UNIVERSITY OF GHANA 

COLLEGE OF HUMANITIES 

 

THE IMPACT OF STRATEGIC BEHAVIOUR OF SMES ON E-COMMERCE 

ADOPTION AND CUSTOMER RESPONSIVENESS 

 

BY 

FLORENCE NEWMAN 

(10803650) 

 

THIS THESIS IS SUBMITTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF GHANA, LEGON IN 

PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENT FOR THE AWARD OF MPHIL IN 

OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT DEGREE.  

JULY, 2022 

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DECLARATION 

I do hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my own work and has not been presented by 

anyone for any academic award in this or any University. All references used in the work have 

been duly and fully acknowledged. 

I bear sole responsibility for any shortcomings. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

……………………………………………                                                    18/07/2022 

                FLORENCE NEWMAN                                                                 DATE 

                        (10803650) 

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CERTIFICATION 

We certify that this thesis was supervised by us in accordance with the requirements established 

by the University of Ghana. 

 

  
…………………………………………..                                                      18/07/2022 

      DR. JOSHUA OFORI-AMANFO                                                                DATE        

                 (SUPERVISOR) 

 

 

  

…………………………………………..                                                      18/07/2022 

      DR. FRANCIS YAW BANURO                                                                 DATE        

           (SECOND SUPERVISOR) 

  

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DEDICATION 

This thesis is dedicated to the late Mr. Abraham Tetteh Newman, who always believed in me and 

planted in me the quest for success in all my life endeavours.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT 

I am indebted to God for His plentiful grace all the way through this study. I am sincerely 

appreciative to my assiduous supervisor, Dr. Joshua Ofori-Amanfo for the engross console he gave 

all through my studies and also the dominant role he played in the writing of this thesis. I am in 

the same way thankful to all the lecturers of the Department of Operations and Management 

Information Systems and my colleagues for their continuous support and advice given which 

contributed to the success of my studies. 

 I am also thankful to Messrs. Kingsford Kwasi Opoku-Anyan, Jacob Teye Kwadjo and Perry 

Pierre Aryee for their immeasurable support during my study. My appreciation also goes to the 

owners, managers and employees of the firms who provided me with data for the study. I am truly 

indebted to you all. I say thank you to all the loved ones who supported me in one way or the other 

towards the success of my postgraduate education and whose names cannot be mentioned here.  I 

am indebted to all of you. 

  

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Table of Contents 

DECLARATION ............................................................................................................................ ii 

CERTIFICATION ......................................................................................................................... iii 

DEDICATION ............................................................................................................................... iv 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT .............................................................................................................. v 

LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................................ xii 

LIST OF FIGURES ..................................................................................................................... xiii 

LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS .................................................................... xiv 

CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................................. 1 

INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 

1.0 Research Background ............................................................................................................ 1 

1.1 Research Problem .................................................................................................................. 4 

1.2 Research Purpose .................................................................................................................. 8 

1.3 Research Objectives .............................................................................................................. 8 

1.4 Research Questions ............................................................................................................... 8 

1.5 Significance of the Research ................................................................................................. 9 

1.6 Scope of the Study and Delimitations ................................................................................. 10 

1.7 Chapter Outline ................................................................................................................... 10 

CHAPTER TWO .......................................................................................................................... 12 

THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY .............................................................................................. 12 

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2.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 12 

2.1 Electronic Commerce .......................................................................................................... 12 

2.1.1 Electronic Commerce in Ghana .................................................................................... 13 

2.1.2 E-commerce Adoption Challenges in Ghana ............................................................... 14 

2.2 E-Commerce Operations in Ghana ..................................................................................... 16 

2.2.1 Consumers Security and Privacy Concerns of E-commerce Websites ........................ 18 

2.3 SMES Operations in Ghana ................................................................................................ 19 

2.3.1 Technology and SMEs.................................................................................................. 21 

2.4 Conclusion ........................................................................................................................... 22 

CHAPTER THREE ...................................................................................................................... 23 

LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................. 23 

3.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 23 

3.1 Theoretical Review ............................................................................................................. 23 

3.1.1 Technology-Organizational-Environment (TOE) ........................................................ 24 

3.1.2 Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) .............................................................................. 25 

3.2 Strategic Behaviour of firms ............................................................................................... 27 

3.3 Conceptual Framework ....................................................................................................... 29 

3.4 Hypothesis Development .................................................................................................... 30 

3.4.1 Analyser ........................................................................................................................ 30 

3.4.2 Defender ....................................................................................................................... 32 

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3.4.3 Prospector ..................................................................................................................... 33 

3.4.4 Reactor .......................................................................................................................... 35 

3.4.5 Hypothesis Formulation ............................................................................................... 36 

3.5 E-commerce Adoption ........................................................................................................ 37 

3.5.1 Types of E-commerce ................................................................................................... 39 

3.6 Review of empirical literature ............................................................................................. 40 

3.6.1 Strategic Behaviour and E-commerce Adoption .......................................................... 40 

3.6.2 Strategic Behaviour and Customer Responsiveness ..................................................... 42 

3.6.3 Customer Responsiveness and E-commerce adoption ................................................. 43 

3.6.4 SMEs Operations .......................................................................................................... 45 

3.7 Summary of Reviewed Literature ....................................................................................... 46 

CHAPTER FOUR ......................................................................................................................... 48 

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY.................................................................................................. 48 

4.0 Introduction .................................................................................................................... 48 

4.1 Research Approach ........................................................................................................ 48 

4.2 Research Design ............................................................................................................. 48 

4.3 Target Population ........................................................................................................... 49 

4.4 Sample Size Determination ............................................................................................ 49 

4.5 Sampling Procedure ....................................................................................................... 51 

4.6 Sources of Data and Data Collection ............................................................................. 51 

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4.6.1 Data Collection Procedure ...................................................................................... 52 

4.6.2 Data Collection Instrument ..................................................................................... 52 

4.7 Data Analysis and Presentation ...................................................................................... 53 

4.7.1 Reliability ................................................................................................................ 53 

4.8 Ethical Consideration ..................................................................................................... 54 

CHAPTER FIVE .......................................................................................................................... 55 

DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF FINDINGS ........................................................... 55 

5.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 55 

5.1 Response Rate ..................................................................................................................... 55 

5.2 Descriptive Statistics ........................................................................................................... 56 

5.2.1 Demographic Characteristics of Respondents .............................................................. 56 

5.2.2 Characteristics of Company .......................................................................................... 59 

5.2.3 Descriptive statistics of study constructs ...................................................................... 62 

5.3 Model Evaluation ................................................................................................................ 64 

5.3.1 Measurement Model Assessment ................................................................................. 64 

5.3.2 Structural Model Assessment ....................................................................................... 72 

5.4 Discussion of Findings ........................................................................................................ 80 

5.4.1 The strategic behaviour of SMEs relative to Miles and Snow’s taxonomy ................. 80 

5.4.2 The extent to which SMEs differ in terms of their propensity to adopt e-commerce 

based on Miles and Snow’s taxonomy .................................................................................. 82 

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5.4.3 The relationships between SMEs’ strategic behaviour, e-commerce adoption and 

customer responsiveness........................................................................................................ 84 

5.5 Chapter summary ................................................................................................................ 90 

CHAPTER SIX ............................................................................................................................. 92 

SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND CONTRIBUTIONS ............................... 92 

6.0 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 92 

6.1 Research Summary .............................................................................................................. 92 

6.2 Summary of Research Findings .......................................................................................... 92 

6.2.1 The strategic behaviour of SMEs relative to Miles and Snow’s taxonomy ................. 93 

6.2.2 The extent to which SMEs differ in terms of their propensity to adopt e-commerce 

based on Miles and Snow’s taxonomy. ................................................................................. 93 

6.2.3 The relationship between SMEs’ strategic behaviour, e-commerce adoption and 

customer responsiveness........................................................................................................ 94 

6.3 Conclusions of the Study..................................................................................................... 96 

6.3.1 The strategic behaviour of SMEs relative to Miles and Snow’s taxonomy ................. 96 

6.3.2 The extent to which SMEs differ in terms of their propensity to adopt e-commerce 

based on Miles and Snow’s taxonomy. ................................................................................. 96 

6.3.3 The relationship between SMEs’ strategic behaviour, e-commerce adoption and 

customer responsiveness........................................................................................................ 96 

6.4 Contribution of the Study .................................................................................................... 97 

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6.5 Recommendations of the Study .......................................................................................... 99 

6.6 Limitations and Directions for Future Studies .................................................................. 100 

6.7 Chapter Summary .............................................................................................................. 101 

REFERENCE .............................................................................................................................. 102 

APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................. 119 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LIST OF TABLES 

Table 2.1: Factors Inhibiting E-commerce Adoption among SMEs in Ghana ............................. 15 

Table 4.1: Distribution schedule of questionnaire ........................................................................ 51 

Table 5.1: Descriptive Statistics of Respondents .......................................................................... 58 

Table 5.2: Descriptive Statistics of Firms ..................................................................................... 60 

Table 5.3: Construct and Measurement Items' Means and Standard Deviation ........................... 63 

Table 5.4: Indicator loadings of the Constructs ............................................................................ 65 

Table 5.5: Construct's Cronbach’s Alpha, rho_A, Composite Reliability (CR) and Average 

Variance Extracted (AVE) ............................................................................................................ 68 

Table 5.6: Assessment of Discriminant Validity (Indicator Cross Loadings) .............................. 69 

