Diffusion of Electronic Commerce in Australia: A Preliminary Investigation

Abstract

Diffusion is the process by which a new technology spreads in its usage among a population. This chapter analyses the diffusion process of one aspect of the consumer-to-business electronic commerce (EC) in Australia, namely Internet shopping. The chapter first reviews three popular logistics diffusion models from the literature and then applies them to the EC diffusion data. Results show that the most flexible model is not significant, while the simple diffusion model (Blackman’s) is. It was also found that the past diffusion process had been mostly influenced by the “internal” interactions between the adopters and the potential adopters of EC. Further analysis of the Blackman’s model revealed some high level policy guidelines to enhance the diffusion process further into the future. Limitations of the study and future research directions were also identified.