The Next Frontier…
E-commerce Research in
Developing Countries
How to Make a Theoretical Contribution?
Viswanath Venkatesh
Agenda
 Considerations
 Developing country context
 A common mistake
 Four ways to make a theoretical contribution
 Two illustrations
Practical Considerations
 MNCs marketing products and services to developing
countries
 Firms working with organizations in developing
countries
 Supply chains and business process flows frequently
have a representation of companies in/from
developing countries
Scientific Considerations
 Theories developed with western philosophies and
ideologies
 Data collected in western countries
Developing Country Context
 Developing countries
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Countries themselves
SMEs
People
Workplace
Social settings
Etc.
A Common Mistake:
Replication without Rich Extensions
“[insert theory here] has never been examined in
the context of the mobile Internet among
participants in China an hour after their lunch in
the winter.”
A Common Mistake:
Replication without Rich Extensions
“TAM has never been examined in
the context of the mobile Internet among
participants in China an hour after their lunch in
the winter.”
How to Make a
Theoretical Contribution?
1.
2.
3.
4.
Conduct cross-cultural comparisons
Leverage cross-cultural settings
Engage in the developing country context
Theorize about the developing country
Conduct Cross-cultural
Comparisons
 Compare existing theories across cultural settings
 Direct effects and moderating effects
 Explain why similarities and differences would be
expected
 “theory development through encounters between
theoretical assumptions and empirical impressions that
involve breakdowns” (Alvesson and Karreman 2007)
 Ideally, employ explanatory variables and not just country as
the moderating variable
 IS exemplars
 Gefen and Straub (1997, MISQ)
 Srite and Karahanna (2006, MISQ)
Leverage Cross-Cultural Settings
 Role of global village, virtual teams, diversity
 New contexts that did not exist before (Johns 2006)
 Theorize about what happens when people from
different cultures get together to:
 Work (e.g., develop a project)
 Socialize (e.g., interact on FaceBook)
 IS exemplars
 Kankanhalli et al. (2007, JMIS)
 Rai et al. (2009, MISQ)
Engage in the
Developing Country Context
 Induction, not deduction
 Beginning with Socrates and Aristotle
 Think Isaac Newton
 “…hypothetico–deductive method, even if practiced, actually
retards the progress of science” (Locke 2007)
 Live and breathe the context to tell the tale, without
the shackles of existing theories
 Necessarily qualitative
 IS exemplars
 Walsham and Sahay (1999, MISQ)
 Hirscheim and Silva (2007, MISQ)
Theorize about the Country
 Not necessarily qualitative (Alvesson and Karreman
2007)
 Introduce new concepts and consequently, constructs
 Bring to bear new theoretical perspectives
 Integrate theoretical perspectives appropriately
 Develop new theory that is situated in the contextual
richness
Impacts of Information and
Communication Technology
Implementations on
Employees’ Jobs in India:
A Multi-Method Longitudinal
Field Study*
Production and Operations Management (in press)
* w/ Hillol Bala (Indiana), Tracy Sykes (NSF)
General Storyline
 Job characteristics model (JCM)
 The effect on all five characteristics (skill variety, task
identity, task significance, autonomy and feedback) was
positive
 Job satisfaction and job performance declined
 Qualitative study (interviews) to understand why…
 Socio-technical systems theory to explain the results
Typical JCM
Core Job
Characteristics
Job Characteristics
Skill Variety
Information and
Communication
Technologies
(ICTs)
+
+
Critical
Psychological
States
Experienced
Meaningfulness
+
Outcomes
+
Job Satisfaction
Task Identity
Task Significance
Autonomy
Experienced
Responsibility
Knowledge of
Results
Feedback
Growth Need
Strength
Context
Satisfactions
Job Performance
JCM in our Context
Core Job
Characteristics
Job Characteristics
Skill Variety
Information and
Communication
Technologies
(ICTs)
+
+
Critical
Psychological
States
Experienced
Meaningfulness
-
Outcomes
Job Satisfaction
Task Identity
Task Significance
Autonomy
Experienced
Responsibility
Knowledge of
Results
Feedback
Growth Need
Strength
Context
Satisfactions
Job Performance
Qualitative Study
1st
order concepts
Statements about lack of “power,” “electricity,”
“network”
Statements about unavailability of “computer,”
“machine,”; “high transaction loads”
Statements about lack of “on-site support,”
“training”
Statements about lack of knowledge, self-efficacy,
computer literacy
Statements about foreign cultural imposition,
western isomorphism
2nd order themes or
theoretical categories
External
Infrastructure
Aggregate theoretical
dimension
Environmental
Barriers
Internal
Infrastructure
Facilitating
Conditions
Learning
Difficulty
Individual
Competency
Norms Violation
Culture Shock
Statements about work process changes,
relationship changes, compatibility with precursor
work methods, values, and culture
Extent of
Change
Statements about availability of cheap labor, high
costs of the ICT system
Incentive
Alignment
Statements about advancement opportunities, lack
of understanding of future performance appraisals
Employee
Valuation
Future Ambiguity
Organizational Innovation in
India: A Multi-method
Longitudinal Study*
Information Systems Research (under review)
* w/ Hillol Bala (Indiana), Tracy Sykes (NSF),
V. Sambamurthy (MSU)
General Storyline
 Tensions between traditional challenges and
emerging catalysts
 Troubling trend… even 2 years after implementation
 No improvement in service time
 Drop in job satisfaction
 Drop in customer satisfaction
 Qualitative study to understand the problems from the
perspective of different stakeholders
Service Time, Job Sat, Cust Sat
T-6 months: Preimplementation
T+12 months: 1 year
post-implementation
T+24 months: 2 years
post-implementation
Note: T = Start of IT use.
Branches
System
Non-system
System
Non-system
System
Non-system
Service Time
Mean
S.D.
22.8 mnts.
9.4
22.7 mnts.
9.9
23.2 mnts.
8.3
23.0 mnts.
8.7
22.7 mnts.
8.4
22.6 mnts.
8.8
Job Satisfaction
Mean
S.D.
4.5
1.10
4.4
1.11
3.5
1.21
4.5
1.20
3.8
1.04
4.4
1.18
Customer Satisfaction
Mean
S.D.
5.1
1.07
5.2
1.05
3.6
1.19
5.1
1.06
4.1
1.10
5.2
1.08
Qualitative Study Findings
Category
Infrastructure
Institutional
Agency
Sub-categories
Power
Computer and network
Training and support staff
Future cost
Business process redesign
Labor economics
Western isomorphism
Parallel, manual system
Computer literacy
Career advancement
Job security
Willingness to change
Employees
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Issue voiced by:
Management
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Customers
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Contributions
 Richer understanding of IT implementations in
developing countries
 Boundaries of existing theories
 Setting the stage for new theory development and
future research, including future work on interventions
 Helping developing countries leverage IT meaningfully
 Seeing opportunities and identifying challenges
In sum…
 Developing countries represent a fertile and important
ground for future e-commerce research
 Four suggested ways to make a theoretical
contribution
1. Conduct cross-cultural comparisons
2. Leverage cross-cultural settings
3. Engage in the developing country context
4. Theorize about the developing country
Thank You!