E readnesse valuation at medium and large enterprises in thai nguyen province vietnam

EReadnesse valuation at medium and large enterprises in Thai Nguyen province Vietnam EReadnesse valuation at medium and large enterprises in Thai Nguyen province Vietnam EReadnesse valuation at medium and large enterprises in Thai Nguyen province Vietnam EReadnesse valuation at medium and large enterprises in Thai Nguyen province Vietnam EReadnesse valuation at medium and large enterprises in Thai Nguyen province Vietnam

E-READINESS EVALUATION AT MEDIUM AND LARGE ENTERPRISES IN THAI NGUYEN PROVINCE, VIETNAM

in Collaboration with Thai Nguyen University, Vietnam

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree

Doctor in Business Administration

By TRAN CONG NGHIEP

DECEMBER 2020

con-DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP

I, TRAN CONG NGHIEP, declare that this dissertation titled, “E-Readiness Evaluation

at Medium and Large Enterprises in Thai Nguyen Province, Vietnam” and the workpresented in it are my own I confirm that:

• This work was done wholly or mainly while in candidature for a research degree

at this University

• Where any part of this thesis has previously been submitted for a degree or anyother qualification at this University or any other institution, this has been clearlystated

• Where I have consulted the published work of others, this is always clearly tributed

at-• Where I have quoted from the work of others, the source is always given Withthe exception of such quotations, this thesis is entirely my own work

• I have acknowledged all main sources of help

• Where the thesis is based on work done by myself jointly with others, I havemade clear exactly what was done by others and what I have contributed myself

The main objectives of the study are to measure the e-readiness level at medium andlarge enterprises, and analyze factors affecting e-readiness and propose solutions forthose enterprises to develop their strategy to enhance the level of e-readiness of mediumand large enterprises in Thai Nguyen province To accomplish the research objectives

of the thesis, the researcher focused on the following specific objectives Firstly, by tematizing the tools for measuring e-readiness, a simple tool modified from the VerifyEnd-user e- Readiness using a Diagnostic Tool (VERDICT) was proposed Secondly,the profile of the large and medium enterprises in Thai Nguyen province as well as thee-readiness of the surveyed firms using the proposed tool were described The signifi-cant difference of e-readiness level, Perceived Organization E-Readiness and PerceivedEnvironmental E-Readiness based on profile of the enterprises such as size, industry,years in business, ownership and the e-readiness level were determined and the factorsaffecting the e-readiness level of the large and medium enterprises also were identified

sys-Data were collected at 102 large and medium enterprises randomly chosen from 132large and medium enterprises in Thai Nguyen province Pearson correlation analy-sis shows that Perceived Organizational E-Readiness has positive relationship to e-readiness of enterprise and Perceived External E-Readiness has positive relationship toe-readiness of enterprise and Linear regression analysis shows that both internal fac-tors and external factors are significant affecting the e-readiness of enterprises Otherfactors like firm size, firm age, ownership, industry sector is not significant

1.1 Background and Rationale of the Study 1

1.2 Objectives 5

1.2.1 General Objective 5

1.2.2 Specific Objectives 5

1.3 Hypotheses 6

1.4 Theoretical Framework 8

1.5 Conceptual Framework 12

1.6 The Operational Definitions 14

1.6.1 Dependent Variable: E-readiness 14

1.6.2 Independent Variables 22

1.6.3 Antecedent Variables 24

1.7 Significance of the Study 25

1.8 Scope and Delimitation 26

1.9 Organization of the Dissertation 27

2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES 29 2.1 Literature Review 29

2.1.1 Macro e-readiness Assessment 29

2.1.2 Micro e-readiness Assessment 30

2.1.3 Overview of e-readiness Assessment tools 35

2.1.4 Vietnam ICT Index 42

2.1.5 Factors Influencing e-readiness 43

2.2 Empirical related studies 45

3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 51 3.1 Research Design 51

3.2 Population, Sample Size and Sampling Technique 52

3.3 Research Instruments 53

3.3.1 Evaluation the Scale Reliability 54

3.3.2 Explore Factor Analysis (EFA) 59

3.4 Data Gathering Procedures 62

3.4.1 Secondary Data 62

3.4.2 Primary Data 62

3.5 Data Processing and Data Analysis 63

3.5.1 Descriptive Statistics 63

3.5.2 Factor Naming and Model Modification 63

3.5.3 Verbal Interpretation 64

3.5.4 Testing the Hypothesizes 64

3.5.5 Regression Analysis 65

4 DATA PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 68 4.1 Characteristics of Survey Sample 68

4.2 Results of e-readiness Assessment of Enterprises in Thai Nguyen Province 70 4.3 The Perceived E-readiness 74

4.4 Hypothesis Testing 77

4.5 Factors Affecting E-readiness Level of Large and Medium Enterprises 84 4.5.1 The Basic Model 85

4.5.2 The Extended Model with Control Variables as Dummy Variables 86

4.5.3 The Final Model 88

5 SUMMARY, CONCLUSION AND POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS 90 5.1 Summary of Findings 90

5.2 Conclusions 93

5.3 Recommendation 94

5.4 Limitations of the Study and Scope for Future Research 96

B E-READINESS IN DIMENSIONS AND OVERALL E-READINESS AT

E POST-HOC ANALYSIS FOR SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES 127

