

Using technology, especially internet technology, for commerce in the modern

lifestyle has become a fashion. With the invention of the World Wide Web (www)

browsers, the internet has been embedded into the modern lifestyles, resulting in

widespread commercial activities via internet beyond its previous role of

transactional medium. This evolution has coined the term „electronic commerce‟

which has then been known as „e-commerce‟ in short. Having started as a

transactional system, eCommerce has now expanded to facilitate all commercial

activities electronically and become a dominant player in bringing about radical

changes in the way business is conducted in this new world order. With emphasis

being increasingly placed on efficiency, profit maximization, and „going greener‟,

the role of e-commerce has gained more prominence in economic systems.

This fast moving trend has almost taken hold of the entire world in order to bring

transformation to achieve effectiveness and efficiency of business systems. This has

started to attract many researchers, causing them to direct their research efforts



eEnabling Environment

eReadiness of

Businesses

eReadiness of Nation for eCommerce

adoption

eReadiness of

Individuals

around the concept of eCommerce; the author of this research paper also was not

exempt from this inspiration. However, the author has been very keen on finding an

answer to the question of what prevents successful adoption of eCommerce in a

country. This led him to be interested in eReadiness which is the ultimate influence

for eCommerce adoption. Since it was found that less emphasis has been made on

consumer eReadiness in currently existing literature, the author was inspired to

narrow down his research into consumer eReadiness for eCommerce adoption.

1.3. Research Focus and Context

The e-readiness of individuals, business entities, and the nation as a whole has a

direct impact on the adoption of e-commerce. Continuous assessments made year on

year by the Economist Intelligence Unit, UNPAN, World Bank, and other research

organizations reveal that eReadiness of nations are at varying degrees which

ultimately predicts the growth and adoption of eCommerce of countries with similar

trends (The Economist, 2010; Ojo et al., 2007; Dutta and Mia, 2011; CID, 2000;

APDIP, 2002). According to the above reports, the adoption of e-Commerce in

developing nations show a relatively lower trend when compared with developed

countries. They also report that this phenomenon is caused by a lack of e-readiness

at national levels.

The existence of several inconsistencies

in the degrees of adoption of eCommerce

by countries has been accounted in

several research studies conducted

previously by several researchers and

aforesaid organizations. These research

studies have developed the idea to view

eCommerce adoption as a dependant

variable which is entirely a result of

eReadiness of individuals and businesses,

and the suitable environment which Figure 1: eReadiness Construct



has been referred to as eEnabling Environment elsewhere in this document. These

are identified as three constructs of eCommerce adoption [Figure 1].

As already stated in the previous section, the primary focus of this research is to

study the impact of eReadiness of individuals in a nation‟s ability for successful

eCommerce adoption. There have been detailed accounts of already known factors

as well as potential factors that influence an individuals‟ eReadiness. However, these

factors have been identified from one part of the world and predicted to be

applicable for countries with similar conditions. The possible argument could be

that, can conditions be similar for any given two countries. Different cultures, socio-

economic and political conditions, and geographical influences can differentiate

individual behaviours and their choices to behave in certain patterns. This has been

the loophole that the author has identified to eliminate through his research.

For the above purpose the research has been conducted in Sri Lanka. Since this is the

author‟s country of origin, his curiosity was aroused to study the eReadiness of his

people. He also believed that this research can contribute to a new dimension of

knowledge about his people and their behaviours towards embracing ICT and

ultimately, eCommerce. This was the sole reason for choosing this research to be

conducted in the Sri Lankan context.

1.3.1. Background Information of Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka is one of the south Asian nations located in the southern coast of India

and it is a strategically positioned naval link in the Indian Ocean. More than

twenty million people primarily from four ethnic groups, namely Sinhala, Tamil,

Muslim, and Burger constitute the total population of Sri Lanka. There have been

several invasions from the west and east since 16th

century and finally was under

the colonial rule of Britain when Sri Lanka received the independence in 1948.

Since then, even to this date, Sri Lanka still has some British influence in most of

their systems from parliamentary to legislature to business systems.



According to the Economic and Social Statistics of Sri Lanka 2011 published by

the Central bank of Sri Lanka, the overall literacy rate is at 91% which

constitutes of 92.8% male literates and 90% female literates (CBSL, 2011).

Further, Sri Lanka‟s GDP is accounted as USD 49.55 billion with an annual

growth rate of 8% according to the latest published reports (CBSL, 2010a).

CBSL reports that 20.8 million telephone connections has been accounted for in

the year 2010 which constitutes of 17.2 million mobile phone connections and

3.6 million fixed telephone connections in Sri Lanka where the overall

population counts between 20 to 21 million (CBSL, 2010b). An updated

authentic report on IT literacy in Sri Lanka is unavailable. However an article

published on the Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) of Sri

Lanka‟s website traces IT literacy to be at 30% in 2009 and has been forecasted

to be 60% by 2010 (ICTA, 2011).

However, there have been several accounts of rankings which indicate significant

positions of ICT development in Sri Lanka. The Networked eReadiness index by

World Bank indicates Sri Lanka‟s position to be 66 out of 138 countries that

have been assessed for the period of 2010/2011 (Dutta and Mia, 2011). The

Economist eReadiness rating positioned Sri Lanka at 63 out of 70 countries that

have been assessed for the year 2009 and 2010 despite the score having slightly

dipped from 3.86 to 3.81(The Economist, 2010). Also Sri Lanka has been ranked

at 82 out of 149 countries in the Knowledge Economy Index (KEI) published by

the World Bank (2009).

At this socio-cultural-economic and political environment only the author

attempts to investigate the determinants that influence the individual eReadiness

to adopt eCommerce successfully.

1.4. Rationale for the Research

E-Readiness for e-commerce adoption is a topic that has attracted many researchers

and academics. Most of these researches have been studied and assessed in many



perspectives in many countries by many researchers. However, there are also some

limitations found in the existing research:

• E-Readiness studies have mostly been macro-level assessments that study the

eReadiness of nations as a whole. There have been several studies on Businesses

or Organizations as a whole and some studies on SMEs (Abd.Mukti, 2000; Molla

and Licker, 2005; Sandy, 2004; Seyed and Sattary, 2009; Tan and Eze, 2008).

These studies have mainly focused on the business entities‟ angle (i.e. the e-

readiness of Businesses or Organisations or SMEs). On the other hand several

frameworks proposed by world organizations focus mainly on the enabling

environment (CID, 2000; APEC, 2000; 2001; The Economist, 2010; ITU, 2001).

However, a business is a three componential construct that consists of the

business organization, the consumers (sometimes customers) and the enabling

environment. Therefore, not only is the eReadiness of organizations and enabling

environment are significant for the success of e-commerce in a country, but the

eReadiness of consumers is equally important as well. However, current

literature has made little emphasis on the eReadiness of consumers, in other

words the generic context of eReadiness of individuals.

• Most of the existing studies have been conducted in one of the developing

countries in one part of the world and a common framework has been developed.

The argument is that though a common framework can more likely be applicable

in countries of similar nature, how far the similar conditions exist across different

parts of the world. There are social, cultural, economic, political, and

geographical differences that can have significant impact on the applicability of

the common frame works. Therefore though the common frameworks can still be

used, there is a need to identify the variances and required amendments.

• Another important fact is that none of the existing research/ assessment

frameworks on e-Readiness developed for developing countries have been tested

in the context of Sri Lanka to analyse the compatibility.



1.5. Research Questions, Aim, and Objectives

1.5.1. Research Questions:

Are Sri Lankan consumers ready for e-commerce adoption?

What are the limitations influencing the e-readiness of Sri Lankan consumers

for e-commerce adoption?

Are the existing frameworks applicable in assessing the e-Readiness of Sri

Lankan consumers?

What are the deviating elements of existing framework when applying it in

the context of e-readiness of consumers in Sri Lanka and what are the new

elements?

How can e-readiness Sri Lankan consumers for e-commerce adoption be

improved?

1.5.2. Aim:

The aim of this study is to propose a model to improve the e-readiness of

consumers in Sri Lanka for e-commerce adoption.

1.5.3. Objectives:

To study the e-Commerce developments in Sri Lanka

To investigate the consumer side barriers in e-commerce adoption

To identify the factors influencing the e-readiness of consumers for e-

commerce adoption in Sri Lanka

To study the applicability of existing frameworks in the context of e-

Readiness of consumers in Sri Lanka

To identify any special factors that influence the e-Readiness of Consumers

in Sri Lanka that is not covered in the existing frameworks

To propose a model to improve the e-readiness of consumers for e-commerce

adoption in Sri Lanka.



1.6. Dissertation Outline

1.6.1. Chapter 1 Introduction

This chapter introduces the dissertation topic with a brief note on the areas of the

research that include eReadiness and eCommerce in general, research inspiration,

research focus, context and background information on Sri Lanka, the rationale

for the research, the questions that the research attempts to address, research aim,

objectives, and finally the dissertation outline is briefed.

1.6.2. Chapter 2 Literature review

This chapter demonstrates the level of understanding of the author on the related

topics of the research. Several arguments and discussions studied in the existing

literature and theories have been facilitated in this chapter to demonstrate the

level of knowledge gathered from relevant publications. The information

gathered from the study have been presented and used further develop the

hypotheses in the subsequent chapter. The chapter is devised in two parts; the

first one covers the intrinsic factors that influence the eReadiness of Individuals

and the second part discuss the extrinsic factors. The chapter discusses several

theories, frameworks, and independent research studies found in the existing

literature.

1.6.3. Chapter 3 Research Methodology

This chapter defines the methodology used for the research study. At the outset it

discusses the research approaches and provides the justification for the choice.

Also it discusses on the methodology adopted, which was quantitative

methodology, justification for the choice, survey design and used specific

approaches. In addition to that, it defines the research framework that has been

used for the research, hypothesis development, limitations of the methodologies

used, and the ethical issues.



1.6.4. Chapter 4 Findings and Data analysis

This chapter solely dedicated to present the data collected from online survey.

This analyses the background of the respondents at the outset and proceed to

present summaries and analysis of responses. The analysis is intended to provide

a stimulating understanding on the research outcomes to facilitate the discussion

on the subsequent chapter.

1.6.5. Chapter 5 Discussion

This is the most significant chapter which facilitate a discussion on the results

presented from the online survey in Chapter 4. This discussion is structured with

reference to the findings published in the existing literature in Chapter 2

(Literature review). This also compares and contrasts with the hypothesis

predefined in the chapter 3 as a verification process.

1.6.6. Chapter 6 Conclusion

This chapter draws the conclusions based on the findings and related discussions

with regards to the proposed hypothesise. Also this chapter revisits defined

research aims and objectives as to verify whether the research has the met the set

aims and objective. Finally discusses the limitations encountered during the

research study and provide suggestions for related further studies.

1.6.7. References and Appendices

This is where the list of references and relevant information which have not been

incorporated into the main body of text are provided.

1.7. Synopsis of Chapter 1

In summary, eCommerce has become the dominant player with significant power to

bring in transformations to achieve effective and efficient business systems across

the world using technology and its innovation. The successful adoption of

eCommerce is directly influenced by the one and only determinant - eReadiness



which is a three componential construct that constitutes of eReadiness of individuals,

business entities, and the environment. The existing literature and the researches

have well emphasised the significant role of eReadiness of business entities and the

environment, but failed to provide significant attention to the individuals‟

eReadiness when, in fact, all the processes and systems are entirely made of up

individuals. Their behaviours and cognitive processes have been ignored including

the other circumstances that affect their behaviour as well. This sort of approach that

has not entirely considered all the potential condition of eReadiness cannot advocate

the actual eReadiness that a country expects achieve. In this basis of conditions the

author has proposed the research to focus on consumer eReadiness in the second half

of the chapter. In the latter part of the chapter, the author has also justified his choice

of topic and context and provided background information. Finally the author has set

the research questions, aims and objective as well.



Chapter 2

Literature Review



2. Chapter 2 Literature Review

2.1. Introduction to Chapter 2

This chapter makes some references to the existing literature on the concepts of

eReadiness and eCommerce to provide a platform, on which to execute the research.

The existing research findings and frameworks discussed in this section are intended

to provide the required theoretical background and guidance for the research

outlined.

2.2. Introducing Research Terms

The focus of this research is directly connected to two broad themes namely

eCommerce and eReadiness. From an extensive study of literature, it was apparent

that literature identifies e-commerce adoption as a subsequence of e-readiness.

Unless an individual or an entity is ready to use electronic means for commerce, they

are unlikely to adopt e-commerce. This is how the terms eCommerce and eReadiness

have become prime research terms.

Research studies done previously on eReadiness edify that the state of eReadiness

primarily constitutes of e-readiness of businesses, e-readiness of consumers, and an

enabling environment. However, these studies have placed a significant emphasis on

eReadiness of businesses and the enabling environment but have placed less

emphasis on the eReadiness of consumers.

Some concerns on consumer eReadiness have been incorporated into some of the

existing eReadiness frameworks, and some related works by researchers also are

found in the existing literature. However, there has been no deserving recognition

provided for consumer eReadiness as one of the key constituents for eCommerce

adoption.



2.2.1. Definitions: eReadiness

The term eReadiness is defined differently to suit particular contexts of use.

Following are some of the definitions used in the existing literature and by

academics and professionals:

Sources Definitions

The Economist “a measure of the quality of a country‟s ICT

infrastructure and the ability of its consumers,

businesses and governments to use ICT to their

benefit”

(The Economist, 2009) (p.1)

Used commonly in

Media

“the ability to use information and communication

technologies (ICT) to develop one's economy and to

foster one's welfare”

(Rahman, 2007; Dwivedi and Sahu, 2008; Ghosh and

Das, 2009; Dutch Daily News, 2009; Wikipedia,

2011)

Centre for International

Development at

Harvard University

“the degree to which a community is prepared to

participate in the Networked World”

(CID, 2000; Seyed and Sattary, 2009)

Research Paper “the aptitude of an economy to use information and

communications technologies to migrate traditional

businesses into the new economy”

(Bui et al., 2003)



Individual Readiness

Extrinsic Factors

Intrinsic Factors

United Nations

Development

Programme: Asia-

Pacific Development

Information Programme

“degree to which a society is prepared to participate

in the digital economy with the underlying concept

that the digital economy can help to build a better

society”

APDIP (2002)

UNPAN “e-Readiness measures how well a society is

positioned to utilize the opportunities provided by

Information and Communication Technologies

(ICT)”

Table 1:eReadiness Definition Table

However, where individuals are concerned, the definition used in common media is

considered to be the most appropriate definition. Therefore this research study will

be based upon this definition.

2.3. Correlation of Factors with Individuals

Literature identifies a huge range of influencing factors in consumer/individual

readiness. The factors can be fundamentally categorised into intrinsic factors and

extrinsic factors. Intrinsic factors are those that have a personal influence on the

individuals‟ behaviour/ decision making. Whereas extrinsic factors are those that

exist in the environment, and which

directly or indirectly influence intrinsic

factors, and therefore, ultimately

influences the behaviour / decision

making of individuals (Garderner and

Lambert, 1972; Martin, 1990; Thomas,

2004).

Figure 2: Factor Correlation



A correlation can be developed between the factors based on their influence of one

over another. Based on the literature analysis it was found that the extrinsic factors

have an influence on the intrinsic factors and then intrinsic factors influence the

readiness of an individual. The vice versa is true as well. On the other hand intrinsic

and extrinsic factors directly influence the readiness of an individual as well.

Thereby, there are three ways that an individual‟s readiness can be influenced.

2.4. Intrinsic factors

2.4.1. Theoretical Foundation

There are numerous theories of social psychology that provide a direction for the

study of individuals‟ characteristics and how they behave. Theory of Reasoned

Action (TRA) by Ajzen and Fishbein (1973), and Theory of Planned Behaviour

(TPB) by Ajzen (1991) are mainly considered as the most relevant theories to

study the influence of intrinsic factors on e-readiness of individuals.

Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) primarily relates attitude towards behaviour,

subjective norms and behavioural intention as chain of components that leads to

behaviour. According to this theory, attitude towards behaviour and subjective

norms constitute behavioural intention and that in turn leads to particular

behaviour (Fishbein & Ajzen, 1975). However, there have been some limitations

identified such as the theory assumed that once someone establish the intention

to behave, they have no limitations to behave as they intended. This has been

perceived as an invalid assumption in the practical context since the intention can

be affected by several factors in practice like personal ability and affordable

time, that are limited, and several limitations to environmental factors that

influence behaviour of an individual. As a result of these limitations, Ajzen has

extended his research and resolved by introducing the Theory of Planned

Behaviour (TPB) (Ajzan, 1991). TPB has eliminated the risk of misassumption

by incorporating behavioural control as an additional component that constitutes

the behavioural intention.



TPB implies that behavioural perceptions and actual behaviours are influenced

by salient beliefs (Ajzen, 1988; 1991). TPB describes three types of perceptual

constructs, each affected by a different type of belief: attitudes are affected by

behavioural beliefs, subjective norm is affected by normative beliefs, and

perceived behavioural control is impacted by control beliefs (Paul and Lin,

2002).

The attitude is defined as “certain regularities of an individual‟s feelings,

thoughts and predispositions to act toward some aspect of his environment”

(Secord and Backman, 1969). Arnold et al. (2010) describe attitude as a three

componential construct where feelings, thoughts and predispositions represents

affective, cognitive and behavioural components of attitude respectively. In other

words, the affective component is about how an individual feels about

something, the cognitive component is about an individual‟s perception about

something, and the behavioural component is how an individual behaves towards

something. Authors further state that attitude is evaluative and therefore an

individual can feel, think and behave either positively or negatively towards an

object of attitude. This idea has been asserted in the research outcomes of

evaluative dimensions of attitudes by Ajzen (2001), who lists evaluative

dimensions that includes “good-bad, harmful-beneficial, pleasant-unpleasant, and

likable-dislikable”.

Adoption of above theories to information systems has enabled theorists and

researchers in the field of Information Systems to understand the psychological

impact of individuals in information systems adoption. The following models

and theories are evident to adoption of social psychology in information systems

studies: TAM (Technology Acceptance Model) by Davis (1989) and Theory of

Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) by Venkatesh et al.(2003).

TAM suggests two main determinants that influence how users accept new

technologies for adoption. One of the determinants is Perceived Usefulness,

which reflects on "the degree to which a person believes that using a particular



system would enhance his or her job performance". Another determinant is

Perceived Ease-of-Use, this reflects on "the degree to which a person believes

that using a particular system would be free from effort" (Davis, 1989). Davis

suggested these main determinants are influenced by external variables and that

these determinants influence the behavioural intention of an individual and then

in turn leads to actual usage. Similar to TRA, TAM also assumes individuals are

free to act as they intended without limitation, where on the other hand, several

other research outcomes found that there are numerous constraints which persist

to limit an individual‟s actions in practice such as limited ability, time,

environmental limitations, and unconscious habits. Consequently, in order to

eliminate these misassumptions there have been several developments carried out

on this model, which progressed through TAM 2, TAM 3 and finally UTAUT.

UTAUT was developed by Venkatesh et al. (2003) taking eight vibrant pre-

existing models from social psychology and Information Systems. This theory

proposed four key constructs namely performance expectancy, effort expectancy,

and social influence which determine the usage intention. That, together with

facilitating condition, in turn leads to use behaviour of an individual. The authors

also identified mediating factors such as gender, age, experience and

voluntariness which have an impact on the primary four constructs that lead to

use behaviour.

On the other hand Diffusion of Innovation theory suggests that individuals have

different degrees of willingness to adopt innovation which is transferred through

particular pattern of channels within social systems. The author has segregated

individual willingness into five categories that include innovators, early adopters,

early majority, late majority, and laggards. These categories are determined using

several individual characteristics such as personality, education, accessibility to

information, type of information sources they use, socio-economic status etc.

(Rogers, 1995).



Another important influencing factor identified in the literature is motivation.

There are several motivational theories in social psychology which are used to

approach motivation in different viewpoints. However, the most relevant theory

to this context is the Expectancy Theory by Vroom (1964). He proposed

motivation to be a three componential construct that includes expectancy,

instrumentality, and valence. The „expectancy‟ is about a person‟s belief in his

ability to perform an action he was considering, the „instrumentality‟ is concern

about the identifiable outcome of performing that action, and finally the

„valence‟ is about how he values the outcome. The author suggested that

motivation is a multiplication of these three components and any one of these

components becoming zero means that motivation is zero. Applicability of this

theory in e-commerce adoption is highly impressive since an individual looking

to adopt e-commerce would definitely analyse the outcome of adopting it, and

based on how he values the outcome, his motivation to adopt e-commerce is

determined.

2.4.2. Synopsis of Intrinsic Factors

The theories discussed above provided a sound insight into the intrinsic factors

that influence individuals towards their behaviour. The idea on how individual

characteristics and the influence of intrinsic elements on the behaviour of an

individual are well referenced in the existing literature. The different

perspectives provided by these authentic theories can be summarised as follows

to set them out as candidate factors that influence the e-readiness of an individual

in this research context.

1. Attitude: This can be approached in three perspectives

a. How the individual feels about (Affective component)

b. What the individual thinks about / in other words, perception (Cognitive

component)

c. How the individual behaves towards (Behavioural component).



2. Subjective Norms: Influence of friends, family, and social elements in the

thought process.

3. Behavioural Control: Influence of friends, family, and social elements in the

behaviour.

4. Beliefs: This also constitutes of three types of beliefs

a. Behavioural belief

b. Normative belief

c. Control belief.

5. Motivation –

a. Intrinsic Motivation : Something that motivates within (inside) the

individual

b. Extrinsic Motivation : Something that motivates an individual from

outside

Perceived Usefulness & Perceived Ease of Use is also some of the other factors

that have attracted the attention in the theories. However, these factors are results

of either attitude or subjective norms. Therefore these factors will be accounted

for within either attitudes or subjective norms rather than enlisting separately.

In addition to that, there have been some affirmations to some of the factors in

the existing literature. The research studies confirm beliefs (Rogers, 2003),

lifestyle (needs), socio cultural customs (Slyke et al., 2004; Venkatesh and

Brown, 2001), education, convenience and experience orientation, channel

knowledge, and perceived distribution utility and accessibility (Li et al., 1999) as

influential intrinsic factors.

Reflecting on the theoretical evidences discussed above, attitude has been

identified and tested as an influential factor in adoption of web for retailing and

commerce in an investigation by Fenech and O‟Cass (2001).

On the other hand, economists assume that consumers‟ individual behaviours are

rational. Their concerns are highly attributed by choices that best suit their needs,



budgets and earning power, and interest in maximizing value for money (Josiam

& Hobson, 1995). This confirms that the influence of economic conditions on the

intrinsic factors is also well tested.

2.5. Extrinsic Factors

The Extrinsic factors are widely researched and utilised to assess the e-readiness of

countries and also of the individuals to some extent. There is an argument in the

academic circle that existing models are more focused on the extrinsic factors that

constitute the environment of an individual and have an indirect impact on the e-

readiness of an individual. Therefore considering the existing models and how they

approach the elements of environment to correlate with e-readiness of countries and

so of individuals is very significant for this context of research.