Table 5.7:  Assessment of Discriminant Validity (Fornell-Larcker Criterion) ............................. 71 

Table 5.8: Assessment of Discriminant Validity (HTMT Values) ............................................... 71 

Table 5.9:  Multicollinearity Assessment (VIF) ........................................................................... 73 

Table 5.10: Test of Direct Relationships ...................................................................................... 74 

Table 5.11: R squared and Adjusted R squared of Constructs ..................................................... 77 

Table 5.12: F – Squares of the study constructs ........................................................................... 78 

Table 5.13: Q-squared of Constructs ............................................................................................ 79 

Table 5.14: Model Fit Result…………………………………………………………………….80 

 

  

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LIST OF FIGURES 

 

Figure 3.1 Conceptual Framework ............................................................................................... 30 

Figure 5.1: Indicator Outer Loadings............................................................................................ 67 

Figure 5.2 Test of Direct Relationships ........................................................................................ 75 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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LIST OF ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS 

SME Small and Medium Enterprise 

E-commerce Electronic Commerce 

SPSS Statistical Program for Social Science 

PLS-SEM Partial Least Square- Structural Equation Model 

GSS Ghana Statistical Service 

GDP Gross Domestic Product 

B2B Business-to- Business 

B2C Business-to-Consumer 

C2C Consumer-to-Consumer 

C2B Consumer-to-Business 

ICT Information and Communication Technology 

ERP Enterprise Resource Planning 

TRA Theory of Reasoned Action 

TOE Technology –Organization-Environment 

R&D Research & Development 

TAM Technology Acceptance Model 

PU  Perceive Usefulness 

PEOU Perceive Ease of Use 

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CCB  Customer Citizenship Behaviour 

CPI Consumer Price Index 

LCS Logistics Customer Service 

SCM-IS Supply Chain Management- Information Systems 

ANAL Analyser 

DEFE Defender 

PROS Prospector 

REAC Reactor 

ECOM E-commerce adoption 

CUSR Customer Responsiveness 

 

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ABSTRACT 

The purpose of the study was to deepen understanding of the operations strategy of SMEs by 

examining the extent to which the strategic behaviour of SMEs (using Miles and Snow’s typology) 

influences their customer responsiveness and adoption of e-commerce. Little empirical findings 

exist on the relationship between strategic behaviour of firms, customer responsiveness and e-

commerce adoption among SMEs, particularly in a developing economy context.  

To achieve the research purpose, this study employed the quantitative research approach, using a 

cross sectional study design. Data was gathered from 320 service firms from Information and 

Communication, Administrative and Support Services and Fashion sub sectors. The collected data 

was analysed using SPSS and PLS-SEM. The PLS-SEM was used to analyse the relationships 

between the strategic behaviour of firms, customer responsiveness and e-commerce adoption. 

Findings from the study indicated that the sampled service SMEs are indifferent about their 

strategic behaviour options relative to Miles and Snow’s typology. Also, based on the Miles and 

Snow’s typology, these firms’ differ with regards to e-commerce adoption making them more of 

defenders than prospectors or analysers or reactors. Finally, the analyser, prospector and defender 

behaviours have been statistically proven to influence e-commerce adoption leaving out reactor 

behaviour which statistically, does not have a relationship with e-commerce adoption. With 

regards to customer responsiveness, only the prospector behaviour has been proven statistically to 

have a relationship with the construct. Statistically, there is no relationship between the analyser, 

defender and reactor behaviours and customer responsiveness. Conclusively, this study has 

advanced knowledge that strategic behaviour (using Miles and Snow typology) can affect e-

commerce adoption and customer responsiveness to some extent.   

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CHAPTER ONE 

INTRODUCTION 

 

1.0 Research Background 

Electronic commerce also known as e-commerce has become one of the key models for many 

businesses to promote their sales, improve cost efficiency and enhance productivity. E-commerce 

is a business model which involves transactions taking place on the internet. Saloman & Salman 

(2013) define e-commerce as a technology of conducting commercial transactions through 

electronic media.  Hence for the purpose of this study, e-commerce denotes a novel medium used 

by sellers (businesses) to transact business (exchange of goods and services) with their buyers or 

consumers over the internet.  

Businesses that sell their products online are involved in e-commerce. Business-to-Business (B2B) 

Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Consumer-to-Business (C2B) and Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) 

are the main categories of e-commerce.  The embracing and operation of e-commerce by Small 

and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can improve business relationships and collaboration, quality 

and dispersion of knowledge (Kwadwo, Martinson, Evans, & Esther, 2016;Iddris, 2012; 

Vaithianathan, 2010). E-commerce has a remarkable prospect to change the outmoded ethics of 

operations and is capable to construct a firm underpinning for the effectiveness of the individual 

company adopting it as well as improve the national economy. E-commerce for a long time has 

inhabited the dominant space in the financial prudence of the developed countries, contributing 

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with noteworthy competitive advantage coupled with new thriving scopes (Khoma & Kostiuk-

Pukaliak, 2017).  

Khoma & Kostiuk-Pukaliak (2017) maintained that, e-commerce has proven to be a beneficial 

instrument to businesses, users and society as a whole. To the business, the principal advantage of 

e-commerce is the ease for the customer to be served any time, crafting a secure influx of customers 

that may not be accomplished with traditional marketing. Also, staff costs and maintenance costs 

associated with physical stores are reduced. An affordable means of advertising is also available 

other than the traditional means of advertisement. E-commerce proffers a variety of advantages to 

the users as well. Largely, with the aid of technical websites, users possibly will discover the 

precise products and services that are inaccessible from the physical stores. To society, the 

readiness of reasonably priced goods and services augments living standards in addition to national 

security. Online shopping reduces road traffic and its adverse effect on the environment. 

Customer responsiveness touches on a firm's proficiency to react to customer’s queries and carry 

them out in an apt custom. This involves the celerity it takes to instigate the correspondence in 

addition to the time it takes to finalize the customer's request (Fontanella, 2020). Firms that are 

responsive, benefit from lead time reduction, inventory management and agility ( Kumar & Singh, 

2017). Customer responsiveness upturns firm consciousness of the innovation opportunities that 

develop within technologically unsettled settings. Furthermore, customers become more uplifting 

and concerned of innovations adapted by businesses as probable techniques for permitting them to 

accomplish competitive advantage (Eggers, Kraus, & Covin, 2014). 

 Sahi, Gupta, Cheng, & Lonial (2019) posit that, it is widely held view that SMEs are largely not 

operationally responsive. Karampela, Lacka, & McLean, (2020) through their study encouraged 

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firms to prudently outline their social media schemes and perform energetically to respond to 

customers’ queries and problems and also interact with their customers to be able to improve 

customers’ brand commitment and professed partner quality. However, SMEs have progressively 

accepted the import of their capability to incessantly react to the protean business settings 

internally and externally.  

SMEs are principally privately owned corporations, partnerships or sole proprietorship businesses, 

operated with a small number of personnel. There is no comprehensively recognized description 

of SMEs. Kwadwo et al., (2016) considered the level of assets, turnover and number of employees 

of a firm in defining SMEs. According to the Ghana Statistical services (2016), SMEs are defined 

at any point in time by the number of employees of the firm; a business or an enterprise entity that 

employ amongst 1 to 5 workers is considered a Micro enterprise. An organisation recruiting 

amongst 6 to 30 workers is considered a Small enterprise, whilst a firm employing between 31-

100 workers is considered a Medium enterprise and a large enterprise is a firm recruiting more 

than 100 workers.  

In Ghana, 92 percent of businesses are made up of SMEs.  They contribute approximately 70% to 

the country’s GDP as well as over 80% to the country’s employment (Abor & Quartey, 2010). 

Notwithstanding their significant input to economic development, not much research has been 

done with respect to the operations performance of SMEs. In particular, very little is known about 

the strategic behaviour of SMEs.  Notwithstanding the avalanche of studies on SMEs e-commerce 

adoption, literature appears silent on the strategic behaviour of SMEs relative to customer 

responsiveness and e-commerce adoption. As a result, there seems to be an apparent lack of 

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understanding of the extent to which the strategic behaviour of SMEs is relevant to their customer 

responsiveness and e-commerce adoption.  

Strategic decisions do influence a firms’ performance in its target market. The strategic behaviour 

of firms is essentially concerned with the long-term vision of the firm translated into operational 

actions to organize customer worth in the firm’s target markets with the definitive aim of attaining 

higher achievement. Literature has proven that, a firm’s strategic behaviour (customer-oriented, 

competitor-oriented and technology oriented) has an influence on the firms’ performance (Slater, 

Hult, & Olson, 2007). Pehrsson (2014)  identified through study that the firm’s responsiveness 

benefit weakens as the firm ages. Recker, Holten, Hummel, & Rosenkranz (2017) adds that the 

type of response given to customers’ changing needs has an effect on the efficiency of the firm. 

DeBerry‐Spence et al., (2008) argue that, strategic value is a key point for SMEs considering e-

commerce adoption.  However, less research attention has been paid to SMEs’ strategic behaviour 

and its relationship with e-commerce adoption. Consequently, this study is intended to find out 

how SMEs on the basis of their strategic behaviour (using Miles and Snow’s typology of strategies) 

differ in their approach to e-commerce adoption and ability to effectively respond to customer 

needs. This study is important because it will help improve the knowledge and understanding of 

the operations management of SMEs. This knowledge could help improve SMEs operations 

performance which forms the basis for their contributions to the national economy.   

