Document Type

Article

Abstract

E-procurement encompasses a spectrum of buying applications, from simple Web-shopping on suppliers’ online interfaces or storefronts, participating in or organizing auctions to participating in or even actively operating buyside marketplaces, which can all be summarized as the “use of the Internet for purchasing and procurement”. The benefits from e-procurement, especially the potential savings, are often emphasized, and companies spend large sums on implementations. However, there is a lack of research providing broad empirical evidence on the effectiveness or business value of e-procurement at the corporate level. Based on a comprehensive theory background, we develop a research model for the adoption of e-procurement and its effect on corporate success in electronic business. Employing covariance structure analysis, we test our model against empirical data comprising 425 cases collected in a largescale survey in the German-speaking market. We find that the perceived benefits are a driver for adoption, whereas the perceived effort is an inhibitor. Contrary to expectations, the perceived effort has a positive impact on the perceived benefits. While our results suggest that adoption rises with companies’ experience on the Web, no support can be found that adoption increases with company size. We also find that the adoption of e-procurement has a positive, but small impact on corporate success in electronic business

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