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Determinants of E-Commerce Adoption Assignment

   

Added on  2021-05-13

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i Determinants of E-Commerce Adoption amongst Small-and-Medium-Sized Hotels in Malaysia Research Proposal For Master of Commerce by Thesis Prepared by Mohd Faizal Ayob MBA (Tourism and Hospitality Management) Bsc (Hons) Hotel Management

Determinants of E-Commerce Adoption amongst Small-and-Medium-Sized Hotels in MalaysiaAbstract E-commerce is a profit making transaction strategy that enables faster and wider business transactions from wider contexts of economic value and value creation through the internet. Due to the growing demand to enhance the effectiveness of the hotel transaction network, this paper reports the factors affecting e-commerce adoption amongst small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia. These factors represent the constraints, challenges, as well as limitations that prevent the successful adoption of e-commerce based hotel industries in Malaysia. The policy viability and implementation concerns associated with the adoption of e-commerce application are reported. This study confirms that constraints exist and there are a lot of potentials, within reach, to enhance effectiveness and efficient e-commerce integration into small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia. The findings of this research could be integrated as a part of Malaysian hotel industry strategic planning that harnesses the potentials of e-commerce by both public and private sectors. The impact of social media is very significant today and the influence of social media on small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia is in an exploratory stage. Social media disseminates word of mouth electronically, unlike traditional word of mouth. The second generation of the World Wide Web-i.e Web 2.0, due to the vastness of information, the richly improved interactivity and more importantly, the shift of power in online communication from institutions to individual consumers and communities. The study will carry out two major phases. Phase one involves a website evaluation analysis to determine the level of e-commerce adoption amongst small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia. Phase two involves a multiple case study with six hotels in Malaysia including semi-structured interviews with hotel owners or hotel managers, observation and document analysis.. At the end of the study, the final framework of an e-commerce for the small-and-medium-sized hotels will be developed as a result through literature review and two data collection phases. Keywords: E-Commerce adoption, e-business, hotel website, website evaluation, Small-and-medium-sized hotel, social media, Malaysia,

Determinants of E-Commerce Adoption amongst Small-and-Medium-Sized Hotels in MalaysiaTABLE OF CONTENT Content Page Abstract i 1.Research Case 1-2 2.Research Significance 3 3.Research Objectives 4 4.Research Questions 5 5.Literature Review 5.1E-commerce adoption 5.1.1Overview of e-commerce in Malaysia 5.1.2Factors influencing hotel’s e-commerce adoption 5.1.3Adoption of e-business in small-and-medium-sized hotels 5.2Small-and-medium sized hotels 5.3Hotel Website 5.3.1Website evaluation 5.3.2Social Media in Hotel Industry 5.4 Tourism Industry in Malaysia 6-7 8 9-12 12-15 16-17 18-19 20-21 22 23-25 6.Research Methodology 6.1Research Procedure 6.1.1 Website Evaluation Analysis 6.1.2 Multiple Case Study 6.2Research Technique for data collection 6.3Research Techniques for analysis data collected 22-26 26-31 31-33 33-34 7.Ethical Issues Pertinent to the Proposed Research 40 8.Expected Outcomes of the Proposed Research 40 9.The Likely Contribution to Disciplinary Knowledge 41 10.Outline of the thesis 42-43 References 44-49 Appendix : List of Small-and-Medium Sized Hotels in Malaysia 50-56

Determinants of E-Commerce Adoption amongst Small-and-Medium-Sized Hotels in Malaysia1 1.Research Case Electronic commerce or “e-commerce” involves the buying, selling or exchanging of goods, services through electronic networks. E-commerce has three basic forms: business-to- business transactions (B2B), business-to-consumers transactions (B2C), and consumer-to-consumer transactions (C2C). Since internet became a powerful tools to the customers it brings many benefits included increased competition and lower prices, more choice in product and services and the convenience of shopping goods and services from suppliers from anywhere and anytime (Ayyappan 2013).The growth of information technology has considerably changed the operating environment of the hotel industry. Hotel websites, which originally served as travel information providers, are hoping to create more business via online channels. Thus, there is growing reliance on the internet for promoting lodging products and services. It seems that e-commerce adoption will lead to an improvement in hotel operation but owners and managers of hotels are facing difficulties in applying e-commerce especially in relation to quality and accuracy of information obtained from the internet and the user friendliness of the interface and data security (Shang et al. 2008) . There is high potential for e-commerce to create value for different types of firms across different sectors, including the tourism industry. As, largely service based, e-commerce is a unique tools for the tourism industry to enhance their services as well as business performance (Mohamed Intan et al. 2009). Research on e-commerce adoption in developing countries is limited. Many of the developing countries are rapidly changing with technologies and infrastructure to support new and innovative applications such as e-commerce (Sutanonpaiboon & Pearson 2006). Most of the research on e-commerce in Malaysia is highlighted on Business to Consumer (B2C) activity. There is a greater potential for businesses, through e-commerce, that has encouraged companies to move from the traditional method to the online business worldwide (Shah Alam, Ali & Mohd. Jani 2011).

