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Exploring technological and social barriers hindering growth of e-commerce

in Pakistan

Thesis · February 2016

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4431.8485

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Exploring technological and
social barriers hindering growth
of e-commerce in Pakistan
Emy Svetlana Ågren

Department of Computer and Systems

Sciences
Degree project 30 HE credits
Degree subject (Computer and Systems Sciences)
Degree project at the master level
Spring term 2015
Supervisor: Harko Verhagen
Reviewer: Sirkku Männikkö- Barbutiu
Swedish title: Utforskning av tekniska och sociala hinder som
begränsar tillväxten av e- handel i Pakistan
Exploring technological and
social barriers hindering growth
of e-commerce in Pakistan
Emy Ågren

Abstract
Over the past few years, remarkable expansions in Information and Communication Technology (ICT)
have opened up new ways of conducting business around the globe by providing key solutions for the
comprehensive development. Therefore, the application of ICT based e-commerce techniques
increasing constantly in the developing world for business growth. Pakistan is one of the countries of
the developing world where the penetration of information technology is rising rapidly. However,
despite the increased use of ICT, the use of e- commerce is still limited in the society. Current case study
primarily aimed to explore the possible Information Technology (IT) related factors which are
preventing the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan. Comparisons are presented to investigate the
technological and cultural barriers which are limiting the diffusion of e-commerce in the country. The
survey strategy used in this thesis helped to gather useful data of qualitative and qualitative nature. In
this study, 51 participants belonging to different genders, age groups, education backgrounds and IT-
experience participated. The mixed method approach is used for analyzing the data and presenting the
results. The present case study reveals that e-commerce in Pakistan is used mainly by the male
population and also the overall know-how of e-commerce in the country is still very low. The work also
identifies various hindrances in the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan and also presents useful relation
between education, IT skill of users and its effect on the overall use of technology, the relation between
the daily usage of the Internet and its influence on the implementation of e-commerce. Finally, the thesis
summarizes useful findings of this study followed by recommendations indicating how to reduce the
effects of technological and cultural barriers, in order to augment the diffusion of e-commerce, in
Pakistan.

Keywords
E- Commerce, Barriers to e- commerce, Pakistan, Digital divide, Developing country

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Acknowledgements
I would like to take this opportunity and express my gratitude to all the individuals who helped me in
conducting this research. I wish to express my sincere thanks to my supervisor, Harko Verhagen,
Associate Professor at the Department of Computer and System Sciences at Stockholm University, for
guiding me through the learning process of this thesis through his supportive and encouraging feedback.
Despite your overloaded schedule you always found time in providing me with valuable comments for
this thesis and without your guidance, this study would not be possible. My warmest gratitude goes to
all the participants of this survey, who willingly shared their precious time in taking part of this study.
Your valuable opinions made it possible to conduct the research. After all, I would like to thank all my
teachers at DSV, who helped me through reaching this stage. Your encouragement and sharing of
knowledge through the whole program was enormous and awoke my interest in continuing the studies
within the field. In the end, I would like to thank my family and loved ones for support and
encouragement through the entire process.

