THE IMPACT OF E-PROCUREMENT SYSTEM QUALITIES AND TRUST ON END-USER SATISFACTION

Abstract

The main aim of this study is to investigate the impact of the e-procurement system qualities and trust on the e-procurement system end-user satisfaction, in a mandatory system environment. In line with this objective, three research questions are established: First, what are the e-procurement system qualities that influence trust and end-user satisfaction? Second, what is the impact of trust on end-user satisfaction? Third, does trust mediate the relationship between e-procurement system qualities and end-user satisfaction? This study postulates that suitable e-procurement system qualities and trust, as perceived by system end-users, have influence on the e-procurement system end-user satisfaction. IS success model is adopted to describe the causal linkages between the determinants that affect e-procurement system end-user satisfaction. This research study investigates end-user‘s experiences with e-procurement system and their impact on user‘s belief ‗trust‘ to evaluate e-procurement system end-user satisfaction. The users‘ experiences are classified into direct user‘s experience with the system, represented by perceived e-procurement system quality construct, and indirect user‘s experiences, represented by perceived order fulfillment quality of suppliers as perceived by system end-users [‗buyers‘]. A questionnaire that reflects the proposed framework constructs is developed to collect the primary data for the study. The data is collected from 432 e-procurement system users who are working at the purchasing departments in Malaysian governmental Ministries, Agencies, and Departments. This study is quantitative with a deductive approach. It employs partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLSSEM) to validate and confirm research model to test the relationships being hypothesized. The findings of this study provide empirical evidence for the significant impact of perceived e-procurement system quality, perceived order fulfillment quality, and trust on e-procurement end-user satisfaction. Furthermore, the study findings approve the influence of both system qualities, namely perceived e-procurement quality and perceived order fulfillment quality on trust. The findings reveal that perceived eprocurement quality positively influences perceived order fulfillment quality. Finally, trust is found to have partial mediating effect between system qualities and eprocurement system end-user satisfaction.