Today, IT has a major influence on commercial activities, accelerating the adoption of e-procurement and e-marketplace participation in many industries. We examined firm motivations for adopting e-procurement for their operations in thee-marketplace and measured their performance to assess its benefits. Trust was considered as a moderating variable between the relationship of e-procurement adoption and e-marketplace participation. A two-stage analysis, including both a qualitative and quantitative approach, was applied. Hypotheses were developed and a model constructed. A research questionnaire was developed and distributed followed by data analysis and testing. The results showed that firms that adopted e-procurement were more likely to participate in the e-marketplace and that the firm's performance was enhanced after such participation. Trust was shown to have a moderating effect upon firm willingness to adopt e-procurement when it was considering participation in the e-marketplace.
Innovative IT not only enables firms to enhance their overall performance and facilitate inter-organizational relationships and transactions; it also effectively solves the problem of asset specificity and product description. Therefore, future orientation is mainly focused on market rather than hierarchy-based economic activities. At the same time, the Internet has changed the way the firms do business by reshaping of traditional buyer-seller relationship, the improvement of core processes, and in ways to reach new markets. The evolution of information and communication technology has already improved supply chain performance, because of higher process efficiency and integration in B2B e-commerce.
e-Commerce may be divided into three categories: e-procurement led by buyers, e-distribution led by sellers, and e-marketplace led by a third party. The e-marketplace is an online intermediary designed to establish buyer-seller relationships and to facilitate the transactions between them; it generally facilitates trading activities between partners who have not had prior interaction; these are often trilateral, involving buyers, sellers, and an e-marketplace provider [17]. The focus of our study, e-procurement is one important element of the e-marketplace.
In recent years, e-procurement and the e-marketplace have proliferated and been applied in an ever-extending set of domains. Along with the efficiency, promptness, and ease of use, early adopters have become proficient in web-based procurement systems. The efficiency and automation of internal processes are a prerequisite for process efficiency. Therefore, large enterprises are more likely to possess adequate resources and the ability to construct suitable systems for e-procurement.
An e-marketplace is a place for buyers and suppliers to conduct trade in a more efficient way. More firms are experiencing e-marketplace trading and due to its effectiveness and efficiency, most firms are satisfied with its performance [12]. Therefore, the e-marketplace is increasingly important to the firm's procurement and sales activities.
Trust is, however, an important factor. From the business perspective, lack of personal contact and anonymity create uncertainties that lead to greater perceived risk and privacy concerns. As cyberspace adds a uncertainty and risk to a transaction, the largest concern for buyers and sellers is incomplete and distorted information and inappropriate behavior in this unproved marketplace. However a market that is untrustworthy and characterized by cheating is likely to lead to market failure. Soliman and Janz [16] discovered that with the advent of the Internet, trust significantly influencing the adoption and use of inter-organizational systems (IOSs). Because trust supports collaborative relationships, it is a prerequisite for e-marketplace use.
Our study focused on the issue of e-procurement adoption and e-marketplace participation in the manufacturing industry in Taiwan. We proposed a conceptual model and examine the relation between e-procurement adoption and e-marketplace participation. The importance of trust in e-commerce also deserved attention. The absence of physical products and possible long distances between buyers and sellers make trust a critical element in establishing e-commerce relationships. Thus, we considered trust as a moderating factor between e-procurement adoption and e-marketplace participation. Four dimensions of firm performance were adopted to verify the subsequent benefit of participating in the e-marketplace.
The purposes of our study were: (1) to examine whether a firm that has adopted e-procurement will be more likely to participate in the e-marketplace, (2) since the aim of companies is to save costs and improve performance, we examined firm performance after participation in the e-marketplace to determine whether there has been any improvement and (3) since uncertainties and risks exist on the Internet, we tried to determine how trust affected the willingness of companies to participate in the e-marketplace.
The results showed firms that had adopted e-procurement were more likely to participate in the e-marketplace. Trust was the fundamental element that affected firms’ willingness to participate. Firm performance (e.g., efficiency, sales performance, customer satisfaction, and relationship development) improved after participating in e-marketplaces.
In our study, we found that e-procurement adoption had a positive relationship on e-marketplace participation. However, the final purpose of firm adoption of e-procurement was to enhance the firm's competitive advantage by increasing procurement activity efficiency and serving customers efficiently. This in turn increased sales performance due to increased customer satisfaction.
Firms wanted their e-market interface to project competence, friendliness, safety, and predictability; such an e-marketplace is required when dealing with unfamiliar clients or new partners. Moreover, transferring information via the Internet is risky; therefore, trust can reduce anxiety about information disclosure.