2.5.1. Existing Models and Frameworks

In such a sense, the following guides that have been coined by prominent

professional, social and academic bodies to measure e-readiness of a country and

individuals are studied in this section. Some of these models have considered

individuals‟ e-readiness as part of the e-readiness of the country being assessed.

The areas of focus considered in four of the most common guides/ models that

have been most widely used can be summarised as follows:

APEC

eReadiness

Guide

Basic

Infrastructure

&Technology

Access to

Necessary

Services

E-

Government

Promotion

&Facilitation

of Activities

Skills

&Human

Resources

Positioning

for the

Digital

Economy

CID

eReadiness

Guide

Network

Access

Networked

Learning

Networked

Society

Networked

Economy

Network

Policy

-

ASEAN

eReadiness

guide

Infrastructure E-Society E-Commerce E-Government Liberalising

Trade in ICT

Goods &

Services

-



The

Economist

eReadiness

Guide

The

Connectivity

and technology

infrastructure

Business

environment

Social and

cultural

environment

Legal

environment

Government

policy and

vision

Consumer

and business

adoption

Table 2: Existing eReadiness Frameworks

As portrayed before, consumer e-Readiness is considered as a two dimensional

concept which consists of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. The extrinsic factors are

considered to be all the factors that constitute the environment of an individual.

On the other hand, the theoretical evidences also convey that some of the

extrinsic factors have a significant impact or rather encourage intrinsic factors to

influence an individual‟s behaviour. Based on research evidences in the

literature, it is clear that extrinsic factors exclusively constitute the eReadiness of

businesses and e-enabling environment.

A brief discussion on the extrinsic factors that are identified in various guides and

other inhibitors found in existing literature is provided here in this section.

Infrastructure: This is considered to be a significant pillar of the e-enabling

environment for the eReadiness of an individual. The generic term of

Infrastructure can be approached in two different subsets, namely, Physical

Infrastructure and Soft Infrastructure.

2.5.1.1. Physical Infrastructure:

This type of Infrastructure, in this context, simply refers to minimum

required network and communication facilities and services to enable a

community to get connected to the networked world (CID, 2000). Network

availability and affordability are basically identified as significant

determinants by all of the e-readiness models above. ASEAN guide details it

with four elements which include Communication Infrastructure, Internet

Access Services, End User Devices, Affordability (ITU, 2001). CID guide

extends this to Hardware and Software required to access networks, quality

and speed of the networks, customer service and support from access



providers to adopt network applications to use (CID, 2000). APEC guide

expands to Availability of basic infrastructure, speed and functionality of the

infrastructure, affordable pricing of infrastructure, reliability of

infrastructure, availability of terminal equipment, and Infrastructure market

condition (APEC, 2000; 2001). The Economist e-Readiness guide

emphasises on broadband penetration, broadband quality, broadband

affordability, mobile-phone penetration, mobile quality, Internet user

penetration, international Internet bandwidth, and Internet security (The

Economist, 2010).

2.5.1.2. Soft Infrastructure:

This type of Infrastructure, in this context, simply refers to required ancillary

facilities and provisions that enable a platform to control human behaviours,

and usage of Physical Infrastructures to enjoy the e-environment

appropriately. This primarily constitutes of Networked Learning,

Government Commitment, and Socio-Cultural environment.

2.5.1.2.1. ICT Education:

This is another pillar of the e-enabling environment for the eReadiness of

an individual. Though required infrastructure is available, absence of

required knowledge and skills or education to use the technology in day-

to-day life hinders the readiness of a community to participate in the

networked world. On the other hand, this produces technologically

unskilled human resources that in turn hinder the overall productivity of

the community. Therefore, creating ICT knowledgeable and skilled

human resources is the foremost action that would be required in enabling

an environment for eReadiness. In order to do that, the state of learning

facilities becomes an influential factor in determining e-readiness as well.

CID guide has proposed accessibility to ICT by schools, the level of

adoption of ICT by schools in the regular curriculum, and opportunity

based human resources development on ICT, as relevant areas to account



for the e-readiness of a community (CID, 2000). APEC, on the other

hand, proposes to broaden the developments at every stage from schools

to higher education, on the job training and adult education to train them

to cultivate their skills using ICT. This guide particularly focuses on the

level of internet accessibility of schools, the economy‟s role in increasing

the internet accessibility, integrating ICT into education through policies,

and providing accessibility to latest technologies, and partnership

between educational institutions and businesses to develop relevant

curricula which is up to date (APEC, 2000; 2001). Whereas The

Economist guide emphasises education under Social and Cultural

environment. Under this category it weighs educational level, internet

literacy, degree of entrepreneurship, technical skills of workforce, and

degree of innovation (The Economist, 2010). ASEAN guide also has

embedded education into the e-society category (ITU, 2001).

Socio Cultural Environment can be considered as a generic frame that can

capture the above mentioned developments of the communities.

Incorporation of significant aspects referred to above primarily

constitutes a socio-cultural environment and have significant impacts on

individuals‟ attitude and their ability to make decisions to adopt

technology as they are a part of this construct.

2.5.1.2.2. Economy:

Economy is one of the key players in the overall growth of a country

which determines the living standards of individuals. This in turn also

promotes and provides the affordability to individuals to adopt

innovations introduced by ever-growing technologies. Different models

have digested the significant role of economy in eReadiness into

differently named criteria. The Economist has captured some of the

important aspects under business environment by taking the following

aspects in to measures: Overall political environment, macroeconomic



environment, market opportunities, policy towards private enterprise,

foreign investment policy, foreign trade and exchange regimes, tax

regime, financing and the labour market (The Economist, 2010). CID

(2000) has defined it as the networked economy which covers measures

of several categorical elements that involve employment opportunities in

ICT sector, use of electronic commerce in B2C, B2B and government

institutions (CID, 2000). However this model does not seem to cover

wider aspects of the economy on its own. It was observed that this model

has incorporated the aspects of economy across the other criteria defined

by the model. Most of the other models also generally cover the above

discussed criteria.

2.5.1.2.3. Legal Framework:

Legal framework is a very significant aspect identified in all of the

models and most of the independent research studies found in the existing

literature (CID, 2000; The Economist, 2010; APEC, 2000; 2001; ITU,

2001; Molla, 2002; Molla and Licker, 2002). Some of the commonly

considered criteria are the effectiveness of traditional legal framework,

laws covering the Internet, level of censorship, ease of registering a new

business, and electronic ID policies (The Economist, 2010). Another

factor commonly recognised in models is Government effort to regulate

and maximize the ability to protect and provide a secure environment for

ICT based activities (APEC, 2001; CID, 2000; ITU, 2001).

2.5.1.2.4. Government Commitment

Government commitment refers to wider areas that involve the use of

technology for administrative and operational purposes of government

services (CID, 2000), promotion of technology into the day-to-day

lifestyles of its citizens (APEC, 2000; 2001) and formulating and

implementing necessary strategies and policies to leverage ICT growth

across the country. One of the very influential bodies that motivate



people to adopt technology is the government. Government‟s

commitment and adoption ultimately influences people to adopt

technology. There have been several areas focused in the above models.

Penetration level (ITU, 2001) is one of the most considered factors,

which has also been considered under the infrastructure. This is purely a

result of the government‟s commitment to develop and expand the

services and infrastructure. Government‟s commitment to develop and

enhance the soft infrastructure such as Taxation, legal framework (ITU,

2001; The Economist, 2010), government policies such as network policy

(CID, 2000), Information security policy, policies to liberalise trade in

ICT (ITU, 2001; CID, 2000), and as previously stated elsewhere, the

educational policies and strategies to integrate ICT into general curricula

(APEC, 2000; 2001) also widely impact the enabling environment, and

ultimately the e-commerce adoption.

Another significant point is promoting ICT across the country. The

Government as an influential body who can reach the grass roots of the

communities to promote ICT. This is referred to in the existing literature

as either promoting ICT or Awareness (Li et al., 1999), which is, in fact

referred to as one of the influential factors that can determine technology

adoption. The impact of awareness in decision making of individuals can

be justified with the application of the expectancy theory proposed by

Vroom (1964), which is discussed in the theoretical foundation above.

According to this theory, when people are encouraged, they are capable

of adopting ICT (expectancy), then they are edified on the benefits they

will gain from adopting ICT (Instrumentality), and finally make sure the

promised benefits are realised by the people (Valance). This process

highly involves the government‟s commitment and interest to promote

ICT across the country.



2.5.2. Other Research Findings: Extrinsic Factors

In addition to the factors discussed in various guides above, numerous inhibitors

to consumer e-commerce adoption are found in the existing literature elsewhere

in the research studies published by various authors in the field. An account of

numerous concerns and inhibitors identified in e-commerce adoption is provided

here:

A research study by Kangis and Rankin (1996) identified a lack of quality

evaluation, or, in other words a lack of pre-purchase assessment, as one of the

influential concerns of the users to adopt e-commerce. However, on the other

hand, Sohn (1999) argued that not every product requires a physical pre-purchase

assessment. He added that items such as CDs, Books, Canned Foods, etc are

some of the examples for his argument. Some of the other concerns identified in

the literature are a lack of instant delivery and realization of purchases (Vassos,

1996), lack of personalised Services (Kangis and Rankin, 1996), and lack of

enjoyment and satisfaction in shopping (Phau and Poon, 2000). All of these

concerns are seem to be revolving around “Satisfaction”. We can approach this

scenario with the Expectation Confirmation Theory (ECT), which is also

sometimes referred to as Expectation Disconfirmation Theory (EDT) of Oliver.

This theory posits that expectation together with perceived performance leads to

post-purchase satisfaction. In real terms, the result is mediated by either positive

or negative disconfirmation. If the product outperforms the expectation, it leads

to positive disconfirmation, in other words “Post-Purchase-Satisfaction”.

Whereas if it deprives the expectation then that leads to negative

disconfirmation, in other words “Post-Purchase-Dissatisfaction” (Oliver, 1977;

1980). On the other hand, satisfaction has been identified as the key factor that

affects the consumer‟s online repurchasing (Bhattacherjee, 2001) and

continuance (decision to continue using it) in the Model of Intention, Adoption

and Continuance (MIAC) by Cheung et al. (2003). In the context of e-commerce

adoption, the relationship between the concerns which were revolving around the

term satisfaction and the theories discussed is very significant as the adoption is



highly influenced by the satisfaction resulting from the first experience of online

purchases.

Some of the other concerns identified in the literature include: the difficulty of

finding what you are looking for in a large pool of items, which results in large

amounts of time consumed in the selection of required items and the difficulty of

making purchase decisions online when compared with physical purchases (

Rose et al., 1999; Anckar and Walden, 2002). This on the other hand, Anckar

(2003) argues in one of his investigations that limited experience in using

computer and internet and poor connection speed also causes problems in

searching and locating required products and services. He also has indicated in

his research findings that initial costs related to entry such as costs related to PC/

laptop, connectivity charges, and costs in terms of time, and financial risks also

hinder the adoption of e-commerce by consumers.

Another widely recognised factor is cyber security and risks related to online

transactions which ultimately reflect on consumer perception (Rose et al., 1999)

such as lack of trust in virtual sellers (hoffman et al., 1999).

Literature also identifies the influence of demographic factors on e-commerce

adoption such as age, gender, disabilities, experience, voluntariness to use,

educational level, mobility, employment status, and income (Rasouli et al., 2011;

Slyke et al., 2005; Zukowski and Brown, 2007; Akman and Rehan, 2010) which

have been tested in different contexts to study the impact of these factors on

adoption of e-commerce by consumers.

Most of the inhibitors discussed above are examined and reinstated in a survey

conducted by Anckar (2003) in view of investigating the rationality behind

consumer behaviour in an electronic marketplace. The survey reveals that over

75 per cent of respondents indicated that quality evaluation and security risks as

their primary concerns. Over 50 per cent indicated lack of trust in virtual sellers,

delivery time, and lack of personal services as their next level of concerns. Lack

of enjoyment in shopping, cost of use, difficulty of finding what you are looking



for, cost of entry, low bandwidth connections, limited Internet / Computer

experiences, and time consuming nature are identified as some of the other

concerns which though their degree of influence is less, to some extent they do

have an influential concern for e-commerce adoption.

Another important model that is useful to understand the e-commerce adoption is

Model of Intention, Adoption and Continuance (MIAC) by Cheung et al. (2003).

The research framework used here has a well-defined set of factors which

influence the three stages of online consumer behaviour. The stages are

described as “Online Purchase Intention”, “Online Purchase” in other words

described as “Adoption”, and finally “Online Repurchase” which in other words

is described as “Continuance”. Based on an extensive literature study they have

defined their research framework to include consumer characteristics, product/

service characteristics, medium characteristics, merchant and intermediary

characteristics, and environmental influences, which are the five categories of

elements that can influence all of the above three stages of online consumer

purchasing.

2.5.3. Synopsis of Extrinsic Factors

Based on the models and related literature studies it was apparent that numerous

factors extrinsically influence eReadiness for eCommerce adoption. A summary

of the account would be as follows:

Basically the extrinsic factors constitute of required infrastructure that include

both eReadiness of Businesses and environment. The infrastructure indicates that

both the physical and soft infrastructure is required.

In addition to that there has been an account of several other concerns including

satisfaction, experience, quality issues, realization, security, cost, characteristics

of products/ services, medium, intermediaries, and environment, and

demographic elements such as gender, age, disabilities, experience, voluntariness

to use, educational level, mobility, employment status, and income.



2.6. Contextual Literature: Sri Lanka

Several literature and authentic sources reporting on the developments of Sri Lanka

have been studied for this research. The author of this research hopes that this

contextual literature and the information on socio-cultural-economic and political

developments of Sri Lanka will facilitate the provision of a platform to understand

the performance level and the state of nation-wide eReadiness of Sri Lanka, and in

turn help to predict the individuals‟ readiness.

2.6.1. Developments and Government Interest on ICT

At the outset, according to authentic sources, the Government of Sri Lanka has

well envisaged Sri Lanka‟s strategic position through the declared vision of

creating an eSri Lanka, and has developed several dedicated missions to achieve

the strategic vision. The eSri Lanka concept has been the central focus of many

developments happening in Sri Lanka. Every sector correlates their sectorial

missions with this eSri Lanka vision. This initiative has been the driving element

of gross development in Sri Lanka.

During the last decade, the government of Sri Lanka has made several

commitments to improve the ICT across the country. One of the prominent

actions taken can be the establishment of the National Committee on Information

and Communication Technology of Sri Lanka by a Parliament Act called

Information and Communication Technology Act, No. 27 of 2003. The same act

made a provision to establish an Agency called The Information and

Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTASL) commonly referred

to as ICTA, to assist the national committee and cabinet of Ministers in

formulating national policies, and planning, coordinating, and implementing

action plans on ICT (GDSRSL, 2003). Through this agency the government is

actively promoting ICT across the country and has introduced the required legal

frameworks and amendments from time to time. Examples of this can be the

Electronic Transactions Act, No. 19 of 2006 to govern all the electronic



communications, documents, and transactions (GDSRSL, 2006), and the

Computer Crime Act, No.24 of 2007 to protect any crimes and to guide

investigations of crimes committed using computers (GDSRSL, 2007).

ICTA has been dedicated in developing Information infrastructure across the

country through declared objectives such as ensuring the availability of a

delivery channel for information and ICT services (Connectivity), availability of

connected access devices (Accessibility), and availability of timely, relevant and

localised applications, information and services (Content) (ICTA, 2011a). These

objectives are being realised through several projects that are in place such as:

Nenasala Project: Nenasala centre refers to Knowledge Centre. There are more

than 1000 Nenasala centres have been established across the country to enable

rural communities to access ICT based services including free internet. This

project has enabled communities to learn and experience ICT, which has resulted

in significant growth in IT literacy across the regions of Sri Lanka (ICTA,

2011a).

SchoolNet Project: Ministry of Education together with the telecommunication

providers have interconnected 1000 Schools, 100 Computer Resource Centers,

17 National Colleges of Education, Ministry of Education, National Institute of

Education, 8 Provincial ICT Centers, Project Management Offices of the

Secondary Education Modernization Project, Zonal Education Offices, and

Provincial Education Offices. This enables students, teachers, principals, centre

managers, and Parents to access information resources across this network. This

project has made ICT based learning and teaching services available for the

younger generations in Sri Lanka (SchoolNet, 2011).

LEARN: The Lanka Education And Research Network is also referred to as the

National Research and Education Network of Sri Lanka. This network

interconnects “all of the UGC funded state universities, a number of public

universities under other ministries and private universities, the University Grants



Commission, the Ministry of Higher Education, and a number of national

research institutions including the National Science Foundation (NSF)” across

Sri Lanka. This provides access to students, academics and researchers to ICT

based services (LEARN, 2011).

Lanka Government Network (LGN): This network interconnects “all

Government Ministries, Departments, Foreign Missions, Provincial Councils,

District Secretariats and Divisional Secretariats in the country”. This reflects on

the interest of the government in using ICT to provide better services across the

island (ICTA, 2011a).

In addition to that there are numerous projects that are currently running to

develop ICT across all the sectors in Sri Lanka (ICTA, 2011b; 2011c; 2011d;

2011e). The significant impact of these commitments has been reflected on the

IT literacy growth from 9.7% in 1994 to 16% in 2007 according to the survey

conducted by the Department of Census and Statistics of Sri Lanka (DCSSL,

2011). Also the government has reported IT literacy as 30% by 2009 and

predicted it to be 60% by 2010 although there have been no proper surveys

conducted for the periods 2009 and 2010 (ICTA, 2011f).

2.6.2. Existing Research Studies on Sri Lankan Context

There has been very limited literature found with regards to eReadiness in Sri

Lanka. However, extensive studies have been found in eCommerce adoption

with varying focuses.

Davidrajuh et al. (2008) in a study on “Improving E-Readiness of Sri Lanka with

Supplementary Grid Supplied Electric Power” has recognised the need for

several eReadiness improvement projects which have been defined in a two

dimensional grid of Magnitude versus Complexity. Magnitudes are defined as

National and Community levels whereas complexity is defined as „Incremental‟,

which refers to bringing in improvements to the existing structures, „Innovation‟,

which is intended to introduce new projects to the community, and finally



„Radical‟, which is intended to bring in projects that are new to the country itself.

In this proposal the author has identified the introduction of curricula and

required training to staff, skills development, niche based developments such as

village upliftment, women‟s development and job training, introducing new

technologies and business systems, increasing government interest, and enabling

more ICT based facilities as the significant needs which the projects need to

cover (Davidrajuh et al., 2008).

In another case study on eSri Lanka, Davidrajuh (2009) has identified the

eGovernment initiative as a three componential construct that constitutes

Government, Businesses and Citizens. Though the study was on eGovernment

strategies, the recognition to bridge the ICT short-comings of aforesaid three

components is very much related to this study since this reflects on the

eReadiness. His conclusion primarily covered three recommendations which

included basic infrastructure developments that involve developing

“technological, financial, legal and regulatory framewroks”, enabling the “agility

of the economy” - this refers to the developments related to the ability to

introduce innovation and efficiency while maintaining higher quality, and finally

developing “the consumer base” - this involves developing the environment that

enables consumers to enjoy their buying power, use credit cards, affordable

living costs, and providing higher living standards (Davidrajuh, 2009).

A study on Barriers to Adopting ICT and e-commerce with SMEs by Kapurubandara

and Lawson (2006) indicated the recognition of the internal and external factors that

are already defined in the eReadiness frameworks which reconfirmed the need for

readiness of the external environment to enable a successful eCommerce adoption

by business entities. However, their study has particularly focused on SMEs

(Kapurubandara and Lawson, 2006).

There have been various inhibitors to eCommerce. Survey results and

recommendations indicated in several other research studies have been found to

be outdated with the recent developments in Sri Lanka (Asia Foundation, 2011;



Kaushik, 2001; Lane et al., 2004). It has also been observed that there is very

limited up-to-date literature found in the context of Sri Lanka. Also, the author of

this research found no value in stating obsolete literature that does not provide

information on recent developments in Sri Lanka.


Overall, the chapter has attempted to give justice to understanding the theoretical

background and various research findings, discussions and recommendations found

in the existing literature.

Author classified the factors influencing eReadiness into Intrinsic and extrinsic

factors. The intrinsic factors mainly revolve around attitudes, beliefs, and motivation,

whereas the extrinsic factors are entirely the subsets of elements which constitute the

required infrastructure. The infrastructure has then been identified as physical and

soft infrastructure. Basically it was argued that the infrastructure constitutes of

business eReadiness and eEnabling environments.

In addition to that author also discussed various developments and contextual

information on Sri Lanka to provide a well-defined research platform for the

research.



Chapter 3

Research Methodology



3. Chapter 3 Research Methodology

3.1. Introduction to the Chapter 3

This chapter discusses the various tools and techniques used to conduct the research

study. The approach, methodology, techniques, tools, research framework, data

samples, data collection and interpretation techniques are some of the elements

discussed in this section.

3.2. Research Approaches

This research study has adopted the deductive research approach and the quantitative

methodology. The justification and the discussion of the choice and the contextual

applicability are stated here.

3.2.1. Deductive research approach

By definition, deductive research is an existing theoretical test driven approach

where, hypotheses are developed to the contextual environment primarily using

the existing theories. Then these hypotheses are tested, and the empirical

evidences are used to develop the correlation between contextual hypotheses and

the theories, after which it will then be confirmed. On the other hand, inductive

approach by nature starts with observation and developing hypotheses based on

observations, and establishing a theory (Marcoulides, 1998; Bryman, 2008;

Nicole and Timothy, 2007; UTexas, 2011).

In terms of the defined research, consumer eReadiness is already one of the

identified constructs in existing theories and literature. However, not much

emphasis has been given to its significance, and related influencing factors have

not been directly tested and argued as inhibitors to consumer eReadiness.

Though the existing literature argues the applicability of existing theories and

models in any developing country per say, one fact is that there are no contextual

empirical evidences from Sri Lanka found in the existing literature; another fact

is that the generic theories have failed to recognise the specific context of



consumer eReadiness. Therefore this research attempts to collect contextual

evidence of Sri Lankan consumers to discuss the relevance to theories and

evidences found in other parts of the world, and to recommend appropriate

incorporation wherever necessary.

Considering the defined nature of the research, the deductive research approach

can be considered as the most appropriate approach since this will first provide

an efficient platform from which to understand the existing ideas and

observations and then to enable them to be tested in the Sri Lankan context. That

in turn also enables the researcher to formulate the test environment of the

research to set the research variables and required pattern of testing to the context

of research. Therefore for this context of research the author has chosen this

approach to study the existing ideas and observations found in the theories and

literature about consumer eReadiness. Based on this study, hypotheses have been

developed to the Sri Lankan context and tested.

3.2.2. Quantitative methodology

Deductive approach most often adopts a quantitative research methodology,

which refers to the systematic empirical investigation of defined research

hypotheses with the help of numerical evidences that can involve statistical,

mathematical or computational techniques. On the contrary, qualitative

techniques involve more of investigating and evidencing based on analysis of

words, documents, observations, and transcripts. In simple terms, finding

evidence on how many people agree on the facts predefined is all about

quantitative techniques; whereas in qualitative techniques, there are no

predefined set of facts, but facts are collected through more open-ended

questions instead (Creswell, 2003).

