Measuring e-business dependability: The employee perspective

Electronic business (e-business) enables employees in organizations to complete jobs more efficiently if they can rely on the dependable functions and services delivered by e-business. Unfortunately, only a limited amount of research has explored the topic of employee perceived dependability of e-business, and the concept lacks measurement tools. Hence, this research develops a validated instrument for measuring e-business dependability (EBD) from an employee perspective. Based on a survey of 152 employees in six large semiconductor manufacturing companies in the Hsinchu Science-based Industrial Park in Taiwan, this research conceptualizes and operationalizes the construct of EBD, and then creates and refines an e-business dependability instrument (EBDI). After rigorous purification procedures, the 22-item EBD instrument with good reliability and validity is presented. Finally, this paper concludes with a discussion of potential applications of this EBD instrument. The e-business dependability instrument and its potential implications will not only aid researchers interested in designing and testing related e-business theories, but also provide direction for managers in improving the quality and performance of e-business. (c) 2009 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.