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Top1. Introduction
With the shift in the paradigm from the traditional offline policies to internet technology (IT) based policies; an impeccable need for electronic commerce (e-commerce) has been developing among the firms. This digital era is making it compulsory for firm and customers to use internet-based transactions for their purchases (Tandon, Sharma, & Aggarwal, 2019). This is especially true in India, where the government demands support for its “cashless economy” drive. Every country in the world is investing on enhancement of its IT infrastructure, which is a determinant of its economic condition (Ghandour, 2015). Though, in India, the scope of growth in ecommerce industry is expected to increase at an exponential rate. Revenue from this sector is expected to increase from US$ 39 billion in 2017 to 120 billion mark in 2020, which amounts 51% annual growth rate (IBEF, 2019). The Government of India's policies and regulatory frameworks such as 100% foreign direct investment (FDI) in B2B e-commerce and under the marketplace model of B2C e-commerce are expected to further propel growth in the sectors. Moreover, in order to take care of the privacy issues encountered by Indian customers during infancy stage of ecommerce, the government has proposed National E-commerce Policy which states that no data will be shared with foreign government without any prior authorization from the Indian government (Sivathanu, 2019). Amidst the policies and efforts incorporated by the Indian government to encourage the usage of ecommerce, the question arises on how willing are the businesses and consumers to adopt and diffuse it. Previous researchers have shown interest on the studies emphasizing the factors that affect the diffusion and adoption of new technology by customers and firms (Chang, Sun, Pan, & Wang, 2015; Hu, Brown, Thong, Chan, & Tam, 2009; Sánchez-Prieto, Olmos-Migueláñez, & García-Peñalvo, 2017). According to these studies, it may be argued that the diffusion of technology is a complex phenomenon and also depends on various other external (environmental) factors other than the internal (personal) ones. This process of adoption along with intention to diffuse technological advancements introduced by the government shows the success rate of the policies drafted by them. One such technical reform that has occurred in recent time is the online payment of a unified tax, termed as goods and service tax (GST).
GST is an indirect tax levied by the Indian government in 2017 in order to impose a unified tax system through the country. Under this system, a value added tax is levied on goods and services provided/sold for consumption. This tax system has been applied in 160 countries and it plays an important role in generating revenue and income for the country (Kumar, Tyagi, & Vashishat, 2018). The GST platform merges under one roof the central taxes such as excise duty tax, sales tax, and service tax with state-level taxes such as entertainment tax, entry tax, transfer tax, and luxury tax. The Indian government is keen on implementing this tax structure as it comes with few benefits (Sharma & Saini, 2019) such as: (1) it will fulfill the objective of “one country one tax”. (2) in addition to covering the goods and services under one tax regime, it incorporates transparency within the system. (3) the tax system will be handful for manufacturers as they can be escaped from the troublesome task of paying multiple taxes. (4) implementation of GST will ultimately lower the cost of goods and services. Now, in order to keep the payment of GST process in line with the recent technological changes, the government has initiated an online portal for this purpose known as GST network (GSTN). Since these manufacturers might themselves be involved in owning a website specific to their business, but their major focus is on to attract customers and suppliers to make purchase through them. While the not-for-profit intention of government introducing an online portal is to make it convenient for citizens to file their GST (Das, 2017). In vein of these discussions, it becomes necessary to study the adoption intention of GSTN among the Indian manufacturers. The two well-known concepts that study the adoption behavior of customers towards technology are TAM (technology acceptance model) and UTAUT (unified theory of adoption and use of technology).