There has been a rapid increase in the number of
firms undertaking business-to-business (B2B) electronic commerce
(e-commerce) initiatives. Although there are various benefits to
B2B e-commerce, there are also inhibitors to its deployment.
This study empirically investigates the inhibitors for deploying
Web-based B2B e-commerce applications in organizations. A
field survey of senior IT executives was conducted to examine
the key problems that inhibit the deployment of Web-based B2B
e-commerce. A comprehensive list of inhibitors was derived from
an extensive review of the literature and pretested with senior
IT executives. Data from 249 firms were factor analyzed to yield
the underlying structural dimensions of inhibitors impacting the
deployment of Web-based B2B e-commerce. Univariate t-test
and multivariate discriminant analysis were carried out on the
resulting ten dimensions to compare B2B (i.e., firms who have deployed
B2B) and non-B2B firms (i.e., firms who have not deployed
B2B). The results suggest that key inhibitors in B2B deployment
are the lack of top management support, unresolved technical
issues, the lack of e-commerce strategy, and the difficulties in
cost-benefit assessment of e-commerce investments. Implications
of the results for researchers and IT/engineering management
executives are discussed.