Technology adoption in developing countries: the impact of the sharing economy

This study examines the adoption of the sharing economy platform Gojek in Indonesia and its impact on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in moving from an offline to an online business model. The study examines the adoption of the sharing economy platform (Gojek), the reasons that SMEs continue to use the platform as well as the existing regulatory environment for the sharing economy. The study had three phases. The first phase collected data using semi-structured interviews with 29 SMEs to gain an in-depth understanding of the critical success factors and barriers in adopting Gojek. Results show that the critical success factors for adopting the platform were performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, enjoyment, and economic benefits. However, some of these critical success factors, such as facilitating conditions and platform quality, were also barriers. Other barriers included privacy risks and security risks. The second phase of the study examined empirically the factors influencing the extent of use of the sharing economy platform and its subsequent impact on performance by surveying 346 SMEs. The results show that facilitating conditions, privacy risks, security risks, and platform quality are positively associated with extent of use of the sharing economy platform. A key finding was that the extent of use of the platform is positively associated with job and business performance. The third phase of the study analyzed the sharing economy policy and regulatory environment in Indonesia using government websites and semi-structured interviews with government department representatives. Findings show that the existing policies and regulations are inadequate for managing the complexities of the sharing economy, including mitigating its negative impact on society. Vll This study contributes to the literature by extending Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) theories by incorporating sharing economy factors. This helps us to help us better understand the benefits and limitations of adoption of the sharing economy, in order to better gauge the impact for SMEs in moving from an offline to an online business model. A conceptual framework was developed to identify the social, technological, and political factors that governments should consider when developing policies and regulations for the sharing economy.