E-Commerce in Serbia: Where Roads Cross Electrons Will Flow

A qualitative exploration into conditions for diffusing e-commerce in Serbia was conducted by using a multidimensional model. Serbia is a country located at an important geographical location in southeast Europe, which descended on a path of political and economic changes after a decade of stagnation. Our main finding is that the process of diffusing e-commerce in Serbia resembles a car hesitating at a traffic light because all lights are flashing at the same time. Dynamics within the areas of software industry, e-payment/e-banking, and legislation support e-commerce. In contrast, the telecommunications infrastructure and ownership as well as customer beliefs and behaviors halt it. The ambivalent yellow light is triggered by the state of traffic/delivery and education. Research contributions of the study refer to advancing the understanding of trust as a major enabler of e-commerce and to filling the void in the literature on a potentially important country. Practical contributions refer to creating a country profile along with development prospects that can be useful to other developing countries and global e-commerce players.