However this research study has largely adopted the quantitative techniques and

made little provision for qualitative techniques in order to collect any possible

missing information using a few open-ended questions as well.



3.3. Methods of Investigation

Methods of investigation primarily involve Literature Review and Quantitative

Survey. The evidences derived from the literature and the ideas incorporated with the

evidences have been tested using a well-designed survey.

3.3.1. Literature Review

An extensive literature review has been done on related theories, ideas,

arguments, approaches, recent developments in the related field, and

recommendations. Based on the study the set of influencing factors on

eReadiness have been discussed under two broad categories namely, intrinsic

factors and extrinsic factors. This literature review has facilitated a platform to

develop a research framework, and the required research variables for the

empirical investigation, which is discussed in the next section of this chapter.

3.3.2. Research Framework

Based on an extensive analysis of existing literature, all the factors that were

defined as crucial for eReadiness is summarised into a framework provided here.

This has been used to simplify the hypothesis model for the study of eReadiness

of consumers for eCommerce adoption in Sri Lanka in the subsequent section of

this chapter. The interpretation of the existing research framework can be

described as follows:

At the outset eReadiness has been defined as a bottleneck for the eCommerce

adoption in any country. On the other hand, the overall eReadiness of a country

is defined as a three dimensional construct that constitutes consumer eReadiness,

Business eReadiness, and eEnabling environment.

Since the focus of this study is on Consumer eReadiness, the framework was

derived with the focus on how literature defines the influence of factors on

consumer eReadiness. This is broadly categorised into two main categories of

factors namely intrinsic and extrinsic factors.



As discussed elsewhere in the literature review, the extrinsic factors of an

individual (consumer) for eReadiness are primarily attributed by the business

eReadiness and eEnabling environment. Therefore the research framework

denotes these constructs as enablers of extrinsic factors. On the other hand, the

intrinsic factors are primarily attributed by beliefs and motivation where

motivation can be divided into two categories, that of personal motivation which

is referred to as Intrinsic Motivation and the other being motivation that arises

from external factors which is referred to as extrinsic motivation. The beliefs are

categorized into three types namely, behavioural beliefs, normative beliefs, and

control beliefs, each of which respectively influences the attitudes, subjective

Figure 3: Existing Factors Relationship Diagram



norms, and behavioural control. The latter three are believed to have an

influence on the internal motivation defined above.

The extrinsic factors have been recognised under the generic name of

infrastructure which, when contextually defined, implies the requirements for an

individual to become ready to adopt electronic commerce. The infrastructure is

identified as being of two types - one refers to the very physical primary

requirements while the other one that is supplementary requirements is referred

to as soft infrastructure. The physical infrastructure constitutes of communication

network, and terminal equipments such as PCs, Modems, etc. The physical

infrastructure is influenced by its availability, accessibility, affordability, and

reliability that embeds quality, security, and speed. On the other hand, the soft

infrastructure encompasses ICT education that includes the required skills and

knowledge in ICT, an economy that liberalises ICT goods and services that are

traded at affordable prices while providing higher standards of lifestyle, legal

framework that governs the ICT activities, and finally the government‟s

commitment in regulating and making ICT accessible to all citizens through their

policies and working strategies, and promoting ICT into day-to-day activities of

people. These extrinsic factors have also been considered as the factors that

influence the external motivation.

Basically based on the research framework, the literature identifies motivation as

one of the crucial factors that leads an individual towards making either a

positive or negative decision to carry out an action.

On the other hand, above all these, the demographic factors play an influential

role at every stage of the individual‟s progress until he/she performs an action, in

this context adoption. The author of this research believes that this framework

which has been developed based on an analysis of existing literature will provide

a suitable platform for this research to formulate hypotheses and to test them

according to the defined context.



Extrinsic Factors

Demographics

Gender

Age

Geographical Location

Employment Status

Household Income

House Status

Disability

Enabling Environment

Readiness of Physical

Infrastructure

Readiness of Soft

infrastructure

Readiness of Businesses

Enablers

Awareness

External Pressures

Consumer

eReadiness

Intrinsic Factors

Attitude

Subjective Norms

Behavioural Control

Motivation

Intention to

Adopt

eCommerce

eCommerce

Adoption

3.3.3. Hypotheses Development

Hypotheses are generally developed to find evidences to affirm the ideas

proposed through a research. Originally, this will carry either predictions or

assumptions, which will then either be ascertained or ruled-out by the evidences

collected through empirical investigations.

There have been several ideas of consumer eReadiness proposed by several

authors as discussed in the literature review. However, as originally proposed in

the research conceptualization stage, there have been less emphasis on consumer

eReadiness and no contextual evidence from Sri Lanka as well. The hypotheses

developed in this section include both existing ideas proposed for testing in the

Figure 4 Hypothesise Model for eReadiness of Consumers for eCommerce Adoption



Sri Lankan context, and some new dimensions of ideas that are expected to be

influential in consumer eReadiness.

At the outset the factors proposed, tested and incorporated in the existing models

are applicable in any developing country. Therefore these ideas have been

adopted to define the hypothesis.

The model for eReadiness of consumers for eCommerce adoption in the context

of Sri Lanka proposed above will be investigated through an appropriately

designed survey, and the results will be discussed in a later section of this

document.

The model is a simplified adoption of various models studied in the literature and

specifically focused on consumer eReadiness. This model advocates the

influence of the intrinsic and extrinsic factors on the consumer eReadiness.

Primarily the extrinsic factors include demographics, enabling environment, and

enablers. Seven demographic factors have been mainly considered as indicated in

the model above. Another important group is the environment which constitute

of readiness of businesses, and physical and soft infrastructure. Here the soft

infrastructure refers to the availability of ICT education, legal framework,

economy, and government policies on ICT and strategies to implement and

promote it. The ICT knowledge has been identified in the literature as one of the

influential factors that finally determines the consumer‟s readiness to adopt ICT.

Finally the enablers; this group encompasses the awareness an individual gets

from the environment, external pressures such as compulsory education, and use

of ICT in education and the work place so individuals are compelled to adopt

ICT these pressures come from several bodies such as government, communities,

employers, educational institutions, and other interested.

Another set of factors are intrinsic factors that influence an individual‟s

eReadiness. As previously defined elsewhere in the literature review these

factors have a personal influence on individuals‟ decisions and behaviours. There



have been four elements primarily identified from the literature which includes

attitude towards ICT, subjective norms, behavioural control, and motivation.

Motivation in particular arises both internally and externally. However this has

been defined under the generic term „motivation‟.

The eReadiness of an individual influences the intention to adopt eCommerce

and that in turn results in eCommerce adoption.

Based on this explained idea the following hypothesis has been defined for

testing in the Sri Lankan context:

H1: eReadiness of an individual is the bottleneck for his/her capability to

successfully adopt eCommerce.

H1a: eReadiness influences the intention to adopt eCommerce

and that in turn causes eCommerce adoption.

H2: Demographics influence the consumer eReadiness for eCommerce

Adoption in Sri Lanka

H2a: Gender influences the consumer eReadiness

H2b: Age influences the consumer eReadiness

H2c: Geographical Location influences the consumer eReadiness

H2d: Employment Status influences the consumer eReadiness

H2e: Household Income influences the consumer eReadiness

H2f: House Status influences the consumer eReadiness

H2g: Disability influences the consumer eReadiness

H3: Enabling Environment influences the eReadiness for eCommerce

adoption in Sri Lanka.



H3a: Readiness of Physical Infrastructure influences the

consumer eReadiness

H3b: Readiness of Soft Infrastructure influences the consumer

eReadiness

H3c: Readiness of Businesses influences the consumer

eReadiness

H4: Enablers influence the eReadiness for eCommerce adoption in Sri

Lanka.

H4a: Awareness on ICT and enabling environment influences the

consumer eReadiness

H4b: External Pressures influence the consumer eReadiness

H5: Intrinsic Factors influence the eReadiness for eCommerce adoption

in Sri Lanka.

H5a: Attitude towards ICT influences the consumer eReadiness

H5b: Subjective norms influence the consumer eReadiness

H5c: Behavioural Control influences the consumer eReadiness

H5d: Motivation influences the consumer eReadiness

These hypotheses will be used to design the survey and discuss findings to affirm

the proposed model of consumer eReadiness for consumer eCommerce adoption

in Sri Lanka

3.3.4. Quantitative Survey

As discussed elsewhere above, a quantitative based survey has been employed to

collect the required data to analyse and discuss the proposed research hypothesis.



Survey Direction

Internet Adopters

Have some Previous experience in eCommerce

Have no Previous experience in eCommerce

Internet Non-adopters

3.3.4.1. Survey Design

The survey has been designed to deal with pragmatic issues of capturing

linked information. An Intelligence based questionnaire has been employed

with the use of the Survey Monkey software that directs participants using

question logics provided. This refers to directing the respondent to questions

based on the answer provided for the previous question.

For the above purpose for this research, the research approach adopted by

Anckar (2003) has been adopted. Anckar, in his study about inhibitors that

influence eCommerce adoption, has used a very pragmatic and distinguished

approach to classify the research samples to identify the influence of various

factors in consumer eCommerce adoption. He has classified the samples into

internet adopters and internet non-adopters, and then internet adopters are

categorized into those without previous eCommerce experience and those

with some previous ecommerce experience. Thereby, he has derived three

subsets: internet adopters – those without eCommerce experience, internet

adopters – those with some eCommerce experience, and internet non-

adopters.

Figure 5: Survey Design Approach



The author of this research has adopted this approach to design the survey

which will also facilitate the classification of the results into required sets of

samples.

Questionnaire

The questionnaire included 24 research related questions, which constituted

8% of open-ended questions, 75% of close-ended questions, and another 17%

of mixed questions, which have primarily been posed as close-ended

questions and then provision was made to accommodate open-ended answers

as well.

The factors covered by the questions and the style can be summarised as

follows:

No Question Aim Factors Covered Style

1 Qs. 1 – 7 : Collect

demographical

information of the

participant

Gender, Age,

Geographical Location,

Employment Status,

Household Income,

Accommodation Type,

and Physical Status

MCQ (One

Selection), Q.6

made provision to

provide open-

ended answer as

well.

2 Qs. 8 – 11: Collect

Internet accessibility

related information of

participant

Access to Internet,

Place of Access,

Internet Usage Level,

and Internet Speed

MCQ (One

Selection)

3 Q.12: Infrastructure

Status of the

participant (this

question has been

asked only if the

participant responded

Infrastructure

Accessibility,

Availability,

Affordability, and

Reliability

LSQ (1: Strongly

Agree – Strongly

Disagree: 5)



that he/she does have

internet at home in

Q.10)

4 Q.13: Collect reasons

for non-home-internet

usage (this question

has been asked only if

the participant

responded that he/she

does not have internet

at home in Q.10)

Critical Inhibitors to

non-home-internet-

usage.

Infrastructure

Availability and

Affordability, lack of

ICT knowledge and

skills, and usability of

Internet.

MCQ (Multiple

Selections) This

Question made

provision to

provide open-

ended answers as

well.


for non-internet-usage

(this question has

been asked only if the


NO for Q.8)

Critical Inhibitors to

non-internet-usage.

Infrastructure

availability and

affordability, Internet

Usability, Quality of

Services.

MCQ (Multiple

Selections) This

Question made

provision to

provide open-

ended answers as

well.

6 Q.15: Collect opinions Beliefs, attitudes,

subjective norms,

behavioural control,

and motivation

LSQ (1: Strongly

Agree – Strongly

Disagree: 5)

7 Qs. 16 – 19: Collect

information on

familiarity with

eCommerce

Understanding of

eCommerce and How it

works, previous

experience, often use

eCommerce website.

MCQ (Multiple

Selections) and

Q.19 requested

open-ended

answer.

8 Q.20: Collect

information on

Availability of

information on

LSQ (1: Strongly

Agree – Strongly



previous experience of

using eCommerce

(this question has

been asked only if the


YES for Q.18)

products, security, trust,

quality concerns, after

sales services, web

accessibility, overall

satisfaction, and

willingness.

Disagree: 5)

9 Q.21: Collect

participant‟s general

perception of

eCommerce (this

question has been

asked only if the


YES for Q.18)

Boring, Lack of

enjoyment, lack of

immediate realization,

question of

affordability, trust, and

availability of

eCommerce in the

country.

LSQ (1: Strongly

Agree – Strongly

Disagree: 5)


for not using

eCommerce (this

question has been

asked only if the


NO for Q.18)

Lack of Knowledge in

eCommerce, Lack of

ICT knowledge and

skills, No exposure to

eCommerce in the

country, Boring, Lack

of enjoyment, lack of

immediate realization,

question of

affordability, trust, and

availability of

eCommerce in the

country.

LSQ (1: Strongly

Agree – Strongly

Disagree: 5)

11 Q.23: Collect

information on

awareness of

Level of ICT

knowledge and skills,

available eCommerce

LSQ (1: Strongly

Agree – Strongly

Disagree: 5)



participant about the

existing soft

infrastructure in the

country

businesses, available

legal framework,

current trend of

businesses, government

commitment, regional

economic conditions

within the country, and

different opinions of

people about ICT

12 Q24: Collect any

other information that

have not been covered

by the questionnaire

Any Open-ended

question

Table 3: Description to Questionnire

Notations: MCQ - Multiple Choice Question, LSQ – Likert Scale

Question, Q / Qs – Question (s), and ICT – Information Communication

Technologies.

3.3.4.2. Data Sampling

Data sampling has been a challenging task in this research study as the

absence of the author in the country and requirement to gather data within a

limited timeframe have limited the capability of selecting a pragmatic set of

data samples. Therefore the Availability Sampling method was adopted for

this research study.

However, the survey has previously indented to adopt the quota sampling

method targeting 20 respondents from each province to make up 180

respondents from all nine provinces. In addition to that 10 male and 10

female respondents targeted from each province.



The limitation to access to potential participants, limited time, geographical

difference of participants and the researcher have significantly impacted on

the adoption of the quota sampling method and compel to choose the

availability data sampling.

3.3.4.3. Data Analysis

The data analysis has been done using SPSS software and tools facilitated in

the Survey Monkey website. Basically the analysis used mainly four analysis

techniques such as Factor Analysis, Chi-Square test, ANOVA test, and Cross

Tabulation Analysis.

3.4. Limitations of Research Methodology

There have been several limitations in using the methodologies discussed above. The

foremost limitation was sampling. Due to the limitation of time and geographical

access, the survey has not been distributed to a predefined set of samples. However,

this problem has been resolved after collecting the surveys since the survey has been

designed to capture information in an organized way as proposed in the survey

design.

Another limitation was mode of survey. The absence of the researcher in Sri Lanka

limited his ability to opt for the physical (hard copy) distribution of surveys.

Therefore the author has used online surveys instead. This hindered the capability of

collecting the opinions of non-internet-adopters. Therefore an alternative provision

has been introduced by author to collect opinion over the phone and their answers to

the questions have been entered manually by one of his colleagues in Sri Lanka.

Another related limitation was the participants‟ commitment and awareness on the

subject that was being surveyed. On the other hand, online surveys in particular

demand ICT accessibility and knowledge. Therefore the differences in accessibility

and IT education across the country have influenced the survey results.



3.5. Ethical Issues

In terms of research ethics this research has demonstrated low risk since it has only

involved perceptions, preferences and self-evaluation of participants in an

anonymous manner. The anonymity has been strictly followed with the appropriately

designed surveys that ensured that no personal details of participants have been

captured.


In summary, the chapter covers the research approach and the methodology adopted

on this research. Further explanation is provided on the survey design and sampling

of data collection. Well defined hypotheses have been developed and discussed as

well. Finally the limitations to the research methodologies chosen as well as the

ethical issues have been well discussed.



Chapter 4

Findings and Analysis



4. Chapter 4 Findings and Data Analysis

4.1. Introduction

This chapter will bring in the presentation of the findings and analysis derived from

the online survey. A total of 102 responses were received from the targeted 180

potential respondents, which constitutes a 56.7% response rate for the survey. Out of

102 respondents, 79.8% have completed all of the questions that were required to be

answered and 20.2% have either exited the survey half way or have not attempted to

answer some of the questions. The responses gathered from the online survey have

been analysed using the embedded tool from Survey Monkey and SPSS software.

This chapter solely focuses on presenting the gathered data in a meaningful way to

facilitate the discussion, which will be presented in Chapter 5.

This chapter at the outset provides the background to the respondents by analysing

their demographic details. This is followed by findings and analysis of data, and the

summary. The findings and analysis has incorporated general and cross tabulation

analysis primarily on four broad themes that include demographics, enabling

environment, awareness, and motivation. Tables and diagrams have been used to

facilitate a simplistic reader-friendly writing. Finally, the summary of this chapter is

provided.

4.2. Survey Results

4.2.1. Data Description

The reference to the data and corresponding numeric value used in statistical

analysis can be found on the survey results attached in the appendix (Refer

Appendix 2).

4.2.2. Dispersion and Background of the Respondents

The survey has been targeted for 180 potential participants across nine provinces

in Sri Lanka. However, only 102 participants responded to the invitation to



participate within the defined time frame. The following is the response rate

according to the target versus actually received:

Figure 6: Response Rate (Overall & Gender)

The survey targeted 10 male and 10 female respondents to constitute 20

responses from each province.

Geographical Location:

Figure 7: Response Rate (Geographical)

CP - Central Province, NP - Northern Province, EP - Eastern Province, WP - Western Province,

SP - Southern Province, NWP - North Western Province, NCP - North Central Province, UP -

Uva Province, SbP - Sabaragamuwa Province.

However, the geographical response rate shows a tremendous change in trend

between the expected responses and actual, with a 295% response from Western

Province and 40% or lower from other provinces. The Western Province is where

the capital of Sri Lanka, Colombo, is located. The potential respondents were

targeted based on the residential status records of 2009 available with the author

180

90 90102

54 48

0

50

100

150

200

Overall Male Female

Nu

mb

er

of

Par

tici

pan

tsTarget

Actual

56.7%

60% 53.3%

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

20

6 6 5

59

8 5 3 4 6

0

20

40

60

80

CP NP EP WP SP NWP NCP UP SbP

Nu

mb

er

of

Re

spo

nd

en

ts

Target

Actual

30

% 30

% 25

%2

95

%

40

% 25

% 15

% 20

% 30

%



10

2

Mal

e (5

2.9

%)

18

to

25

(1

9.6

%)

Fem

ale

(47

.1%

)

26

to

35

(5

4.9

%)

36

to

45

(1

1.8

%)

46

to

60

(8

.8%

)

Ab

ove

60

(4

.9%

)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Total Number of Participants

Gender Age (Years)

Nu

mer

of

Res

po

nd

ents

(1

02

)

FTE

(77

.5%

)

< 1

0 (

10

.8%

)

Ren

ted

(2

4.5

%)

PTE

(4

.9%

)

11

-2

0 (

7.8

%)

Ow

ned

(3

2.4

%)

UE

(2.9

%)

21

-3

0 (

10

.8%

)

Fam

ily (

40

.2%

)

Stu

den

t (4

.9%

)

31

-4

0 (

11

.8%

)

Off

icia

l (0

%)

Ret

ired

(6

.9%

)

> 4

0 (

58

.8%

)

Oth

er (

2.9

%)

Oth

er (

2.9

%)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Household Income (Rs.)('000)

House Status Employment Status

of this research in these provinces. However, the responses show that most of the

respondents have migrated to the Western Province either permanently or

temporarily during this year.

The demographical statistics of 102 respondents can be summarized as follows:

Gender & Age:

Figure 8: Response Rate (Gender & Age)

The majority of participants have been between the ages of 18 and 35 years,

which stand at 74.5%. Male and female participants have participated in a

closely equal ratio which defers only by 5.8%, which implies that a slightly

higher number of males participated in the survey than females.

Household Income, House Status, & Employment Status:

FTE – Full-Time Employed, PTE – Part-Time Employed, UE – Unemployed

Figure 9: Response Rate (Economic Status)



Tota

l R

esp

on

den

ts

(10

2)

CP

(5

.9%

)

NP

(5

.9%

)

EP (

4.9

%)

WP

(5

7.8

%)

SP (

7.8

%)

NW

P (

4.9

%)

NC

P(2

.9%

)

UP

(3

.9%

)

SbP

(5.9

%)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Out of the total survey participants, 77.5% are working full time, 58.8% of the

participants are earning above Rs.40, 000 monthly household incomes, and

72.6% of participants are living in either personally owned or family owned

houses. This reflects on the better economic status and living standards of the

participants. On the other hand, the economic condition as a constraint for either

eReadiness or eCommerce adoption is an invalid factor for this group of

participants.

Geographical Dispersion of Participants:

CP - Central Province, NP - Northern Province, EP - Eastern Province, WP - Western Province,

SP - Southern Province, NWP - North Western Province, NCP - North Central Province, UP -

Uva Province, SbP - Sabaragamuwa Province.

Figure 10: Response Rate (Geographical Dispersion)

As previously stated elsewhere above, the majority of the participants were from

Western Province, where the capital Colombo is located. Therefore this reflects

that the majority of participants live in well developed areas of Sri Lanka, where

they have easy access to technology and innovations. The influence of this

scenario is reflected by the following figures on Internet accessibility and Usage

Levels.



Tota

l Res

po

den

ets

(95

-1

00

%)

Po

wer

Use

r (2

2.1

%)

HO

(2

1.1

%)

Ave

rage

Use

r (3

1.6

%)

W/S

O (

17

.9%

)

Ligh

t U

ser

(33

.7%

)

PP

O (

4.2

%)

Occ

asio

nal

Use

r (9

.5%

)

AEH

(4

.2%

)

No

n U

ser

(3.2

%)

AIH

(5

2.6

%)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Internet Usage Level Place of Access

Tota

l Res

po

nd

ents

(1

02

-1

00

%)

YES

(93

.1%

)

NO

(6

.9%

)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

Access to Internet

Access to Internet & Internet Usage Levels:

Out of the total participants who responded to the question, 93.1% of participants

have access to internet. Out of these, 87.3% of participants are daily Internet

users, 9.5% are occasional users, and 3.2% are non-users. The usage level will be

mentioned later in the discussions to address the influence of usage-level on

affordability within an individual‟s income level. In addition to that, from the

respondents who have access to internet, 56.8% of them have access to internet

in more than one place, and almost 73.7% have access to Internet at either Home

only or Home as well. This reflects on the higher level of accessibility to Internet

by the respondents.

HO – Home Only, W/SO – Work or School Only, PPO - Public Places Only, AEH – More than one or All

of the above Excluding Home, AIH - More than one or All of the above Including Home

Figure 11: Response Rate (Internet Access & Usage)

Internet Adoption and eReadiness

The data captured using “Internet Usage Level” indicates the internet adoption of

participants of the survey. In this research context the Internet adoption has been

considered as the eReadiness of individuals for eCommerce adoption.

For the above defined purpose the data related to “InternetUsageLevel” has been

absorbed into a new variable called “InternetAdoption” for further analysis in



this research. Out of 102 respondents, 92 were internet adopters and 10 were

non-adopters.