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Table of Contents
1. Introduction.................................................................................... 7
1.1. Background .............................................................................................. 7
1.2. Previous research ...................................................................................... 8
1.3. Problem discussion .................................................................................... 9
1.4. Choice of the country ................................................................................10
1.5. Importance of this work ............................................................................11
1.6. Aim of the research ..................................................................................11
1.7. Objectives ...............................................................................................11
1.8. Research questions ...................................................................................11
1.9. Limitations ..............................................................................................12
2. Theoretical framework .................................................................. 12
2.1. Developing countries and e- commerce .......................................................12
2.2. Overview of Pakistani’s use of PC’s, Internet and development .......................13
2.3. The digital divide in Pakistan ......................................................................16
2.4. E- Commerce in Pakistan ..........................................................................17
3. Methodology ................................................................................. 17
3.1.1. Brief overview of different research approaches .....................................17
3.2. Choice of Research Approach .....................................................................18
3.2.1. Choice of Survey Strategy ...................................................................19
3.3. Choice of Data collection method ................................................................19
3.3.1. Questionnaire ....................................................................................20
3.3.2. Choice of data analysis technique .........................................................20
3.4. Application of the Research Strategy...........................................................21
3.4.1. Application of Survey Questionnaire .....................................................21
3.4.2. Application of Sampling strategy ..........................................................22
3.4.3. Practical arrangements .......................................................................23
3.4.4. Data analysis .....................................................................................23
3.4.5. Validity and reliability of the data .........................................................24
3.5. Tools used in the study .............................................................................24
3.6. Bias ........................................................................................................25
3.7. Research ethics ........................................................................................25
4. Results and Analysis ..................................................................... 26
4.1. Personal information of the respondents......................................................26
4.2. Level of know-how of IT devices of the respondents .....................................29
4.3. Emotional response while dealing with IT devices and applications .................32
4.4. Know-how of e-commerce .........................................................................33
4.5. Identification of potential barriers in the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan .....36

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5. Discussions ................................................................................... 40
5.1. Main findings in the study..........................................................................44
5.2. The recommendations to reduce the barriers ..................................................46
5.2. Originality and contributions to the field .........................................................46
5.3. Future research ..........................................................................................47
References ............................................................................................ 48
Appendix 1- Questionnaire .................................................................... 52
Appendix 2- The covering letter ............................................................ 56
Appendix 3- The consent form............................................................... 57

List of Figures
Figure 1: Broadband penetration in Pakistan in recent years (PTA, 2014) ........................................... 14
Figure 2: Tele-Density in Pakistan in 2014 (PTA, 2014) ...................................................................... 15
Figure 3: Growth of Mobile Subscribers in Pakistan segmented by operators (Dawood, 2014) .......... 15
Figure 4: Relation between gender and age IT started being used ........................................................ 27
Figure 5: Frequency of daily IT use by the respondents ....................................................................... 28
Figure 6: Distribution of number of hours IT is being used depending on gender and education ........ 28
Figure 7: Ownership of the technology device among male and female participants ........................... 30
Figure 8: Relation between gender and how long technology device is being used among all the
participants of the survey ...................................................................................................................... 31
Figure 9: Relation between the Internet access and gender................................................................... 31
Figure 10: Relation between level of education and the Internet access ............................................... 32
Figure 11: Participants feelings when interacting with IT .................................................................... 33
Figure 12: Relation between gender and know- how about the e-commerce........................................ 34
Figure 13: Relation between why participants of different genders are not using e-commerce ........... 35
Figure 14: Relation between gender and cultural barriers according to the participants ...................... 36
Figure 15: Relation between gender and possible barriers .................................................................... 37
Figure 16: Relation between gender and participant's opinions regarding e-commerce ....................... 37
Figure 17: Participants emotional perception regarding e-commerce ................................................... 38
Figure 18: Gender based opinion regarding the bright future of e-commerce in Pakistan.................... 39
Figure 19: Future of e-commerce in Pakistan ....................................................................................... 39

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List of abbreviations
ICT Information and Communication Technology
e- Electronic
USD United States Dollars
B2B Business-to-Business
B2C Business-to-Customer
IT Information Technology
PC Personal Computer
3G Third generation of mobile communications technology
4G Fourth generation of mobile communications technology
MS Microsoft