1.1 Research Problem 

Organizations employ strategies to handle changing environments which may result in innovative 

combinations of circumstances to drive organizational competitiveness  (Anwar, Shah, & Hasnu, 

2016). Innumerable environmental factors control a firm’s strategic selections at any stage along 

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its industry’s lifecycle  (Manral, 2018). The strategic position of a firm is a factor of the attributes 

of the owner/manager of a firm. These attributes influence the organization’s vision and processes 

as well as identification of entrepreneurial opportunities  (Zanella, Solano, Hallam, & Guda, 2019). 

This implies that, the strategic behaviour of firms is circumstance dependent.  

Yanes-Estévez, García-Pérez, & Oreja-Rodríguez (2018)  argue that the strategies of organizations 

are complex. Strategic behaviour of firms affects their strategic decisions including the 

exploitation of opportunities. The operations strategy literature has mainly focused on the 

operations of large firms  (Sahoo, 2020; Wong, Wong, & Boon-itt, 2020; Eckert & Gatzert, 2019; 

Garavan et al., 2019; Huang, Rice, & Martin, 2015; Basuony,2014). SMEs’ operations strategy 

has not been sufficiently explored in the literature. Considering the socio-economic importance of 

SMEs, an understanding of their strategic behaviour will enable us appreciate the extent to which 

these firms exploit innovative opportunities including the adoption of ecommerce.  Thus, the 

current study seeks to improve understanding and literature knowledge on SMEs operations 

strategy.  

E-commerce, a global trend for businesses to promote their operations and enhance sales is a trendy 

business model. E-commerce has been examined in the literature within the context of its 

contribution to competitive advantage  (Lestari, Muhdaliha, & Putra, 2020; Xuhua, Elikem, Akaba, 

& Worwui-Brown, 2019; Hamad, Elbeltagi, & El‐Gohary, 2018; Khoma & Kostiuk-Pukaliak, 

2017; Kwadwo et al., 2016; Chen & Zhang, 2015);  the benefits it offers businesses  (Rahayu & 

Day, 2017; Khan, 2016; Shahriari & Mohammadreza, 2015; Iddris, 2012; Vaithianathan, 2010); 

the influence of firms’ strategic values on its adoption (Svobodová & Rajchlová, 2020; Tu & 

Shangguan, 2018;  Chen, Kerr, Chou, & Ang, 2017; DeBerry‐Spence et al., 2008;) and the factors 

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affecting it’s adoption (Ocloo et al., 2018; Rahayu & Day, 2015; Taylor & Owusu, 2012; Ifinedo, 

2011). Further, studies have examined e-commerce business model among SMEs’ in Ghana. These 

studies have appear to centre on the influences of e-commerce adoption  (Ocloo et al., 2018; 

Awiagah, Kang, & Lim, 2016; Iddris, 2012; Taylor & Owusu, 2012; Boateng, Heeks, Molla, & 

Hinson, 2008); the association between a firm’s strategic value and e-commerce adoption 

(DeBerry‐Spence et al., 2008); and  the benefits of e-commerce to business    ( Xuhua, Elikem, 

Akaba, & Worwui-Brown, 2019; Boateng, 2016; Addo, 2012; Iddris, 2012; Boateng, Heeks, 

Molla, & Hinson, 2011). Nonetheless, studies on the influence that the strategic behaviour of firms 

have on the adoption of e-commerce has received less literature attention.  This is a gap in the 

literature which demands research effort to understand; it is imperative to understand the strategic 

behaviour of SMEs and whether these behaviours do affect their decision to adopt ecommerce.   

Strategic behaviour has been widely studied in literature (Akingbade, 2020; Alzahrani, 2019; 

Yanes-Estévez et al., 2018; Choshin & Ghaffari, 2017; Wronka-Pośpiech & Frączkiewicz-

Wronka, 2016; Al-Fawaeer, 2014). Several studies have validated the Miles and Snow typology  

as an appropriate theory for studying strategy behaviour (Akingbade, 2020; Yanes-Estévez et al., 

2018; Fenișer & Sadeh, 2017; Grimmer, Miles, Byrom, & Grimmer, 2017; Anwar et al., 2016). It 

is also interesting to note that Miles and Snow typology has been employed in many studies 

including e-commerce (Svobodová & Rajchlová, 2020; Kumar, Fuksa, & Kumar, 2018; 

Carmichael, 2017)  because it is premeditated to apprehend and integrate organizational culture 

into a strategic framework. A merit of this theory is that, it hypothesizes that owner/manager 

personality and organizational culture have a strong influence on organizational strategy. 

However, studies relating to the influence that strategic behaviour has on e-commerce adoption 

focused on leadership variables (administrative) rather than technological and entrepreneurial 

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factors. Therefore this study fills the gap by focusing on the four strategic behaviours (Analyser, 

Defender, Prospector and Reactor) described by Miles & Snow (1978) relative to their e-commerce 

adoption (technology). Examining the relationship between Miles and Snow’s typology and firms’ 

ecommerce adoption will help improve the understanding of the relative patterns of strategic 

behaviour developed by SMEs and how such patterns align with firms’ technological orientations.  

Also, benefits of customer responsiveness to firms have been discussed in the literature  (Kumar 

& Singh, 2017).  A firm’s ability to achieve its’ vision, depends on its’ strategic decisions geared 

towards achieving the vision as well as its’ relationship with customers, suppliers, employees, 

shareholders, competitors among others.  According to Oluchukwu, Donatus, & Franca (2019) a 

firm’s strategies provide models and ideas which help to recognize or discern opportunities that 

add-value to customers. However, to remain competitive, firms need to analyse their customers’ 

needs and be responsive to them. Also, to be successful at achieving responsiveness, firms need to 

understand and execute their add-on values to customers. Rant & Cerne (2017) postulate that an 

excellent customer intimacy is all-important for the complete effectiveness of a concealed 

champion approach. The strategic orientation of a firm (Defender, Analyser, Prospector and 

Reactor) will drive its actions and inactions hence this study intends to understand whether a firm’s 

inclination towards customer responsiveness depends on its strategic orientation. Thus, this study 

is therefore intended to examine the impact of the four strategic options on the ecommerce 

adoption and customer responsiveness of SMEs. 

The operations strategy literature has predominantly focused on the operations strategy of large 

firms  (Sahoo, 2020; Wong, Wong, & Boon-itt, 2020; Eckert & Gatzert, 2019; Garavan et al., 

2019; Huang, Rice, & Martin, 2015; Basuony,2014), to the neglect of SMEs.  SMEs operations 

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strategy has not been sufficiently explored in the literature. Little empirical findings exist on the 

relationship between strategic behaviour of firms, customer responsiveness and e-commerce 

adoption among SMEs, particularly in a developing economy context.  Thus, the current study 

seeks to improve understanding of SMEs operations strategy and literature knowledge on it. 

To summarize the research issue, the researcher was keen to establish the linkages between the 

strategic behaviour of firms representing by the Miles and Snow typology, e-commerce adoption 

and customer responsiveness within the context of SMEs. The interest was to explore the extent 

to which a particular strategic behaviour will influence their adoption of e-commerce as well as 

customer responsiveness. 

1.2 Research Purpose 

The purpose of the study was to explore the extent to which a particular strategic behaviour will 

influence the SMEs adoption of e-commerce as well as their customer responsiveness.  

1.3 Research Objectives 

The objectives of this study are to: 

1. Examine the strategic behaviour of SMEs relative to Miles and Snow’s taxonomy 

2. Determine the extent to which SMEs differ in terms of their propensity to adopt e-

commerce based on Miles and Snow’s taxonomy. 

3. Analyse the relationships between SMEs’ strategic behaviour, e-commerce adoption and 

customer responsiveness. 

1.4 Research Questions 

The study is aimed at addressing the under-listed research questions: 

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1. What are the strategic behaviours of SMEs relative to Miles and Snow’s taxonomy?  

2. How different are SMEs in terms of their e-commerce adoption based on Miles and Snow’s 

taxonomy? 

3. What relationships exist between SMEs’ strategic behaviour, e-commerce adoption and 

customer responsiveness? 

1.5 Significance of the Research 

This study contributes to theory, practice and policy. With regards to theory, the study seeks to 

add to literature by discovering the strategic orientations of SMEs and how these strategic 

orientations influence their technology adoption and responsiveness to customer needs. 

To practice, this research will help managers to direct or redirect organizational strategies and how 

the understanding of the Miles and Snow (1978) can help improve their operations. The study will 

inform SMEs on the implications of ecommerce adoption relative to their strategic behaviour. This 

knowledge could enable SMEs to efficiently align their strategic behaviour with e-commerce 

adoption. By enabling SMEs to identify their strategic behaviour, they will be informed on the 

appropriateness of their strategy for their intended corporate goals. 

To policy, this study will help policy makers to understand the operations strategy of SMEs and 

the influence of these strategies on technology adoption which will inform the development of the 

appropriate technology-related policies and initiatives that will improve their operations 

performance. Also, results from this study will help policy agencies or makers develop applicable 

strategies to help promote e-commerce acceptance and adoption. 

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1.6 Scope of the Study and Delimitations 

This study adds to theory, practice and policy. With regards to theory, the study seeks to add to 

literature by discovering the strategic orientations of SMEs and how these strategic orientations 

influence their technology adoption and responsiveness to customer needs. 