4.2.3. Descriptive Analysis

Internet Accessibility:

Out of 10 internet non-adopters, 7 respondents did not have access to internet.

They have been questioned about the factors that affect their accessibility to

internet. This has been clarified using a predefined set of factors from which

respondents can choose one or more factors that influence this. Furthermore, a

provision has also been made for respondents to express any other factors which

they feel has affected their accessibility to internet. The responses have been as

follows:

What could be the reasons you would claim for not having access to

Internet? (Question 14, Page 8 of 22 of the survey, question asked from Internet non-

adopters of 7)

Answer Options Response

Percent

Response

Count

I do not possess a computer at home 57.1% 4

IT equipments (computers and modems) are expensive 28.6% 2

Internet services are unavailable in my area 28.6% 2

Internet services are expensive 14.3% 1

I cannot afford with my current income 28.6% 2

I do not know how to use internet 57.1% 4

There is no public internet access centers 0.0% 0

Internet charges are very high at Internet access centers 0.0% 0

I do not need to use internet 57.1% 4

Internet connections are not good in my area due to

coverage problems 0.0% 0

Other (please specify) 28.6% 2

Total Responses to the question 7



The majority of respondents, a 57.1%, have mainly identified three reasons for

not having access to internet such as not possessing a computer, they do not

know how to use internet, and they do not have the need to use internet.

On the other hand, 26.3% of the respondents who have access to internet have

said that they do not have access to internet at home. The reasons for this

scenario have been clarified by the following question for which their responses

were as follows:

A 37.5% of respondents said they do not possess a computer at home, and 33.3%

said they do not need to use internet at home. There have been 25% of other

responses which were very interesting reasons such as “I mostly use internet for

office purpose. I like to live at home without doing office work”, “Because of my

baby, I'm afraid he'll misuse it”, “going back late night , want to sleep well”,

“only one or two days live in house per week”, and “I want to spend time with

family”. This reflects the concerns that some people have over security, and

some people spent most of their time at offices and so they did not want to spend

What could be the reasons you would claim for not having internet at your

home? (Question 13, Page 7 of 22 of the survey, question asked from Internet non-

adopters of 7)

Answer Options Response

Percent

Response

Count


IT equipments (computers and modems)are expensive 16.7% 4



None of the internet service providers sell quality

services 0.0% 0


I do not need to use internet at home 33.3% 8


Total Responses to the question 24



Hav

e ac

cess

to

In

tern

et

(9

5,1

00

%)

NO

N A

do

pte

rs

(3.2

%)

Ad

op

ters

(5

0%

)

YES

(82

.6%

)

YES

(80

.4%

)

Ad

op

ters

(9

6.8

%)

NO

N A

do

pte

rs

(50

%)

NO

(1

7.4

%)

NO

(1

9.6

%)

0

20

40

60

80

100

Internet Adoption eCommerce Adoption

Know what is eCommerce

Know how eCommerce

works

Nu

mb

er

of

Re

spo

nd

en

ts

Tota

l R

esp

on

den

ts o

f

qu

esti

on

(7

2 -

10

0%

)

<= 5

6kb

ps

(5.3

%)

57

kbp

s -

12

8kb

ps

(10

.5%

)

12

9kb

ps

-5

12

kbp

s (2

6.3

%)

51

3kb

ps

-1

mb

ps

(32

.6%

)

Ab

ove

1m

bp

s (4

.2%

)

Do

n't

kn

ow

th

e sp

eed

(2

1.1

%)

0

20

40

60

80

100

more time and money on internet at home. The latter could also be one of the

reasons for the 33.3% respondents who responded that they do not need internet

at home.

Internet Speed:

Figure 12: Response Rate (Internet Speed)

In terms of Internet speed, 63.1% are using more than 128kbps internet

connection speed that includes 36.8% of people who use more than 512kbps

internet connection speed. These figures correlate with geographical conditions

of the respondents, that most of the respondents reside in the technology rich

Western Province where the internet connection speeds are higher than other

provinces.

eCommerce Adoption:

Figure 13: Response Rate (eCommerce)



Number of Participants in

the Survey (102)

Have access to Internet (95)

Internet Adopters (92)

eCommerce Adopters (46)

eCommerce NON Adopter

(46)Internet Non-adopters (3)Do NOT have

access to Internet (7)

A number of 95 respondents said they have access to internet; Out of these 50%

has previously used eCommerce while the other half has never used eCommerce.

On the other hand, 82.6% said they have knowledge on what eCommerce is, and

80.4% said they also know how eCommerce works. This reflects that 30.4% of

respondents are potential eCommerce adopters. Therefore if a feasible

environment and motivation is provided for this group, they can become

eCommerce adopters.

When organising the survey results according to the logic used for data sampling,

it can be summarised as follows:

Based on the above organised figures the transparent fact is that, 56 respondents

out of 102 respondents who answered the questionnaire, which is 54.9%, are

eCommerce non-adopters. However, out of those 54.9% eCommerce non-

adopters, only 45.1% (46 respondents) were non-adopters although they are

Internet adopters, 2.9% were non-Internet adopters although they have access to

internet, and the other 6.9% do not have access to internet at all. Therefore, the

rest of the analysis will have more emphasis on those 54.9% of respondents who

are non-adopters of eCommerce; out of this, 9.8% who are internet non-adopters

will be analysed to study the correlation between eReadiness and eCommerce

non-adoption.

Hypotheses have been tested to identify the correlation proposed between the

eReadiness and non-adoption of eCommerce. Several factors proposed in the

hypotheses have primarily been tested with non-adopters of eCommerce, and

93.1%

6.9%

96.8%

3.2%

50%

50%



Tests of Normality

InternetAdoption

Kolmogorov-

Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk

Statistic df Sig. Statistic df Sig.

Gender: 1 .351 92 .000 .636 92 .000

2 .381 10 .000 .640 10 .000

Age: 1 .346 92 .000 .791 92 .000

2 .168 10 .200* .908 10 .268

Geographical Location 1 .349 92 .000 .768 92 .000

2 .150 10 .200* .947 10 .630

Employment Status: 1 .480 92 .000 .497 92 .000

2 .272 10 .035 .814 10 .021

Household Monthly Income: 1 .364 92 .000 .688 92 .000

2 .232 10 .135 .782 10 .009

House status: 1 .272 92 .000 .806 92 .000

2 .282 10 .023 .890 10 .172

Do you have any disability? 1 .537 92 .000 .130 92 .000

2 .524 10 .000 .366 10 .000

a. Lilliefors Significance Correction

*. This is a lower bound of the true significance.

have also been tested with the adopters of eCommerce in order to study their

opinion as well on those factors.

4.2.4. Advanced Statistical Tests Based Analysis

4.2.4.1. Normality Test

The normality test has been carried out to study the distribution of the

samples and their significance to determine the rest of the analysis types.

Test of Normality

If the sample size is less than 50, specifically the Shapiro-Wilk values need to

be used to identify the trend; however if the sample is more than 50, it can be

analysed using either of the values. The samples used for this survey is (102)

> 50, therefore there is no concerns over which value to use. However for ease

of explanation the Shapiro-Wilk sig. values have been used to analyse and

describe the distribution of samples. The Sig. values for most of the

categories of factors above have been .000 which is <0.05. However, samples



for age, geographical location, and house status have been normally

distributed when they are internet non-adopters. Therefore, overall, this

indicates that the samples have not been largely distributed in a normal

pattern.

4.2.4.2. Factor Analysis

Two significant value sets have been considered to come to a conclusion over

the concerns incorporated in different categories of factors that affect the

eReadiness of consumers and subsequently the eCommerce adoption. One is

KMO value which determines whether the factor set is valid for factor

analysis and the other one is communalities that demonstrate the amount of

variance accounted in the extracted factors in a set of factor solutions.

Physical Infrastructure Status

A number of 12 concerns have been clarified under this category of factors

which include the clarifications on accessibility, availability, affordability,

and reliability. The validity of the factor analysis for these concerns has been

affirmed by the KMO Value which stands at .784 which is in the good

acceptance range of 0.7 to 0.8. Also the p-value (.000) <0.05 which indicates

the statistical significance and the null hypothesis is to be rejected as well.

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .784

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity Approx. Chi-Square 542.977

df 78

Sig. .000

The SPSS has extracted three components in light of statistical significance

(Refer: Appendix2.1: Total Variance Explained).

The Rotated Component Matrix defines the weight of each variable over the

components established as follows:



Rotated Component Matrixa

Component

1 2 3

I did/do not experience any security threats from the equipments I am

using

.878 .189

I did/do not experience any security issues with the internet connection I

am using now

.870 .148

When Surfing internet I can experience the internet connection speed

promised by the services providers

.780 .275

I am happy with the performance of the equipments (computers and

modems)I am using

.731 .259

In overall I have a very positive experience about obtaining internet

services and required IT equipments, and using them

.689 .145 .440

IT equipments (computers and modems) can be easily purchased in my

area

.125 .843 .183

There are several shops in my area selling IT eqipments (computers and

modems)

.826 .229

There are several internet services providers in my area to choose one .826

Internet services are easy to buy in my area .177 .664 .194

IT equipments (computers and modems) prices are affordable .284 .869

IT equipments (computers and modems) are cheap .182 .279 .862

Internet services are cheap .355 .510 .544

I can afford the internet charges with my income .369 .430

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis. Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser

Normalization.

a. Rotation converged in 5 iterations.

Same can be reaffirmed by looking at the Scree Plot where only first three

factors remain above the eigenvalue greater than 1.




Component

1 2 3 4

There are numerous programmes conducted by government of

Sri Lanka to develop ICT skills to all citizens

.840 .162 .207 .142

These days, most of the companies in Sri Lanka focuses on

online trading as well

.766 .042 -.022 -.199

Government of Sri Lanka is very much committed to develop

ICT infrastructure across the island

.703 .371 .143 .173

Sri Lankan people are interested more online buying and selling

nowadays

.691 -.133 -.005 .021

There are government policies that ensure ICT as one of the

compulsory education in Sri Lanka from primary level

.622 .145 .224 .444

There is poverty exist in Sri Lanka in some regions .372 .790 -.102 .018

There are people who do not even have their basic needs

fulfilled in Sri Lanka

.088 .769 -.069 -.266

In some of the regions of Sri Lanka, the poverty is one of the

main reasons for lack of ICT developments

.229 .731 -.088 -.090

We need more laws in place to protect and provide a secure

environment for internet based tradings

-.066 .639 -.401 -.053

ICT growth in Sri Lanka is not yet enough for large scale

internet based businesses (buying and selling)

-.327 .636 -.159 .058

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and

govern ICT based activities either online or offline

.033 -.057 .922 .006


govern buying and selling online

.103 -.246 .908 .033


govern the online transactions

.152 -.206 .881 .062

There are free of charge ICT training and skills development

programmes are made available for all citizens by the

government of Sri Lanka

.265 -.108 .047 .798

Private educations and training on ICT are affordable by any

ordinary citizen who earns a basic standard of income

-.125 -.131 -.004 .792

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis.

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization.


The grouping of the components exactly portrays the origins of factors which

include reliability (Component 1), Availability and Accessibility (Component

2), and Affordability (Component 3) of physical infrastructure.

Soft Infrastructure Status

A number of 19 concerns have been raised to measure the soft infrastructure

status. However the first run communality of factor analysis showed lowest

variance value for almost four factors. Based on this suggestion, those four

factors have been eliminated from the analysis as they do not have any

significance. Following is the factor analysis to manage the roles of the rest

of the 15 factors in analysis:




df 105

Sig. .000

KMO value is at 0.726 which is within the acceptable range of 0.5 to 0.7.

Therefore the factor analysis is valid for this factor set.

The SPSS has originally extracted five components in light of statistical

significance, however the originally intended number of factors were four.

Therefore four factor analysis has been re-executed which is as follows

(Refer: Appendix 2.2: Total Variance Explained):




Component

1 2 3 4



.840 .162 .207 .142



.766 .042 -.022 -.199

Government of Sri Lanka is very much committed to develop

ICT infrastructure across the island

.703 .371 .143 .173


nowadays

.691 -.133 -.005 .021



.622 .145 .224 .444

There is poverty exist in Sri Lanka in some regions .372 .790 -.102 .018



.088 .769 -.069 -.266

In some of the regions of Sri Lanka, the poverty is one of the

main reasons for lack of ICT developments

.229 .731 -.088 -.090

We need more laws in place to protect and provide a secure

environment for internet based tradings

-.066 .639 -.401 -.053



-.327 .636 -.159 .058



.033 -.057 .922 .006


govern buying and selling online

.103 -.246 .908 .033


govern the online transactions

.152 -.206 .881 .062




.265 -.108 .047 .798



-.125 -.131 -.004 .792




The following Scree Plot confirms the factor solution extracted by the SPSS.

The five components locate themselves in the range of above 1 of eigenvalue.



The four components respectively group into Government Commitment

(Component1), Economy (Component2), Legal Framework (component3),

and Access to ICT (Component4), which were originally framed by the

question.

Business Readiness Status

There have been three concerns used to identify the business readiness.



The SPSS has extracted five components in light of statistical significance

(Refer: Appendix 2.3: Total Variance Explained).

The Component Matrix defines the weight of each variable over the


Based on the statistical significance the R-matrix has extracted the first

component. That will be taken into consideration for further analysis on

business readiness:

Component Matrixa

Component

1

There are lot of eCommerce websites in Sri Lanka .873

Very few Internet based businesses are available in Sri Lanka -.764

These days, most of the companies in Sri Lanka focuses on online trading as

well

.582


a. 1 components extracted.




df 3

Sig. .000



The following Scree Plot confirms the factor solution extracted by the SPSS.

The one component locates within the range of above 1 of eigenvalue.

Awareness

There have been almost a total of 21 concerns and from first run

communality of factor analysis, a total of 6 concerns have been identified as

either not relevant or statistically insignificant as they demonstrated lower

variance and did not fit in the clusters. Therefore finally 15 factors have been

taken into consideration for further analysis.



The SPSS has extracted five components in light of statistical significance







Df 105

Sig. .000



The components have been respectively grouped into awareness on ICT

developments, ICT Culture, Legal Framework, availability of businesses, and

ICT accessibility.


Component

1 2 3 4 5

There are numerous programmes conducted by

government of Sri Lanka to develop ICT skills to all

citizens

.911 .110 .128 -.141 -.016

Government of Sri Lanka is very much committed to

develop ICT infrastructure across the island

.842 .203 .008 -.084 -.014

There are government policies that ensure ICT as one of

the compulsory education in Sri Lanka from primary level

.720 .098 .184 -.043 .336

Sri Lankan people are interested more online buying and

selling nowadays

.602 -.052 .069 -.010 .033

There are people who hate technologies in Sri Lanka -.056 .848 .036 -.109 .046



.062 .835 -.094 .275 -.175

There are people who never had exposure to ICT or any

technology per say in Sri Lanka

.097 .761 -.137 .091 -.245

There is poverty exist in Sri Lanka in some regions .377 .729 -.178 .186 .063

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect

and govern ICT based activities either online or offline

.075 -.014 .936 .024 .018


and govern buying and selling online

.102 -.145 .905 -.209 .026


and govern the online transactions

.160 -.122 .890 -.152 .050



-.036 .135 -.172 .905 -.019

Internet based businesses has LESS impact on Sri

Lanka's economy

-.180 .108 -.094 .892 -.070

Private educations and training on ICT are affordable by

any ordinary citizen who earns a basic standard of income

-.065 -.192 .003 .031 .826

There are free of charge ICT training and skills

development programmes are made available for all

citizens by the government of Sri Lanka

.299 -.021 .058 -.130 .797






This is affirmed in the Scree Plot by the first seven components that remain

within the range of above eigenvalue of 1.

External Pressures

There have been seven factors under consideration to evaluate the external

pressure on individuals for eReadiness. Following has been the related

statistics to ensure the validity and significance of the factors:

KMO value of 0.602 demonstrates that it remains within the acceptance

range between 0.5 and 0.7. Therefore the factor analysis on the factor set is

valid to proceed.

The SPSS has extracted three components in light of statistical significance







df 21

Sig. .000



The components extracted represent the three areas of pressure that include

ICT cultural pressure (Component1), pressure from living circle (Component

2), and Economic Pressure (Component 3).

The Scree Plot affirms the above too as three components that remain within

the range of eigenvalue 1, as shown here:


Component

1 2 3


nowadays

.824 .058 .050

These days, most of the companies in Sri Lanka focuses on online

trading as well

.772 -.004 .144



.731 .041 -.055

My friends inspired me to use IT a lot .124 .748 -.093

Everyone in my family use IT a lot, so I am inspired to use IT .009 .736 .063

In some of the regions of Sri Lanka, the poverty is one of the main

reasons for lack of ICT developments

.168 -.082 .886

I started using IT only when I became employed -.142 .544 .554






Intrinsic Factors affecting eReadiness

There have been 24 concerns raised to clarify the impact of intrinsic factors

such as attitude, subjective norms, behavioural control and motivation.

However the first run communality of the factor analysis indicated almost ten

concerns that have reflected statistical insignificance and some are

redundantly used to capture same information. Therefore all of those ten

factors have been eliminated from the factor solution for further analysis.

Following has been the related statistics to ensure the validity and

significance of the factors:




df 91

Sig. .000

KMO value of 0.651 demonstrates that it remains within the acceptance

range between 0.5 and 0.7. Therefore the factor analysis on the factor set is

valid to proceed.

The SPSS has extracted four components in light of statistical significance







Component

1 2 3 4

Internet benefits me in lot of ways .782 .100 .136 .369

Information Technologies (IT) enhance the standards of human

lives

.782 .120 -.017 -.095

Internet technologies enabled information sharing easy .753 -.033 .043 -.112

I always like trying out innovation of technologies .742 -.045 .302 .072

Information Technologies (IT) have more advantages than

possible disadvantages

.576 .335 -.223 -.153



.190 .840 .031 .070


nowadays

.029 .773 .013 .080



.278 .674 .373 -.058



.056 .673 -.164 .213



-.144 .366 .098 -.164




.121 .242 .843 .003



.031 -.090 .749 -.078

I have IT equipment at home so I have easy access to IT .144 .022 -.092 .830

Everyone in my family use IT a lot, so I am inspired to use IT -.241 .094 .009 .801





Component

1 2 3 4

Internet benefits me in lot of ways .782 .100 .136 .369

Information Technologies (IT) enhance the standards of human

lives

.782 .120 -.017 -.095

Internet technologies enabled information sharing easy .753 -.033 .043 -.112

I always like trying out innovation of technologies .742 -.045 .302 .072

Information Technologies (IT) have more advantages than


.576 .335 -.223 -.153



.190 .840 .031 .070


nowadays

.029 .773 .013 .080



.278 .674 .373 -.058



.056 .673 -.164 .213



-.144 .366 .098 -.164




.121 .242 .843 .003



.031 -.090 .749 -.078

I have IT equipment at home so I have easy access to IT .144 .022 -.092 .830

Everyone in my family use IT a lot, so I am inspired to use IT -.241 .094 .009 .801




The components extracted represent the four areas of intrinsic influence that

include Attitude (Component1), Subjective Norms (Component2),

Behavioural Control (Component3), and Motivation (Component 4).

The Scree plot affirms that four of the components remain within the range of

eigenvalue of 1.



4.2.4.3. Reliability Test

Based on the factor analysis the number of factors that need to be involved

has been reduced to 28. This number constitutes the main category of factors

that influence the consumer eReadiness; that includes demographic factors,

factors related to enabling environment, factors related to enablers, and

intrinsic factors.

Preliminary reliability tests suggested several criteria as unreliable. An

account of the modification is as follows:

Cronbach's

Alpha

Initial overall Reliability Score of 28 Items .417

Household Income (If Deleted) .531

Geographical Location (If Deleted) .603

Awareness on Availability of Businesses (If Deleted) .617

Economic Pressure (If Deleted) .627

Disability Status (If Deleted) .638

House Status (If Deleted) .649

Concluded overall reliability Score of 22 Items .649



The final reliability score stands at .649 which is within the acceptable good

test score range of .6 to .9. Based on the reliability suggestions, a total of six

items stated in the table above have been omitted from further analysis.

Preliminary reliability tests suggested several criteria as unreliable.

The table of reliability scores of remaining 22 items is as follows:

Item-Total Statistics

Sc

ale

Me

an

if

Item

De

lete

d

Sc

ale

Va

ria

nc

e i

f

Ite

m D

ele

ted

Co

rre

cte

d I

tem

-

To

tal

Co

rre

lati

on

Sq

ua

red

Mu

ltip

le

Co

rre

lati

on

Cro

nb

ac

h's

Alp

ha

if I

tem

Dele

ted

Gender: 4.8079250 51.735 -.001 . .653

Age: 4.1774903 49.132 .133 . .648

Employment Status: 4.8079250 49.111 .092 . .656

Reliability of Physical Infrastructure 6.1560960 46.446 .320 . .626

Availability-Accessibility of Physical

Infrastructure

6.1396911 49.344 .112 . .651

Affordability of Physical Infrastructure 6.2657472 48.390 .168 . .645

Government Commitment -Soft.Infra 6.2658418 45.292 .506 . .608

Economy - Soft.Infra 6.3655014 49.292 .131 . .648

Legal Frame Work - Soft.Infra 6.0611829 49.421 .127 . .648

Access to ICT - Soft.Infra 6.2142988 45.542 .374 . .619

Business Readiness 6.1106419 50.426 .061 . .654

Awareness on ICT Developments 6.2834379 44.645 .523 . .604

Awareness on ICT Culture 6.2804374 49.974 .065 . .656

Awareness on Legal Framework 6.0553643 49.309 .129 . .648

Awareness on ICT Accessibility 6.1942875 45.613 .380 . .619

ICT Cultural Pressure 6.2531326 44.213 .555 . .600

Pressure from Living Circle 6.2853878 51.263 -.023 . .666

Attitude 6.2482240 49.041 .127 . .649

Subjective Norms 6.1941452 44.241 .578 . .599

Behavioural Control 6.1611097 45.906 .385 . .619

Motivation 6.5697635 50.111 .089 . .651

InternetAdoption 5.1992294 50.995 .321 . .643

Reliability Statistics

Cronbach's Alpha

Cronbach's Alpha

Based on Standardized

Items N of Items

.649 .663 22

Scale Statistics

Mean Variance Std. Deviation N of Items

6.2427076 51.982 7.20984381 22



Item-Total Statistics

Sc

ale

Me

an

if

Item

De

lete

d

Sc

ale

Va

ria

nc

e i

f

Ite

m D

ele

ted

Co

rre

cte

d I

tem

-

To

tal

Co

rre

lati

on

Sq

ua

red

Mu

ltip

le

Co

rre

lati

on

Cro

nb

ac

h's

Alp

ha

if I

tem

Dele

ted

Gender: 4.8079250 51.735 -.001 . .653

Age: 4.1774903 49.132 .133 . .648

Employment Status: 4.8079250 49.111 .092 . .656

Reliability of Physical Infrastructure 6.1560960 46.446 .320 . .626


Infrastructure

6.1396911 49.344 .112 . .651

Affordability of Physical Infrastructure 6.2657472 48.390 .168 . .645

Government Commitment -Soft.Infra 6.2658418 45.292 .506 . .608

Economy - Soft.Infra 6.3655014 49.292 .131 . .648

Legal Frame Work - Soft.Infra 6.0611829 49.421 .127 . .648

Access to ICT - Soft.Infra 6.2142988 45.542 .374 . .619

Business Readiness 6.1106419 50.426 .061 . .654

Awareness on ICT Developments 6.2834379 44.645 .523 . .604

Awareness on ICT Culture 6.2804374 49.974 .065 . .656

Awareness on Legal Framework 6.0553643 49.309 .129 . .648

Awareness on ICT Accessibility 6.1942875 45.613 .380 . .619

ICT Cultural Pressure 6.2531326 44.213 .555 . .600

Pressure from Living Circle 6.2853878 51.263 -.023 . .666

Attitude 6.2482240 49.041 .127 . .649

Subjective Norms 6.1941452 44.241 .578 . .599

Behavioural Control 6.1611097 45.906 .385 . .619

Motivation 6.5697635 50.111 .089 . .651

InternetAdoption 5.1992294 50.995 .321 . .643

Tests of Normality

InternetAdoption

Kolmogorov-Smirnova Shapiro-Wilk

Statistic df Sig. Statistic df Sig.

