| E-business usage has become a significant research area since the Internet became prominent just over a decade ago. Many researchers have studied and proposed theories and models of E-business usage and value creations in order to predict and explain a company's technology investment. Each theory or model has been proposed with different sets of determinants and moderators and most of them have been developed in advanced countries such as the United States (U.S). It was therefore questioned whether the theories and models related to E-business technology investment that have been developed, modified, and extended in the advanced countries are relevant to developing countries such as Malaysia. It was also questioned whether there might be other determinants and moderators that also play important roles in this specific environment. Therefore, this perception study examined the factors determining E-business usage and its influence on business performance in the Malaysian service industry. Focus was given to online tourism, which included online hotels and online private hospitals (for health tourism); online financial services (banking and insurance); and online transportation services (air, sea, land and rail).;In seeking empirical evidence of E-business practices and its business implications, an interactive, comprehensive and multi-dimensional theoretical model known as the E-VALUE model was introduced. The E-VALUE model assessed the drivers of E-business usage by looking at technological, organizational, and environmental (TOE) factors as suggested in the TOE model [332]. Technological characteristic were represented by independent variables named technology competence and web-functionalities. Organizational characteristics on the other hand, included four independent variables: firm size, internationalization scope, managerial beliefs, and web technology investment costs. Environmental characteristics were represented by regulatory support and pressure intensity. All these variables were used to predict E-business usage. In looking at the relationship between E-business usage and business performance, business performance was measured based on the four dimensions; impact on financial, impact on customers, impact on internal business process and impact on learning and growth as suggested in the Balanced Scorecard [168]. However, the measurement attributes were modified in order to provide a comprehensive view from multi-dimensional disciplines; technology, accounting, and business. The E-VALUE model also tested the moderating influence of E-business experience (in number of years) on the relationship between E-business usage and business performance (known as "usage-performance" relationship).;The questionnaire survey method was used in collecting primary data. Samples were selected using stratified random sampling which yielded 165 usable questionnaires. The structural equation modelling method was used to evaluate the model. In assessing the drivers of E-business usage, technology competence, web-functionalities, firm size, and pressure intensity were found to have significant influence on the extent of E-business usage. Among these, Web functionalities appeared to be the strongest factor and had a significant positive path. It showed that higher Web functionalities led to higher E-business usage. Other significant variables had positive relationship except for pressure intensity, which was found to have significant negative relationship with E-business usage---the higher the pressure, the lower the level of E-business usage. This could be due to financial constraints related to the high costs of Web technology investment to fully implement E-business technology.;Next, E-business usage was found to have significant influence on business performance with positive relationship. Testing the moderator influence, E-business experience (in years), was found to moderate the relationship between E-business usage and business performance. It was hoped that this study would narrow down the gaps in knowledge area and furnish useful guidelines that could trigger E-business implementation in the Malaysian service industry. |
