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Small firms as social formations : relationships as the unit of analysis for eBusiness adoption research

Parker, Craig and Castleman, Tanya 2007, Small firms as social formations : relationships as the unit of analysis for eBusiness adoption research, in Collecter 2007 : Proceedings of the 2007 Collecter E-Commerce Conference, University of South Australia, School of Communication, Adelaide, S. Aust..

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Title Small firms as social formations : relationships as the unit of analysis for eBusiness adoption research
Author(s) Parker, Craig
Castleman, Tanya
Conference name CollECTeR Conference on Electronic Commerce (10th : 2007 : Melbourne, Vic.)
Conference location Melbourne, Australia
Conference dates 9-11 December 2007
Title of proceedings Collecter 2007 : Proceedings of the 2007 Collecter E-Commerce Conference
Editor(s) Swatman, Paula M.C.
Publication date 2007
Conference series CollECTeR Conference on Electronic Commerce
Publisher University of South Australia, School of Communication
Place of publication Adelaide, S. Aust.
Summary Existing research concerning the adoption of Electronic Business (eBusiness) by small firms has primarily investigated the factors influencing their adoption decisions, with firms being the unit of analysis. In addition, the research assumes that it is primarily small firm owners, employees, trading partners, eBusiness product/service providers, government and business networks which influence adoption. This paper argues that small firms can more accurately be characterised as social formations whereby family, friends and social networks most likely play a significant, often overlooked, role. On this basis the paper argues that future research should include relationships within and external to small firms as the unit of analysis, not just the firm. The paper concludes by examining whether the theories commonly used to explore small firm eBusiness adoption are suitable for relationship-based research.
ISBN 9781920927783
1920927786
Language eng
Field of Research 150314 Small Business Management
HERDC Research category E1 Full written paper - refereed
ERA Research output type E Conference publication
Copyright notice ©2007, The authors.
Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30008027

Document type: Conference Paper
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