Technological, organizational and environmental factor: the mediation of e-commerce and moderation of entrepreneurial competencies on SME performance

In the 21st century, e-commerce is essential for a rapidly changing business environment and increases the firm's overall value. The study aims to explore the influence of technological (relative advantage and technology readiness), organizational (cost of
adoption and top management support), and environmental (government support and competitive pressure) factors of the TOE model with mediation effect of the use of ecommerce on manufacturing SMEs' performance. Also, the present study includes the mediator variable e-commerce use between TOE factors and firm performance. The research framework was developed based on the resource-based view (RBV) combined with the diffusion of innovation (DOI) theory and TOE model. The research chose a
stratified proportionate random sampling method to collect data by selecting four (04) heterogeneous strata (textile, leather, sports, and surgical). The 800 questionnaires were distributed to top and middle-level managers of Pakistan's manufacturing SMEs. Thus, 368 were returned. The study applied partial least square structural equation modeling (PLSSEM) by utilizing the SmartPLS3 to investigate the hypothesized relationships and SPSS 24 for the data screening. The result showed that technological factors, directly and indirectly, have a significant positive relationship with e-commerce and firm performance. However, organizational factors, top management support has proved a significant positive influence on the use of e-commerce directly and indirectly. Furthermore, in environmental factors, competitive pressure found a significant influence on e-commerce usage and subsequently on firm performance. The study provides theoretical and practical
implications. The contribution of the study is introducing entrepreneurial competencies as a moderator between
e-commerce use and firm performance. The study helps SME
managers and practitioners understand the underlying factors for the successful implementation of e-commerce.