Factors Hindering the Adoption of E-Marketing among Cable Manufacturers in Zambia, Based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

Abstract

The study was looking at establishing factors that are hindering the adoption of electronic marketing among cable manufacturers in Zambia based on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). The study first looked at the major challenges faced by cable manufacturing companies in developing countries in the adoption of e-commerce in marketing their products. The study then proposed a model through a web-based e-commerce web portal that could be adopted in order to address the challenges identified in the study. The study was based on three cable manufacturing companies. The three companies had a total population of 115 respondents which was used in our study. These were from the various departments (Marketing, IT and Management) within their respective organizations. Both qualitative and quantitative data was collected from respondents using a structured questionnaire. The questionnaire was generated based on the TAM conceptual model. The response rate was 47% giving 51 questionnaire responses from the three companies. The Chi-Square test of independence was used to analyze the data using SPSS software. The results showed that age has an influence on the perceived usefulness of technology. The test had an observed P-Value of 0.024 against the significance level of 0.05.The results further showed that frequent use of the internet has an influence on perceived ease of use of technology. An observed P-Value of 0.014 was recorded against the significant level of 0.05. The Chi Square test again recorded an observed P-Value of 0.03 against the significance level of 0.05, revealing that Internet knowledge has an influence on perceived security of E-marketing. It was therefore, concluded that level of education has no influence on perceived security of E-Marketing. Based on these results, an e-commerce prototype was developed as a web portal to help address the challenges of technology adoption in cable marketing by the three companies in the study.