Factors Influencing Adoption of Digital Marketing by the Supermarkets in Sri Lanka

Abstract

Digital marketing is quickly becoming more popular for product sourcing, allowing businesses to engage with customers and gain a competitive edge. In an ever-changing business environment, supermarkets need to create a competitive advantage by making effective use of digital marketing. However, there has been little empirical study on supermarkets so far. This study investigates the factors that influence digital marketing adoption by supermarkets through the Technology-Organisation-Environment (TOE) framework. This research-in-progress manuscript reports on data collected from 45 management-level employees working at Keells supermarkets in Sri Lanka. Findings revealed that top management support in the organizational context, followed by consumer pressures in the environmental context, security concerns in the technological context, and trading partner pressures in the environmental context, has the greatest influence on supermarkets' behavioural intention to adopt digital marketing. These preliminary findings provide directions for further model refinement and preparation for a larger-scale investigation of this topic.