To practice, this research will help managers to direct or redirect organizational strategies and how 

the understanding of the Miles and Snow (1978) can help improve their operations. The study will 

inform SMEs on the implications of ecommerce adoption relative to their strategic behaviour. This 

knowledge could enable SMEs to efficiently align their strategic behaviour with e-commerce 

adoption. By enabling SMEs to identify their strategic behaviour, they will be informed on the 

appropriateness of their strategy for their intended corporate goals. 

To policy, this study will help policy makers to understand the operations strategy of SMEs and 

the influence of these strategies on technology adoption which will inform the development of the 

appropriate technology-related policies and initiatives that will improve their operations 

performance. Also, results from this study will help policy agencies or makers develop applicable 

strategies to help promote e-commerce acceptance and adoption. 

1.7 Chapter Outline 

The study covers six (6) chapters as follows: the first chapter provides the introduction to the 

research, covering the background of the study, the statement of the problem, the research purpose, 

research objectives, research questions, significance of the study, research scope and delimitations 

and finally the chapter outline. 

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Chapter two (2) is the context of the study covering e-commerce business model in Ghana, the 

nature of e-commerce operations in Ghana and SMEs operations in Ghana. 

Chapter three (3) represents the review of existing literature on strategic behaviour of SMEs, e-

commerce adoption, customer responsiveness and Miles and Snow typology. Furthermore, Miles 

and Snow’s model has been presented and discussed paving way for the development of the 

conceptual framework for the current study.  

Chapter four (4) covers the research design, research approach, target population, sample size, 

sample technique, data collection instrument, data collection procedure, data collection instrument, 

data analysis, reliability and viability of research instrument employed in the study as well as the 

ethical considerations.. 

 Chapter five (5) entails the presentation and analysis of data as well as the discussion of the 

research findings. 

Chapter six (6) which is the final chapter in this thesis, presents the summary of the findings, 

conclusions and recommendations of the study. 

  

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CHAPTER TWO 

THE CONTEXT OF THE STUDY 

 

2.0 Introduction 

The quest to stay in touch with technology as it advances, has changed the operational models of 

businesses across the globe.  SMEs in Ghana appear to be working towards taking advantage of 

the opportunities offered by advancing technology to improve on their business operations. The 

growing change in focus in line with advancing technology is driving the agenda for ecommerce 

adoption in Ghana.  This chapter gives an overview of the ecommerce business model and the 

nature of its operations in Ghana as well as SMEs operations in Ghana.   

2.1 Electronic Commerce 

The potential of ecommerce cannot be overestimated. Current businesses have applied the model 

to cooperate with their clientele, to publish product information, to manage orders and to dispense 

products and services  (dos Santos, Sabino, Morais, & Gonçalves, 2017) unlike its initial stage 

where only large corporations used it for just two operational activities: electronic fund and 

document exchanges  (Galinari, Cervieri Júnior, Teixeira Júnior, & Rawet, 2015). 

E-commerce is driving the focus of   businesses to become more profitable and maintaining rapid 

growth in revenues. Most businesses that engage in e-commerce, focus on on-demand services. E-

commerce exists in different forms. dos Santos et al. (2017) advocate in their study that the most 

popular categories of electronic commerce are: B2B (Business-to-business), B2C (Business-to-

consumer) and C2C (Consumer-to-consumer). However, B2C is the key focus of these three 

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categories. This is because it has the greater quantity of trades than that of the B2B e-commerce 

model which mostly comprises of commerce between industrial and commercial companies. 

2.1.1 Electronic Commerce in Ghana 

Diverse sectors of the Ghanaian economy are advancing their services with the incorporation of 

the internet. Experts observe that the current development in e-commerce is a revolt that other 

entrepreneurs have also incorporated into their operations (Tawiah, 2015). The service sector of 

the Ghanaian economy comprises of Information and Communication, Real Estate, Administrative 

and Support Services, Education, Social Work activities and other services activities. Information 

Communication Technology influences the sales and operations of some of these sub-sectors 

(Ghana Statistical services, 2016). This study will focus on Information and Communication, 

Administrative and Support Services and other services activities. 

According to Sengretsi (2020), the fashion sector which falls under the other services  category,  

tops the e-commerce website categories. The fashion industry includes all those firms which are 

into clothing, shoes and fashion accessories. Examples of such firms are Sima Brew Fashion, 

Florecent Boutique, Mango Ghana, Lynn Fashion Ghana, and Lycia Turquis Boutique among 

others. 

 The information and communication sector comprises of businesses engaged in the sale of laptops, 

phones and other electrical gadgets.  Examples of such firms employing e-commerce in their 

operations are Compu Ghana, Telefonika, Franko Trading, and Hub Computers among others. 

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The administrative and support services are businesses engaged in the selling of home, office and 

School supplies. Melcom Ghana, EPP Books and Stationery, Orca Deco, Kingdom Books and 

Stationery, Furniture City are example of firms in this sector employing e-commerce. 

According to Savrul, Incekara, & Sener (2014), small firms compared to large firms are more eager 

to adopt e-commerce for the many benefits it offers. E-commerce adoption in contemporary years 

has abetted numerous firms to commute information and to incorporate into their operations 

properly in order to better serve their customers (Ramanathan, Ramanathan, & Hsiao, 2012). 

Example of benefits SME’s enjoy with e-commerce are savings on transaction, advertising and 

promotion and delivery cost. Also, e-commerce removes physical limitations of time and space 

and speeds communication between buyers and sellers. 

E-commerce is an excellent tool that has facilitated the buying process for consumers. Essentially, 

with the support of specific websites, users may discover the precise products and services that are 

inaccessible from the physical stores. These platforms also provide adequate product description 

which guides the consumer in making a conversant choice. The cashless payment options available 

on these sites also comes in handy to the consumer  ( Khoma & Kostiuk-Pukaliak, 2017; Alqahtani, 

Al‐Badi, & Mayhew, 2012).  

2.1.2 E-commerce Adoption Challenges in Ghana 

 Most SMEs adopt e-commerce to improve customer responsiveness, expand and grow their 

business, attract new customers and to be competitive (Iddris, 2012). However, certain external 

and internal and factors exert influence on the adoption of e-commerce amongst firms in Ghana. 

These factors are grouped under technical, organizational, governmental, behavioural, 

environmental and financial and abridged in Table 2.1. 

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Table 2.1 Factors Inhibiting E-commerce Adoption among SMEs in Ghana 

Group Issues Source 

Technical  E-commerce security issues  

(Ocloo et al., 2018; 

Awiagah et al., 2016; 

Kwadwo et al., 2016; 

Iddris, 2012) 

Poor quality and slow speed of 

the internet. 

Lack of credit cards and 

payment systems 

Lack of technical know-how to 

manage e-commerce websites. 

Governmental 

 

Absence of legal and regulatory 

systems 

 

( Kwadwo et al., 2016; 

Iddris, 2012; Boateng et 

al., 2011) 

Economic and political 

instability 

Behavioural Resistance by people and 

culture 

(Awiagah et al., 2016; 

Taylor & Owusu, 2012) 

Low literacy-levels amongst 

SME owners 

Preference of traditional media 

to E-commerce 

Financial 

 

Cost of  set up and management 

of e-commerce website is high 

(Modzi et al., 2016; 

Taylor & Owusu, 2012) 

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Difficulty to explain the cost 

with desired benefits 

Training of personnel 

Environmental Most local suppliers do not 

have access to e-commerce.  

( Ocloo et al., 2018; 

Awiagah et al., 2016; 

Taylor & Owusu, 2012; 

Boateng et al., 2011) 

Insufficient qualified vendors 

for developing applications 

Organizational  Difficulty in changing the 

current working procedures 

( Ocloo et al., 2018; 

Awiagah et al., 2016; 

Taylor & Owusu, 2012; 

Boateng et al., 2011) 

Lack of awareness about the 

prospective applications of e-

commerce  

 Lack of managerial support 

 

Aside the above listed factors, firms in order to successfully launch and manage an e-commerce 

website in Ghana, are challenged with Domain cost, Hosting cost, Design cost, Maintenance cost, 

Payment gateway cost and SEO cost. They are however needed to get their website to be visible 

to their consumers.  Sometimes, these costs are too heavy for small firms to bear. Aside that, only 

few experts are available willing to work for SMEs as they rather prefer to work with large firms. 

2.2 E-Commerce Operations in Ghana 

A website where advertisements are posted by sellers is not e-commerce but rather known as 

classifieds or marketplace. A marketplace website is a platform for sellers to transact business with 

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buyers. The marketplace does not sell products/services itself however, it facilitates the transaction 

between sellers and buyers. An example is when a buyer buys a product through Tonaton, he(s) 

does not buy the product from Tonaton but from a seller on Tonaton. It is still the same concept as 

offline markets. However, classifieds websites are the modern version of the classifieds section in 

newspapers. Classifieds portals create value for the sellers by generating leads. These sites have 

an incredible amount of free and economical form of advertisements. Example of such websites 

are Jiji.com.gh (formerly olx.com.gh) and Tonaton.com. These are different from e-commerce 

platforms. 

Jumia.com.gh, zoobashop.com, kikuu.com.gh, superprice.com, Compughana.com, 

melcomonline.com, Telefonika.com, Hubtel.com, Frankotrading.com and Marketexpress.com.gh 

are the top e-commerce platforms in Ghana.  These platforms offer consumers the opportunity to 

navigate through the sites, providing detailed information: images and product description which 

sometimes are not even available in the physical stores. This helps consumers make informed 

decisions about the type of product to buy. 

