The effect of the cultural characteristics of a country on the e-commerce adoption B2C

Abstract

On the present paper is analyzed the effect of the cultural characteristics of a country on the e-commerce adoption, especially over the "Business to Consumer" (B2C). Developed and developing countries are considered in the sample of this investigation.

The first step is to apply a statistic analysis of main components ti different technological, educational, demographic and economic variables. This analysis identifies five general factors which state the differences among countries related to the "structural" conditions for the e-commerce adoption (B2C).

After, the five factors, in combination with the cultural characteristics of the countries, ae studied as independent variables, measuring the impact of each variable over the different levels of e-commerce (B2C) penetration. The study results make possible to state that the cultural characteristics of a country are crucial factor in the level of adoption of this new way of commerce. It is also stated that one of the most relevant cultural characteristics in "Masculinity", with reaches impact levels similar to structural variables considered, until now, as the most important.