Gender: 1 .351 92 .000 .636 92 .000

2 .381 10 .000 .640 10 .000

Age: 1 .346 92 .000 .791 92 .000

2 .168 10 .200* .908 10 .268

Employment Status: 1 .480 92 .000 .497 92 .000

2 .272 10 .035 .814 10 .021

a. Lilliefors Significance Correction

*. This is a lower bound of the true significance.

Based on recommendations identified from the reliability test the omitted six

items will be modified on the hypothesis model. The discussion on the

modification and reliability results will be provided in chapter 5.

4.2.4.4. Correlations Test

As stated above in the beginning of this section, the initial test of normality

turned out unfavourable for all of the demographic sample sets resulting non-

normal distribution.

After the Reliability test, Gender, Age, and Employment Status have been the

demographic samples available for further analysis. However, most of the K-

S values for these factors too have been .000, resulting in largely non-normal

distribution.



The results indicate that none of the parametric tests like One-way

ANOVA, Chi-Squared tests can be performed for the existing set of samples

as those testing require normally distributed data. Therefore alternatively, the

equalling nonparametric tests have been optioned to identify the correlation

between the factors shortlisted from the reliability test.

For the above purpose Kendall‟s tau b nonparametric correlation testing has

been chosen. This test is more appropriate when the data set is non-normally

distributed, small in size and too many rankings. In this particular context,

the research data very much reflects the same scenario; therefore this test has

been used to evaluate the correlation between the variables.

Correlation1: Demographics Vs Internet Adoption

Internet Adoption

Kendall's

tau_b

Gender: Correlation Coefficient -.047

Sig. (2-tailed) .639

N 102

Age: Correlation Coefficient .279**


N 102

Internet Adoption Correlation Coefficient 1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .

N 102

Employment Status: Correlation Coefficient .196*


N 102

**. Correlation is significant at the 0.01 level (2-tailed).

*. Correlation is significant at the 0.05 level (2-tailed).

The figures show that gender has neither a higher score of correlation nor

statistical significance as p (.639) > 0.05. However comparatively, age and

employment status have higher scores of correlation and statistical

significance as their p-values are less than 0.05. Age has a stronger



correlation than employment status as demonstrated by the correlation scores

and statistical significance.

Correlation2: Enabling Environment Vs Internet Adoption

Physical Infrastructure Vs Internet Adoption

Internet

Adoption

Kendall's

tau_b

Internet Adoption Correlation Coefficient 1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .

N 102

Reliability of Physical Infrastructure Correlation Coefficient .185


N 68


Infrastructure

Correlation Coefficient .098


N 68

Affordability of Physical Infrastructure Correlation Coefficient -.053


N 68

All of the factors stated under physical infrastructure are reported to have

neither significant correlation nor statistical significance as their p-values are

greater than 0.05.

Soft Infrastructure Vs Internet Adoption

Correlations

Internet

Adoption

Kendall's tau_b Internet Adoption Correlation Coefficient 1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .

N 102

Government Commitment -Soft.Infra Correlation Coefficient .096


N 69



Economy - Soft.Infra Correlation Coefficient .369**


N 69

Legal Frame Work - Soft.Infra Correlation Coefficient -.051


N 69

Access to ICT - Soft.Infra Correlation Coefficient .150


N 69


In the same way, the soft infrastructure factors such as government

commitment, legal framework, and access to ICT have shown very weak

correlation with the internet adoption. On the other hand, they do not have

statistical significance as well. However, the economy has shown a stronger

correlation with higher scores at P < 0.01.

Business Readiness Vs Internet Adoption

Internet

Adoption

Kendall's

tau_b

Internet Adoption Correlation

Coefficient

1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .

N 102

Business Readiness Correlation

Coefficient

-.124


N 75

Business readiness has no significant correlation too. Also it has no statistical

significance as the p-value (0.206) > .05.



Correlation3: Enablers Vs Internet Adoption

Awareness Vs internet Adoption

Internet Adoption

Kendall's

tau_b

Internet Adoption

Correlation

Coefficient

1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .

N 102

Awareness on ICT Developments

Correlation

Coefficient

.202*


N 69

Awareness on ICT Culture

Correlation

Coefficient

.206*


N 69

Awareness on Legal Framework

Correlation

Coefficient

-.105


N 69

Awareness on ICT Accessibility

Correlation

Coefficient

.111


N 69

The correlation values in the table indicate that ICT awareness and ICT

culture have strong correlations at the p-values 0.043 and 0.039 respectively,

which are less than 0.05. Therefore they also have statistical significance.

However figures related to awareness on legal framework and ICT

accessibility indicates that these factors have no significant correlations and

statistical importance.



External Pressures Vs Internet Adoption

Internet Adoption

Kendall's

tau_b


Coefficient

1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .

N 102

ICT Cultural Pressure Correlation

Coefficient

.084


N 67

Pressure from Living Circle Correlation

Coefficient

-.002


N 67

All of the factors classified under external pressure have reported weak

correlations and no statistical importance as their p-values > 0.05.

Intrinsic Factors Vs Internet Adoption

Internet Adoption

Kendall's

tau_b


Coefficient

1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .

N 102

Attitude Correlation

Coefficient

.244*


N 66

Subjective Norms Correlation

Coefficient

.015


N 66

Behavioural Control Correlation

Coefficient

.080




N 66

Motivation Correlation

Coefficient

.179


N 66


Only attitude under intrinsic factors reported to have very stronger

correlation with scores of .244 at p-value (0.017) < 0.05. All of the other

factors have very weak correlations with higher p-values.

Intention to adopt eCommerce Vs Internet Adoption

Correlations

InternetAdoption

I am willing to try

eCommerce in the

future

Kendall's

tau_b

InternetAdoption Correlation

Coefficient

1.000 .441**

Sig. (2-tailed) . .002

N 102 45

I am willing to try

eCommerce in the

future

Correlation

Coefficient

.441** 1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .002 .

N 45 45


The correlation between Intention to adopt and adoption of internet is

reporting a higher correlation with 0.441 at p-value is 0.002 which is less

than 0.01. This reflects a stronger correlation and statistical significance as

well.



eCommerce Adoption Vs Internet Adoption

Internet Adoption

Kendall's

tau_b


Coefficient

1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .

N 102

eCommerce Adoption Correlation

Coefficient

.349**


N 92


The eCommerce Adoption and Internet Adoption shows a stronger

correlation at p-value (0.001) < 0.01. This reflects on the stronger statistical

significance as well.

4.2.5. Other Statistics Collected from the survey on eCommerce

Adoption

Previous Experience with eCommerce websites:

The previous experience has been advocated in the literature as demographics

having a significant impact on eCommerce adoption. Satisfaction from previous

experience triggers the motivation to continue eCommerce adoption and inspire

others in the community.

There have been several eCommerce websites stated by the respondents. Some

respondents have stated more than one website as well. The following table

shows the responses provided by the respondents. Majority of respondents have

accessed the ebay website. Seven respondents have said they accessed Amazon.

Most of the other websites are local Sri Lankan websites. This indicates the

availability of eCommerce websites in Sri Lanka.



NR – Number of Responses

Opinion on Infrastructure Status by Adopters and Non-adopters of

eCommerce

Total number of responses analysed is 63.

Factor eCommerce

Adopters

(higher

Disagreed

responses of 33)

eCommerce

Non-adopters

(higher

Disagreed

responses of 30)

Totally

disagreed

responses

of 63

Internet is Accessible 6.1% 3.3% 4.6%

Internet is Available 3% 3.3% 3.0%

Internet is Cheap 12.1% 26.7% 19.1%

Internet is Affordable 0% 13.3% 6.3%

eCommerce Web NR eCommerce Web NR

www.slt.lk 3 www.e-channeling.com 3

masreq bank 1 www.mobitel.lk 2

Shop Curious 1 www.gonutswithdonuts.com 2

www.freeservers.com 1 Godady.com 2

http://www.odel.lk/ 1 www.ebay.com 12

http://www.lanka.info 5 anything.lk 1

www.buyabans.com 1 www.keelsuper.com 1

Hsbc.lk 1 www.vijithayapa.com 1

hameedia.lk 1 www.amazon.com 7

Airline booking 1 iTunes 1

Combank.net 3



Experience the

promised internet

speed

27.2% 20% 23.8%

Secure Internet

Connection

6.1% 13.3% 9.5%

IT equipment is

Accessible

9.1% 6.7% 8.0%

IT equipment is

Available

12.1% 16.3% 14.1%

IT equipment is Cheap 21.2% 43.4% 31.8%

IT equipment is

Affordable

9.1% 26.7% 17.5%

IT equipment

performance is good

3% 13.3% 7.9%

Secure IT equipment 3% 13.3% 7.9%

In general, out of 63 respondents, 31.8% had concerns over the price of IT

equipment and 17.5% had concerns about the affordability of equipment;

secondly the internet speed was a concern for 23.8%, and a 19.1% had concerns

about the internet charges. Similar concerns have been highly recognised by the

eCommerce non-adopters as well. A majority of 43.3% of eCommerce non-

adopters recognised IT equipment price and 26.7% recognised the affordability

of IT equipment in their areas as some of the concerns that impact adopting

eCommerce. This reflects that these two factors have a significant impact on

eCommerce adoption. However the overall physical Infrastructure status reflects

a positive state of readiness.

The top average of poorly rated (Strongly Agree 1 – Strongly Disagree 5)

opinions of eCommerce non-adopters are as follows (For detailed tables refer

Appendix 3:1):



Following are the average higher rated responses by eCommerce adopters on

their previous experience with the eCommerce website they used (For detailed

tables refer Appendix 3:2):

The same group of eCommerce adopters provided their rating on general

perception of eCommerce as follows (For detailed tables refer Appendix3:3):

0.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00

I do not know what is eCommerce

I am scared of possible theft of my …

It is boring to do shopping online

It is expensive to purchase online

I am willing to try eCommerce in the …

I worry about that my personal …

What are your opinions regarding the following statements?

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00

The website have stated all the terms …

I was very much concerned about the …

It was very difficult for me to locate an …

There is no personalised services …

What are your opinions regarding the following statements based on your previous experience with the eCommerce website you have

stated above?




In summary, the chapter has reported several statistics and related analysis. In

particular, the specific statistical test reported a number of critical information; the

test of normality reported the “non-normal” distribution of samples, followed by a

factor analysis performed to reduce the huge volume of data into very a manageable

data set; followed by the reliability test which indicated six factors as having higher

unreliable scores and which resulted in dropping those factors to derive at an

acceptable reliable score of 0.649; finally the correlation test indicated a need for a

non-parametric test as the distribution of samples were “non-normal” and as a result

the Kendall‟s Tau b test has been performed, - this test reported 06 out of 21 factors

as having strong correlations and statistical significance; also the correlation between

eCommerce adoption and Internet adoption reported to have stronger correlation and

statistical significance too. The chapter also finally reported on some of the

supplementary statistics collected from the survey on eCommerce adoption.

0.00 1.00 2.00 3.00 4.00

It is boring to do shopping online

I perfer to get deliveries immediately …

It is expensive to purchase online

After I have placed an order I might …

What are your opinions regarding the following statements based on what you feel about each statement?



Chapter 5

Discussions



5. Discussions

5.1. Introduction

This chapter facilitates a discussion on the testing and findings carried out in the

previous chapter corresponding to the predefined hypotheses. An account of the

facts and figures, the justification for choosing the particular test methods and the

results will be discussed. The chapter will also carry the cross-references to the

relevant literature. Finally, the summary will be outlined.

5.2. Test Methodologies and Justification

Primarily there have been four test methods employed namely, test of normality,

factor analysis, reliability test, and Kendall‟s tau b correlation-coefficiency test.

By academic practices it is mandatory to provide an insight into the nature of the

data sample set being used for any research. Therefore the test of normality has

been carried out; for this purpose the K-S test has been adopted and Shapiro-

Wilk values have been evaluated as this test values can produce reliable

conclusions for samples of any size. This test reported a non-normal distribution

of samples.

The factor analysis was a mandatory requirement for this research study since a

huge volume of data has been collected and which cannot be used as it was due

to the limitations to the analysis, time and documentation. Therefore the factor

reduction was a requirement. The features of the factor analysis used include

principal component method using extraction at eigenvalue greater than 1 and

varimax rotation method to reorganize the data into related groups. A huge

volume of data has been extracted into 20 logical groups of components.

Another most commonly required test is the reliability test on factors to identify

any unreliability in the factor solution. For this purpose Cronbach‟s alpha values

have been tested. There have been 28 criteria tested for reliability and only after

reduction to eight criteria, the alpha score turned out as 0.649 which is within the



acceptable range of 0.6 to 0.9. Therefore the rest of the analysis was carried out

only with the reliable factor solution of 22.

Finally the Kendall tau-b correlation-coefficient test has been adopted to test the

correlations between the factors and internet adoption. This was because due to

the non-normal distribution, a non-parametric testing was required. Though there

have been several other non-parametric tests available, this test has demonstrated

a special significance as this enabled a better estimate of correlation to draw

accurate generalised conclusions. This test followed the common hypothesis

arguments that include:

H0: τKen,b = 0 (there is no correlation between the two variables)

H1: τKen,b < > 0 (the two variables are correlated)

The further discussion on all of the hypotheses made on this research will be

provided in the later sections.

5.3. Discussions on hypotheses testing

There have been five main hypotheses, each incorporating several sub divisions

of hypotheses. This subset counts to seventeen. The following is the individual

discussions on those hypotheses.

H2: Demographics influence the consumer eReadiness for eCommerce

Adoption in Sri Lanka

Hypothesis τKen,b Sig. (2-tailed) Correlation type

H2a: Gender

influences the

consumer

eReadiness

-.047 .639 Week, No Statistical

Significance

H2b: Age

influences the

consumer

eReadiness

.279 .003 Strong, Statically

Significance

H2d: Employment

Status influences

the consumer

eReadiness


Significance



For all of the above demographic factors the null hypothesis is rejected as the

τKen,b < > 0, therefore alternative hypothesis denoted respectively by H2a, H2b,

H2d are true.

However, the hypothesis testing using the Kendall‟s τKen,b has not been

performed for following factors as the reliability test scores of the data

relating to the factors reported less than 0.6, which is not acceptable. Therefore

these factors have been dropped from further analysis. This has highly impacted

the research resulting in modifications being made to the hypothesis model.

H2c: Geographical Location influences the consumer eReadiness

H2e: Household Income influences the consumer eReadiness

H2f: House Status influences the consumer eReadiness

H2g: Disability influences the consumer eReadiness

Even though the above factors will be omitted from the model, the rest of the

factors analysed report confident correlation. Therefore in representing those

elements the demographic factors can be advocated as having an influence on

eReadiness of consumers for eCommerce adoption. Therefore the main

hypothesis H2 is valid.

H3: Enabling Environment influences the eReadiness for eCommerce adoption

in Sri Lanka.

Hypothesis τKen,b Sig.

(2-tailed)

Correlation

type

H3a: Readiness of

Physical

Infrastructure

influences the

consumer

eReadiness

Reliability .185 .066

Week, No

Statistical

Significance

Availability &

Accessibility .098 .332

Week, No

Statistical

Significance

Affordability -0.053 .601

Week, No

Statistical

Significance



H3b: Readiness of

Soft

Infrastructure

influences the

consumer

eReadiness

Government

Commitment .096 .339

Week, No

Statistical

Significance

Economy .369 .000

Strong,

Statically

Significance

Legal Framework -.051 .613

Week, No

Statistical

Significance

Access to ICT .150 .134

Week, No

Statistical

Significance

H3c: Readiness of

Businesses

influences the

consumer

eReadiness

Business Readiness -.124 .206

Week, No

Statistical

Significance

As stated in the table all of the τKen,b values for the factors are not equal to

zero. This rejects the null hypothesis and reflects there is a varying level of

correlation between variables. Therefore hypothesis H3 is valid.

H4: Enablers influence the eReadiness for eCommerce adoption in Sri Lanka.


(2-tailed)

Correlation

type

H4a:

Awareness on

ICT and

enabling

environment

influences the

consumer

eReadiness

Awareness on ICT

Developments .202 .043

Strong,

Statically

Significance

Awareness on ICT

culture .206 .039

Strong,

Statically

Significance

Awareness of Legal

Framework -0.105 .294

Week, No

Statistical

Significance

Awareness on ICT

Accessibility .111 .269

Week, No

Statistical

Significance

H4b: External

Pressures ICT Cultural Pressure .084 .407

Week, No

Statistical



influence the

consumer

eReadiness

Significance

Pressure from Living

Circle -.002 .985

Week, No

Statistical

Significance

The correlation values for all of the above factors show τKen,b < > 0, this rejects

the null hypothesis. Therefore the alternative hypothesis H4 is valid. Awareness

on ICT and ICT culture has received a higher correlation score and indicates the

statistical significance. Under the hypothesis H4a & H4b there were two more

factors initially indentified namely awareness on availability of businesses, and

Economic pressure by the factor analysis. However they were rejected due to

lower reliability scores.

H5: Intrinsic Factors influence the eReadiness for eCommerce adoption in Sri

Lanka


(2-tailed)

Correlation type

H5a: Attitude

towards ICT

influences the

consumer

eReadiness


Significance

H5b: Subjective

norms influence

the consumer

eReadiness

.015 .881

Week, No

Statistical

Significance

H5c: Behavioural

Control

influences the

consumer

eReadiness

.080 .432

Week, No

Statistical

Significance

H5d: Motivation

influences the

consumer

eReadiness

.179 .079

Week, No

Statistical

Significance



The τKen,b values of all of the intrinsic factors are not equal to zero, this rejects

the null hypothesis by validating the alternative hypothesis H5. Also the attitude

indicates a strong correlation at p-value < 0.05.

All of the above facts indicate that the entire hypothesis H1 – H5 and their

subsets of hypotheses are valid. On the other hand, the Kedall‟s correlation test

on internet adoption versus eCommerce adoption shows a highly significant

strong correlation with statistical significance at p-values < 0.01.


(2-tailed)

Correlation

type

H1: eReadiness

of an individual

is the

bottleneck for

his/her

capability to

successfully

adopt

eCommerce.

Internet

Adoption

Vs

eCommerce

Adoption

.441 .002

Strong,

Statically

Significance

H1a: eReadiness

influences the

intention to

adopt

eCommerce

and that in turn

causes

eCommerce

adoption.

Internet

Adoption

Vs

Intention to

adopt

eCommerce .349 .001

Strong,

Statically

Significance

Internet adoption has been considered as the eReadiness of the consumers to

adopt eCommerce. However, eCommerce adoption is a debatable point since

even though individuals become internet adopters, they may not adopt

eCommerce for various other reasons. However, in this context of research, the

author advocates eReadiness as being the bottle neck for eCommerce adoption.



The Kendall‟s Correlation test indicated that that τKen,b value for Internet

adoption versus intention to adopt eCommerce is .349 which reflects

comparatively a strong correlation at p-value of .001 < 0.01. This is a statistically

significant correlation too.

The same can be applied to the correlation between internet adoption and

eCommerce. The τKen,b value of 0.441 at p-value of 0.002 is a statistically

significant correlation. Both the above facts invalidate the null hypothesis by

validating H1a and subsequently the H1.

5.4. Discussion on the hypothesis model and improving consumer

eReadiness

As already stated elsewhere in this chapter, the reliability test invalidated some

of the demographic factors and some other factors pertaining to the elements of

the hypothesis model. The detailed discussion follows here:

The house hold income, geographical location, disability status, and house status

are the demographics that were invalidated by the reliability test. This could be,

as already stated in the findings, due to the fact that the survey has been targeted

to diverse participants based on the available records with the author. However in

the recent past, a tremendous change has been observed about the participants‟

statuses. In terms of house hold income and house status, the result would have

been affected by the lifestyle changes that occurred in line with the unleashing of

rapid developments in Sri Lanka after the cessation of the three decade long

ethnic conflict.

However, the geographical location would have had an impact from several

factors such as employment, marriage, etc. Also the same post war developments

have enabled free mobilization around the country, causing more people to move

towards economically developed zones of the country to seek employment

opportunities and economic freedom. This has been reflected through the survey

by the majority of the respondents who have responded from the Western



Province, which is an economically developed province where the capital

Colombo is located.

Based on the rotated component matrix of the factor analysis, several factors

have been merged together for further analysis. The following two factors that

were invalidated by the reliability test have covered the following concerns as

tabulated below:

Factor Concerns merged into the factor

Awareness on

Availability of

Businesses



Internet based businesses has LESS impact on Sri Lanka's

economy

Economic

Pressure

I started using IT only when I became employed

In some of the regions of Sri Lanka, the poverty is one of

the main reasons for lack of ICT developments

The concerns grouped under the factors apparently have lower significance over

the individuals‟ eReadiness. Therefore the omission of these factors has less

impact over the hypothesis model.

However, the omission of some of the demographics will have some impact

since they have a significant impact over the model when compared to the

existing frameworks and studies found in the literature.

Impact of gender has been seen as insignificant correlation with internet adoption

from the survey results. This is because the traditional systems of gender based

value variance have radically changed in Sri Lanka. Gender now has no adverse

impacts on the value systems in Sri Lanka. This has enabled an environment

where access to ICT is not determined by gender.

However the age factor has a significant correlation because of the generation

gap and the rapid developments in ICT which left a significant portion of people



from the previous generations lagging behind in the race. This has a significant

impact on the eReadiness of individuals.

Employment status is one of the very active players since with the ongoing rapid

developments, entire business systems are transforming from traditional systems

into ICT based business systems. This reflects the motivation to adopt ICT to be

a part of the technologically skilled workforce. Therefore the employment status

is a motivator, or rather an influential factor on individual‟s eReadiness.

