E-Procurement Diffusion in the Supply Chain of Foodservice Operators: An Exploratory Study in Greece

Abstract

Despite e-procurement’s benefits, most firms are slow in adopting it. As prior studies on e-procurement have primarily focused on investigating its benefits or adoption mainly in manufacturing, research examining the factors influencing the adoption and diffusion of e-procurement by foodservice operators is minimal. This study fills in this gap by reviewing the literature that identifies potential e-procurement adoption factors and then by testing the latter’s impact by gathering data from Greek foodservice operators. Findings showed that e-procurement is adopted by few firms, while e-procurement is diffused only in intrafirm (operational) and not interfirm (more strategic) supply chain processes. Lack of e-procurement knowledge, skills, trust, and risk perceptions were found to be the major inhibitors of e-procurement adoption. Implications for foodservice operators, Internet model developers, and e-commerce policy makers are given.