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A projectives perspective of international “e”‐services

Elaine Ramsey (Elaine Ramsey is a PhD Student at the University of Ulster, Coleraine, Londonderry, Northern Ireland, UK.)
Patrick Ibbotson (Patrick Ibbotson is a Lecturer in E‐commerce at the University of Ulster and Visiting Professor of Electronic Commerce at Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, North Carolina, USA.)
Jim Bell (Jim Bell is Professor of International Business Entrepreneurship at the University of Ulster, Londonderry, Coleraine, Northern Ireland, UK.)
Brendan Gray (Brendan Gray is Associate Professor in Marketing at the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand.)

Qualitative Market Research

ISSN: 1352-2752

Article publication date: 1 March 2004

1746

Abstract

Given the growth of services and their importance in the economy, e‐business and the Internet have the potential to increase the competitiveness and growth of small firms. However, the general pattern is that the smaller the enterprise, the less likely they are to be prepared to adapt their business processes to accommodate this “new” technology. To illustrate the inherent issues this qualitative research utilised various projective techniques: construction, completion, and associative “tests” that have challenged the pseudo‐scientific age of business as a great human “subjective” exercise. A methodology that in the less traditional academic sense is “unusual, intriguing, fun and engaging” is innovatively employed in this small tradable service firm study to facilitate self‐expression among the respondents about particular e‐business scenarios in a less structured, indirect and more imaginative way. Consequently, the depth of the analysis and interpretation generated from the study has provided the researcher with a rich source of new leads and ideas about potential e‐business inhibitors and facilitators among SMEs not previously considered.

Keywords

Citation

Ramsey, E., Ibbotson, P., Bell, J. and Gray, B. (2004), "A projectives perspective of international “e”‐services", Qualitative Market Research, Vol. 7 No. 1, pp. 34-47. https://doi.org/10.1108/13522750410512868

Publisher

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Emerald Group Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2004, Emerald Group Publishing Limited

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