Enabling environment is the most important part of eReadiness. However the test

figures have reflected very insignificant relationship between enabling

environment and internet adoption. Particularly the physical infrastructure,

readiness of businesses, and soft infrastructure have reflected no significant

correlation.

However the economy in the soft-infrastructure showed a significant correlation.

Under this factor poverty level, ICT growth, and economic differences of

lifestyle of people were the prime concerns covered. This was due to the fact that

there were regions in the country where the poverty level is high where people

live without even their basic needs being fulfilled. Though government facilities

reach these people they cannot afford a technology mixed lifestyle. Therefore

this factor has a significant impact in Sri Lanka.

Role of enablers is another important factor that influences consumer

eReadiness. Awareness on ICT and ICT based culture have indicated a very

significant correlation. This is because this is a motivator to adopt ICT which

brings about eReadiness. When people are aware of ICT activities available in

the country and how other people react to it, individuals become motivated.

Another influential set of factors are intrinsic factors which positively lead an

individual‟s decision making process and capabilities. In particular the survey

test indicated higher correlation for attitude with internet adoption. An

individual‟s attitude drives their decision making either positively or negatively.



In the context of Sri Lanka, even though there is radical change taking place

overall, most of the regions demonstrate slow rates of development that has not

caused any radical change in the thinking patterns and attitudes of the people.

Therefore in the context of Sri Lanka this has shown a significant correlation

with the internet adoption.

eReadiness of an individual leads to the intention to adopt eCommerce. This

correlation has been validated by the test figures reporting higher correlation

scores with statistical significance. In turn the intention to adopt leads to

adoption of eCommerce.

The limitation of an unreliable dataset for some of the demographics and some of

the other concerns raised has hindered the ability to make meaningful

correlations with the internet adoption and the eCommerce adoption

subsequently.

Based on the analysis, the correlation between the factors hypothesised is

validated. However some of the factors reported very weak correlation and this

could be the impact of the variations in the data collected. An appropriately

designed and targeted data sample set will help to reconfirm the hypothesis in the

future.


In summary, the chapter discussed the testing methodologies used and the test

results. The interpretation of the significant values provided a better

understanding as well. There has been a variation to the correlation of factors

where internet adoption has been observed. On the other hand, though some of

the factors have been invalidated by the reliability test, overall, the hypothesis

model has been validated by the correlation reported by all of the other factors.



Chapter 6

Conclusion



6. Conclusion

6.1. Introduction

This chapter summarises the entire research outcomes. This includes the conclusion

of the research, verification of level of success in achieving the defined proposal

attributed by the research questions, aim, and objectives, recommendations,

limitations, and future research. At the outset the chapter will provide an account on

whether the research questions, aims, and objectives of the research have been

achieved and how. This will be followed by the second section which includes

recommendations in the light of the research findings. The third section makes a note

on the limitations encountered in the research. Finally, the chapter covers the

suggestions to carry out further research based on the research that was already done

as well as the conclusion.

6.2. Revisiting Original Research Proposal

6.2.1. Research Questions:

Are Sri Lankan consumers ready for e-commerce adoption?

According to the research findings, the answer to the question has not been a

definite answer as there have been 50% YES and 50% NO in terms of

eCommerce adoption from 90.2% of participants who represented the

population. This reflects that to some extent, people are ready but still there

are a lot of requirements that need to be focused on to improve the readiness

of consumers for eCommerce adoption.

What are the limitations influencing the e-readiness of consumers in Sri

Lanka for e-commerce adoption?

The scenario is highly impacted by demographical differences, lack of

business readiness, lack of active role of enablers, and intrinsic factors that

influence the individuals in personal ways.

Are the existing frameworks applicable in assessing the e-Readiness of

consumers?



The answer to the question was absolute agreement as most of the factors

adopted in the hypothesis model have been derived from the existing

frameworks; and on the other hand, the hypothesis model has empirically

confirmed to be applicable. This reflects on the applicability of the existing

framework for the eReadiness of consumers however with required

improvements as proposed in the model developed in this research.

What are the deviating elements of existing framework when applying it

in the context of e-readiness of consumers in Sri Lanka and what are the

new elements?

The existing frameworks have identified the macro-level elements. However,

the micro-level elements which have a significant impact on eReadiness have

been less emphasised on. In particular, the awareness and role of enablers

have been under-stated in the existing frameworks. In addition to that, the

findings provide a list of elements which have been captured through the

survey such as: decision to reduce the stress of technology driven lifestyle in

a family, farming based lifestyle and lack of motivation, disciplinary

concerns of children, limited needs which can easily be satisfied even

without technology, lack of available hardware & software systems in local

languages (not everyone can understand English), poverty, lack of exposure

to any technology, and stories published on media regarding the negative side

of ICT which cause demotivation. Most of these issues are micro-level issues

which are rarely accounted for in macro-level assessments, even though they

have a direct impact on individuals and their decision making processes

towards eReadiness.

How can e-readiness of consumers for e-commerce adoption be

improved?

This is basically a motivation driven programme which should involve all

parties concerned. The role of enablers must be well managed and improved

to promote ICT across the island. The Government of Sri Lanka as a primary

and dominant stakeholder must take leadership in leveraging ICT awareness

across the regions whilst making ICT equipment, services, and trainings



affordable, accessible, available, and reliable for all. The government has

already been taking measures in leveraging the digital economy of the

country but the motivation and trend of becoming stakeholders of the digital

economy has not yet reached the grassroots. With businesses entities, it

actually involves a two way process: the government must promote ICT to

businesses to cause them to adopt, and in turn, the businesses need to

promote ICT to the general public (in business terms the customers). This can

include concessionary provisions and service based contracts which help both

businesses and people to upgrade their living standards. A detailed account of

improvements is provided in the recommendations section.

6.2.2. Aims

The aim of this study is to propose a model to improve the e-readiness of

consumers in Sri Lanka for e-commerce adoption. Therefore the research has

been well designed through a set of well-directed research questions and

objectives to achieve the aim. As a result, the aim of this research has been

successfully achieved and well described in this document.

6.2.3. Objectives

The objectives set towards the aim have directed the research to achieve its goals

as defined. The role of objectives is reviewed in this section:

To study the e-Commerce developments in Sri Lanka

This objective has been well portrayed in the contextual literature of chapter

2 through an extensive literature review. The ICT developments and

subsequent boost in the eCommerce businesses were found. However, the

developments have not been reflected in the survey conducted for this

research due to poor reach of developments to the grassroots and the need

for a radical change in the thinking process of people towards ICT across the

country.

To investigate the consumer-side barriers in e-commerce adoption



This objective has been achieved through the appropriately designed

online survey which captured the related information and facilitated the

conducting of a successful investigation.

To identify the factors influencing the e-readiness of consumers for e-

commerce adoption in Sri Lanka

The information required to achieve this objective has been captured

using a well-designed set of questions which enabled the collection of a

huge volume of information related to eReadiness. The questionnaire has

been facilitated by the hypothesis model and the existing research

frameworks which have been discussed in the methodology chapter.

To study the applicability of existing frameworks in the context of e-

Readiness of consumers in Sri Lanka

Though this objective has not been directly touched in the findings and

research processes, this has been an underpinning objective throughout

the entire process since the hypothesis model has been a simplified

version of the existing frameworks, and incorporated factors advocated in

the frameworks through a convergence process.

To identify any special factors that influence the e-Readiness of

Consumers in Sri Lanka that is not covered in the existing

frameworks

As well discussed above in one of the research questions about deviating

elements from existing frameworks, a set of the micro-level elements that

were captured from the survey have not been covered in the frameworks

as these frameworks are concerned more with macro-level assessments.

To propose a model to improve the e-readiness of consumers for e-

commerce adoption in Sri Lanka.

This objective also has been well achieved with the proposed model

which will help to eliminate the barriers faced by individuals in moving

towards eReadiness. These internal barriers and external barriers can be

eliminated by placing more emphasis on the role of enablers and business



readiness while the infrastructure developments are quickly advancing in

Sri Lanka to provide a feasible environment.

6.2.4. Recommendations

The research findings indicate that despite the state of physical and soft

infrastructure readiness being at a higher level, the role of enablers, business

readiness, and intrinsic factors have been the implicating impediments of lower

e-readiness levels in Sri Lanka, which in turn, has an implication over consumer

decisions to adopt eCommerce as well. Therefore, based on the research findings

the following recommendations are made to the government of Sri Lanka and

other interested stakeholders to use this as a guide to improve eReadiness of

consumers for eCommerce adoption.

6.2.4.1. Increasing the active role of enablers

The research mainly identified the slacking role of enablers in promoting ICT

and moving individuals towards eReadiness. Especially the active roles of

awareness and external pressures have become the most important factors in

improving eReadiness of individuals.

Role of awareness

The government of Sri Lanka should embark on a project to make ICT reach

the grassroots of the country. Currently running projects such as Schoolnet

(ICT for school students & teachers), LEARN (research network connecting

universities and research institutions), Nanesala (Community Knowledge

Centre), etc. should be more focused on raising awareness. The ICT based

community centres across the country will motivate communities to some

extent to become ICT inspired but that alone cannot help an individual to

gain eReadiness.

People might find it easy to access and use ICT in public centres like

Nanesala but they will not be committed to adopt ICT for their day-today

activities unless they are aware of the benefits, associated risks and



mitigation mechanisms, precautionary measures they need to take, how to

maintain IT equipment etc. This entire basic pool of knowledge is essential

for an individual to become convinced to adopt technology.

This is true for eCommerce as well. Knowing the basics of eCommerce and

associated pros and cons is an influential factor that impacts the decision

making process of consumers and enables them to step into a new paradigm

of transactions, which is online.

Therefore the role of awareness is important in both of those cases to

counteract the barriers of stepping into adoption of ICT, followed by

eCommerce.

Therefore, basic demonstration based trainings, and continuous motivation to

foster the skills and knowledge would be the appropriate approach to

improve eReadiness. Government can deploy trainers across the country at

these centres to train and equip the people.

Recruitment, deployment, and management of this project can be easily

achieved through the ICTA, which is a government agency that implements

ICT developments in country.

On the other hand, community centred awareness and training programmes

can be conducted. Also a concessionary scheme can be established and used

in conjunction with the above programme to promote ICT. Under this

scheme the participants of the awareness and training programmes can be

provided with concessions on the purchase of IT equipment. Likewise,

community based promotional schemes must be introduced by the

government to promote ICT.

Role of External Pressures

The external pressure is also another player in determining the eReadiness of

individuals. The pressure group extends from family to friends to businesses



to government. This is a huge circle of people who can influence an

individual‟s decision making. The external pressure is not necessarily a

people or body of people but can be government policies, requirements to

achieve something, or any other implication.

Therefore the role of external pressure comes into play on an individual‟s

decision making process. Therefore identifying the influential pressures in

communities and using these pressures to positively influence individuals

towards adoption will enable a feasible environment to harvest the

eReadiness of individuals.

Government can enact policies to put pressures on individuals, which is

already in place for the younger generations of people with the enactment of

the educational policy to have ICT as a compulsory education in the

curriculum. However, the rest of the generation has not been concurrently

focused on through policies. Government must introduce strict policies to

make it compulsory for all citizens of working age (from 18 – 60 years) to

gain ICT education. This can be linked with the pension schemes and salary

schemes to motivate people towards ICT with the provision to provide

incentives for those who have gained ICT education. Same can be used for

business owners with tax concessions.

However, motivating and regulating self-employed individuals will be a

debatable scenario as they do not have any direct involvement with

government institutions to enable the government to directly regulate or

motivate them. In Sri Lanka, there is no social benefit system available.

Therefore relating an individual with the government system is possible only

if he/she is a government employee, an employee at any private company or

business owner, in any way paying taxes to the government or connected to

any of the government systems. Otherwise, though individuals are subject to

government systems, the government cannot have any influence on personal

choices.



Also the external pressure has the chain effect on communities. For example:

if an individual becomes knowledgeable in ICT, his or her family, friends

and relatives also get inspired to some extent. Then the motivation spreads

around his / her circle of people to adopt ICT.

6.2.4.2. Increasing Readiness of businesses

One of the most common concerns identified by the survey was the lack of

internet based businesses in Sri Lanka. There are very few internet based

businesses currently available in Sri Lanka.

Though there are widespread developments occurring in Sri Lanka with the

cessation of the ethnic conflict, the radical transformations that are due are

happening at a very slow pace. Business transformations are the most vital

requirements in the country in order to provide a boost to the digital

economy. Numerous ICT development projects have been unleashed by the

government of Sri Lanka targeting every layer of people in the country which

can be seen from the ICT projects listed in the contextual literature. However

the motivation and boost for business entities to adopt internet based

businesses and invite their customers for online businesses is not the current

trend.

As an influential body, the government of Sri Lanka needs to make required

policy changes to liberalise the ICT based business and to boost the digital

economy. Government can promote online business through tax concessions

for online businesses, and other related schemes. This will improve the

availability of more businesses online.

6.2.4.3. Eliminating the impact of Intrinsic Factors

The attitude, subjective norms and behavioural control are the three

constructs seen as the intrinsic factors. The attitude change is a very

important factor. This can be eliminated through increasing awareness and

providing more exposure on ICT to individuals. Government needs to take



the key role in promoting and facilitating ICT to eliminate the negative

impact of attitudes.

6.3. Limitations

There have been several limitations encountered during this research work. Primarily

the entire research process was very intensive especially within a limited timeframe.

This had a significant impact on the research throughout every stage of the research

in terms of time and effort devoted.

Though a concentrated literature study has been carried out; translating literature

evidences into a practically executable research process has been another challenge.

This was reflected when defining a framework to work towards the set objectives

and aim.

Another limitation was the survey. Considering the geological difference of participants and

the author, the decision was made to conduct an online survey. Though this has been chosen

as a feasible mode of survey, the embedded limitations were not envisaged. When analysing

the eReadiness, the main target group is the people who have not adopted the ICT for their

day-today activities. However the online survey has limited the ability of people who are

non-adopters of ICT to participate in this survey. However, this has been eliminated to some

extent by using alternative means with the help of facilitators who volunteered to verbally

interview this cluster of people and filled the surveys on their behalf.

The above scenario has also limited the ability to obtain a larger sample size to

participate in the research in different magnitudes and groups. In particular, it would

have been ideal if a more number of internet non-adopters from different age groups,

geographical locations, gender, and economic conditions were involved in order to

add more value to the research.

On the other hand, the hypothesis testing encountered limitations as the data sample

was not non-normally distributed. This led the author to opt for nonparametric

testing. Though this was a valid testing method, it also limited the ability to make

more meaningful observations and conclusions.



Another limitation was the author‟s familiarity with the statistical tests. Specific

techniques used for statistical testing in this research have not been taught through

the modules in the degree. Therefore the author had to learn these techniques by

himself where text books and articles available on the subject provided very little

insight or explanation leaving numerous questions in the author‟s mind unanswered.

Then through an extensive online research, understanding of the techniques were

grasped to some extent and used in this research. Due to the limited timeframe, this

process has consumed a larger portion of the author‟s effort and time. This in turn

has resulted in limiting the author‟s concentration on the documentation and the

ability to demonstrate a sound knowledge of subjects in the discussion.

6.4. Further research

There have been several limitations indicated in this research, which include the non-

normal distribution of the data set. Therefore future work can be repeated on this

research model by collecting normally distributed data. This can be considered as a

reaffirmation of the model proposed on consumer eReadiness for eCommerce

adoption.

On the other hand, this model can also be tested in different economic regions. Also

a similar research model can be used on businesses entities. This can be particularly

tested on the decision making process to adopt eCommerce or eBusinesses. This can

particularly focus on how demographics of the staff, environment that the business

entity exists in, influence of enablers and the intrinsic factors that positively

influence the decision making of staff towards venturing into an online business.

6.5. Conclusion

In conclusion, the correlation between demographics, enabling environment,

enablers, and intrinsic factors with eReadiness of consumers has been validated and

verified. In particular, age, employment status, attitude, economy, awareness on ICT

and the ICT based culture have a significant correlation with eReadiness where Sri

Lankans are concerned. Government‟s active role has been proposed as the best

solution to improve the eReadiness of consumers for eCommerce adoption.



Word Count: 21824

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Appendices

Appendix 1 - 4



Appendices

Appendix 1: Questionnaire & Survey Results

The exact screen shot of questionnaire has not been attached in the appendix of

digital file but will be attached to the print copy.

Question 1:

Gender:

Answer Options Response Percent

Response Count

Male 52.9% 54

Female 47.1% 48

answered question 102

skipped question 0

Question 2:

Age:


Response Count

Between 18 and 25 19.6% 20

Between 26 and 35 54.9% 56

Between 36 and 45 11.8% 12

Between 46 and 60 8.8% 9

Above 60 4.9% 5


skipped question 0

Question 3:

In which province of Sri Lanka you are currently residing?


Response Count

Central Province 5.9% 6

Northern Province 5.9% 6

Eastern Province 4.9% 5

Western Province 57.8% 59

Southern Province 7.8% 8

North Western Province 4.9% 5

North Central Province 2.9% 3

Uva Province 3.9% 4

Sabaragamuwa Province 5.9% 6


skipped question 0

Question 4:



Employment Status:


Response Count

Full Time Employed 77.5% 79

Part Time Employed 4.9% 5

Ready to work BUT unemployed 2.9% 3

Student 4.9% 5

Retired 6.9% 7



skipped question 0

Question 5:

Household Monthly Income:


Response Count

Below Rs.10,000 10.8% 11

Between Rs.11,000 and Rs.20,000 7.8% 8

Between Rs.21,000 and Rs.30,000 10.8% 11

Between Rs.31,000 and Rs.40,000 11.8% 12

Above Rs.40,000 58.8% 60


skipped question 0

Question 6:

House status:


Response Count

Rented House 24.5% 25

I own the House 32.4% 33

One of my family member owns 40.2% 41

Official accommodation 0.0% 0



skipped question 0



Question 7:

Question 8:

Do you have access to Internet?


Response Count

YES 93.1% 95

NO 6.9% 7


skipped question 0

Question 9:

How can you describe your internet usage level?


Response Count

POWER USER 22.1% 21

AVERAGE USER 31.6% 30

LIGHT USER 33.7% 32

OCCASIONAL USER 9.5% 9

NON-USER 3.2% 3


skipped question 7

Hints:

POWER USER: I spend significant amount of time everyday on internet that

involves loads of multimedia (videos, images, songs, etc.) downloads/uploads.

AVERAGE USER: I spend significant amount of time everyday on internet BUT

that DO NOT involve loads of multimedia (videos, images, songs, etc.)

downloads/uploads.

LIGHT USER: I just access internet everyday for reading news, checking emails,

and chatting with friends which can count less than an hour.

Do you have any disability?


Response Count

YES 2.9% 3

NO 97.1% 99


skipped question 0



OCCASIONAL USER: I access internet as and when I need only, may be once a

week or more but NOT on daily basis

NON-USER: I DO NOT use internet at all

Question 10:

Where do you get access to Internet?


Response Count

Home only 21.1% 20

Work place / School only 17.9% 17

Public Places only (Internet cafes, libraries, community centres, etc)

4.2% 4

More than one or all of the above EXCLUDING Home 4.2% 4

More than one or all of the above INCLUDING Home 52.6% 50


skipped question 7

Question 11:

What is your average internet connection speed range?


Response Count

Less than or equal to 56kbps 5.3% 5

Between 57kbps and 128kbps 10.5% 10

Between 128kbps and 512kbps 26.3% 25

Between 512kbps and 1mbps 32.6% 31

Above 1mbps 4.2% 4

I don't know the speed 21.1% 20


skipped question 7

Question 12:


Answer Options

Str

on

gly

A

gre

e

Ag

ree

Ne

ith

er

Ag

ree

no

r D

isa

gre

e

Dis

ag

ree

Str

on

gly

D

isa

gre

e

Ra

tin

g

Ave

rag

e

Re

sp

on

se

C

ou

nt

Internet services are easy to buy in my area

31 30 4 3 0 1.69

68

There are several internet services providers in my area to choose one

34 25 7 1 1 1.68

68

IT equipments (computers and modems) can be easily purchased in my area

24 30 8 5 1 1.96

68



There are several shops in my area selling IT eqipments (computers and modems)

24 30 5 8 1 2.00

68

Internet services are cheap 10 26 19 11 2

2.54

68

I can afford the internet charges with my income

22 37 5 4 0 1.87

68

IT equipments (computers and modems) are cheap

4 17 25 20 2 2.99

68

IT equipments (computers and modems) prices are affordable

6 29 22 11 0 2.56

68

When Surfing internet I can experience the internet connection speed promised by the services providers

3 23 23 13 6 2.94

68

I did/do not experience any security issues with the internet connection I am using now

7 35 18 7 1 2.41

68

I am happy with the performance of the equipments (computers and modems)I am using

6 41 16 4 1 2.31

68

I did/do not experience any security threats from the equipments I am using

8 37 17 5 1 2.32

68

In overall I have a very positive experience about obtaining internet services and required IT equipments, and using them

8 42 16 2 0 2.18

68


skipped question 34

Question 13:

What could be the reasons you would claim for not having internet at your home?


Response Count


IT equipments (computers and modems)are expensive

16.7% 4



None of the internet service providers sell quality services

0.0% 0


I do not need to use internet at home 33.3% 8



skipped question 78

Number Response Date Other (please specify)

Categories

1 Aug 15, 2011 11:12 AM I mostly use for internet office purpose. I like to live at home without doing office work



2 Aug 12, 2011 10:09 AM because of my baby.I'm afraid he'll missuse it

3 Aug 9, 2011 12:36 PM going back late night , want to sleep well

4 Aug 8, 2011 5:49 PM Genrally week ends i am using the internet at home

5 Aug 8, 2011 10:46 AM only one or two days live in house per week

6 Aug 8, 2011 3:40 AM I want to spend time with family

Question 14:

What could be the reasons you would claim for not having access to Internet?


Response Count


IT equipments (computers and modems) are expensive

28.6% 2



I cannot afford with my current income 28.6% 2


There is no public internet access centers 0.0% 0

Internet charges are very high at Internet access centers

0.0% 0

I do not need to use internet 57.1% 4

Internet connections are not good in my area due to coverage problems

0.0% 0


answered question 7

skipped question 95

Question 15:


Answer Options

Str

on

gly

A

gre

e

Ag

ree

Ne

ith

er

Ag

ree

no

r D

isa

gre

e

Dis

ag

ree

Str

on

gly

D

isa

gre

e

Ra

tin

g

Ave

rag

e

Re

sp

on

se

C

ou

nt

Information Technologies (IT) have more advantages than possible disadvantages

29 45 9 2 0 1.81

85

Information Technologies (IT) enhance the standards of human lives

36 46 2 1 0 1.62

85

Internet technologies enabled information sharing easy

49 33 2 1 0 1.47

85

It is difficult to learn how to use computers and browse internet

2 7 14 52 10 3.72

85

One need to study/ get training on how to use internet before start using internet for the first time

6 28 25 23 3 2.87

85

I always like trying out innovation of technologies

22 46 11 5 1 2.02

85



Internet benefits me in lot of ways 38 40 4 2 1

1.68

85

I will find difficult to get on with my daily activities if I don't have internet

23 30 19 11 2 2.28

85

I know well to operate computers and browse internet

38 39 5 1 2 1.71

85

I started using IT only when I became employed

7 19 7 37 15 3.40

85

My friends inspired me to use IT a lot 4 30 22 25 4

2.94

85

Everyone in my family use IT a lot, so I am inspired to use IT

6 13 22 32 12 3.36

85

I have IT equipment at home so I have easy access to IT

22 38 10 13 2 2.24

85

I have IT equipment at school/office so I have easy access to IT

25 38 11 9 2 2.12

85

There are enough IT equipment in public places where IT is easily accessible

14 42 9 16 4 2.46

85


skipped question 17

Question 16:

Do you understand "what is eCommerce"?


