Already in 2006 a study was conducted on attitudes towards electronic invoicing by managers in SME’s. In this study several existing models have been presented from which a new model specifically usable for e-invoicing has been derived and tested.
This study was carried out as there was no set framework made available for studying and determining the attitudes towards adoption of electronic invoicing.
Existing models on e-invoicing
The study presents several existing models on IT adoption that could supply elements for an adoption model on e-invoicing:
- the Technology Acceptance Model
- the Theory of Reasoned Action
- the Theory of Planned Behaviour
- the Technology-Organisation-Environment Framework
- the Theory of Innovation Diffusion
Technology Acceptance Model
The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was introduced in 1989 as a tool to predict acceptance of information technology. It has since then been widely used and validated.
The model states that adoption of information technology is dependent on the perceived ease of use and the perceived usefulness of the technology by the user. Recent research has extended the model to include factors such as perceived system quality, performance and prior use. Social norms and prior performance showed to have an influence on technology adoption. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) graphically looks like this:
The draw back of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is that is has mainly been developed and used to predict adoption of new technology by individuals, not so much by organisations. Another draw back is that adoption more recent information technology innovations like the Internet and Web2.0 can only be partially explained using the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM).
The Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of Planned Behaviour
The Theory of Reasoned Action and the Theory of Planned Behaviour are well-known theories of intention and have been used with success in many different settings. Both theories suggest that behaviour can be predicted according to the intentions of the person in question. The intentions are in turn influenced by the person’s attitude (favourable or unfavourable evaluation) and subjective norm (perceived social pressure to perform) towards the behaviour.
The Theory of Reasoned Action using an individual’s attitude and his/her subjective norm towards the behaviour to predict intentions. It has for example been used to examine user acceptance of computer technology. the Theory of Planned Behaviour ads something called ‘perceived behavioural control’ (PBC). ‘Perceived behavioural control’ involves the influence of past experiences as well as anticipated barriers and has proven to be useful in predicting managerial behaviour in regards to adoption of new information technology.
The drawback of both these theories, just like the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), is that is has mainly been developed and used to predict adoption of new technology by individuals, not so much by organisations. So in order to use these models on e-invoicing, they need to be complemented by elements from another theory.
The Technology-Organisation-Environment Framework
The Technology-Organisation-Environment Framework focuses on organisations. It identifies three aspects of an organisation’s context that influences the adoption and implementation of an innovation: technological, organizational and environmental context.
The technological context involves the internal and external technologies that are relevant to the firm. The organizational context involves the size of the firm, centralization,formalization and complexity of managerial structure, the quality of its human resources and the availability of internal slack resources. The environmental context entails the environment in which the firm is doing business i.e. industry, competitors, resources, and government.
The Theory of Innovation Diffusion
The Theory of Innovation Diffusion is becoming increasingly popular for studying the use and adoption of information technologies. It provides tools to assess adoption and identifies factors hat facilitate or inhibit technology adoption and implementation. For instance the factors facilitating or hindering adoption of technology that can be identified by diffusion innovation theory include characteristics of the technology, characteristics of adopters, how adopters hear about the technology and how they are persuaded to adopt.
The result: a combined theory on the adoption of e-invoicing
So what happens if you put the best this theories together for the purpose of e-invoicing adoption? You get something like this:
And after having conducted a statistical regression analysis this is what you get:
Concluding remarks
What can be said about adoption of e-invoicing? First of all just look at pages 62 to 66 of the study posted above to learn the results and conclusion of this interesting study.
Apart from that, this study shows that in order to enhance the adoption of e-invoicing across SME’s their tend to be several factors that have an impact on the perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use on e-invoicing. Mind you, this impact can be a positive one but also a negative one.
For instance to much an emphasis on ‘banks’ on the one hand and ‘providers’ on the other hand could have a negative impact on the ‘environmental factor’ score. Therefore having a direct impact on the intention to use/adopt e-invoicing.
Whereas statements that providers are making e-invoicing too complex ‘only’ has an impact on the technical factor. Which negative effect is being flattened through perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and lastly: the intention to use/adopt e-invoicing.
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