Contextual antecedents of e-commerce adoption for supply chain management by retail and consumer goods traders in Zambia.

E-commerce, as a transformative technological innovation, offers unparalleled opportunities for enhancing supply chain management efficiency and effectiveness. This study was conducted to investigate the factors influencing the behavioural intention of retail and consumer goods traders to adopt e-commerce for supply chain management in Zambia. The research employs a quantitative design with the data being collected through the administration of questionnaires to a randomly selected sample size of 329 registered retail and consumer goods traders in Zambia. The sample size was determined using the Yamane formula and the data collected was analysed using statistical methods based on correlation and multiple regression analysis in Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). The findings indicate that the core constructs of the conceptual model that is based on an adapted Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology Model (UTAUT) and Theory of Perceived Risk (TPR) model significantly influences the behavioural intention of retail and consumer goods traders in adopting e-commerce for supply chain management. Performance Expectancy (β = 0.261, p < 0.05), Effort Expectancy (β = -0.088, p < 0.05), Social Influence (β = -1.057, p < 0.05), Perceived Risk (β = -0.083, p < 0.05) and Facilitating Conditions (β = 0.201, p < 0.05) have a significant effect on the Behavioural Intention of retail and consumer goods traders to adopt e commerce for supply-chain management. The Pearson’s product moment correlation (r) indicates that all five antecedents are negatively correlated with the dependent variable. The R values for the antecedents, which are performance expectancy, effort expectancy and social influence, are -0.488, -0.662, and -0.892 respectively suggesting a strong relationship between the variables. Correlation values for perceived risk are -0.35 suggesting a medium strength and those for facilitating conditions are -0.242 suggesting a weak relationship. The limitation of this study lies in its geographical context as the survey was only targeted at retail and consumer goods traders operating in the catchment area of Lusaka, Zambia. The study also established an unexpected negative regression coefficient between social influence and behavioural intention to adopt e-commerce for supply chain management.