An Integrated Study on the Aspects Embracing e-Commerce Platforms in Bangladesh

Abstract

The thesis focuses on different facets of effective adaptation of e-commerce in the context of Bangladesh. Since the inception in 2006, Bangladesh has shown incredible growth potential in e-commerce. However, recent statistics shows that Bangladesh is still lagging behind in the field of e-commerce. Therefore, it is very necessary to identify the factors that affect the adoption of ecommerce in Bangladesh which motivates to carry out this research. In doing so, the thesis concerted on three specific sub segments of e-commerce, mobile financial services (MFS), internet banking, and online marketplaces. The study followed a mixed method approach combining both qualitative and quantitative methods with a positivist philosophy. Quantitative data are gathered via three different questionnaire survey. Three conceptual frameworks are developed and validated using both qualitative and quantitative data. The thesis makes a novel contribution by identifying and analyzing the important factors of e-commerce adoption in Bangladeshi context and proposing an extension of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) with five new constructs. The new constructs are: Value perception, Perceived risk, Customer Service, Technology Familiarity and Trust, which are context specific from Bangladesh perspective. Findings of the thesis suggests that, ‘Perceived Risk’ have a negative effect on the adoption of all three sub segments. On the other hand, factors like ‘Value perception’, ‘Customer Service’, ‘Technology Familiarity’, and ‘Trust’ are also found to have positive effect on the adoption of e-commerce. ‘Trust’ and ‘Adoption Confirmation’ are found to have positive impact on customer satisfaction as well. These findings are substantiated with consultation with the industry practitioners. Thus, the research achieves its objectives and fills up the academic gap in the area of e-commerce study by extending TAM with five above mentioned Bangladeshi context specific parameters. It also made very important contribution to the industry by effectively connecting and associating the theoretical conclusion with the corporate objectives of different e-commerce businesses, and successfully interpreting them to be used for promoting their business progress. However, due to change in environmental context, such as any modification in laws and regulations, the proposed conceptual frameworks of the thesis may face adaptivity problem. Therefore, the frameworks may need to augment new constructs to observe the effect of such contextual change on e-commerce adoption behavior of the consumers in future.