What is Geography

The objective of this chapter is to identify and analyze implications of social factors on the adoption of Web services technology. Web services allow organizations to streamline their business process applications and expand their market boundaries to global level. Currently, adoption of Web service technology is in the early phase, as organizations are experimenting with it behind secured firewall. Technological immaturity and cost of adoption are considered as primary factors for slow adoption of Web services technology. However, global reach of Web services allows it to be used in different cultural, geopolitical, and infrastructural conditions. Therefore, this chapter explores influences and impacts of societal factors on the adoption of Web service technology. Societal factors considered in this study are culture, social structure, geography, ethics, and trust. Common themes identified across these factors are need for mechanisms to support globalization management, to monitor and assess trustworthiness, and relationship management.