List of Figures

1.1 Model of E-Commerce by Molla et all 2005a 12

1.2 Conceptual framework for determining factors affecting e-readiness 13

4.1 Surveyed firms by Business Industry 69

4.2 Surveyed firms by Ownership 70

4.3 Overall Level of e-readiness at Enterprises in Thai Nguyen Province 71

4.4 Average e-readiness Level of Firms Grouped by Industries 73

4.5 Average E-readiness of Enterprises Grouped by Business Age 74

List of Tables

3.1 List of indicators to measure e-readiness 55

3.2 List of indicators to assess factors affecting e-commerce 56

3.3 Cronbach’s Alpha of the questionnaire to measure e-readiness 58

3.4 KMO and Bartlett’s Test 61

3.5 Verbal Interpretation of POER anf PEER 64

4.1 Profile of surveyed companies 69

4.2 Average e-readiness of Enterprises Grouped by Ownership 71

4.3 Average e-readiness of Enterprises grouped by industries 72

4.4 Average e-readiness of enterprises grouped by size 73

4.5 Average e-readiness of Enterprises grouped by years in business 73

4.6 Arevage perceived e-readiness grouped by industries 75

4.7 Perceived e-readiness grouped by years in business 75

4.8 Perceived e-readiness grouped by ownership and by size 76

4.9 T-test and ANOVA for significant difference e-readiness interms of firm profile 77

4.10 Post-hoc analysis of significant difference of e-readiness in terms of profile 78 4.11 Test for significant difference of POER, PEER interms of profile 80

4.12 Post-hoc Analysis difference of POER, PEER in terms of profile 81

4.13 Pearson corelation of e-readiness and PEOR, PEER 84

4.14 The ANOVA of the basic regression model 85

4.15 Coefficients of basic model 85

4.16 Coefficients of regression with firm size as dummy 86

4.17 Coefficiens of regression with business age as dummy variable 87

4.18 Coefficients of regression with industry as dummy 88

4.19 Regression coefficients with types of ownership as dummy variables 89

B.1 E-Readiness in dimensions of the surveyed enterprises 117

C.1 Cronbach’s Alpha of Tool to Measure E-Readiness (27 items) 122

D.1 Rotated Component Matrix For E-Readiness Measure 125

D.2 Rotated Component Matrix For POER And PEER 126

E.1 Post-Hoc Alanisys for significant Differences of E-readiness and POER PEER based on firm porfile 127

List of Abbreviations

LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS

ABBREVIATION FULL WORDS

PEC Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation

CEO Chief Executive Management

CID Center for International Development

CIDCM Center for International Develop and Conflict Manag.CSPP Computer Systems Policy Project

e-CRM electronic Customer Relationship Management

FDI Foreign Direct Invesment

ICT Information and Communication Technology

ITD Innovation Diffusion Theory

PEER Perceived Environmental E-Readiness

POER Perceived Organizational E-Readiness

SCT Social Cognitive Theory

SME Small and Medium Enterprise

SMHO Small and Medium-Sized Hospitality OrganizationsTAM Technology Acceptance Model

TOE Technology, Organizational and Environmental

TPB Theory of Planned Behavior

TRA Theory of Reasoned Action

UTAUT Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Techno.VAIP Vietnam Association for Information Processing

VERDICT Verify End-user e- Readiness using a Diagnostic Tool

WITSA World Information Technology and Services Alliance

Chapter 1 PROBLEM AND ITS SETTING 1.1 Background and Rationale of the Study

In our society today, computers and the Internet are considered the tools that changethe way we live, the way we communicate, the way we get education, and the way wemake business (Lee and Kim,2007) This can be seen in the following aspects: Firstly,Ramsay (2003) claimed that information and communication technology (ICT), partic-ularly the Internet, is having a significant impact on the operations of enterprises and it

is claimed to be essential for the survival and growth of nations’ economies in generaland enterprise in particular Today, many businesses depend on computers and theInternet for their daily operations For example, ICT helps enterprise to reduce trans-action costs, to gather information and control the operations such as inventory control,and quality control Information has long been considered as a very important tool fordecision making especially in the business environments Forgionne (1991) pointedout that information was needed for various purposes For example, the global econ-omy relies on producing high technology goods and services within an informationsociety In such a society, enterprises transform human effort, materials and other eco-nomic resources into products and services that meet consumer demand Managers onthe other hand, utilise these resources to plan, organise, staff, administer and controlactivities in ways that best achieve the enterprises’ objectives In the information so-ciety environment, successful enterprises have to produce high technology goods andservices

Secondly, as the world economy continues to move toward increased integration as

a result of advances in ICT, and the increasing reduction in trade barriers, some ofthe greatest opportunities for businesses may derive from their ability to participate

in the regional and international markets Jean-Francois Richard cited in Fonin (2002)pointed out that new technologies in computing, communication and multimedia arechanging the way we work and learn They are changing the global flows of infor-mation, trade and investment and the competitive advantage of industries, services,countries and regions These changes are putting a premium on the use of these tech-nologies requiring all enterprises to invest in the technological development and learn-ing

Furthermore, Forgionne (1991) observed that information had attributes that were ful to a many people and organisations and enterprises Information could serve as

use-a criticuse-al tool in communicuse-ation use-and decision muse-aking for use-all levels of muse-anuse-agement.Moreover, since individuals and groups had different objectives within unique organ-isations’ settings, all attributes could not be of equal value to each user Instead, sepa-rate but related information systems are needed to deliver the desired attributes to thedifferent users Such information systems would include those that support decision-making, provide an effective interface between users and computer technology, andprovide information for the management of the day-to-day routine operations of theenterprise in support of the unique needs of professionals Dawes (1996), on the otherhand, in a study of the inter-organisation information sharing amongst governmentmanagers, observed that information is valuable for (a) better, more integrated plan-ning, (b) policy development and program implementation across agencies, (c) provid-ing more comprehensive and accurate data for decision making and problem solving,(d) enhancing productive use of scarce staff resources, and (e) providing better inter-agency and professional relationships

To evaluate the role of information technology in the production of the enterprises, ber, 1984) observed that the ability of an organisation to realize its goals depends on

Hu-how well the organisation acquires, interprets, synthesises, evaluates and understandsinformation, and how well its information channel supports organisational processes.Hiltz and Johnson (1989) pointed out that research on computer information and com-munication systems has found that greater use of these technologies is often associatedwith improved availability of information, productivity, quality of work, effectiveness,and efficiency in accomplishing tasks Moodley (2001) noted that the Internet pro-vides enterprises with an opportunity for reduced costs with respect to informationsearching Furthermore, the type of information that is available to firms is likely toinfluence the decision by buyers and sellers to engage in business-to-business (B2B)trading hubs.