Response Count

YES 82.6% 76

NO 17.4% 16


skipped question 10

Question 17:

Do you have idea "How eCommerce works"?


Response Count

YES 80.4% 74

NO 19.6% 18


skipped question 10



Question 18:

Do you have any previopus experience of using eCommerce?


Response Count

YES 50.0% 46

NO 50.0% 46


skipped question 10

Question 19:

Please provide the name of an eCommerce website you used / often use?

Answer Options Response Count

48


skipped question 54

Number

Response Date Response Text

1 Aug 19, 2011 4:35 PM www.slt.lk

2 Aug 19, 2011 11:12 AM http://www.lanka.info/

3 Aug 18, 2011 8:25 PM masreq bank

4 Aug 18, 2011 9:26 AM Kapruka.lk

5 Aug 18, 2011 9:23 AM e bay

6 Aug 18, 2011 8:20 AM Shop Curious

7 Aug 18, 2011 5:40 AM www.freeservers.com

8 Aug 18, 2011 5:23 AM http://www.odel.lk/

9 Aug 18, 2011 4:41 AM e Bay

10 Aug 18, 2011 4:35 AM http://www.lanka.info

11 Aug 16, 2011 11:51 AM http://www.lanka.info/index_srilanka.jsp

12 Aug 16, 2011 11:41 AM www.ebay.com, www.buyabans.com

13 Aug 15, 2011 1:04 PM E Bay / GoDaddy/

14 Aug 15, 2011 11:16 AM hsbc

15 Aug 15, 2011 4:37 AM www.ebay.co.uk

16 Aug 15, 2011 3:57 AM hameedia.lk/ Combank.lk

17 Aug 15, 2011 3:40 AM amazon

18 Aug 14, 2011 4:46 PM e-bay

19 Aug 13, 2011 7:56 AM www.ebay.com

20 Aug 12, 2011 2:38 PM www.echannelling.com

21 Aug 12, 2011 10:28 AM kapruka.com

22 Aug 12, 2011 10:10 AM Airline booking

23 Aug 12, 2011 8:32 AM e-Channelling

24 Aug 12, 2011 6:28 AM Amazon,www.slt.com.lk





27 Aug 12, 2011 5:17 AM Commercial bank website

28 Aug 12, 2011 5:15 AM shopping

29 Aug 12, 2011 5:12 AM echanelling

30 Aug 12, 2011 4:37 AM amazon

31 Aug 9, 2011 5:52 PM ebay

32 Aug 9, 2011 12:41 PM www.e-channeling.com

33 Aug 8, 2011 5:52 PM amason

34 Aug 8, 2011 11:10 AM www.gonutswithdonuts.com

35 Aug 8, 2011 10:50 AM www.mobitel.lk

36 Aug 8, 2011 10:25 AM www.gonutswithdonuts.com

37 Aug 8, 2011 6:23 AM ebay

38 Aug 8, 2011 5:00 AM www.lanka.info- kapruka

39 Aug 8, 2011 4:41 AM godady


41 Aug 8, 2011 3:57 AM e bay

42 Aug 8, 2011 3:42 AM anything.lk, comabnk.net

43 Aug 7, 2011 4:49 PM amazon

44 Aug 7, 2011 5:52 AM eBay iTunes Mobitel.lk Amex slt.lk

45 Aug 6, 2011 2:04 PM Amazone

46 Aug 5, 2011 11:37 PM www.keelsuper.com

47 Aug 5, 2011 4:06 PM www.vijithayapa.com

48 Aug 5, 2011 1:16 PM www.amazon.com

Question 20:

What are your opinions regarding the following statements based on your previous experience with the eCommerce website you have stated above?

Answer Options

Str

on

gly

A

gre

e

Ag

ree

Ne

ith

er

Dis

ag

ree

o

r A

gre

e

Dis

ag

ree

Str

on

gly

D

isa

gre

e

Ra

tin

g

Ave

rag

e

Re

sp

on

se

C

ou

nt

The website have stated all the terms and condition of the transactions and the description of goods/services very clearly

12 24 5 2 0 1.93

43

I am happy with the security of the transactions through the website

9 22 10 2 0 2.12

43

I received the goods/ services within the promised time

9 29 2 3 0 1.98

43

I was very much concerned about the quality of the product I ordered until I received, checked and ensured it.

13 18 8 4 0 2.07

43

In overall, I can trust the website 9 24 8 2 0

2.07

43

I do not want my items delivered through regular postal services because I do not trust in the postal services of Sri Lanka

7 10 15 8 3 2.77

43



It was very difficult for me to locate an item I needed

0 8 11 23 0 3.36

42

The website was not easy to use 1 5 7 27 3

3.60

43

The website takes too much of time to load pages

0 8 12 23 0 3.35

43

There is no personalised services though I prefer to have it

3 13 16 11 0 2.81

43

In overall my previous experience to purchase online was very much satisfying

5 27 9 1 1 2.21

43

I am willing to participate in more eCommerce in the future

14 21 6 1 0 1.86

42


skipped question 59

Question 21:


Answer Options

Str

on

gly

A

gre

e

Ag

ree

Ne

ith

er

Dis

ag

ree

o

r A

gre

e

Dis

ag

ree

Str

on

gly

D

isa

gre

e

Ra

tin

g

Ave

rag

e

Re

sp

on

se

C

ou

nt

It is boring to do shopping online 2 12 13 12 4

3.09

43

I enjoy shopping in person than do shopping online

10 21 8 3 1 2.16

43

I perfer to get deliveries immediately after I have placed the order

15 20 7 1 0 1.86

43

I prefer to use the product I purchase as soon as I have purchased it

14 24 4 1 0 1.81

43

It is expensive to purchase online 2 8 15 17 1

3.16

43

Shopping online is very time consuming than shopping in person

5 8 8 18 4 3.19

43

After I have placed an order I might need be worrying about the possible cheating

6 16 15 6 0 2.49

43

There are not enough eCommerce websites in Sri Lanka

18 11 8 6 0 2.05

43


skipped question 59



Question 22:


Answer Options

Str

on

gly

A

gre

e

Ag

ree

Ne

ith

er

Dis

ag

ree

o

r A

gre

e

Dis

ag

ree

Str

on

gly

D

isa

gre

e

Ra

tin

g

Ave

rag

e

Re

sp

on

se

C

ou

nt

I do not know what is eCommerce 3 15 5 18 4

3.11

45

I Know how eCommerce works 1 22 8 11 3

2.84

45

I do not have computing skills to use eCommerce

3 8 6 25 3 3.38

45

I do not have sufficient internet access to explore and use eCommerce

3 9 7 25 1 3.27

45

I am scared of possible theft of my financial details when using for online purchases

5 19 13 8 0 2.53

45

I never heard of a eCommerce website in Sri Lanka or elsewhere

3 3 13 23 3 3.44

45

I never even accessed a eCommerce website 4 18 6 16 1

2.82

45

I do not like to use online transactions 5 19 13 8 0

2.53

45


2.82

45


8 19 11 7 0 2.38

45


9 23 8 5 0 2.20

45


9 24 7 5 0 2.18

45


2.96

45


4 4 21 16 0 3.09

45

After I have placed an order I may have to be worrying about the possible cheating

6 17 16 6 0 2.49

45


3 16 19 7 0 2.67

45

I am willing to try eCommerce in the future 1 30 7 6 1

2.47

45

I think that consumers are not protected by law when shopping online as they are offline

3 23 14 5 0 2.47

45

Things that I want to buy are not available online

1 13 21 9 0 2.86

44

There are not many ecommerce websites 2 12 21 10 0

2.87

45

I worry about that my personal information will not be protected

4 23 10 8 0 2.49

45

Most ecommerce websites only disseminate information you cannot trust

2 16 22 5 0 2.67

45

There are no many payment methods that I can choose from when I shop online

1 14 21 9 0 2.84

45




skipped question 57

Question 23:

What are your opinions about the following statements?

Answer Options

Str

on

gly

A

gre

e

Ag

ree

Ne

ith

er

Dis

ag

ree

o

r A

gre

e

Dis

ag

ree

Str

on

gly

D

isa

gre

e

Ra

tin

g

Ave

rag

e

Re

sp

on

se

C

ou

nt

Knowledge and skills on Information Communication Technology (ICT) is very important for a person to do buying and selling online

24 41 12 6 0 2.00

83

Very few Internet based businesses are available in Sri Lanka

14 39 17 10 0 2.29

80

Internet based businesses has LESS impact on Sri Lanka's economy

12 23 27 14 4 2.69

80

ICT growth in Sri Lanka is not yet enough for large scale internet based businesses (buying and selling)

12 36 21 9 0 2.35

78

ICT education or knowledge and skills level is at a very lower level

2 29 31 17 2 2.85

81

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and govern ICT based activities either online or offline

1 11 33 28 5 3.32

78

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and govern buying and selling online

1 8 36 25 7 3.38

77

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and govern the online transactions

1 8 38 23 7 3.35

77

We need more laws in place to protect and provide a secure environment for internet based tradings

16 33 27 1 0 2.17

77

There are lot of eCommerce websites in Sri Lanka

0 12 31 32 2 3.31

77

These days, most of the companies in Sri Lanka focuses on online trading as well

7 35 26 8 1 2.49

77

Sri Lankan people are interested more online buying and selling nowadays

2 19 36 20 1 2.99

78

Government of Sri Lanka is very much committed to develop ICT infrastructure across the island

8 44 23 4 1 2.33

80

There are numerous programmes conducted by government of Sri Lanka to develop ICT skills to all citizens

8 43 20 5 2 2.36

78

There are government policies that ensure ICT as one of the compulsory education in Sri Lanka from primary level

7 35 21 11 2 2.55

76

There are enough programmes that promote ICT across the island

4 32 24 17 0 2.70

77

There are free of charge ICT training and skills development programmes are made available for all citizens by the government of Sri Lanka

1 19 32 22 3 3.09

77



There are enough teachers trained to teach ICT in schools

0 9 37 31 3 3.35

80

Private educations and training on ICT are affordable by any ordinary citizen who earns a basic standard of income

0 21 28 26 3 3.14

78

In some of the regions of Sri Lanka, the poverty is one of the main reasons for lack of ICT developments

21 38 15 5 1 2.09

80

There is poverty exist in Sri Lanka in some regions

25 39 11 5 0 1.95

80

There are people who do not even have their basic needs fulfilled in Sri Lanka

24 28 18 8 1 2.16

79

There are people who hate technologies in Sri Lanka

5 27 29 15 2 2.77

78

There are people who never had exposure to ICT or any technology per say in Sri Lanka

21 36 16 5 1 2.10

79


skipped question 18

Question 24:

Is there any other concern(s) or factor(s) that you consider as significant and has impact on eReadiness of individuals for eCommerce adoption? This is an optional question only. If you do not have anything to say, you can skip this question.


Response Count

1 100.0% 11

2 90.9% 10

3 45.5% 5

4 9.1% 1

5 0.0% 0


skipped question 91

1. When you are aged you don't truly need all

these wonders of technologies but peace and

relaxation

2. No websites in other languages of Sri Lanka

3. No encouragement or motivation to Learn ICT

in my area

4. There are no private/ business websites in local

languages

5. ICT and the equipments are not

affordable/reachable in rural areas.

6. Limited websites (only government websites)

available in local languages as not all Sri

Lan,kan can read, understand and write in

English

7. Increase of disposable income of individuals

8. Improvement of knowledge and skill levels

9. Faster Internet speeds at less cost



10. There are train teachers of ICT, but not placed

efficiently to schools. Eg.many English Medium

trained teachers r appointed to the schools

which dn't have the EM even though there r

carders in EM schools.

11. There are people who do no have motivation to

use ICT at all and they do not need as well

12. We do not have any urge to learn ICT as well

13. Not everyone in Sri Lanka can understand

English

14. The usage of ICT has significant growth among

younger generation than pervious generation.

15. Lack of IT knowledge

16. Due to lower income levels, access to online

payment methods are limited

17. Secured and localised transaction and payment

engines

18. Ensuring security

19. Better ICT infrastructure

20. Still people could not understand the e-

contractual liabilities

21. Lot of people don't know much about ICT

related news, so they are scared of adopt ICT

22. In some regions their lifestyle is farming

oriented and they do not have motivation to

adopt ICT

23. Negative news on ICT (cyber crimes, identity

theft, etc) hinder technology adoption

24. Delivery that can be tracked or verified

25. Safety for online transactions

26. Familiarness to use of debit/credit cards

Question 25:

Do you wish to know this survey results once the survey is closed in September?


Response Count

YES (if you choose yes, you need to provide your email address for us to send you the result in September)

53.5% 46

NO 46.5% 40


skipped question 16



Question 26:

Please provide your valid email address for us to send you the result in September:

Answer Options Response Count

46


skipped question 56

For the purpose of privacy the answer to this question is not disclosed here.



Appendix 2: Data Manipulation

1. Statistics on Readiness of Infrastructure

N

Me

an

Me

dia

n

Mo

de

Std

. D

ev

iati

on

Va

ria

nc

e

Ra

ng

e

Min

imu

m

Ma

xim

um

Va

lid

Mis

sin

g

What is your average internet

connection speed range?

95 7 3.83 4.00 4 1.427 2.035 5 1 6

Internet services are easy to

buy in my area

68 34 1.69 2.00 1 .778 .605 3 1 4

There are several internet

services providers in my area to

choose one

68 34 1.68 1.50 1 .837 .700 4 1 5

IT equipments (computers and

modems) can be easily

purchased in my area

68 34 1.96 2.00 2 .953 .908 4 1 5

There are several shops in my

area selling IT eqipments

(computers and modems)

68 34 2.00 2.00 2 1.022 1.045 4 1 5

Internet services are cheap 68 34 2.54 2.00 2 1.028 1.058 4 1 5

I can afford the internet

charges with my income

68 34 1.87 2.00 2 .790 .624 3 1 4


modems) are cheap

68 34 2.99 3.00 3 .954 .910 4 1 5


modems) prices are affordable

68 34 2.56 2.00 2 .870 .758 3 1 4

When Surfing internet I can

experience the internet

connection speed promised by

the services providers

68 34 2.94 3.00 2 1.035 1.071 4 1 5

I did/do not experience any

security issues with the internet

connection I am using now

68 34 2.41 2.00 2 .868 .753 4 1 5



I am happy with the

performance of the equipments

(computers and modems)I am

using

68 34 2.31 2.00 2 .778 .605 4 1 5

I did/do not experience any

security threats from the

equipments I am using

68 34 2.32 2.00 2 .837 .700 4 1 5

In overall I have a very positive

experience about obtaining

internet services and required

IT equipments, and using them

68 34 2.18 2.00 2 .668 .446 3 1 4

Communalities

Initial Extraction

Internet services are easy to buy in my area 1.000 .510

There are several internet services providers in my area to choose one 1.000 .684

IT equipments (computers and modems) can be easily purchased in my area 1.000 .760

There are several shops in my area selling IT eqipments (computers and

modems)

1.000 .740

Internet services are cheap 1.000 .682

I can afford the internet charges with my income 1.000 .322

IT equipments (computers and modems) are cheap 1.000 .854

IT equipments (computers and modems) prices are affordable 1.000 .839

When Surfing internet I can experience the internet connection speed

promised by the services providers

1.000 .684

I did/do not experience any security issues with the internet connection I am

using now

1.000 .779

I am happy with the performance of the equipments (computers and

modems)I am using

1.000 .607

I did/do not experience any security threats from the equipments I am using 1.000 .807

In overall I have a very positive experience about obtaining internet services

and required IT equipments, and using them

1.000 .690




Total Variance Explained

Co

mp

on

en

t

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared

Loadings

Rotation Sums of Squared

Loadings

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nc

e

Cu

mu

lati

ve

%

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nc

e

Cu

mu

lati

ve

%

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nc

e

Cu

mu

lati

ve

%

1 5.482 42.166 42.166 5.482 42.166 42.166 3.441 26.466 26.466

2 2.228 17.142 59.308 2.228 17.142 59.308 3.079 23.684 50.150

3 1.247 9.594 68.902 1.247 9.594 68.902 2.438 18.752 68.902

4 .856 6.581 75.483

5 .843 6.486 81.969

6 .601 4.622 86.591

7 .447 3.435 90.026

8 .382 2.936 92.962

9 .301 2.316 95.278

10 .229 1.760 97.038

11 .155 1.191 98.229

12 .137 1.050 99.279

13 .094 .721 100.000


2. Descriptive Statistics on Readiness of Soft Infrastructure

Readiness of Soft

Infrastructure

N

Me

an

Me

dia

n

Mo

de

Std

. D

ev

iati

on

Va

ria

nc

e

Ran

ge

Min

imu

m

Ma

xim

um

Va

lid

Mis

sin

g

Legal Framework

I think that consumers are not

protected by law when shopping

online as they are offline

45 57 2.47 2.00 2 .786 .618 3 1 4

I worry about that my personal

information will not be protected

45 57 2.49 2.00 2 .895 .801 3 1 4



There are enough laws available in

Sri Lanka to protect and govern ICT

based activities either online or

offline

78 24 3.32 3.00 3 .845 .714 4 1 5


Sri Lanka to protect and govern

buying and selling online

77 25 3.38 3.00 3 .844 .712 4 1 5


Sri Lanka to protect and govern the

online transactions

77 25 3.35 3.00 3 .839 .704 4 1 5

ICT Education

ICT growth in Sri Lanka is not yet

enough for large scale internet

based businesses (buying and

selling)

78 24 2.35 2.00 2 .880 .775 3 1 4

ICT education or knowledge and

skills level is at a very lower level

81 21 2.85 3.00 3 .868 .753 4 1 5

Private educations and training on

ICT are affordable by any ordinary

citizen who earns a basic standard

of income

78 24 3.14 3.00 3 .864 .746 3 2 5

There are government policies that

ensure ICT as one of the

compulsory education in Sri Lanka

from primary level

76 26 2.55 2.00 2 .944 .891 4 1 5

Government Commitment

Government of Sri Lanka is very

much committed to develop ICT

infrastructure across the island

80 22 2.33 2.00 2 .776 .602 4 1 5

There are numerous programmes

conducted by government of Sri

Lanka to develop ICT skills to all

citizens

78 24 2.36 2.00 2 .852 .727 4 1 5

There are government policies that

ensure ICT as one of the

compulsory education in Sri Lanka

from primary level

76 26 2.55 2.00 2 .944 .891 4 1 5

There are enough programmes that

promote ICT across the island

77 25 2.70 3.00 2 .875 .765 3 1 4



There are free of charge ICT

training and skills development

programmes are made available for

all citizens by the government of Sri

Lanka

77 25 3.09 3.00 3 .861 .742 4 1 5

There are enough teachers trained

to teach ICT in schools

80 22 3.35 3.00 3 .731 .534 3 2 5

Economy

In some of the regions of Sri Lanka,

the poverty is one of the main

reasons for lack of ICT

developments

80 22 2.09 2.00 2 .903 .815 4 1 5

There is poverty exist in Sri Lanka in

some regions

80 22 1.95 2.00 2 .840 .706 3 1 4

There are people who do not even

have their basic needs fulfilled in Sri

Lanka

79 23 2.16 2.00 2 1.01

8

1.03

7

4 1 5

Communalities

Initial Extraction

ICT growth in Sri Lanka is not yet enough for large scale internet based

businesses (buying and selling)

1.000 .540

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and govern ICT

based activities either online or offline

1.000 .854

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and govern buying

and selling online

1.000 .896

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and govern the online

transactions

1.000 .845

We need more laws in place to protect and provide a secure environment for

internet based tradings

1.000 .577


well

1.000 .629

Sri Lankan people are interested more online buying and selling nowadays 1.000 .495

Government of Sri Lanka is very much committed to develop ICT


1.000 .682

There are numerous programmes conducted by government of Sri Lanka to

develop ICT skills to all citizens

1.000 .794



There are government policies that ensure ICT as one of the compulsory

education in Sri Lanka from primary level

1.000 .655

There are free of charge ICT training and skills development programmes are

made available for all citizens by the government of Sri Lanka

1.000 .721

Private educations and training on ICT are affordable by any ordinary citizen

who earns a basic standard of income

1.000 .659

In some of the regions of Sri Lanka, the poverty is one of the main reasons for

lack of ICT developments

1.000 .603

There is poverty exist in Sri Lanka in some regions 1.000 .773

There are people who do not even have their basic needs fulfilled in Sri Lanka 1.000 .674



Com

po

ne

nt

Initial Eigenvalues

Extraction Sums of Squared

Loadings


Loadings

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nce

Cum

ula

tiv

e %

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nce

Cum

ula

tiv

e %

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nce

Cum

ula

tiv

e %

1 3.866 25.777 25.777 3.866 25.777 25.777 3.080 20.536 20.536

2 3.641 24.273 50.050 3.641 24.273 50.050 2.903 19.353 39.889

3 1.651 11.008 61.057 1.651 11.008 61.057 2.775 18.497 58.386

4 1.240 8.269 69.327 1.240 8.269 69.327 1.641 10.941 69.327

5 .899 5.995 75.321

6 .797 5.316 80.637

7 .735 4.902 85.539

8 .454 3.029 88.568

9 .408 2.722 91.290

10 .391 2.607 93.898

11 .288 1.922 95.819

12 .200 1.335 97.154

13 .176 1.175 98.329

14 .133 .885 99.215

15 .118 .785 100.000




3. Descriptive Statistics on Readiness of Businesses

N

Me

an

Me

dia

n

Mo

de

Std

. D

ev

iati

on

Va

ria

nc

e

Ra

ng

e

Min

imu

m

Ma

xim

um

Va

lid

Mis

sin

g

Readiness of Businesses

There are not many ecommerce

websites

4

5

5

7

2.87 3.00 3 .81

5

.66

4

3 1 4

Very few Internet based businesses

are available in Sri Lanka

8

0

2

2

2.29 2.00 2 .90

3

.81

5

3 1 4

There are lot of eCommerce

websites in Sri Lanka

7

7

2

5

3.31 3.00 4 .76

5

.58

6

3 2 5

These days, most of the companies

in Sri Lanka focuses on online

trading as well

7

7

2

5

2.49 2.00 2 .85

3

.72

7

4 1 5

Communalities

Initial Extraction

Very few Internet based businesses are

available in Sri Lanka

1.000 .583

There are lot of eCommerce websites in Sri

Lanka

1.000 .763

These days, most of the companies in Sri

Lanka focuses on online trading as well

1.000 .339



Component

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared Loadings

Total

% of

Variance

Cumulative

% Total

% of

Variance

Cumulative

%

1 1.685 56.155 56.155 1.685 56.155 56.155

2 .887 29.561 85.716

3 .429 14.284 100.000




4. Descriptive Statistics on Awareness

N

Mean

Med

ian

Mo

de

Std

. D

ev

iati

on

Vari

an

ce

Ran

ge

Min

imu

m

Maxim

um

Valid

Mis

sin

g

Knowledge and skills on Information Communication Technology (ICT) is very important for a person to do buying and selling online

