Global Technology, Local Adoption: A Cross-Country Investigation of Internet Adoption by Companies in the United States and China

Abstract To gain a better understanding of the global diffusion of e‐business among organizations in developed and developing countries and to investigate the relationships among e‐business contexts, economic environment, and organizational adoption, we conducted a firm‐level survey in two countries – the United States and China – and tested a research framework built upon the technology‐organization‐environment framework. Empirical data from 262 US firms and 175 Chinese firms provided evidence about the extent of organizational adoption of e‐business. Major findings include: 1) Chinese firms lag in using e‐business‐related technologies, especially interorganizational technologies; 2) US firms make more extensive use of the Internet; and 3) government regulation plays a more important role in China than in the US. Moreover, using structural equation modelling, we further teased out four adoption facilitators in general – technology competence, enterprise integration, competition intensity, and regulatory environment. These factors played different roles in different economic environments. The paper concludes with a discussion of the major results and implications. Keywords: Internetelectronic businessadoptioninnovation diffusionglobal environmentcross‐country studytechnology‐organization‐environment framework