The means of payment for transactions performed on these e-commerce websites are either offline 

(cash, mobile money or bank transfer) or online (SlydePay, expressPay, Hubtel, Jumia Pay, e-

Tranzact among others). Aside these, some of the websites also accept Visa and MasterCard which 

may be debit or credit card payments  (Sengretsi, 2020; Tawiah, 2015). 

In spite of the numerous e-commerce websites operating in Ghana, there are also some 

international e-commerce websites that Ghanaian consumers engage with. This is because these 

international sites have tailored services such as customization of prices and shipping cost in local 

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currencies (Ghana Cedis). Popular among such sites are Amazon.com, Aliexpress.com and 

Alibaba.com.  

2.2.1 Consumers Security and Privacy Concerns of E-commerce Websites 

Trust, users have in the internet is predominantly prone to the security professed by these same 

users concerning the usage of their private individual data. Most clients are troubled with respect 

to the usage of their private information by third parties. This is because, some firms do not inform 

their consumers about the existence of their relationship with third parties and the access they have. 

E-commerce is significantly growing and transforming the nation with the rate of smartphone 

usage and internet growth. This growth and increasing interest in e-commerce must go together 

with reverence for the concealment of users, handling and protection of data. Electronic commerce 

websites keenly amass huge data from visits to their sites.  E-commerce security is the defence of 

e-commerce resources from access, unlawful use, alteration, and or destruction (Gupta & Dubey, 

2016). Consumers need this protection from the companies in order to maintain the trust they have 

with them as a result of physical operation. 

According to Chatterjee (2015), fingerprints, password, voice, firewalls, digital signature,  and  

encryption software are the security tools related to e-commerce.  Security, functionality, privacy 

and user-friendliness issues are well-thought-out to be barriers to online shopping for consumers. 

These consumers want user friendly websites and a private and confidential protection of their 

personal data. The plausible risk is higher in e-commerce largely because of proximity, 

unawareness and negligible physical interactions. However, consumers are extra flexible and keen 

to take risks with the organizations or people that are trustworthy  (Gupta & Dubey, 2016).  

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Baako, Umar, & Gidisu (2019) suggest that e-commerce policy must address vulnerability such as 

lack of advanced information security technology with regards to website management. Also, 

directors of the e-commerce business must effectually handle these susceptibilities to be able to 

generate trust and witness an upsurge in visits to their websites. 

Chatterjee (2015) proposes that for safe and secure conduct of online transaction, consumers are 

not obliged to reveal any unique identification number or repeat passwords on every site and 

should   change their password from time to time. Consumers ought to check the secureness of a 

web address and avoid divulging additional private data to e-commerce sites. Visitors to websites 

should check the secureness of the website address in the address bar and pay attention to the 

privacy and security policies of the website.  

Also, before a start of an online shopping, consumer must be abreast with the exchange rate, 

delivery date and time whiles taking note of the dynamic pricing policy of the e-commerce site. 

As much as possible, consumers should avoid cash transaction that cannot be traced and keep 

printed copy of order to serve as proof. It is also noteworthy that consumers must pay attention to 

FAQs, cancellation policy of vendor and also put lot of questions that comes to mind to the sellers. 

2.3 SMES Operations in Ghana 

SMEs are principally privately owned firms, partnerships or sole proprietorship businesses, 

operated with a small number of personnel. SME are defined at any point in time by the number 

of employees a firm has. A micro enterprise is that entity with a maximum of 5 employees. An 

entity with a maximum of 30 employees is considered a Small enterprise. Likewise, a firm 

employing between 31-100 workers is considered a Medium enterprise and an entity employing 

more than 100 workers is a large enterprise (Ghana Statistical services, 2016). In Ghana, SMEs 

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make up 92 percent of commerce and subscribe around 70% to the country’s GDP and above 80% 

to work (Abor & Quartey, 2010). 

The major challenge faced by many SMEs is how to stay competitive and globalize their 

operations. However, SMEs in Ghana are adopting technology and innovative practices to 

overcome this challenge. Donkor, Donkor, Kankam-Kwarteng, & Aidoo (2018) argue that SMEs 

in the urban areas possess a moderate innovation skills. This, they believe is a reason why such 

firms are not competitive enough and have low financial performance. They also argued that, if 

SMEs are highly innovative, it will increase their financial performance. Fening (2012) also adds 

that the adoption of quality practices will enable these firms to gain competitive advantage. 

Proprietors of SMEs in Ghana have observed an upgrade on their financial literateness ranks. 

Radio and television support undertakings, training programs and the propagation of financial 

establishments are enfranchising SME vendors with the necessary financial understanding for 

commerce. However, not all age brackets need equal devotion regarding financial edification. The 

youthful and elderly cohort in Ghana need extra devotion as far as financial tutoring and skills 

development is concerned  (Agyei, 2018).  

According to Yeboah (2015), SMEs in Ghana experience sales growth at most for 10 years of 

existence after which they experience a decline. He added that, sole proprietorship SMEs have 

most sales increase than SMEs registered as limited liability companies. It is interesting to note 

that the type of industry an SME operates in, influences its sales growth. Also, SMEs operating 

wholesale and retail businesses witness the highest sales growth than those in manufacturing, arts 

and entertainment, transport and accommodation and food services. Likewise, SMEs with more 

employees do better in business than their counterparts with fewer employees. 

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Agyei (2018) argues that based on marital status, there exist no important variances in financial 

literacy ranks amongst SMEs in Ghana. However, gender, age, level of education and religion 

indicates important alterations in financial literacy ranks amongst SMEs in Ghana.  An SME is 

likely to increase its products’ catalogue, if its’ owner has a higher the financial literacy. This 

probability of adding a new invention to existing products, rises by 49.43 times through awareness 

of prevailing financing preferences for progress and consciousness of aids of risk taking by an 

SME owner.  Furthermore, education positively influences the financial literacy level of SME 

owners.  

2.3.1 Technology and SMEs 

The launch of new technology has transformed business operations globally. Improvement of 

communication methods, eclectic advertisement platform and certifying efficient and timely 

delivery of goods and services are the roles technology seeks to play in bridging trade barriers.  

In the case of Ghana, Dzisi & Ofosu, (2014) advocate that non - traditional marketing strategies  

are less related to the performance of the SMEs. According to the authors, only a few SMEs deploy 

technology-based marketing strategies in reaching their customers. However, the trend is the use 

of social media (Facebook, Twitter and Instagram) other than corporate websites and emails. This 

is because according to their respondents, social media is interactive in nature. It is also less 

difficult and relatively cheap to set up a social media page than create and manage a corporate 

website. Hence, most firms now prefer to use their social media pages to interact more with their 

customers other than to use a website or an email for communication. Also, some of these firms 

ride on e-commerce platforms such as Jumia and Kikuu to be able to reach out to numerous 

consumers because of the cost involved in owing their own website and its maintenance.   

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2.4 Conclusion 

It is evident that technology has transformed business operations globally. Most SMEs are 

however challenged with competition and the globalization of their operations. SMEs with focus 

on profit and revenue growth, adopt e-commerce to engage in on-demand services and facilitate 

buying process for consumers. Among the known types of e-commerce, business-to-consumer 

(B2C) is the most popular. This is because many businesses engage in this type of e-commerce as 

compared to the others. Certain external and internal factors affect the adoption of e-commerce of 

SMEs in Ghana. These factors are technical, organizational, governmental, behavioural, 

environmental and financial.  

E-commerce websites provides detailed information (images and product description) which 

sometimes are not available in the physical stores. This helps consumers make inform decisions 

about the type of product to buy. The means of payment for transactions performed on these e-

commerce websites are either offline or online. Some of the websites also accept debit and credit 

card payments. Most SMEs who cannot afford the owning and maintenance of an e-commerce 

website, now use social media and partner popular e-commerce platforms to be able to reach out 

to their customers and new ones. 

  

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CHAPTER THREE 

LITERATURE REVIEW 

 

 3.0 Introduction 

Theoretical and empirical literature on strategic behaviour and its impact on customer 

responsiveness and e-commerce are reviewed. Also, the chapter presents a conceptual framework 

proving how the independent variables and the dependent variables are related as well as the 

statements of hypotheses. 

3.1 Theoretical Review  

Theory refers to a conceptual knowledge that purposes to enlighten a phenomenon. The definition 

which focuses on explanation is common in literature though there are variations in terms of detail 

and specificity  (Sandberg & Alvesson, 2020). The Technology-Organizational-Environment 

(TOE) theory and Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) are employed to provide the theoretical 

foundations for the study. The TOE theory is the first in the technology adoption literature that 

recommends a non-specific set of factors that enlighten and envisage the possibility of innovation 

adoption (Awa & Ojiabo, 2016). Also, adoption is an attitude issue; TRA on the other hand, is a 

strong theory to guide IS technological innovation adoption.  Since the current research has the 

objective to analyse the relationship between firms’ strategic behaviour and customer 

responsiveness and e-commerce, it is appropriate to adopt these theories to help identify the 

organizational factors that influence innovation (e-commerce) adoption and customer 

responsiveness as well as comprehend the influence of  SMEs owners/mangers behavioural 

intention on the strategic behaviour of firms.  

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 3.1.1 Technology-Organizational-Environment (TOE)  

The TOE framework designed by Tornatzky, Fleischer, & Chakrabarti (1990) has been 

comprehensively used to evaluate the firm-level adoption of technologies using three categories 

of  perspectives that would conceivably impact the adoption of technology; namely, technological, 

organizational, and environmental. The technological perspective represents both the internal and 

external technologies related to a firm. According to Rahayu & Day (2015) compatibility, 

perceived benefit and cost, are technological factors that impact SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce 

technology. The organizational perspective is associated with the resources and customs of a firm. 