83 19

2.00 2.00 2 .855 .732 3 1 4

Very few Internet based businesses are available in Sri Lanka

80 22 2.29 2.00 2 .903 .815 3 1 4

Internet based businesses has LESS impact on Sri Lanka's economy

80 22

2.69 3.00 3 1.08

6

1.18

0 4 1 5

ICT growth in Sri Lanka is not yet enough for large scale internet based businesses (buying and selling)

78 24

2.35 2.00 2 .880 .775 3 1 4

ICT education or knowledge and skills level is at a very lower level

81 21

2.85 3.00 3 .868 .753 4 1 5

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and govern ICT based activities either online or offline

78 24

3.32 3.00 3 .845 .714 4 1 5

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and govern buying and selling online

77 25

3.38 3.00 3 .844 .712 4 1 5

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and govern the online transactions

77 25

3.35 3.00 3 .839 .704 4 1 5

We need more laws in place to protect and provide a secure environment for internet based trading

77 25

2.17 2.00 2 .768 .590 3 1 4

There are lot of 77 25 3.31 3.00 4 .765 .586 3 2 5



eCommerce websites in Sri Lanka

These days, most of the companies in Sri Lanka focuses on online trading as well

77 25

2.49 2.00 2 .853 .727 4 1 5

Sri Lankan people are interested more online buying and selling nowadays

78 24

2.99 3.00 3 .814 .662 4 1 5

Government of Sri Lanka is very much committed to develop ICT infrastructure across the island

80 22

2.33 2.00 2 .776 .602 4 1 5

There are numerous programmes conducted by government of Sri Lanka to develop ICT skills to all citizens

78 24

2.36 2.00 2 .852 .727 4 1 5

There are government policies that ensure ICT as one of the compulsory education in Sri Lanka from primary level

76 26

2.55 2.00 2 .944 .891 4 1 5

There are enough programmes that promote ICT across the island

77 25

2.70 3.00 2 .875 .765 3 1 4

There are free of charge ICT training and skills development programmes are made available for all citizens by the government of Sri Lanka

77 25

3.09 3.00 3 .861 .742 4 1 5

There are enough teachers trained to teach ICT in schools

80 22 3.35 3.00 3 .731 .534 3 2 5

Private educations and training on ICT are affordable by any ordinary citizen who earns a basic standard of income

78 24

3.14 3.00 3 .864 .746 3 2 5

In some of the regions of Sri Lanka, the poverty is one of the main reasons for lack of ICT developments

80 22

2.09 2.00 2 .903 .815 4 1 5

There is poverty exist in Sri Lanka in some

80 22 1.95 2.00 2 .840 .706 3 1 4



regions

There are people who do not even have their basic needs fulfilled in Sri Lanka

79 23

2.16 2.00 2 1.01

8

1.03

7 4 1 5

There are people who hate technologies in Sri Lanka

78 24 2.77 3.00 3 .925 .855 4 1 5

There are people who never had exposure to ICT or any technology per say in Sri Lanka

79 23

2.10 2.00 2 .914 .836 4 1 5

Communalities

Initial Extraction

Internet based businesses has LESS impact on Sri Lanka's economy 1.000 .854

ICT growth in Sri Lanka is not yet enough for large scale internet based

businesses (buying and selling)

1.000 .868



1.000 .882

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and govern buying

and selling online

1.000 .896

There are enough laws available in Sri Lanka to protect and govern the online

transactions

1.000 .859


Government of Sri Lanka is very much committed to develop ICT


1.000 .757



1.000 .878



1.000 .677



1.000 .746



1.000 .725

There is poverty exist in Sri Lanka in some regions 1.000 .744

There are people who do not even have their basic needs fulfilled in Sri Lanka 1.000 .816

There are people who hate technologies in Sri Lanka 1.000 .738

There are people who never had exposure to ICT or any technology per say

in Sri Lanka

1.000 .676





Co

mp

one

nt Initial Eigenvalues


Loadings


Loadings

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nce

Cu

mu

lati

ve

%

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nce

Cu

mu

lati

ve

%

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nce

Cu

mu

lati

ve

%

1 3.848 25.657 25.657 3.848 25.657 25.657 2.748 18.319 18.319

2 3.337 22.249 47.905 3.337 22.249 47.905 2.697 17.982 36.301

3 1.817 12.114 60.019 1.817 12.114 60.019 2.645 17.630 53.931

4 1.401 9.342 69.361 1.401 9.342 69.361 1.859 12.395 66.326

5 1.083 7.221 76.582 1.083 7.221 76.582 1.538 10.256 76.582

6 .848 5.655 82.237

7 .621 4.142 86.379

8 .460 3.067 89.446

9 .440 2.935 92.380

10 .281 1.876 94.256

11 .244 1.630 95.886

12 .210 1.402 97.288

13 .171 1.138 98.426

14 .130 .866 99.292

15 .106 .708 100.000


5. Descriptive Statistics on External Pressures

N

Me

an

Me

dia

n

Mo

de

Std

. D

evia

tio

n

Va

ria

nce

Ran

ge

Min

imum

Ma

xim

um

Va

lid

Mis

sin

g

I started using IT only when I

became employed

85 17 3.40 4.00 4 1.246 1.552 4 1 5

My friends inspired me to use IT

a lot

85 17 2.94 3.00 2 1.016 1.032 4 1 5

Everyone in my family use IT a

lot, so I am inspired to use IT

85 17 3.36 4.00 4 1.122 1.258 4 1 5



These days, most of the

companies in Sri Lanka focuses

on online trading as well

77 25 2.49 2.00 2 .853 .727 4 1 5

There are government policies

that ensure ICT as one of the

compulsory education in Sri

Lanka from primary level

76 26 2.55 2.00 2 .944 .891 4 1 5

In some of the regions of Sri

Lanka, the poverty is one of the

main reasons for lack of ICT

developments

80 22 2.09 2.00 2 .903 .815 4 1 5

Sri Lankan people are

interested more online buying

and selling nowadays

78 24 2.99 3.00 3 .814 .662 4 1 5

Communalities

Initial Extraction

I started using IT only when I became employed 1.000 .623

My friends inspired me to use IT a lot 1.000 .583

Everyone in my family use IT a lot, so I am inspired to use IT 1.000 .546


well

1.000 .616



1.000 .539

In some of the regions of Sri Lanka, the poverty is one of the main reasons

for lack of ICT developments

1.000 .820




Com

po

ne

nt Initial Eigenvalues


Loadings


Loadings

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nce

Cum

ula

ti

ve

%

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nce

Cum

ula

ti

ve

%

To

tal

%

of

Va

ria

nce

Cum

ula

ti

ve

%

1 1.942 27.748 27.748 1.942 27.748 27.748 1.872 26.744 26.744

2 1.464 20.918 48.666 1.464 20.918 48.666 1.409 20.128 46.873

3 1.005 14.361 63.026 1.005 14.361 63.026 1.131 16.153 63.026



4 .887 12.666 75.692

5 .689 9.840 85.532

6 .556 7.946 93.478

7 .457 6.522 100.000


6. Descriptive Statistics on Intrinsic Factors

N

Me

an

Me

dia

n

Mo

de

Std

.

De

via

tio

n

Va

ria

nc

e

Ran

ge

Min

imu

m

Ma

xim

um

Va

lid

Mis

sin

g

Attitude towards IT

Information Technologies (IT)

have more advantages than


85 17 1.81 2.00 2 .715 .512 3 1 4

Information Technologies (IT)

enhance the standards of

human lives

85 17 1.62 2.00 2 .597 .357 3 1 4

Internet technologies enabled

information sharing easy

85 17 1.47 1.00 1 .609 .371 3 1 4

Subjective Norms

It is difficult to learn how to use

computers and browse internet

85 17 3.72 4.00 4 .868 .753 4 1 5

One need to study/ get training

on how to use internet before

start using internet for the first

time

85 17 2.87 3.00 2 1.009 1.019 4 1 5

I always like trying out

innovation of technologies

85 17 2.02 2.00 2 .859 .738 4 1 5

Internet benefits me in lot of

ways

85 17 1.68 2.00 2 .775 .600 4 1 5

I will find difficult to get on with

my daily activities if I don't have

internet

85 17 2.28 2.00 2 1.076 1.157 4 1 5

I know well to operate

computers and browse internet

85 17 1.71 2.00 2 .828 .686 4 1 5



Behavioural Control

I started using IT only when I

became employed

85 17 3.40 4.00 4 1.246 1.552 4 1 5

My friends inspired me to use

IT a lot

85 17 2.94 3.00 2 1.016 1.032 4 1 5

Everyone in my family use IT a

lot, so I am inspired to use IT

85 17 3.36 4.00 4 1.122 1.258 4 1 5

Motivation

I have IT equipment at home so

I have easy access to IT

85 17 2.24 2.00 2 1.076 1.158 4 1 5

I have IT equipment at

school/office so I have easy

access to IT

85 17 2.12 2.00 2 1.028 1.057 4 1 5

There are enough IT equipment

in public places where IT is

easily accessible

85 17 2.46 2.00 2 1.119 1.251 4 1 5

There are enough laws

available in Sri Lanka to protect

and govern ICT based activities

either online or offline

78 24 3.32 3.00 3 .845 .714 4 1 5

These days, most of the

companies in Sri Lanka focuses

on online trading as well

77 25 2.49 2.00 2 .853 .727 4 1 5

Sri Lankan people are

interested more online buying

and selling nowadays

78 24 2.99 3.00 3 .814 .662 4 1 5

There are numerous

programmes conducted by

government of Sri Lanka to


78 24 2.36 2.00 2 .852 .727 4 1 5

There are government policies

that ensure ICT as one of the

compulsory education in Sri

Lanka from primary level

76 26 2.55 2.00 2 .944 .891 4 1 5

There are free of charge ICT

training and skills development

programmes are made

available for all citizens by the


77 25 3.09 3.00 3 .861 .742 4 1 5



Private educations and training

on ICT are affordable by any

ordinary citizen who earns a

basic standard of income

78 24 3.14 3.00 3 .864 .746 3 2 5

There is poverty exist in Sri

Lanka in some regions

80 22 1.95 2.00 2 .840 .706 3 1 4

There are people who never

had exposure to ICT or any

technology per say in Sri Lanka

79 23 2.10 2.00 2 .914 .836 4 1 5

Communalities

Initial Extraction

Information Technologies (IT) have more advantages than possible

disadvantages

1.000 .517

Information Technologies (IT) enhance the standards of human lives 1.000 .635

Internet technologies enabled information sharing easy 1.000 .582

I always like trying out innovation of technologies 1.000 .649

Internet benefits me in lot of ways 1.000 .777

Everyone in my family use IT a lot, so I am inspired to use IT 1.000 .708

I have IT equipment at home so I have easy access to IT 1.000 .719



1.000 .191


well

1.000 .528




1.000 .748



1.000 .675



1.000 .783



1.000 .577





Co

mp

one

nt

Initial Eigenvalues Extraction Sums of Squared

Loadings


Loadings

To

tal

% o

f V

aria

nce

Cu

mu

lative

%

To

tal

% o

f V

aria

nce

Cu

mu

lative

%

To

tal

% o

f V

aria

nce

Cu

mu

lative

%

1 3.563 25.451 25.451 3.563 25.451 25.451 2.905 20.749 20.749

2 2.102 15.017 40.468 2.102 15.017 40.468 2.559 18.280 39.028

3 1.634 11.674 52.142 1.634 11.674 52.142 1.619 11.564 50.592

4 1.393 9.949 62.091 1.393 9.949 62.091 1.610 11.499 62.091

5 1.061 7.582 69.673

6 .867 6.196 75.869

7 .706 5.044 80.913

8 .564 4.031 84.944

9 .505 3.610 88.554

10 .493 3.523 92.077

11 .350 2.498 94.575

12 .323 2.304 96.879

13 .251 1.796 98.675

14 .185 1.325 100.000


7. Correlation1: Demographics Vs Internet Adoption

Correlations

Gender: Age:

Internet

Adoption

Employment

Status:

Kendall's

tau_b

Gender: Correlation

Coefficient

1.000 -.050 -.047 -.120

Sig. (2-tailed) . .590 .639 .209

N 102 102 102 102

Age: Correlation

Coefficient

-.050 1.000 .279**

.156

Sig. (2-tailed) .590 . .003 .078

N 102 102 102 102



Internet

Adoption

Correlation

Coefficient

-.047 .279**

1.000 .196*

Sig. (2-tailed) .639 .003 . .039

N 102 102 102 102

Employment

Status:

Correlation

Coefficient

-.120 .156 .196* 1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .209 .078 .039 .

N 102 102 102 102



8. Correlation2: Enabling Environment Vs Internet Adoption

Physical Infrastructure Vs Internet Adoption

Correlations

Internet

Adoptio

n

Reliability of

Physical

Infrastructur

e

Availability-

Accessibility

of Physical

Infrastructur

e

Affordability

of Physical

Infrastructur

e

Kendall'

s tau_b

Internet

Adoption

Correlatio

n

Coefficient

1.000 .185 .098 -.053

Sig. (2-

tailed)

. .066 .332 .601

N 102 68 68 68

Reliability of

Physical

Infrastructur

e

Correlatio

n

Coefficient

.185 1.000 -.053 .029

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.066 . .525 .727

N 68 68 68 68

Availability-

Accessibility

of Physical

Infrastructur

e

Correlatio

n

Coefficient

.098 -.053 1.000 .018

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.332 .525 . .824

N 68 68 68 68



Affordability

of Physical

Infrastructur

e

Correlatio

n

Coefficient

-.053 .029 .018 1.000

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.601 .727 .824 .

N 68 68 68 68

Soft Infrastructure Vs Internet Adoption

Correlations

Internet

Adoption

Government

Commitment

-Soft.Infra

Economy

-

Soft.Infra

Legal

Frame

Work -

Soft.Infra

Acces

s to

ICT -

Soft.In

fra

Kendall's

tau_b

Internet

Adoption

Correlation

Coefficient

1.000 .096 .369**

-.051 .150

Sig. (2-

tailed)

. .339 .000 .613 .134

N 102 69 69 69 69

Government

Commitment

-Soft.Infra

Correlation

Coefficient

.096 1.000 .034 -.043 -.011

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.339 . .678 .604 .893

N 69 69 69 69 69

Economy -

Soft.Infra

Correlation

Coefficient

.369**

.034 1.000 -.003 .006

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.000 .678 . .967 .942

N 69 69 69 69 69

Legal Frame

Work -

Soft.Infra

Correlation

Coefficient

-.051 -.043 -.003 1.000 .051

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.613 .604 .967 . .541

N 69 69 69 69 69

Access to

ICT -

Soft.Infra

Correlation

Coefficient

.150 -.011 .006 .051 1.000

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.134 .893 .942 .541 .



N 69 69 69 69 69


Business Readiness Vs Internet Adoption

Correlations

Internet

Adoption

Business

Readiness

Kendall's

tau_b


Coefficient

1.000 -.124


N 102 75

Business

Readiness

Correlation

Coefficient

-.124 1.000


N 75 75

9. Correlation3: Enablers Vs Internet Adoption

Awareness Vs internet Adoption

Internet

Adoptio

n

Awareness

on ICT

Developme

nts

Awarene

ss on ICT

Culture

Awarene

ss on

Legal

Framewo

rk

Awarenes

s on ICT

Accessibili

ty

Kendall

's tau_b

Internet

Adoption

Correlati

on

Coefficie

nt

1.000 .202* .206

* -.105 .111

Sig. (2-

tailed)

. .043 .039 .294 .269

N 102 69 69 69 69



Awareness

on ICT

Developme

nts

Correlati

on

Coefficie

nt

.202* 1.000 .004 -.052 -.015

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.043 . .959 .527 .860

N 69 69 69 69 69

Awareness

on ICT

Culture

Correlati

on

Coefficie

nt

.206* .004 1.000 -.021 -.041

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.039 .959 . .804 .619

N 69 69 69 69 69

Awareness

on Legal

Framework

Correlati

on

Coefficie

nt

-.105 -.052 -.021 1.000 -.055

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.294 .527 .804 . .507

N 69 69 69 69 69

Awareness

on ICT

Accessibility

Correlati

on

Coefficie

nt

.111 -.015 -.041 -.055 1.000

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.269 .860 .619 .507 .

N 69 69 69 69 69



External Pressures Vs Internet Adoption

Correlations

Internet

Adoption

ICT

Cultural

Pressure

Pressure

from

Living

Circle

Kendall's

tau_b


Coefficient

1.000 .084 -.002

Sig. (2-tailed) . .407 .985

N 102 67 67

ICT Cultural

Pressure

Correlation

Coefficient

.084 1.000 -.037

Sig. (2-tailed) .407 . .661

N 67 67 67

Pressure from Living

Circle

Correlation

Coefficient

-.002 -.037 1.000

Sig. (2-tailed) .985 .661 .

N 67 67 67

10. Intrinsic Factors Vs Internet Adoption

Correlations

Internet

Adoption Attitude

Subjective

Norms

Behavioural

Control Motivation

Kendall's

tau_b

Internet

Adoption

Correlation

Coefficient

1.000 .244* .015 .080 .179

Sig. (2-

tailed)

. .017 .881 .432 .079

N 102 66 66 66 66

Attitude Correlation

Coefficient

.244* 1.000 .036 .017 -.037

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.017 . .670 .838 .662

N 66 66 66 66 66

Subjective

Norms

Correlation

Coefficient

.015 .036 1.000 -.024 -.014



Sig. (2-

tailed)

.881 .670 . .778 .864

N 66 66 66 66 66

Behavioural

Control

Correlation

Coefficient

.080 .017 -.024 1.000 -.028

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.432 .838 .778 . .744

N 66 66 66 66 66

Motivation Correlation

Coefficient

.179 -.037 -.014 -.028 1.000

Sig. (2-

tailed)

.079 .662 .864 .744 .

N 66 66 66 66 66


11. eCommerce Adoption Vs Internet Adoption

Correlations

Internet

Adoption

Do you have

any previopus

experience of

using

eCommerce?

Kendall's

tau_b

InternetAdoption Correlation Coefficient 1.000 .349**


N 102 92

Do you have any

previopus experience of

using eCommerce?

Correlation Coefficient .349** 1.000


N 92 92




Appendix 3: Other Collected Statistics

1. Some of the Ratings on opinions provided by eCommerce non-adopters


Answer Options

Str

on

gly

A

gre

e

Ag

ree

Ne

ith

er

Dis

ag

ree

o

r A

gre

e

Dis

ag

ree

Str

on

gly

D

isa

gre

e

Ra

tin

g

Ave

rag

e

Re

sp

on

se

C

ou

nt

I do not know what is eCommerce 3 15 5 18 4

3.11

45

I Know how eCommerce works 1 22 8 11 3

2.84

45

I do not have computing skills to use eCommerce

3 8 6 25 3 3.38

45

I do not have sufficient internet access to explore and use eCommerce

3 9 7 25 1 3.27

45

I am scared of possible theft of my financial details when using for online purchases

5 19 13 8 0 2.53

45

I never heard of a eCommerce website in Sri Lanka or elsewhere

3 3 13 23 3 3.44

45

I never even accessed a eCommerce website 4 18 6 16 1

2.82

45

I do not like to use online transactions 5 19 13 8 0

2.53

45


2.82

45


8 19 11 7 0 2.38

45


9 23 8 5 0 2.20

45


9 24 7 5 0 2.18

45


2.96

45


4 4 21 16 0 3.09

45

After I have placed an order I may have to be worrying about the possible cheating

6 17 16 6 0 2.49

45


3 16 19 7 0 2.67

45

I am willing to try eCommerce in the future 1 30 7 6 1

2.47

45

I think that consumers are not protected by law when shopping online as they are offline

3 23 14 5 0 2.47

45

Things that I want to buy are not available online 1 13 21 9 0

2.86

44

There are not many ecommerce websites 2 12 21 10 0

2.87

45

I worry about that my personal information will 4 23 10 8 0 2.4 45



not be protected 9

Most ecommerce websites only disseminate information you cannot trust

2 16 22 5 0 2.67

45

There are no many payment methods that I can choose from when I shop online

1 14 21 9 0 2.84

45


skipped question 57

2. Some of the Ratings on opinions provided by eCommerce adopters on their

previous experience with the website they used

What are your opinions regarding the following statements based on your previous experience with the eCommerce website you have stated above?

Answer Options

Str

on

gly

A

gre

e

Ag

ree

Ne

ith

er

Dis

ag

ree

o

r A

gre

e

Dis

ag

ree

Str

on

gly

D

isa

gre

e

Ra

tin

g

Ave

rag

e

Re

sp

on

se

C

ou

nt

The website have stated all the terms and condition of the transactions and the description of goods/services very clearly

12 24 5 2 0 1.93 43

I am happy with the security of the transactions through the website

9 22 10 2 0 2.12 43

I received the goods/ services within the promised time

9 29 2 3 0 1.98 43

I was very much concerned about the quality of the product I ordered until I received, checked and ensured it.

13 18 8 4 0 2.07 43

In overall, I can trust the website 9 24 8 2 0 2.07 43

I do not want my items delivered through regular postal services because I do not trust in the postal services of Sri Lanka

7 10 15 8 3 2.77 43

It was very difficult for me to locate an item I needed

0 8 11 23 0 3.36 42

The website was not easy to use 1 5 7 27 3 3.60 43

The website takes too much of time to load pages

0 8 12 23 0 3.35 43

There is no personalised services though I prefer to have it

3 13 16 11 0 2.81 43

In overall my previous experience to purchase online was very much satisfying

5 27 9 1 1 2.21 43

I am willing to participate in more eCommerce in the future

14 21 6 1 0 1.86 42


skipped question 59



3. Some of the Ratings on opinions provided by eCommerce adopters on

general perception of eCommerce


Answer Options

Str

on

gly

A

gre

e

Ag

ree

Ne

ith

er

Dis

ag

ree

o

r A

gre

e

Dis

ag

ree

Str

on

gly

D

isa

gre

e

Ra

tin

g

Ave

rag

e

Re

sp

on

se

C

ou

nt


3.09

43


10 21 8 3 1 2.16

43


15 20 7 1 0 1.86

43


14 24 4 1 0 1.81

43


3.16

43


5 8 8 18 4 3.19

43

After I have placed an order I might need be worrying about the possible cheating

6 16 15 6 0 2.49

43


18 11 8 6 0 2.05

43


skipped question 59



Appendix 4: Questionnaire

(This will be attached only in the print)

Questionnaire

Attachment (only for print copy)

e-readiness of consumers for e-commerce adoption: a...

Documents