According to Peters (2001) electronic readiness or e-readiness is defined differently indifferent contexts and for different purposes Therefore e-readiness can be divided intomacro e-readiness which looks at the economy level and micro e-readiness which is atthe enterprise level At the micro level, e-readiness can be defined as the degree towhich a community is prepared to participate in the Networked World It is measured

by assessing a community’s relative advancement in the areas that are most critical forICT adoption and the most important applications of ICTs such as electronic commerce(e-commerce) or electronic business (e-business) When considered together in the con-text of a strategic planning dialogue, an assessment based on these elements provides

a strong representation of a community’s readiness World Information Technologyand Services Alliance (WITSA) further claimed that an ‘e-ready’ country has extensiveusage of computers in schools, businesses, government, and homes; affordable reliableaccess in a competitive market; free trade; skilled labor forces and training in schools; aculture of creativity; government-to-business communication; transparency and stabil-ity in government and an evenly enforced legal system; secure networks and personalprivacy; and regulations allowing digital signatures and encryption

There are many tools for assessing e-readiness depending on the level of assessment

as macro level or micro level Macro e-readiness assessments with respect to tion access e-readiness assessments have generally investigated country-level statusacross several sectors in addition to largely adopting quantitative approaches that as-sign to countries’ numerical scores depending on how well they have performed onspecific components of e-readiness measures A weighted average is calculated based

informa-on the relative importance according to these compinforma-onents to determine the level ofe-readiness of countries In contrast, micro-level e-readiness assessment tools are ap-propriate to assess the e-readiness level in depth (either for individuals or businesses),and provide greater analysis (Rizk,2004; Dada 2006)

In Vietnam, there is a literature gap in e-readiness measurements, especially in cro level Actually, Ministry of Trade and Industry has implemented ICT index since

mi-2006 However, the Vietnam ICT index is a macro-level assessment with survey tionnaires on computer and information technology application in organizations na-tionwide However, the tool is criticized as using many criteria and not meeting theaspirations of a number of ministries and localities Currently, there is not any microassessment tool for e-readiness in Vietnam In the construction industry, Q D Tranand Drew, 2014 used a questionnaire to survey the perception of the firm leaders tocalculate the e-readiness of the firm This evaluation was criticized as the subjectivemeasurement

ques-Thai Nguyen is a province located in the north of Ha Noi capital, being the center of thehighland and mountainous region in the Northeast region of Vietnam Currently, ThaiNguyen province is considered as the economic center for the Northeast region withheavy industry, light industry, and services There are more than 350 enterprises doingbusiness in the province, among them there are 138 large and medium enterprises.Some of the firms participated in ICT index by the government, but the evaluation toolsfocus most on ICT and computer applications rather than e-commerce and e-business

In addition to that, the leaders of the firms still do not understand what factors affect

the e-readiness level and how to enhance their e-readiness level, therefore they do nothave a clear strategy to enhance their e-readiness level.

The researchers chose to conduct a research with title "E-Readiness Evaluation of Mediumand Large Enterprises in Thai Nguyen Province” with an overview of the assessmenttools for measuring e-readiness both in macro and micro level and propose an appro-priate tool to evaluate e-readiness of medium and large enterprises in Thai Nguyenprovince The results of the study can be used to help medium and large enterprises

in Thai Nguyen province as well as enterprises nationwide to propose a simple, easy

to use tool to measure readiness of enterprises as well as describing the current readiness of large and medium enterprises in Thai Nguyen province as well as to de-termine factors affecting the e-readiness of the enterprises

e-1.2 Objectives

The general objective of the research is to evaluate the level of e-readiness of mediumand large enterprises in Thai Nguyen province, to analyze the factors affecting e-readiness level of medium and large enterprises and propose solutions for those en-terprises to develop their strategy to enhance their e-readiness level

In specific, this research focused on the following objectives:

• To describe the profile of the participated enterprises in terms of size, industry,years in business, and ownership

• To describe the current e-readiness of medium and large enterprises in Thai Nguyenprovince,

• To examine the significant difference of readiness level of enterprises with ent profiles.

differ-• To examine the significant difference of Perceived Organization E-Readiness andPerceived Environmental E-Readiness of Enterprises with different profiles

• To determine the relationship between the e-readiness of enterprises and thePerceived Organizational E-Readiness as well as the relationship between thee-readiness of the enterprises and the Perceived Environment E-Readiness, and

• To determine the factors that are main affecting the e-readiness of medium andlarge enterprises in Thai Nguyen province

1.3 Hypotheses

The study first proposes that different business sizes have different e-readiness levels

In other words, a bigger business may have a higher level of e-readiness than smallerones or there is a positive relationship between company size and e-readiness level.Therefore, the following hypothesis was suggested:

H1: Different business size has different e-readiness level

Similarly, the study proposes that different industries have different e-readiness levels

In other words, businesses in the trade sector may have different levels of e-readinesscompared to businesses in the manufacturing sector Therefore, the following hypoth-esis was suggested:

H2: Businesses in different industries have different level of e-readiness

Firms in business longer may have a different level of e-readiness compared to theircounterparts Thus, the following hypothesis was suggested:

H3: Firms with different business ages have different levels of e-readiness

In a similar way, different types of ownership may have different policies and ments This may result in a different level of e-readiness Therefore, the followinghypothesis was proposed:

invest-H4: Firms with different types of ownership have different levels of e-readiness

