Abstract:

Powerful forces of culture can impact the adoption of the modern notion of e-commerce. In India, myths that date back a thousand years still affect the psyche in relation to e-commerce. It would be misleading to assume that the trajectory of e-commerce adoption in the developing markets would mimic the Western markets. We developed a model that can be applied across developing cultures to analyse e-commerce, based on the socio-cultural context. Global researchers & clients working with developing markets can refer to this re-interpreted model of adoption, to identify the exact trajectory of the market in terms of adoption of e-commerce. At the core of the model is the cultural quotient, which refers to the residual symbols like myths that affect adoption of e-commerce.