6
 1. Introduction
1.1. Background
Over the recent few years, wonderful developments in Information and Communication Technologies
(ICT) have opened up new ways of conducting business by expanding the markets and also by making
humans more productive in many areas of life (Unwin, 2009). Therefore, ICT is being promoted and
recognized as a key solution for comprehensive development by utilizing the tools which may empower
people, enhance their skills, increase productivity, and improve governance at all levels (Maier and Nair-
Reichert, 2007). One of the techniques offered by ICT is electronic commerce (e- commerce). The work
of Schware (2005) stated that many companies in the developing countries, which were using ICT
showed faster sales and growth. It was also shown in (Schware, 2005) that the overall productivity of
the workforce and the factory also increased significantly as compared to the companies which did not
use ICT. The same trend that e-commerce is playing a constructive role in helping to develop businesses
can be observed even today. Recent reports of World Trade Organization (WTO) have also shown that
micro, small and medium level enterprises have not only raised their business performances, but have
also helped to improve the livelihoods in some of the world’s poorest regions and communities (WTO,
2013) through the adoption of e-commerce.
E- Commerce is defined differently by many research authors, e-business and e-commerce experts such
as (Iqbal et al., 2012; Ibikunle, 2013). However, The World Trade Organization (WTO, 2013) defined
e- commerce quite comprehensively as “the sale or purchase of goods or services conducted over
computer networks by methods specifically designed for the purpose of receiving or placing orders.
Even though goods or services are ordered electronically, the payment and the ultimate delivery of
goods or services do not have to be conducted online.”
Over the recent few years, the growth of e-commerce has been enormous and it is still exhibiting an
upward trend. Furthermore, it is envisaged that by 2017, Business-to-Business (B2B) and Business-to-
Customer (B2C), e-commerce transactions will account for about 5% of all inter-company transactions
and retail sales (WTO, 2013). Several studies have shown that e-commerce has changed the way
business is being conducted (Makame et al., 2014). Moreover, e-commerce is offering economic
development by becoming a driving force of the global economy (Schware, 2005) as it is rapidly
replacing old ways of doing business with more easier and accessible ways (Makame et al., 2014). It is
worth mentioning that e-commerce is not only providing the easiest ways of doing shopping but also is
allowing enterprises to generate efficiency gains at all the stages of their production and processes and,
thus, resolving issues which matters for development (Odedra- Straub, 2003).
On the other hand, there are also persisting some issues, such as digital divide, which can limit and even
may prevent the adoption of (B2B) e-commerce by customers (Odedra-Straub, 2003). It is also discussed

7
by several researchers that the adoption of e-commerce is challenging for many developing countries
despite all its proven advantages. In this regard, there exist many barriers, which include economic,
sociopolitical and cognitive aspects (Kshetri, 2007). Specifically, these barriers can be elaborated as
unavailability of credit cards, complex legal procedures for e-commerce and lack of awareness and
knowledge (Kshetri, 2007). Furthermore, security concerns, having no possibility of touching the
products physically prior to its purchase, language and geographical barriers (e- Commerce White paper,
2008), confusing electronic interfaces, bad user-technological experience and usability problems (e-
Commerce White paper, 2008; Chen and Pu, 2014; Hasan et al., 2013) are also increasing consumer’s
hesitation in doing online shopping and, hence, hindering the successful and faster implementation of
e-commerce in many developing countries (Yousaf et al., 2012).

1.2. Previous research

Notable research has been conducted on the named topic in many developed and developing countries.
For example, Odedra-Straub (2003) discussed in detail the important issues pertaining to the
development with the help of e-commerce. In this work Odedra-Straub (2003) is comparing different
reports and describing in clear points why e- commerce is leading the nations to the heights of
developments. In another work, conducted by Makame et al. (2014), the authors have presented their
research study, by focusing on one of the African’s developing countries-Tanzania. The research is a
case study which is aiming to analyze the factors influencing the adoption of e-commerce in Tanzania.
The results of the research of Makame et al. (2014) showed that technology infrastructure is a significant
factor in e-commerce adoption, and national level Government policy initiatives are essential to build
the trust of population in online e-commerce technology in Tanzania. In another work, Mohammed
(2014) focused on the online shopping intentions of young consumers in Jordan. Ahmed (2011)
examined e- purchasing intentions in developing countries in general. Ahmed (2011) found a significant
correlation between customer’s e-purchase intentions and factors such as education, income, age,
reputation of e-shop, ease of using e-commerce, etc. However, both Mohammed (2014) and Ahmed
(2011) focused on the consumer’s direct experience of e-commerce as well as described how certain
points of views on e- commerce may affect customer’s intentions towards online purchases. Chen and
Macredie (2010) critically reviewed and evaluated the work of several researchers with respect to how
human factors can affect web-based interactions. Their research is pointing out that human factors such
as gender, prior knowledge and cognitive styles are playing an important role in the interaction with
technology and the use of ICT. In another study, Maier and Nair- Reichert (2007) presented an insight
regarding the gender issues, as well as pointed out that the empowerment of women through ICT and e-
commerce is directly linked to a country’s development. The societies, which discriminate or restrict
females to take part in the national growth, are less likely to grow economically and, therefore less likely
to reduce the poverty. Kshetri (2007) on the other hand, discussed in his research the possible barriers,