The model also proposes that firms with different sizes may have different perceivede-readiness Therefore, the following hypothesizes were suggested:

H5: Firms with different sizes have different perceived organizational e-readiness H6: Firms with different sizes have different perceived external e-readiness

Similarly, firms in different industries may have different perceived e-readiness Thus,the following hypothesizes were proposed:

H7: Firms in different industries have different perceived organizational e-readiness H8: Firms in different industries have different perceived external e-readiness

Enterprises which are staying longer in business may have different perceived e-readiness

in comparison to their counterparts Then the following hypothesizes were suggested:

H9: Firms with different business ages have different perceived organizational readiness

e-H10: Firms with different business ages have different perceived external e-readiness

Firms with different types of ownership may have different perceived e-readiness.Therefore, the following hypothesizes were proposed:

H11: Firms with different types of ownership have different perceived tional e-readiness

organiza-H12: Firms with different types of ownership have different perceived external readiness

e-Finally, to study the relationship between the e-readiness and the perceived e-readiness

of enterprises, the following hypothesizes were proposed:

H13: Perceived organizational e-readiness has a positive relationship to e-readiness

The theory of reasoned action (TRA)

This theory was developed by Fishbein and Ajzen,1975to examine the relationship tween attitudes and behavior TRA looks at behavioral intentions rather than attitudes

be-as the main predictors of behavior According to this theory, attitudes toward ior (or more precisely, attitudes toward the expected outcome or result of a behavior)and subjective norms (the influence other people have on a person’s attitudes and be-havior) are the major predictors of behavioral intention TRA works most successfullywhen applied to behaviors that are under a person’s volitional control The healtheducation implications of this theory allow one to identify how and where to targetstrategies for changing behavior (e.g., prevention of sexually transmitted diseases andhealth fitness behaviors)

behav-This theory was criticized by Ajzen (1991) due to the model being unable to mise in a situation in which the individual is not under volitional control In addition,

compro-the predictive power of this model is also limited when applied to a situation in whichactual behavior and intention are highly correlated Based on these criticisms, Ajzen(1991) repaired the limitation of TRA by developing the Theory of Planned Behavior(TPB).

Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB)

In TPB, Ajzen,1991 added new constructs called perceived behavioral control (PBC).Hence, there are three factors that influence the intention to perform a certain behavior,which are attitude toward behavior, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral con-trol However, according to Rahayu and Day (2015), both TRA and TPB still assumethat there is a closeness between intention and behavior, so the predictive power ofthis model is still weak if it is applied in a situation in which intention and behaviorare highly correlated Moreover, it is also criticized this model for ignoring, or not in-cluding, several factors that can increase predictive power, such as personal norms andaffective evaluation of behavior

Theory of Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)

The TAM model developed by Davis (1989) provides a model that is pointedly tended to explain an individual behavior regarding computer use This model wasformulated based on the TRA framework In this theory, the actual behavior is highlydetermined by behavioral intention, and the behavioral intention is jointly determined

by ‘attitude toward’ and perceived usefulness Besides determining the behavioral tention, perceived usefulness together with ease of use also affect attitude (to) Thisextension of the model is not without its critics, El-Gohary, (2012) argues that it ignoresthe effect of several important factors that come from both within and outside of theorganization

in-Acceptance Model (TAM) states that a new technology is accepted if it is easy to useand is useful By usefulness, Davis, 1989 means the degree which improves the job

performance once one uses it in a new technology On the other hand, ease of use isdefined by Davis as little or none effort to learn or use the technology TPB, the theory

of planned behavior, is described through BI or behavioral intention The idea is that

a small business executive decision in pursuing a course of action, such as creating awebsite or adopting E-commerce, is a function of attitude (A), subjective norm (SN),and perceived behavioral control (PBC) This model has been proven to be very suc-cessful in adopting new technologies including the use of the information technology

The Innovation Diffusion Theory (IDT)Diffusion of innovations is a theory that seeks

to explain how, why, and at what rate new ideas and technology spread developed byRogers first in 1962 In this theory, Rogers, 2003 argued that diffusion is the process

by which an innovation is communicated over time among the participants in a socialsystem The origins of the diffusion of innovation theory are varied and span multipledisciplines

Rogers proposes that four main elements influence the spread of a new idea: the novation itself, communication channels, time, and a social system This process reliesheavily on human capital The innovation must be widely adopted in order to self-sustain Within the rate of adoption, there is a point at which an innovation reaches acritical mass

in-Social Cognitive Theory (SCT)

This theory was advanced by Albert Bandura Bandura (1989) as an extension of his cial learning theory The theory states that when people observe a model performing abehavior and the consequences of that behavior, they remember the sequence of eventsand use this information to guide subsequent behaviors Observing a model can alsoprompt the viewer to engage in behaviors they already learned

so-Social Cognitive Theory originated in psychology, but based on an unofficial ber 2013 Google Scholar search, only 2 percent of articles published on SCT are in the

Novem-pure psychology field About 20 percent of articles are from education and 16 percentfrom business The majority of publications using SCT, 56 percent, come from the field

of Applied Health Psychology The majority of current research in Health Psychologyfocuses on testing SCT in behavioral change campaigns as opposed to expanding onthe theory

Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT)

The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) is a technology ceptance model formulated by Venkatesh and others in "User acceptance of informa-tion technology: Toward a unified view" The UTAUT aims to explain user intentions

ac-to use an information system and subsequent usage behavior The theory holds thatthere are four key constructs: 1) performance expectancy, 2) effort expectancy, 3) socialinfluence, and 4) facilitating conditions

The first three are direct determinants of usage intention and behavior, and the fourth

is a direct determinant of user behavior Gender, age, experience, and voluntariness ofuse are posited to moderate the impact of the four key constructs on usage intentionand behavior The theory was developed through a review and consolidation of theconstructs of eight models that earlier research had employed to explain informationsystems usage behaviour (theory of reasoned action, technology acceptance model,motivational model, theory of planned behavior, a combined theory of planned be-havior/technology acceptance model, model of personal computer use, diffusion ofinnovations theory, and social cognitive theory)

From the theories above, Molla and Licker (2005a) suggested a research model fore-commerce readiness in developing countries based on perceived organisational e-readiness (POER) and perceived environmental e-readiness (PEER) Their research foundthat organisational factors had a greater influence on e-commerce adoption than envi-ronmental factors did They also recommended that, firms must carry out organisa-tional and managerial development along with infrastructure Figure 1.1 shows the

model by Molla et al, 2005a.

