Business School, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Faculty of Tarbiyah and Teacher Training, Ar-Raniry State Islamic University, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1014-3841
Graduate School, Mandakh University, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
Business School, National University of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia.
This study aims to examine the macro and micro factors that influence the adoption of B2B e-commerce among small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Mongolia. The purpose of the study is to identify the extent to which national readiness, industry readiness, organizational readiness, and market readiness affect different levels of e-commerce adoption. A survey was conducted with 102 SMEs from diverse sectors, and the data were analyzed using SPSS 28 for descriptive and preliminary statistics, while Smart PLS-4 was employed to perform structural equation modeling. The results demonstrate that organizational readiness consistently emerges as the most significant determinant across all adoption levels, highlighting the critical role of leadership, infrastructure, and employee skills. Market readiness was found to strongly influence early adoption, suggesting that customer and supplier expectations act as powerful drivers for SMEs to adopt e-commerce solutions. Conversely, industry readiness exhibited a negative effect at the initial stages and became irrelevant at higher levels of adoption. National readiness showed no significant impact at any level, indicating that macro-level improvements in infrastructure and policies alone do not automatically translate into higher e-commerce adoption among SMEs. These findings contribute to the theoretical advancement of the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework by emphasizing firm-level and market-driven factors as stronger predictors of adoption than national or industry-level conditions. Practically, the results suggest that policymakers should prioritize programs that strengthen SMEs’ internal digital capacities and market responsiveness rather than relying solely on national-level interventions. For business owners, the study underscores the importance of investing in digital infrastructure, human capital, and organizational culture to successfully integrate e-commerce practices. The findings not only provide valuable insights for Mongolia but also offer implications for other developing economies where SMEs face similar structural challenges in digital transformation.

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