Determinants of E-Commerce Adoption amongst Small-and-Medium-Sized Hotels in Malaysia2 Malaysia is a country whose economy can be considered to be high, and this is influenced by the several economic activities that the citizens of the country undertake with the support of the government. The most popular economic activities in the country are with the incorporation of agriculture, trade and commerce, infrastructure development and more importantly highly established restaurants and hotels to meet the increased number of tourists that visit the country. Currently, the organizations have been observed to be integrating more e-commerce into their operations not only to advertise and promote their products and services but also to create awareness to the clients of the changes that they make in their organizations. Electronic commerce is evident in the contemporary world as an electronic revolution which is getting larger every day, and this is with consideration of the fact that irrespective of the numerous uses of the internet, online shopping has been considered to be one of the major three operations undertaken with the help of the internet, along with email, chat and web browsing. Although there have been a number of studies focusing on e-commerce adoption (Ahmad et al. 2014; Molla & Licker 2005; Sulaiman & Abdullah 2011), there is a paucity of research concerning small and medium sized hotels in developing countries (Jaafar, Kah Ing & Mohd Sukarno 2011) This is particularly true when narrowed down to a particular industry. In fact, there is a lack of research in Malaysia focused on e-commerce adoption in small-and-medium-sized hotels. Therefore, this research is unique and fills a void in existing literature. This research project proposes to explore the e-commerce adoption in small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia.

Determinants of E-Commerce Adoption amongst Small-and-Medium-Sized Hotels in Malaysia3 2. Research Significance This study is significant for two reasons. Firstly it fills a knowledge gap about e-commerce adoption in Malaysia and aims to identify which factors are important for encouraging willingness to adopt e-commerce and to explore of successful adoption of e-commerce. According to (Sulaiman & Abdullah 2011), the adoption of e-commerce in developing countries differs significantly from developed countries because of the lack of financial, legal and physical infrastructures for e-commerce. Due to the global reach of e-commerce, hotels in the developed countries have started adopting e-commerce in their business, but in Malaysia and many other developing countries they are still reluctant to use information technology or e-commerce in their day to day business operation. As development of information technology around the world and its effect on business conducted in the tourism and hospitality industry increases, one way of using IT in tourism and hospitality industry is distribution. “Effective distribution is especially important for hotels because of their perishable inventories” (O'Connor & Frew 2002). Therefore, it is important to identify the factors that influence e-commerce adoption among small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia. Secondly, this study focuses on a relatively unexplored and important sector in Malaysia- small-and-medium-sized hotels. Most of the research on small-and-medium sized hotels in Malaysia only focuses on certain locations such as Kelantan, Langkawi, Sabah and Penang but this research is generalized to Malaysia as the scope of study. The previous study focused on key challenges and strategic practices by small-and-medium-sized hotels, which are common studies but this study is more highlighted on e-commerce adoption amongst small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia. Malaysia has been treating tourism as one of the important growth strategies in the country’s quest for economic advancement. The falling of commodity prices experienced by Malaysia in particular , injected a new lease of life into tourism so as to allow the country to sustain its economic growth (Aziz et al. 2012). Millions of tourists are visiting Malaysia every year due to the uniqueness of the country while large and international chain hotels have reaped a lot of financial benefits of booming tourism industry in the country and small-and-medium sized hotels run by local entrepreneurs found they are struggling more with competition in the industry.

Determinants of E-Commerce Adoption amongst Small-and-Medium-Sized Hotels in Malaysia4 3. Research Objectives This study is a social science study that involves the innovation diffusion model and the technological literature involving various studies conducted on the application of technology in businesses. To be able to arrive at an evidence-based conclusion to the determinants influencing adoption of e-commerce in small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia, the study will focus at meeting the following aims and objectives: RO1. To evaluate the level of e-commerce adoption among small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia. RO2. To examine the factors of owners/managers of small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia in adopting e-commerce RO3. To explore the components of successful adoption of e-commerce among small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia. RO4. To investigate influences of social media in small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia RO5. To develop an e-commerce adoption framework for small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia.

Determinants of E-Commerce Adoption amongst Small-and-Medium-Sized Hotels in Malaysia5 4. Research Questions Attainment of the objectives of the study is influenced by the nature of the study that is conducted, and the stimulants of the study. This implies that for the objectives of this study to be met, there are some stimulating or triggering problems that need to be answered and these issues are with these inclusions, but not limited to: RQ1. What is the level of e-commerce adoption among small-and medium-sized hotels in Malaysia? RQ2. What are the factors that affect owners/managers of small-and medium-sized hotels in Malaysia in adopting e-commerce? RQ3. What are the components of successful adoption of e-commerce among small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia? RQ4. How do social media influence small-and-medium-sized hotels in Malaysia?

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