FIGURE1.1: Model of E-Commerce by Molla et all 2005a

The model of POER and PEER as shown in Figure1.1 is very useful for addressingthe research question as it combines both environmental and firm level factors As can

be seen from this model, a combination of organisational (POER) and tal (PEER) factors determine whether a technology is likely to be adopted and thenentrenched, thereby reaching higher levels of complexity and integration into an orga-nization’s working processes

environmen-1.5 Conceptual Framework

The e-readiness level in this research is measured by the modified VERDICT model inwhich all four categories people, process, technology, and management are used, butthe questionnaire focuses on the facts of the enterprises relating to ICT and e-business

to make the conceptual framework Furthermore, Awa and Emecheta (2015) made ofthe TAM, TPB and TOE frameworks into an integration of a model or e-commerceadoption in small and medium enterprises In this dissertation, the authors adopted

all above theoretical framework to determine factors affecting the e-readiness level ofthe enterprises, based on the model by Molla and Liker (2005a) as presented in Figure

The hypothesized model presented in Figure1.2expands the basic model by proposingthe profile of the enterprise affects the e-readiness level This argument is consistentwith research by Lai et al (2006), Ramdani et al (2013), and Seyal et al (2003) in whichthey found that perceived relative advantage, top management beliefs, technology re-sources, market force e-readiness, and supporting industries e-readiness significantlyinfluenced the decisions of e-business adoption and his findings was that industrytype and ownership of the company significantly influenced e-business adoption aswell as service industries, retail industries, manufacturing industry is more relying

on ERP systems In addition to that, this is also consistent to Ali and Alrayes (2014)research which claimed that perceived environmental e-readiness (PEER), technologycompetence and e-business use is positive, whereas size has a negative relationshipwith e-business use

1.6 The Operational Definitions

In this section, the variables of the conceptual framework, are defined First, the pendent variable E-readiness is defined, then the independent variables and the lastare antecedent variables

E-readiness (electronic readiness) at the macro level is a measure of the degree to which

a country, nation, or economy may be ready, willing, or prepared to obtain benefitswhich arise from information and communication technologies This is often used toevaluate how ready a country is to partake in electronic activities such as e-commerce

or e-government

In the micro level, e-readiness of a firm is defined here as the ability to successfullyadopt, use and benefit from information technology (IT), to implement e-commerce ore-business In this study, e-readiness of a firm level can be classified using a number

from 1 to 5.The level of e-readiness in each dimension as well as overall e-readinesslevel were calculated by the weighted mean of the indicators They are interpretedand explained detailed according to Pornchai and Bundid,2011below.

• Level 1 (1.00 - 1.49): e-readiness level was difficult to predict Organizations

could not utilize ICT to meet their ICT and e-commerce plan, vision, mission,and policies At this level, the organization was not concerned in any areas ofICT and e-commerce development

• Level 2 (1.50 - 2.49): e-readiness level was predictable Organization could utilize

ICT to meet their master ICT and e-commerce plan, vision, missions and policy

At this level, the organization was concerned about the utilization of ICT ande-commerce development

• Level 3 (2.50 – 3.49): e-readiness level was more predictable The organization

maintained ICT management to align with ICT and e-commerce plan, vision,missions and policy At this level, organization was concerned about the main-taining of ICT utilization and ICT e-commerce penetration rates for the stability

of organization performance

• Level 4 (3.50 – 4.49): e-readiness was more predictable ICT management and ICT

utilization were in state of continuous improvement At this level, organizationwas concerned about monitoring and maintaining the current status of ICT ande-commerce utilization and penetration rates to continue the improvement of ICTand e-commerce in organization

• Level 5 (4.50 – 5.00): e-readiness was most predictable Organization

manage-ment systems for ICT were aligned with ICT and e-commerce plan, vision, sion and policies At this level, organization was concerned in improving ICTutilization and penetration rates to optimize ICT and e-commerce plan strategiesand to achieve sustainable development of ICT and e-commerce in organization

mis-Government E-readiness

This term refers to policies by the government, laws and regulations that support commerce, e-business or any electronic exchange like online communication, onlinetax, or e-payment

e-E-readiness Evaluation

E-readiness evaluation or measurement refers to the procedure to determine the rent situation of an organization by planning for the future and advocating specificchanges

cur-Technology

According to NSW (2001), technology constitutes an important factor influencing readiness success Technology comprise IS structure, hardware, and service quality.Information systems structure covers information quality (DeLone and McLean, 1992;Bailey and Pearson, 1983; Ahituv, 1980), system quality (DeLone and McLean,1992;Bailey and Pearson, 1983; Bhimani, 1996), web presence quality (UNDESA, 2005;West,

e-2000, 2006; WASEDA University, 2006; Accenture, 2002, 2005; Turban et al., 2002; Liuand Arnett, 2000; DeConti, 1998; Eschenfelder et al., 1997; Burgess and Cooper, 1999;Smith, 2001; Boon et al., 2000; Farquhar et al., 1998; Fogg, 2002; Fogg, et al., 2002;Hamilton and Chervany, 1981; Ho and Wu, 1999; Kossak et al., 2001;Swanson, 1986;Wan, 2000), and security measures (NSW, 2001; Ben Abd Allah et al.,2002; Conklinand White, 2006; Boudriga, 2002) Technological dimensions should also consider thequality of the hardware (Victoria, 2002), and the technical support and developmentprovided by the IT department to the entire organization referred as service quality(CSPP, 2000; Woodroof and Burg, 2003; Pitt et al., 1995; Li, 1997; Wilkin and Hewett,1999; Wilkin and Castleman, 2003)

