E-Marketing Adoption among Small Businesses in the Hospitality Industry in Kenya: The Institution Theory Perspective

Abstract: Small sized businesses play an important role in the growth of economies all over the world, yet they appear to be slow in adopting E-marketing technology to market their products and services which may lead to business failure. This study sought to investigate   the interrelationship between Coercive, Mimetic and Normative pressures and e-marketing adoption intention. A cross sectional survey design was employed on a target population of 150 small businesses in the hospitality industry in Kisumu County-Kenya. Stratified random sampling method was used to generate the sample of 115 small businesses. Primary and secondary data were collected using questionnaire and already existing literature respectively. Instrument reliability assessment was confirmed using Cronbach’s alpha.The data was analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using WarpPLS v.5 software. The results for Mimetic pressure indicate a positive relationship with e-marketing adoption intention (β=0.176, p=0.019). Normative pressure had a positive relationship with e-marketing adoption intention (β= 0.354, p<0.001). However there was no inter-relationship between coercive pressures and intention to adopt e-marketing (β= 0.106, p= 0.133). Policy makers may find these results useful for future policy formulations regarding adoption of e-marketing among small businesses.

Keywords: Institution theory, Mimetic pressures, Coercive pressures, Normative pressures, Small businesses, E-marketing adoption