8
such as economic, sociopolitical and cognitive, which may limit the adoption of e-commerce in
developing countries. It should be noted that both studies conducted by Maier and Nair- Reichert (2007)
and Kshetri (2007) do not discuss human factors and possible IT-related issues which may hinder the
adoption of e- commerce in developing countries.
From a demographic point of view, the focus of this case study is a densely populated developing
country in South Asia, with almost 200 Million inhabitants, Pakistan. It could be seen that there has
been conducted different research on the prospects of e-commerce in Pakistan. Some research focused,
primarily, on the investigation of possible barriers to e-commerce in this country, as well as included
possible suggestions for bridging the digital divide (Research and Markets, 2015; IORMA, 2013).
Qureshi et al. (2014) conducted research on Pakistani consumers’ attitude and behaviour towards online
shopping. Yousaf et al. (2012) conducted a similar study in order to identify the reasons for consumer’s
hesitation in doing online shopping in Pakistan. However, research of Yousaf et al. (2012) had limited
scope and was only focused on younger students at a particular University.
Khan et al. (2012) focused on the consequences and prospects of online marketing in Pakistan. In
sequence, Saeed et al. (2013) explored the usability issues which may hinder the growth of e-commerce
in the country. In particular, they evaluated e-government and e-commerce websites. In addition, Sattar
(2014) focused on investigating 4 factors which may affect the adoption of e- commerce by individual
customers in Pakistan. These four factors were Time, Quality, Privacy/Risks and Price (Sattar, 2014).

1.3. Problem discussion

Pakistan is one of the prominent developing countries in the World, where Internet penetration is
growing fast and, despite this fact, e-commerce is not known among the major proportion of the society
(Research and Markets, 2015; Youngblood, 2014). It is also important to mention that the country has
alarmingly low literacy rates, especially among women. Also, in this particular society, discrimination
of women in different stages, both personally and professionally, is very frequent (Youngblood, 2014).
In addition to the cultural issues, there exists certain technological barriers as well which may limit the
swift applicability of e-commerce (Research and Markets, 2015; Youngblood, 2014). There have been
published several studies on similar topics, which discussed the technology readiness for e-business,
factors affecting adaptation of e- commerce, critical success parameters, challenges and barriers in the
growth of e-commerce, factors hindering online purchasing etc. (Makame et al., 2014; Ahmed, 2011).
Apart from focusing on investigating the above mentioned technical aspects, there is also useful research
conducted by Sohaib and Kang (2014), exploring the cultural aspects, which are hindering the growth
of technology in Pakistan. They also pointed out that, over the past few years, the research interest to
explore the culture-related aspects has also grown significantly and has been recognized as an influential
factor in online consumers’ behaviour (Sohaib and Kang, 2014). Qureshi et al. (2014) conducted a
quantitative research with the help of survey strategy and an online questionnaire, which identified