The technology factor covers all aspects related to IT (Information Technology) andcommunications technologies, which include both hardware and software usage and

its availability within a company, department or work group Also important are theaspects related to the performance of the technology—thus, even if the technologyinfrastructure is adequate and available, it is of no consequence, if it cannot efficientlyperform the required functions.

Technology includes IT infrastructure, IT policy, flexibility and IT support dents were asked to rate their system in terms of Internet speed, number of computerconnected to the Internet, and well-defined IT policies These measures were anchored

Respon-to a 5-point Likert-scale, with 1 for very low Respon-to 5 For business applications, dents rated their application on the following: (1) No Business application, (2) OnlyAccounting software, (3) Only Personnel management software, (4) Both of the twosoft wares, (5) Enterprise Resource Planning For each type of network, respondentswere asked to rate their network type from 1 for no network to 5 for the extranet used

respon-The way of advertising was described on a 5 scale with 1 for no online advertising and

5 for the using of many advertising ways The way of finding market information wasdescribed using the similar method with 1 for no online finding and 5 for a combination

of many online tools

E-commerce

E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the buying and selling of goods and services, orthe transmitting of funds or data over an electronic network, primarily the Internet.These business transactions occur either business-to-business, business-to-consumer,consumer-to-consumer, or consumer-to-business E-commerce can be referred to asthe way organizations find business information, the way they order materials or theway they sell product services

E-Business

E-business (electronic business) is the conduct of business processes on the Internet

These electronic business processes include buying and selling products, supplies, andservices; servicing customers; processing payments; managing production control; col-laborating with business partners; sharing information; running automated employeeservices; recruiting; and more.

E-payment

E payment is a subset of an e-commerce transaction to include electronic payment forbuying and selling goods or services offered through the Internet E payment can bedefined as an e-commerce payment system that facilitates the acceptance of electronicpayment for online transactions E payment is also known as a sample of ElectronicData Interchange (EDI)

Credit cards and debit cards are a popular method of online payment Besides based payments, alternative payment methods have emerged and sometimes evenclaimed market leadership Wallets like PayPal and Alipay are playing major roles

card-in the ecosystem Bitcocard-in payment processors are a cheaper alternative for acceptcard-ingpayments online

E-marketing

E-Marketing (Electronic Marketing) are also known as Internet Marketing, Web keting, Digital Marketing, or Online Marketing E-marketing is the process of mar-keting a product or service using the Internet It includes not only marketing on theInternet, but also marketing done via e-mail and wireless media It uses a range oftechnologies to help connect businesses to their customers

Mar-E-marketing can be referred to as Internet advertisement According to Vietnam ICTindex, the level of the Internet advertisement can be evaluated in five levels from 1 to

5 as following:

• No online advertising

• Website of the organization

• website, Face book and other social network

• E-mail marketing

• Google adword

Intranet

An intranet is a private network that is contained within an enterprise It may consist

of many interlinked local area networks and use leased lines in the wide area network.Typically, an intranet includes connections through one or more gateway computers tothe outside Internet The main purpose of an intranet is to share company informationand computing resources among employees An intranet can also be used to facilitateworking in groups and for teleconferences

Extranet

An extranet is a private network that uses Internet technology and the public munication system to securely share part of a business’s information or operationswith suppliers, vendors, partners, customers, or other businesses An extranet can beviewed as part of a company’s intranet that is extended to users outside the company

telecom-It has also been described as a "state of mind" in which the Internet is perceived as away to do business with other companies as well as to sell products to customers

Process

Process means a practice, a series of actions done for a specific purpose (S.Craig andVaradharajan,2010), It also includes the working rules, ethics, procedures, within andbetween organisations It is important to consider the process factor as the adoption ofnew technology will directly affect an organisation’s processes and vice versa There-fore, companies will need to ensure that the new technology either complements theirexisting processes or that the existing processes are flexible enough to accommodatethe technology To maximise the benefits from technology adoption (e.g increased

transparency, reduced response time, and improved integration of activities across thesupply chain), organisations need to examine and map their existing processes.

Processes to be undertaken by an e-readiness initiative are classified into two maincategories: Business Process and Change Management Several studies highlight thevalue of BPC in e-government success (Scholl, 2003; Kettinger et al., 1997; Pardo andScholl, 2002; Heeks, 2001; Seybold, 1998) First, the motives for change should be deter-mined (Scholl, 2005), and the focal areas where these changes should occur (Harkness

et al., 1996; Kettinger and Grover, 1995; Balutis,2001) Business processes should also

be defined, documented, and streamlined (Rimmer, 2002; Guo and Lu, 2005; Baum andMaio, 2000) to improve information flow within the organisation

Business processes should also be integrated internally, and with other public agencies

as well (Accenture, 2005; Ho, 2002; Moon, 2002; Tapscott, 1995; Chen and Knepper,2005; Rimmer, 2002; Layne and Lee, 2001) Furthermore, the framework considersthe evaluation of e-readiness performance as a systematic approach to be performedperiodically Evaluation should always compare plans with real situations (Heeks,2003); this aids in rectifying deviations from the plans at an early stage ICT usage bythe employees in the organization (CSPP, 2000; Liu, 2001; De Lone and Mc Lean, 1992;Marchionini et al., 2003; Schedler and Scharf, 2001)

