E-commerce usage and business performance in the Malaysian tourism sector: Empirical analysis

• Published in: Information Management and Computer Security
• Main Author: Salwani M.I.; Marthandan G.; Norzaidi M.D.; Chong S.C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: 2009
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-67651009214&doi=10.1108%2f09685220910964027&partnerID=40&md5=4fba7c1013d0a7d54aa73713571bf5c2

Purpose - Based upon the E-VALUE model developed, this paper aims to investigate the impact of e-commerce usage on business performance in the tourism sector. Design/methodology/approach - A cross-sectional survey is carried out on 165 Malaysian firms involved in the tourism sector (hotels, resorts, and hospitals engaged in health tourism) through the use of a structured questionnaire. Findings - The structural equation modeling results indicate that technology competency, firm size, firm scope, web-technology investment, pressure intensity, and back-end usage have significant influence on e-commerce usage. Among these variables, back-end integration is found to function as a mediator. E-commerce experience (in years) is found to moderate the relationship between e-commerce usage and business performance. Research limitations/implications - The paper focuses on the tourism sector in Malaysia and concentrates only on the management perspective of e-commerce adoption. Practical implications - The results provide insights to the Malaysian tourism sector and other organizations of similar structures of how they could improve upon their e-commerce adoption and/or usage for improved business performance. Originality/value - This paper is perhaps one of thefirst to investigate e-commerce usage in the tourism sector using a comprehensive set of variables through an interactive, comprehensive andmulti-dimensional theoretical model (the E-VALUE model) in investigating their influences on business performance. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.