Facilitating e-commerce operations improvement: Guidance for reducing the effect of cultural indicators on consumers attitudes towards e-commerce acceptance

The rapid expansion of the Internet and development of e-commerce results in business operations being increasingly performed in virtual markets, which due to current economic climate change continuously. This continuous change of virtual markets in turn appears to be a push factor for constant improvement of e-business operations. Many studies have revealed that the facilitation of such an improvement is enabled by a number of factors that prevent consumers from full acceptance of e-commerce. Due to aforementioned trend there is a need to develop new e-strategy which will allow to reduce the effect of those factors on consumers attitudes towards e-commerce acceptance and thus improve business operations taking place in virtual platform. This two-step study specifically aims to develop e-commerce strategy which reduces the effect of cultural indicators on consumer attitudes towards e-commerce acceptance. In order to meet the study objectives first the theoretical literature review is conducted on the basis of which two models of e-commerce acceptance are selected to form a central pillar of this research. Those are TAM and TPB. Selected models are tested quantitatively through SEM following the approach of conducting cross cultural research, which results in identification of factors which even though initially seem to prevent consumers from e-commerce acceptance can be overcome as a result of cultural setting change. Finally the findings of quantitative study are confirmed through qualitative study, which also reveals elements facilitating the change of consumers? attitudes towards e-commerce acceptance, all of which can be applied by e-business practitioners in their attempts to improve business operations in the virtual marketplace.