Technological readiness and firm size are elements that impact e-commerce adoption by SMEs. 

The environmental perspective speaks of a business environs in which a firm regulates its business. 

Customers, pressure from competitors and society are well-thought-out to be environmental 

factors that impact the embracing of new technology by SMEs  (Tripopsakul, 2018). 

Abed (2020) theorizes that the three dimensions: Technology, Organization and Environment are 

noteworthy factors for SMEs adoption of social commerce. Technological factors (security 

concern and perceived usefulness), organizational factors (organizational readiness and top 

management support) and environmental factors (consumer and trading partner pressures) have a 

momentous impact on behavioural intent to adopt social commerce by SMEs. However, trading 

partner pressure (environmental), followed by top management support (organizational), and 

perceived usefulness (technological) have the greatest substantial impact on behavioural intent to 

employ social commerce by SMEs. This implies that environmental factors by Abed (2020) are 

the most significant influencers than technology  and organizational factors of social commerce 

adoption. 

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Awa & Ojiabo (2016) posits that technical know-how, availability of ICT infrastructures, 

perceived compatibility, security, size and perceived values of the firm are important technological 

determining factors for the adoption of ERP by SMEs.  Firm size, demographic composition, scope 

of business operations and subjective norms are organizational features that impact the adoption 

of ERP by SMEs. Firm size is a dire cause in e-commerce and ERP adoption. Management’s 

knowledge about an innovation, experience and demographic differences will equally impact the 

adoption of technology. This implies that the scope of business operations is a dire adoption 

influence nonetheless it does not underwrite the adoption of ERP. Competitive pressure, trading 

partners’ readiness and external support are environmental adoption factors. However, Awa & 

Ojiabo (2016) conclude technological factors to drive the adoption of ERP by SMEs more than by 

organizational and environmental factors. Therefore, this study seeks to find out if organizational 

factor: strategic behaviour drives innovation adoption more than technological and environmental. 

3.1.2 Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) 

Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) proposed by Fishbein & Ajzen (1975) is a far and wide used 

theory to determine behavioural intention. TRA has been recognised to be constructive in 

forecasting and construing concrete actions in many arenas, including technology adoption. The 

building blocks of this theory are attitude, subjective norm and behavioural intention. Attitudes 

are sentimental and built on a series of beliefs with reference to the idea of behaviour. The 

succeeding is the person’s subjective norms of what they recognize their close community’s 

attitude to defined behaviour. Behavioural intention discusses the inclination and magnitude of 

action of a person who desires to participate in a certain behaviour, that is, the emotional strong 

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suit of the personality’s act in the decision-making procedure; in extent, it can be converted into 

even if the person is keen to try or is enthusiastic to pay, by which variables can enlighten and 

envisage the real act of the person. TRA embraces the concept that attitude and subjective norm 

regulates a person’s behaviour intention. Thus, if a person has a more positive attitude on a certain 

behaviour and subjective norms backs the behaviour, the person’s intent to involve in the 

behaviour will also grow  ( Lin, Mao, Huang, Sia, & Yang, 2020; Lai, 2017). 

Otieno, Liyala, Odongo, & Abeka (2016) also posits that the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) 

have been extensively used in technology adoption by studying and understanding consumers’ 

technology adoption behaviours focusing on the intention to employ.  This theory has been used 

by Information System (IS) literature to establish an underpinning to technological adoption or aid 

shape other theories and models. However, comparing TRA with other theories and models for 

technological innovation, TRA has been established to be a strong theory for innovation adoption 

with a few inclusions of other variables such as responsiveness of innovation, user readiness to 

adopt, facilitating conditions and social pressure. 

TRA can be expanded to hypothesize the human behavioural pattern in the decision-making 

strategy on the exploitation of a new innovation or technology. It has the ability to enlighten the 

individual behaviour such as utilization of new innovation and whether it is influenced by 

behavioural intentions; individual’s attitude concerning the behaviour, the idiosyncratic norms 

connecting the conduct of the behaviour, and the individual’s opinion of the comfort with which 

the behaviour can be carried out. Therefore the merit of this theory in expounding behaviour 

depends on the extent to which people can have a large degree of authority over the behaviour and 

this has led to the conclusion that, TRA is a very strong theory over several models that have been 

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drawn on in technological innovation adoption studies in spite of the fact that TRA has not been 

comprehensively exploited in studies such as technology adoption and circulation in the field of 

Information Systems and ICT in general ( Otieno et al., 2016; Fawzy & Salam, 2015). This theory 

is therefore appropriate for this study because literature  (Ocloo et al., 2018; Rahayu & Day, 2015; 

Taylor & Owusu, 2012; Ifinedo, 2011) has proven that owner/manager characteristics touch on the 

adoption of e-commerce. Therefore there is the need to appreciate the influence of behavioural 

intention of these owners/managers on the strategic behaviour of firms. 

 

3.2 Strategic Behaviour of firms 

According to Klinger, Silveira-Martins, de Castro, & Rosetto (2019) seminal theories have 

classified strategies in many ways: 

1. strategy as a behaviour: analysers, defenders, prospectors or reactors (Miles & Snow, 

1978);  

2. strategy as cost leadership, differentiation or focus (Porter, 1980);  

3. differentiation strategies as price, image, support, quality, design or undifferentiated 

(Mintzberg, 1988);  

4. organizational trajectories as focusing, venturing, inventing or decoupling (Miller, 1990). 

 However, the Miles and Snow typology of strategic behaviour is the oldest and most accepted 

typology in the study of organisational strategy. The typology offers an influential tool for 

categorising organizations by their strategic decisions. 

The typology theorises that, organizational strategy is strongly influenced by founder personality 

and organizational culture and this characteristic makes the Miles and Snow typology distinct in 

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that, it is the only seminal theory that takes into consideration owner influence and organizational 

culture. This typology characteristics makes the Miles and Snow framework very fitting for 

analysing the Small and Medium Sized firms in Ghana because these firms have a strong founder 

influence, and are often controlled by the founder throughout the organization’s existence 

(Mayfield, Mayfield, & Stephens, 2007). The operating environment of a firm is affected by 

technology. Increased awareness and changing customer preferences have been extra challenges 

stemming from the external environment. However, a firm in order to keep on being competitive 

in a dynamic environment is always expected to respond to these changes. Therefore, the adoption 

of a technology platform to improve the operations of a firm and exceed the needs of its customers 

is highly recommended. Strategic response to the needs of customers involve changes to the firm’s 

strategic behaviour where such responses may take many forms depending on the environment in 

which it operates  (Limungi & Marete, 2017).  

Miles & Snow (1978) suggested that firms in broad-spectrum develop fairly stable forms of 

strategic behaviour in order to realise a good orientation with the apparent environmental settings. 

They centred their typology on three sets of problems challenging every firm: entrepreneurial (the 

choice of products and markets), engineering (the choice of technologies for production and 

distribution) and administrative (the choice of areas for future innovation and rationalization of 

existing structure and processes). Four different strategies are defined by the authors for firms. 

These are; prospectors, defenders, analysers and reactors. A firm is either a prospector, defender, 

analyser or a reactor depending on how it approaches the three problems that challenge the firm. 

Firms that pursue the analyser strategy jump unto a new innovation only after success has been 

demonstrated for that particular innovation. Organizations that exhibit the defender strategic 

behaviour pay attention to growth of new products in an orthodox means. They typically contend 

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on quality and price other than new markets or products and concentrates on revamping the 

competence of their present processes. Firms that pursue the prospector behaviour are innovative 

and technology inclined and are concerned with human resources more than any other resource. 

Firms that pursue the reactor strategic behaviour on the other hand are firms that do not have a 

clearly defined strategy for their organization.   

3.3 Conceptual Framework  

A conceptual framework is a structure associated with the conceptions and relevant theories 

employed in advancing and arraying the facts advocated by the researcher relating the connection 

amongst the main concepts or variables of a study. The framework could be pictorial or a narrative 

presenting the crucial variables or constructs to be researched and the supposed connections 

between them  (Adom, Hussein, & Agyem, 2018). The four strategies described by Miles and 

Snow can be applied as a framework over which to perfect and apprehend SMEs decision as 

regards the adoption or non-adoption of e-commerce as well as their response to the changing 

needs of customers  (Carmichael, 2017; Oltra & Flor, 2010).  This study intends to analyse the 

strategic behaviour of firms and their impact on customer responsiveness and e-commerce 

adoption among Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises. Therefore, the independent variables for 

the study are strategic behaviours of firms, while customer responsiveness and e-commerce 

adoption are the dependent variables. Employing the Miles & Snow (1978) typology, a firm’s 

strategic behaviour can be  Prospector, Defender, Analyser or  Reactor.  

 

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Figure 3.1 Conceptual Framework  

It is conceptualized within the framework above that, the SMEs disposition towards any of the 

four (4) strategic orientations would have differential effects on their adoption of e-commerce as 

well as their ability to be customer responsive. Data analysis will confirm or reject this 

conceptualization. 

3.4 Hypothesis Development 

3.4.1 Analyser 

Analysers according to  Lin, Tsai, & Wu (2014), avoid the risk that occur in Defender and 

Prospector and take advantage of Defender and Prospector by connecting their essential 

competences. Similar to Prospectors, they devote a great deal of responsiveness to innovation and 

concurrently run several stable businesses, just as defenders pay attention to launching products. 

