E-BUSINESS ENABLERS AND BARRIERS: EMPIRICAL STUDY OF SMES IN JORDANIAN COMMUNICATION SECTOR

The current study aims at investigating the relationship between e-business growth and e-business enablers and barriers by SMEs in Jordanian communication sector. More specifically, the study attempts to identify factors associated with SMEs’ adoption of e-business, including barriers and enablers impacting on this adoption. The quantitative approach is employed since it describes and measures the studied phenomenon. Questionnaire is sent to all companies in the sample that was obtained from Jordanian Ministry of Communication. 306 questionnaires were returned with response rate is 86 percent. Correlation analysis is used to identify the strength and direction of relationship between the stages of e-business growth and e-business enablers and barriers. The result reveals that there is a highly significant positive relationship between stages of e-business growth (email exchange, information exchange, and Web presence) and certain enablers and barriers; however our strength of association was highly to moderate.