The Impact of Access to Electricity on E-Commerce Adoption in Ghanaian SMEs, an Empirical Analysis

摘要

This paper explores the impact of selected factors that affect the adoption of E-commerce among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana, with emphasis on access to electricity. The data included figures for the country’s population growth (PG), secondary education (SEC), individuals using the internet (IUI), broadband subscriptions both fixed and mobile (BBS), access to electricity (AE) and secure internet servers (SIS). The data was from the year 2007 up to 2017. The main objective is to identify the various factors that impact e-commerce adoption in Ghana. This study uses regression to conduct an empirical analysis on the impact these factors have on e-commerce in Ghana. The study found that access to electricity had a strong positive relationship with e-commerce adoption in the country. This can explain why e-commerce has not been broadly adopted and used in Ghana since the country has been experiencing a huge power crisis for the past decade. Broadband subscription and secure internet server s also impacted e-commerce adoption at various percentages but access to electricity was statistically significant. Based on the findings, the author suggests that the government, policymakers and other stakeholders make great efforts to solve the power crises in the country as doing such will give businesses an incentive to conduct business online.