Adoption of electronic commerce as a resilience strategy for women's entrepreneurship in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

Purpose

The present article aims to determine the factors that explain the intention to adopt electronic commerce among women traders in a developing country like Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) during a health crisis period.

Design/methodology/approach

This study was conducted in the DRC, in Bukavu Town. A convenience sample of 282 respondents consisting of solely women entrepreneurs (importing traders) in Bukavu Town was selected and the structural equation model was used to test the research hypotheses resulted from Ajzen's theory of planned behaviour.

Findings

The finding results showed that only the factors attitude towards electronic commerce adoption and subjective norms which predict women traders' intention to adopt electronic commerce. The analysis shows that about 38.9% of the variation in the dependent variable is explained by the above variables.

Originality/value

Few studies have presented technology and electronic commerce adoption as resilience of women entrepreneurs in a time of crisis, despite the abundance of the review literature on adoption. This study provides a new approach to assist women entrepreneurs as well as researchers in understanding the drivers of electronic commerce adoption factors in the DRC.

Citation

Kaningini, E.W., Malinga, C.M., Furaha, G.M., Alulea, J.P. and Castiaux, A. (2023), "Adoption of electronic commerce as a resilience strategy for women's entrepreneurship in the Democratic Republic of Congo", African Journal of Economic and Management Studies, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 313-331. https://doi.org/10.1108/AJEMS-07-2022-0307