It is also essential to conduct periodic evaluations to understand how citizens perceivee-readiness from different perspectives such as usefulness and ease of use (Davis, 1985,1989), satisfaction (De Lone and Mc Lean, 1992; Livari and Ervasi,1994; Cyert andMarch, 1963; Downing, 1999; Bailey and Pearson, 1983; Igbaria and Nachman, 1990),and trust (Adams, 1999; Edmiston, 2003; Chen and Knepper, 2005;Gefen et al., 2002;Tassabehji, 2005) Periodic evaluations should also be extended to investigate employ-ees perceived usefulness and ease of use (Davis, 1985, 1989), and satisfaction (DeLoneand McLean, 1992; Bailey and Pearson, 1983; Davis, 1985, 1989; Igbaria and Nachman,1990; Rai et al., 2002; Seddon, 1997; Seddon and Kiew, 1996;Seddon et al., 1999; Wilkin

and Castleman, 2003) Finally, evaluations should be performed to assess the opment of the impact of e-readiness on all stakeholders (De Lone and Mc Lean, 1992;Seddon, 1997).

devel-The process includes business process and change management devel-These were measured

by asking respondents to rate their system in terms of their level of business processanalysis, their organization adapted to face new challenges, their encouragement offlexibility at work, their identification, the bottleneck in business process, and theirflexibility of business process to accommodate with e-commerce A 5-point Likert-scale, with 1 for very low and 5 for very high was used

People

The people factor accounts for the social and cultural aspects related to the peoplewithin an organization It takes into account the attitudes, outlook, and feelings of staffwithin an organization towards the change brought about by technology adoption.People make organizations and are important to its success No matter how carefullythe management has geared the business to successfully adopt new technology, it isless likely to succeed to its full potential, if people are not ready The people, who arethe ultimate users of the technology need to have the correct skills and competencies,functional expertise, the right attitudes, a positive mindset; and the culture to adaptand adopt

People are one of the main factors in the success of e-readiness (NSW, 2001) Severalconstructs exist in this dimension such as user satisfaction (DeLone and McLean, 1992;Bailey and Pearson, 1983; Davis, 1985, 1989; Igbaria and Nachman, 1990; Rai et al.,2002;Seddon, 1997; Seddon and Kiew, 1996; Seddon et al., 1999; Wilkin and Castleman,2003), assessing satisfaction of e-government on the part of employees using IT Also,it

is vital to detect the impact of e-government on them (DeLone and McLean, 1992; don, 1997) Furthermore, employee skills should be taken into account such as adapta-tion to change (Bertelsmann Foundation, 2002), proficiency in using IT (ICMA, 2002),

Sed-and ability to communicate with other employees within Sed-and outside the organisation(Powell and Dent-Micallef, 1999) Finally, there should be a special focus on the train-ing to be provided to the employees to develop their various skills (Baum and Maio,2000).

People includes awareness and human resources These were measured by askingrespondents to rate their system in terms of level of employee skills, employee ICTliteracy, and staff experience in web-based applications A 5-point Likert-scale, with 1for very low and 5 for very high was used

Management

K Ruikar,2006claimed that management is an important factor that leads and governsthe adoption, implementation, and use of technology within organizations throughthe careful orchestration of business Management is an important factor that leadsand governs the adoption, implementation and use of technology within organizationsthrough the careful orchestration of business

Management includes manager’s vision, governance, and manager’s commitment toe-commerce These were measured by asking respondents to rate their organizationusing a 5-point Likert-scale, with 1 for very low and 5 for very high

Perceived Organizational E-Readiness (POER)

POER refers to an organization’s capability in terms of e-business awareness and mitment and resources for successful e-business implementation (Molla,2005b) Aware-ness refers to an organization’s perception and comprehension of the benefits and risks

com-of e-commerce E-commerce is ideally suited for trading in digitised goods and vices Agribusinesses mostly deal with physical products and their knowledge of how

ser-to apply ICTs ser-to trade with less effort influences their e-readiness (Mueller, 2001, cited

in Mose, Njihia, and Magutu,2013)

The measure of top management beliefs was adapted from Chatterjee et al., 2002 (cited

in Ghobakhloo and Benitez-Amado, 2011) Respondents were asked to indicate thedegree to which they agreed that e-business had potential in various aspects, such asalleviating information asymmetry and enhancing information sharing (MacKay et al.,

2004 cited in Awa and Emecheta, 2015) These measures were anchored to a 5-pointLikert-scale, with 1 for strong disagree and 5 for strong agree

Awareness: The term awareness refers to the perception of the leaders of the enterpriseability to feel, or to be cognizant of the benefits of e-commerce, e-business, or ICTapplication in enterprises

Perceived Environmental E-Readiness (PEER)

PEER refers to a firm’s assessment of the readiness of its customers, competitors, pliers, and regulatory and technological support (Molla and Licker, 2005a) The rela-tionship between PEER and e-business use can be both direct and indirect The mea-sures of market force e-readiness and supporting industry e-readiness were adaptedfrom previous studies (Molla and Licker, 2005a; Molla, 2005b; Teo, 2004; Zhu et al.,2003; Armstrong and Sambamurthy,1999)

sup-For market force e-readiness, respondents were asked to indicate the degree to whichthey agreed with the industry’s interest in e-commerce For supporting industry e-readiness, respondents were asked to indicate the degree to which they agreed withthe maturity of the virtual market, the existence of a computer network infrastructure,and the existence of professional service providers These measures were anchored to

a 5-point Likert scale, with 1 for strong disagree and 5 for strong agree

Government e-readiness: This term refers to policies by the government, laws andregulations that support e-commerce, e-business or any electronic exchange like online

communication, online tax, or e-payment.

