Determinants of E-commerce adoption and its effect on marketing performance among Vietnamese SMEs: An PLS-SEM approach using the TOE framework

This study explores the key factors influencing the adoption of e-commerce by businesses. The objective is to gain a comprehensive understanding of how technological, organizational, and environmental factors affect intention to adopt e-commerce decisions and their impact on the digital transformation process. The research is based on the TOE framework, integrated with TAM, TPB, and UTAUT, to address the empirical gap in intention to adopt e-commerce among Vietnamese SMEs. It also incorporates the role of artificial intelligence (AI) integration and the often-overlooked perspective of consumer behavior and online experience. A quantitative survey of 391 SME businesses (following a pilot survey with 30 enterprises) was conducted to obtain a comprehensive perspective on intention to adopt e-commerce. Data were analyzed using SmartPLS 4 software following the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) approach. The results indicate that perceived relative advantage (β = 0.217, p < 0.001), Perceived Cost Acceptability (β = 0.204), and Perceived Ease of use (β = 0.180) are the strongest predictors of intention to adopt e-commerce among businesses. AI integration (β = 0.051, p < 0.05), Human Resource (β = 0.101), and Perceived Security (β = 0.123) also have significant impacts. Additionally, intention to adopt e-commerce significantly improves the marketing performance (β = 0.383, p < 0.001). The study contributes to both academia and practice by proposing an integrated model that enhances understanding of intention to adopt e-commerce among SMEs. Theoretically, it extends the TOE framework by integrating AI and resource-based views. Practically, the research offers solutions to enhance digital capabilities for SMEs and proposes improvements in policies, infrastructure, and trust-building mechanisms for e-commerce in emerging markets.