Production, Marketing and Research & Development (R&D) capabilities are prerequisites to 

adopting an analyser strategy.  That is, its capability allocation principle is one in which the 

production, marketing, and R&D capabilities should be almost equal to each other. 

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Klinger et al. (2019) also opine that Analysers as purposefully exploratory in nature. The Analyser 

makes effort to discover new products and venture into market opportunities while concurrently 

preserving the firm’s principal traditional products and customers.  Analysers grow into new 

marketplaces and are risk takers only in a way that constructs on their prevailing capabilities. 

Analysers are evident in businesses that work in two types of product-market areas: relatively 

stable and permanent change. Analysers endeavour to control risk while exploiting opportunity 

(Miles & Snow, 1978).  

It is interesting to understand that, analysers jump unto a new innovation only after success has 

been demonstrated for that particular innovation. They also embark on environmental skimming 

in an effort to study how to accomplish and defend stability amongst contradictory demands for 

litheness and solidity. Consequently, an analyser is expected to adopt e-commerce after skimming 

the environment of adopters of e-commerce to protect the firm from features of indecision in the 

market. Analysers are second driving force in the market and as so their efforts to exploit on market 

prospects are restricted (Carmichael, 2017). Hence, the following hypothesis will be tested. 

H1a: The pursuit of the analyser strategy influences SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. 

Pehrsson (2011) makes known that customer responsiveness encompasses relationships with 

customers, solutions to customers’ problems, and after-sales services. He adds that in an uncertain 

market characterized by changing competitive patterns and supplier/customer, customer 

responsiveness must be high. Analysers are slow to reacting to changes in dynamic or competitive 

markets  (Carmichael, 2017). This means that Analysers will be slow in responding to the changing 

needs of customers. Hence, the following hypothesis will be tested.  

H1b: The pursuit of the analyser strategy inhibits SMEs’ customer responsiveness. 

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3.4.2 Defender 

Defenders are organizations that pay attention to growth of new products in a conventional means. 

They typically contend on quality and price other than new markets or products and concentrates 

on revamping the competence of their present processes. Defenders espouse a unified arrangement 

to preserve control over effectual facilities that pay attention to the core of the business or service 

goals (Miles & Snow, 1978). Hawrysz (2020) posits that Defenders take on a lot of proper 

scheduling, gather and scrutinise huge volumes of records on service necessities, appraise 

alternatives to meet those necessities, and custom progressive procedures to balance the costs and 

benefits of each choice. Defenders strategize strongly and in brief and cautiously assess any 

suggested modifications in technology and actions before taking action. Defenders generally aim 

their products or services for an openly defined market and accentuate a steady set of products and 

customers. They repetitively try to apprise their current technology to preserve efficiency. 

Innovative change, growth, and diversification are accomplished gradually through market 

infiltration (Hawrysz, 2020).  

Haj Youssef & Christodoulou (2017) also describe defenders to be firms that strive in stable 

domains and unchanging environments and all their actions are in-line with the constancy of the 

external environment. Defender firms have forethought actions and function in a way that 

emphasis on proficiency of operations and secure internal orientation. Also, their managers are 

believed to carry on policies and strategies of the preceding days and are not allowed to move 

away from the status quo. However, Lumbantoruan & Pujangkoro (2020) in their review identified 

defenders to be firms that wrestle to secure a certain market share and afterwards toil to conserve 

it. They are therefore likely to adopt e-commerce because, it is an approach that helps reduce 

operating cost whiles maintaining existing customers.  Also, efficiency is a key factor to their 

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operations therefore they curb product variation, segment offered and offer fair prices. Due to the 

exceptional services that they provide to their customers, they are also likely to be attentive to the 

needs of their customers. Hence, the following hypothesis will be tested. 

H2a: The pursuit of the defender strategy influences SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. 

A firm with strong customer orientation culture endeavours to improve their capabilities in 

responding to customer changing needs and having positive reviews that will improve their rating 

distribution  (Hendar, Nurhayati, & Sugiyarti, 2018). Defenders provide exceptional services to 

customers. Due to the exceptional services that they provide to their customers, they are also likely 

to pay attention to the needs of their customers  (Lumbantoruan & Pujangkoro, 2020). Hence, the 

following hypothesis will be tested. 

H2b: The pursuit of the defender strategy influences SMEs customer responsiveness. 

 

3.4.3 Prospector 

Prospectors are firms with flexible non-formal organizational structure that always look out for 

new market opportunities: innovation processes and new product development. They are creators 

of change and risk takers. They are innovative, technology inclined and are more concerned with 

human resources (Yanes-Estévez, García-Pérez, & Oreja-Rodríguez, 2018).  

(Cassol, Lorandi, Carvalho, Cintra, & Ribeiro, 2019, p. 109) adds to the description of prospectors 

as “organizations that continuously seek for new product and market opportunities; sources of 

changes and creation. Once they aim to innovate through extensive and non-intensive planning; 

the main focus being on innovation and not on efficiency; decentralized control, permitting the 

monitoring of the environment.” 

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Chaimankong & Prasertsakul (2012)  profess prospectors to be organizations that are characterized 

by flexibility and step into wholly new markets and take momentous risks. Their organizational 

structure has control which is more decentralized.  They work to feat innovative product and 

market prospects and maintain the reputation as innovators in product and market development. 

They also are not restricted to their modern product line and are habitually the inventors of 

transformation in their industry. One disadvantage to this stratagem is that the prospector strategy 

may have trouble in being operational as insecurity surges. Younger managers may comprehend 

the prerequisite for greater technological amalgamation, which will surge the possibility that they 

will be more courageous and innovative in the adoption of technological resolutions and strategies. 

However, the positive and antagonistic market stand taken by prospectors supports thriving with 

markets categorised by high level of vitality or race hence the likelihood to adopt e-commerce 

(Carmichael, 2017). Hence, the following hypothesis will be tested. 

H3a: The pursuit of the prospector strategy influences SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. 

According to (Harraf, Wanasika, Tate, & Talbott, 2015) as cited in (Jermsittiparsert, Sutduean, 

Sriyakul, & Khumboon, 2019), customer responsiveness is strongly related to information and it 

is essential to put customer information to appropriate use. Currently, customers’ requirement 

changes and they expect greater responsiveness to these changes. Prospectors struggle in being 

operative as insecurity surges and with focus on product and technology innovation, there may be 

less likely to be efficient to the needs of customers’ changing demands (Chaimankong & 

Prasertsakul, 2012). Hence, the following hypothesis will be texted. 

H3b: The pursuit of the prospector strategy influences SMEs customer responsiveness. 

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3.4.4 Reactor 

Reactors, the last type of the Miles and Snow typology are organizations without a clear strategy 

or operational approach. Their strategies usually exist in stable markets and though there is no 

clearly defined strategy of the organization,  their organizational structures are not in accordance 

with the selected strategy and such organizations often ignore changes in the environment  (Aleksic 

& Jelavic, 2017). 

Though they do not have a clearly defined strategy, their response to market development is 

through altering their strategies in limited ways. They are characterized by apathy and lethargy of 

actions, as they recognize opportunities in the environment in which they are in but they prove to 

be unable to put actions into practice, unless pressurized by the environment. Reactors exhibit a 

pattern of adjustment that is both inconsistent and unstable. The organization maintains a current 

strategy-structure relationship despite overwhelming changes in environmental conditions 

(Klinger et al., 2019).  

Additionally, reactors incline to have an administration that does not form the firm’s structure to 

suit a preferred scheme, or, wherever administration has not obviously expressed the firm’s 

scheme. Reactors do not support well with indigenous market circumstances as an import. Reactors 

will not support market vitality or competitive force in a considerable style. Reactors are greatly 

exposed to adopting e-commerce, but their adoption is grounded on their acknowledgement of 

modifications in their industry toward grander execution of technology. They are likely to adopt 

e-commerce in as much as it would profit their operations. They are not likely to incorporate e-

commerce into their operations because of technological innovation. Even those who have 

employed e-commerce apply technology either to develop their operations or because of the 

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varying requests of customers, which indicates a reaction to altering changing aspects relatively 

than a practical stance on technology  (Carmichael, 2017). Hence, the following hypothesis will 

be tested. 

H4a: The pursuit of the reactor strategy inhibits SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. 

Recker, Holten, Hummel, & Rosenkranz  (2017) are of the view that, all-embracing retorts to 

varying customer necessities encourages lowered retort efficiency, signifying that widespread 

responses entail extra response determinations, which decreases retort efficiency. Reactors do not 

consider local market conditions as a priority. Reactors will not orient with either market vitality or 

competitive force in a significant way (Carmichael, 2017). This implies that Reactors may not be 

responsive to the changing needs of their customers. Hence the following hypothesis will be tested. 

 H4b: The pursuit of the reactor strategy inhibits SMEs’ customer responsiveness. 

3.4.5 Hypothesis Formulation 

The following hypothesis will be tested by this study: 

H1a: The pursuit of the analyser strategy influences SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. 

H1b: The pursuit of the analyser strategy inhibits SMEs’ customer responsiveness. 

H2a: The pursuit of the defender strategy influences SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. 

H2b: The pursuit of the defender strategy influences SMEs customer responsiveness. 

H3a: The pursuit of the prospector strategy influences SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. 

H3b: The pursuit of the prospector strategy influences SMEs customer responsiveness. 