Ownership

In this research, ownership was categorized into three types: state-owned, foreign rect investment (FDI), domestic private firms, and collective owners.Foreign direct in-vestment enterprise refers to building a new facility, a lasting management interest in

di-an enterprise operating in di-an economy other thdi-an that of the investor A state-ownedenterprise is either wholly or partially owned and operated by a government A pri-vate enterprise is a business that is managed by independent companies or privateindividuals A collective enterprise is a business owned by more than one member.This type includes limited companies and joint stock companies

Firm age: Firm age (or years in business) refers to the number of years the firm isdoing business This is continuous number In this research, firm age is categorized asfollowing:

• less than 2 years

• Mining,

• Construction,

govern-According to the Vietnam government in the Decree 56/2009, enterprises have to isfy one of two criteria to be classified as small and medium enterprises Medium en-terprise in agriculture has more than 200 to 300 labor and registered capital from morethan 20 billion to 100 billion VND Medium enterprise in manufacturing constructionhas more than 50 to 100 labor and registered capital from more than 10 to 50 billionVND Enterprises which have more capital or more labor than medium enterprisesbelong to large enterprises.

sat-1.7 Significance of the Study

This study, on the one hand, is among the first to contribute to the literature, not only

in its tool for e-readiness assessment of enterprises but also discussion of factors fluencing the level of e-readiness of enterprises Firstly, the surveyed firms can getbenefit from the study as they are aware about their e-readiness level as well as whatfactors contributed to their e-readiness level As a result, the leaders of these firms canchoose the appropriate strategy to enhance their e-readiness level Secondly, all enter-prises can get benefit from the study as the policy makers of the firms have a tool to

in-evaluate their e-readiness status as well as a decision tool to enhance their e-readinessstatus to meet the requirement of competitive market Furthermore, the governmentcan get benefit from the study because the government can use the tool to assess thee-readiness of enterprises in Vietnam by making this tool available in the web form sothat every firm can easily access to this tool.

On the other hand, this study extended the literature by providing the first ric evidence dealing with the linkage between a firm’s factors and their success story.The output of this study thus provided the empirical evidence for re-evaluating thesuitability and significance measurement tool for assessing e-readiness in theory and

economet-in practice Government policy makers, they can use this output to make policies thatsupport the enhancement of the e-readiness of the enterprises

1.8 Scope and Delimitation

This study concentrates on the e-readiness in terms of the readiness for implementingcomputer applications as well as the readiness for adopting implementing e-commerceand e-business at medium and large enterprises in Thai Nguyen province The authorintended not to conduct the survey of bank industry in Thai Nguyen province becausethe bank industry has already been included in Vietnam ICT index due to its charac-teristics in e-readiness In addition to that, enterprises in ICT was not included in thesurvey because those enterprises have special characteristics in terms of ICT compared

to non-ICT enterprises

The research instrument was used in this research was the questionnaire with scale to examine the current status of the four dimensions of e-readiness and the overalle-readiness level Perceptions of the managers of the firms on e-readiness were alsodetermined using the questionnaire

5-Likert-The descriptive statistics was used to calculate the characteristics of the enterprises

participated in the survey as well as the e-readiness values Inference statistics wasused to examine the relationship between the e-readiness and the characteristics of theparticipated enterprises and to test the hypothesizes Linear regression was used todetermine factors affecting the e-readiness of medium and large enterprises in ThaiNguyen province.

Data were collected from June 2017 to June 2018 at 102 medium and large enterprisesrandomly chosen from the list of enterprises in Thai Nguyen province To make surethe respondents answer the questionnaire with full understanding, the author explainedtechnical terms to them before asking the questions to make sure they totally under-stand the issues

1.9 Organization of the Dissertation

This thesis consists of five chapters The first chapter (Introduction), providing the text for the thesis, highlights the research gap, presents the research question, identifiesthe thesis aim and objectives Chapter two (Literature Review) discusses the mean-ing of e-readiness and investigates different macro e-readiness and micro e-readiness.This chapter also provides an overview of e-readiness assessment models The chap-ter revised factors affecting e-commerce adaptation, which was considered as factorsaffecting e-readiness in the context of the research

con-Chapter three discussed the research design, sample size and sampling techniques andthe research instrument used in the dissertation Data collection and data processingtechniques were also discussed in this chapter

Chapter four presented the results of data processing In this chapter the core research

of this thesis was discussed and focused on e-readiness at medium and large prises in Thai Nguyen province as well as findings of factors affecting e-readiness level

enter-of at these medium and large enterprises Chapter five summarized the research sults and proposes recommendations for enterprises as well as government to improvee-readiness of enterprises.

re-Chapter 2 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

2.1 Literature Review

E-readiness assessments have generally investigated country-level status across eral sectors in addition to largely adopting quantitative approaches that assign to coun-tries’ numerical scores depending on how well they have performed on specific com-ponents of e-readiness measures A weighted average is calculated based on the rel-ative importance according to these components to determine the level of e-readiness

sev-of countries To a limited extent, there are a few studies which have used qualitativeapproaches to assess the e-readiness scores of countries on connectivity, human capitalapplications, sophistication of use and geographical dispersion (Rizk,2004)

In the world, the results of e-readiness rankings of countries have regularly been lished annually by some agencies For example, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EconomistIntelligence Unit, 2001) publishes an annually a comprehensive ranking of countries onthe basis of their measured e-readiness The ranking categorizes countries on the basis

pub-of their overall e-readiness as calculated from 89 indicators across six weighted sions, namely; connectivity, business environment, consumer and business adoption,legal and regulatory environment, supporting services, and social and cultural infras-tructure The consequence of the calculations is the classification of the world’s largesteconomies on the basis of their perceived adopter category For example, ‘leaders orinnovators’ are countries with most of the elements of e-readiness in place On the