| It is fair to assume that the level of participation in a world economy or in a local economic market depends on the capacity of business organizations to use technology efficiently. It has been recognized that conducting business in the world today is driven by information technology. Access to the Internet is crucial in global trade where speed provides some leverage. Internet technology has revolutionized various business activities and transactions. The focus of this study was to assess the status of Internet technology use by Saudi business organizations, and to determine its actual impact and the perceived benefits among Saudi business users. This study also identified and to assessed the obstacles and barriers associated with the use of Internet technology for business practices in Saudi Arabia.;The data for this study were collected through a questionnaire administered to 450 business organizations in Riyadh City, Saudi Arabia. The number of completed and returned questionnaire was 393, which represent an 87.3% response rate. Descriptive statistics, correlational statistics, discriminant analysis, one way analysis of variance (ANOVA), crosstabulation test, and Friedman two-way ANOVA were used to analyze the data.;The findings indicated that business use of the Internet among Saudi business organizations has grown rapidly in the last four years and it is likely to grow much more quickly in the near future. The researcher also found that the Internet usage decision is contingent upon the general manager's educational level and managerial background, size and sector of the organization, and benefits and compatibility of the Internet technology. The findings also indicated that Saudi businesses use the Internet mostly for conservative tasks such as communications and information gathering, and they are less likely to use the Internet in a more advanced form of e-commerce such as sales and purchases. Finally, the findings indicated that the main perceived barrier to business use of the Internet was related to security concerns and access issues. |
