Factors affecting the performance of businesses involved in electronic commerce : A case study of electronic companies in Uganda

Abstract

The aim of this research paper was to examine comprehensively the factors affecting businesses involved in electronic commerce in Uganda using a case study of Uganda’s electronic commerce companies. The research methodology used a questionnaire survey (internet survey) to collect data from 96 e-commerce businesses out of which 74 or 54.01% usable questionnaires were received. The researcher used a multiple linear regression whereby she used the t-statistic to test the hypothesis. The businesses ranged from very small to large organizations cutting across all major industry sectors, consisting of the following forms of ownership: local, government, multinational and joint ventures with foreign ownership. The findings of the study established the following factors that affect businesses involved in electronic commerce businesses: economic, social, technological factors, and technological factors. The researcher focused on social factors which include age of the owner of the enterprise, marital status of the owner, and gender of the owner of the enterprise, annual turnover from the companies, and others. According to the findings, there is no relationship between age of the owner and sales from e-commerce. We reject the null hypothesis since the calculated t-value of age is 2.55 which is greater than the tabulated one which is 1.96. Age of ownership of companies is therefore a significant factor of e-commerce. There is no significant relationship between type of ownership and sales from e-commerce. The calculated t- value of the type of ownership of e-commerce companies and sales from e-commerce is -1.69 which is less than 1.96 the tabulated value and hence we fail to reject the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between type of ownership and sales from e-commerce. Gender of the owner of the enterprise is not a significant factor of sales from e-commerce since the calculated t- value of gender of e-commerce company owners and sales from e-commerce is -1.69 which is less than 1.96 the tabulated value and hence we fail to reject the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between type of ownership and sales from e-commerce. There is no relationship between marital status of the owner of the enterprise and sales from e-commerce The calculated t- value of marital status of the owners of e-commerce companies and sales from e-commerce is 1.69 which is less than 1.96 the tabulated value and hence we fail to reject the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between marital status of e-commerce company owners and sales from e-commerce. The calculated t- value of the size of the industry of e-commerce companies and sales from e-commerce is -1.18 which is less than 1.96 the tabulated value and hence we fail to reject the null hypothesis that there is no relationship between type of ownership and sales from e-commerce. The researcher recommends that further study should be done on businesses involved in electronic commerce since most of the studies focus on social factors and hence neglects economic factors, technological and political factors of businesses involved in electronic commerce.