E-Commerce in Turkey and South Korea: Adoption Issues and Cultural Impediments

Abstract

Several studies of E-Commerce developing countries have pointed the influence of adoption issues and some impediments related to economic, technological, financial infrastructures as determinants of E-Commerce adoption. In this thesis, the impact of adoption issues and cultural impediments on E-Commerce development in Turkey and South Korea is investigated by using 20-questions questionnaire method between 14-65 age people. This questionnaire shows that the importance of identifying cultural problems of the online globalization and points out that payment and logistic systems and language are the primary factors that every firm should take into account in the process of their online globalization. This study shows that, in development and diffusion of E-Commerce in Turkey, cultural issues such as “socializing effect of E-Commerce” transactional and institutional trust and attitudes toward debt play a very major role and the internet based E-Commerce adoption profile of small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) in Turkey as well as the factors affecting their willingness to adopt E-Commerce usage. It is presented and discussed that these findings and identify changes that will be required for broader acceptance and diffusion of E-Commerce in Turkey. Next, in this work identifies the characteristics and trends of the Internet and ECommerce in South Korea. This study investigates the determining factors of the successful adoption of electronic business (E-Business) by SMEs in Korea using survey data. After the major determining factors were identified from the innovation adoption literature and were extracted by applying the principal component analysis to the survey data and by adding the country specific characteristics of South Korea, we conducted empirical analyses to determine the critical success factors for the adoption of E-Business by Korean firms. Business size, the cost of E-Business adoption and competitive pressure of the industry do not seem to play an important role in the adoption of E-Business by Korean SMEs. The policy implications of this study on promoting E-Business adoption by SMEs in emerging economies, such as Korea, are also studied. Finally, it discusses how to remove language barriers to enhance net growth. In conclusion, this paper will suggest some recommendations. The development of ECommerce in Turkey and South Korea still has a long way to go with Internet use still concentrated only in the major cities. The government plays a central role in ECommerce development and has to remove many of the barriers currently in existence while building up a more favorable environment for Internet development.