Start Date
12-13-2015
Description
Firms are changing existing business models and create new business models through discovering e-business opportunities. However, how entrepreneurial perceptions can be activated to discover e-business opportunities is still underexplored. This study proposed a research model that integrated the subjectivist theory of entrepreneurship, the resource-based view and the institutional theory to explain how external pressures and IT infrastructure maturity influence entrepreneurial perceptions, which further promote the discovery of e-business opportunities. Data collected from 203 traditional firms in China was used to examine. The result supported that the causal relationships from external pressures and IT infrastructure maturity to e-business opportunity discovery are partially mediated by entrepreneurial perceptions. In addition, external pressures and IT infrastructure maturity pose different effects on three types of entrepreneurial perceptions. Practitioners looking for innovative use of e-business should view external pressures as an external driving force and IT infrastructure as an internal driving force for motivating entrepreneurial perceptions.
Recommended Citation
Zhu, Zhen and Lin, Shuai-fu, "Entrepreneurial Perceptions and E-business Opportunity Discovery: Evidence from China" (2015). ICIS 2015 Proceedings. 2.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/icis2015/proceedings/eBizeGov/2
Entrepreneurial Perceptions and E-business Opportunity Discovery: Evidence from China
Firms are changing existing business models and create new business models through discovering e-business opportunities. However, how entrepreneurial perceptions can be activated to discover e-business opportunities is still underexplored. This study proposed a research model that integrated the subjectivist theory of entrepreneurship, the resource-based view and the institutional theory to explain how external pressures and IT infrastructure maturity influence entrepreneurial perceptions, which further promote the discovery of e-business opportunities. Data collected from 203 traditional firms in China was used to examine. The result supported that the causal relationships from external pressures and IT infrastructure maturity to e-business opportunity discovery are partially mediated by entrepreneurial perceptions. In addition, external pressures and IT infrastructure maturity pose different effects on three types of entrepreneurial perceptions. Practitioners looking for innovative use of e-business should view external pressures as an external driving force and IT infrastructure as an internal driving force for motivating entrepreneurial perceptions.