Shaping Up for E-Commerce: Institutional Enablers of the Organizational Assimilation of Web Technologies

The global reach of the Web technological platform, along with the range of services that it supports, makes it a powerful business resource. However, realization of operational and strategic benefits is contingent on effective assimilation of this type III IS innovation. This paper draws upon institutional theory and the conceptual lens of structuring and metastructuring actions to explain the importance of three factors—top management championship, strategic investment rationale, and extent of coordination—in achieving higher levels of Web assimilation within an organization. Survey data are utilized to test a nomological network of relationships among these factors and the extent of organizational assimilation of Web technologies.