The influence of information ecology on e-commerce initiatives

This paper explores the influence of an organization's information ecology, or internal information environment, on a firm's electronic commerce initi atives and plans. To investigate this problem area, results are reported fr om a recent case study investigation on the adoption and use of a specific e-commerce initiative - namely a corporate portal by 20 participants at a l arge Canadian company. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews and field observations, while analysis comprised a variant form of grounded theory. Factors of the information ecology influencing portal utilization are identified. From these, implications are drawn to e-commerce solutions in general. Specific recommendations include the need to create a democrati c steering committee to oversee the development of e-commerce solutions, ga in support of upper management, and market and train organizational workers on the functionality and strategic importance of a company's e-commerce in itiatives and plans.