A Unified Model of B2B E-Marketplace Adoption: Integrating the Transactional and Relational Perspectives

B2B electronic marketplaces have been increasingly transforming the way that organizations conduct trading activities, few studies have systematically examined factors that influence organizations´ adoption of such innovative business channels. Drawn on the transaction cost theory and the relational exchange theory, this paper proposes a unified model of e- marketplace adoption by integrating transactional factors (i.e., perceived benefits, readiness, network effects, and assert specificity), along with relational factors (i.e., trust in a trading partner, trust in an e-marketplace, and pressure). We conduct a Delphi study and find that the unified model can largely explain organizational buyers´ adoption of e-marketplaces.