H4a: The pursuit of the reactor strategy inhibits SMEs’ adoption of e-commerce. 

H4b: The pursuit of the reactor strategy inhibits SMEs’ customer responsiveness. 

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3.5 E-commerce Adoption  

Rahayu & Day (2015) identified adoption variables under four (4) contexts: technological 

(perceived benefits, perceived compatibility and cost), organizational (Technology readiness and 

firm size), environmental (customers/suppliers pressure, competitor pressure and external support) 

and individual (Owners’ IT experience, owners’ innovativeness, and owners’ IT knowledge) that 

influence e-commerce adoption. Technology readiness, perceived benefits, owners’ 

innovativeness, owners’ IT experience and owners’ IT knowledge are the variables that influence 

e-commerce adoption. Cost, perceived compatibility, firm size, competitor pressure, 

customers/suppliers pressure and external support are the variables that do not affect e-commerce 

adoption. The authors argue that, some SMEs do not have so many applications in their business, 

hence do not see the need to incorporate in their operations a new application like e-commerce. 

Also cost factors such as prices of software and hardware associated to e-commerce technology 

are less expensive to these firms hence the fact that cost does not affect e-commerce adoption. 

Lastly, customers/suppliers pressure, external support and competitor pressure are not 

acknowledged by Indonesian SMEs as reasons that encourages them to adopt e-commerce 

technology.  

However, Mohtaramzadeh, Ramayah, & Jun-Hwa (2018) perceive that relative advantage does not 

have any significant effect on B2B e-commerce adoption in manufacturing companies in Iran. 

Instead, cost of technology significantly and negatively influences the adoption on B2B e-

commerce among these firms. Decision makers of SMEs who are usually owners of the firms 

through their support, knowledge and innovativeness secure the inadequate resource to be allotted 

for the adoption of technology. They further suggest that managers should take up their roles 

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effectively, constantly evaluate their value-added services and recognise the facilitators and 

barriers that influence B2B e-commerce adoption. Competitors also do influence firms to adopt 

B2B e-commerce. Challenges such as IT expertise, financial resource and training services from 

government affect these manufacturing SMEs to adopt a B2B e-commerce.  

Another B2B e-commerce adoption study by Gorla, Chiravuri, & Chinta (2017) established  that 

price competition, owner’s knowledge about reliability problems and security on the Internet 

influence e-commerce adoption. Benefits of technological innovation and associated costs also 

help decision makers to be confident in making their decision to adopt or not. Though there are 

frequent benefits of e-commerce listed in literature, yet their study did not show any noteworthy 

relationship between perceived operational benefits of adopting B2B e-commerce and adoption 

decision. A reason made for this was that managers may be more interested in strategic benefits 

than operational benefits from B2B e-commerce. However, they suggested that to help the 

adoption of B2B e-commerce, firms’ decision makers must endeavour to decrease potential 

barriers. 

Hamad, Elbeltagi, & El‐Gohary (2018) also noted that both relative advantage and compatibility 

(technical factors) have a positive and significant effect on e-commerce adoption. However, 

organizational variables; top management support and firm size, have an insignificant impact on 

e-commerce adoption. Competitive advantage, an environmental factor, has a positive and 

significant impact on SMEs’ B2B e‐commerce adoption whereas business partner pressure had an 

insignificant impact on SMEs’ B2B e‐commerce adoption. In spite of the fact that the authors 

hypothesized that a positive relationship would exist between business partner pressure and the 

adoption of B2B e‐commerce. 

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Amaglo (2020) also concluded from his study that the use of social media, hosting of website, 

mode of payment, and efficient infrastructure are strategies that furniture firms in Ghana combine 

to adopt ecommerce to improve business performance. Also these furniture firms considered the 

TAM principles; perceived use (PU) and perceived ease of use (PEOU) to embrace new technology 

or to adopt e-commerce. According to Lestari (2019), attitude motivates the adoption of e-

commerce platforms hence innovativeness has a positive impact on attitude but does not affect an 

individual’s intention to adopt e-commerce.  

3.5.1 Types of E-commerce 

Businesses that trade their products over the internet are involved in e-commerce. Business-to-

Business (B2B), Business-to-Consumer (B2C), Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) and Consumer-to-

Business (C2B) are the main categories of e-commerce. The adoption and execution of e-

commerce by SMEs can improve cooperation and business relationships, diffusion of knowledge 

and quality. The four most common type of e-commerce in literature (Modzi et al., 2016; Iddris, 

2012;Vaithianathan, 2010) are: 

1) Business-to-Business (B2B) e-commerce involves trades amongst businesses, such as 

transaction between a manufacturer and wholesaler, or a wholesaler and a retailer over the 

internet. A common example of this kind of e-commerce is Alibaba (www.alibaba.com). 

2)  Business-to-Consumer (B2C) e-commerce is a model that involves trades between a firm 

that vends products or services, and end-users customers of these products or services. 

Examples of B2C e-commerce platforms are Amazon and Jumia.  

3) Consumer-to-Consumer (C2C) e-commerce involves an end-user selling goods or services 

to another end-user online. Widely known C2C platforms are eBay and OLX. 

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4) Consumer-to-Business (C2B) is a type of e-commerce model where a consumer vends a 

product or service to an organisation. An example of this platform is Google AdSense. 

3.6 Review of empirical literature 

Strategic behaviour of firms, customer responsiveness and e-commerce adoption have received 

literature attention. However, studies have not been able to establish the influence strategic 

behaviour has on a firm’s response to changing needs of its customers and their e-commerce. This 

section therefore reviews the empirical literature on the concepts of strategic behaviour of firms, 

customer responsiveness and e-commerce adoption.  

3.6.1 Strategic Behaviour and E-commerce Adoption 

Feyissa & Sharma (2017) investigated the influence a company’s strategy has on the customization 

level of enterprise applications software that it embraces. Survey data were gathered from 112 

companies in diverse continents to appreciate how the application of enterprise applications 

software is influenced by organizational strategy. Gathered data were analysed using cluster 

analysis, structural equation modelling and a one-way between-subjects analysis of variance 

(ANOVA). Their study concluded that product-market innovation strategy has a positive effect on 

the customization level of enterprise software. Also, analyser and prospector firms embrace more 

customized enterprise software than defenders. 

Carmichael (2017) explored the decision making of U.S. small farm farmers on the subject of use 

or non-use of e-commerce in running their farm operations employing the Miles and Snow’s 

typology of strategic management through a transcendental phenomenological method of study. 

30 small farm farming operations were purposively sampled from Kansas and Missouri with 

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proceeds less than $250,000 per annum. Data analysis was 3-tiered and included use of 

horizontalization, thematic clustering, and synthesis. From his study, the older farmers were 

defenders who are less prospective to embrace e-commerce. Responders were participants in the 

mid age range; they were likely to adopt e-commerce regarded it would profit their farming tasks, 

for instance, the context of expansion. There were no Prospectors or Analysers amongst the 

participant group. 

Gorla et al. (2017)  developed a predominant model to elucidate the adoption of business-to-

business e-commerce employing five business features: organizational context, external 

environment, decision-makers characteristics, organizational learning and technology perspective. 

Data was collected from Information System executives through questionnaire and interview was 

analysed using logistic regression. Their findings indicate that the forbearing attitude of decision 

makers concerning negative information about business-to-business e-commerce have significant 

influence on their adoption decision. The results also point to the fact that perceived barriers and 

price intensity negatively affect the adoption decision. 

Kumar, Fuksa, & Kumar (2018)  analysed through survey, the adoption of B2B e-commerce 

among Canadian manufacturing firms. The study found that, there are numerous clusters of 

adopters with different characteristics: partial adopters, non-adopters and full adopters within the 

population of firms. Their subsequent finding acknowledged that the most imperative 

organizational characteristic to adopting B2B e-commerce is leadership. 

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3.6.2 Strategic Behaviour and Customer Responsiveness 

Kleber & Volkova (2016) used their study to find existing frameworks and underlying logic to 

help in the delivering of value innovation to confirm loftier customer responsiveness centred on 

theoretical conceptualization of prevailing value innovation models. Content analysis of 

distinctive streams in literature on value innovation frameworks and underlying logic for 

delivering value innovation was the method used. They realized from their study that, because of 

the varying nature of customers’ necessities and skills and augmented rivalry, value intentions 

need to be reassessed to convey better customer responsiveness. They esteem value innovation for 

customer changing needs and experiences, as a management process. In that, management creates 

new product or service traits or delivers new product or services, which is not always necessary 

since existing service and products can be improved to ensure an increase in customer satisfaction 

and value. 

Tung, Chen, & Schuckert(2017) also examined the impact of employee responsiveness and 

organizational reassurance in the direction of customer citizenship behaviour (CCB) on building 

guest satisfaction, perceived value and loyalty. The study employed the scenario-based 

experimental design to focus on one aspect of CCB identified in extant literature: the policing of 

other customers. Their study concluded that mutually employee responsiveness and organizational 

reassurance expressively moderate loyalty, guest satisfaction and perceived value. 

Ye, Dong, & Lee (2017) investigated the long-term impact of service empathy and responsiveness 

on customer satisfaction and profitability in a healthcare context. Their study used 24 quarters of 

longitudinal patient satisfaction data and archival financial data from 25 clinical units in a large 

healthcare institute. Data was analysed using regression. Their discoveries demonstrates that 

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downgrading empathy and responsiveness permits institutes  to lessen costs, ensuing in instant 

productivity benefits; none