9
possible barriers preventing Pakistani consumers from doing shopping online. This research focused on
the adoption of e- commerce in relation to such barriers as age, relationship status, education level,
occupation and income level. This research found that adoption of e- commerce in female consumers is
lower than in male. However, no relation to age, relationship status or occupation has been found with
research conducted by Qureshi et al. (2014). It is important to note that the focus of their work was
considerably broad and did not specifically demonstrated which IT-related barriers were being faced by
males and females of different ages in correlation to their level of IT experiences as well as their
educational backgrounds. Moreover, their work did not present any specific comparison of different
gender’s perceptions regarding barriers to online shopping.
In order to improve the adoption of e- commerce in the country, there is a special need for strategic
planning and investigation of existing hinders (Saeed et al., 2013). It is found, to the best of the literature
study presented in this thesis, that there is no considerable research has been undertaken until now,
which is investigating if there are any possible IT-related issues which may limit the growth of e-
commerce among citizens of different developing societies, and, especially in Pakistan, with a focus on
comparison of such important human factors as gender, age, educational backgrounds and IT-
experiences of citizens, it might be useful conducting a study which is investigating named issues.
Based on the above mentioned reasons, the primary motivation of this thesis is to investigate which
possible IT- related factors can hinder the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan in the context of various
technological and human factors such as genders, age groups and backgrounds. Based on the results of
this study, the work also presents possible suggestions to improve the adoption and growth of e-
commerce in Pakistan.

1.4. Choice of the country

The primary reason for selecting this country for this study is based on the fact that Pakistan is the 6th
largest country by population in the world where the Internet penetration has been increasing remarkably
over the last few years, nevertheless, the adoption of e- commerce in the country is still not visible.
Pakistan is one of those countries where still a vast potential exists to increase the market share of e-
commerce, by effectively addressing IT- related issues as well as exploring and comparing human
related retarding factors. Furthermore, the choice was also based on the facts that Pakistan is a country
where the digital, cultural and infrastructural divide is still very wide. Moreover, there is limited research
carried out up till now describing which IT- related barriers are hindering the growth of e- commerce in
the country taking into account gender, age, education and level of IT experience of the citizens.

10
 1.5. Importance of this work
Internet technologies have been changing and improving the developments nationwide in Pakistan. As
pointed out earlier, despite increased use of ICT, the growth of e- commerce is still very limited in the
country (Khan et al., 2012). Several barriers, such as gender discrimination, level of education, age and
IT- experience might have a significant influence on the citizens and their habits of the adoption of e-
commerce (Research and Markets, 2015; Youngblood, 2014). As previous research on the similar topic
conducted by different researchers (Research and Markets, 2015; Youngblood, 2014; Maier and Nair-
Reichert, 2007; Yousaf et al., 2012, Nazir et al., 2012; Sattar, 2014; Qureshi et al., 2014) did not focus
primarily on presenting in-depth comparisons regarding why the citizens of different genders, age
groups, educational backgrounds and IT- expertise are using or not using e-commerce, therefore, the
focus of this work mainly encompass to investigate the named above issues.
It is worth mentioning that since this study is focusing on exploring and comparing named above human-
technology factors, the results of this research are useful for the further studies on the similar topic,
which may also be helpful in bridging the digital divide and, also to some extent assisting in getting rid
of possible barriers.

1.6. Aim of the research

The aim of this thesis is to explore and compare the cultural and IT-related barriers which are hindering
male and female citizens from adopting e-commerce and, therefore, hindering the growth of e-commerce
in Pakistan.

1.7. Objectives
 To explore how the key factors such as gender, age, education and IT-experiences of the citizens
are limiting the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan
 To investigate possible technological-related issues and reservations which are hindering
citizens from the use of e-commerce
 To present recommendations to address the identified barriers in order to expand the e-
commerce in the country

1.8. Research questions

Which factors, whether technological or social are hindering the adoption of e-commerce by Pakistani
citizens belonging to different backgrounds?

11
Which gender-based human factors may affect the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan and to what
extent?

1.9. Limitations
The focus of this thesis primarily encompass to investigate whether the four key factors such as gender,
age, education and level of IT- experiences may limit the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan. The data
acquisition was done only from Pakistani citizens belonging mostly to various professional and
academic backgrounds residing in various parts of the country through an online survey questionnaire.
One of the potential limitations of this study may be that the responses of a small sample, from the whole
population, are collected and, as a consequence, the results cannot be strictly generalized. Moreover, it
is important to note that this work did not discuss any particular online chain or focus on any specific
examples where the e-commerce succeeded or failed. Furthermore, the main interest of this research
was focusing on the citizens who are using the Internet and having email addresses. Therefore, those
citizens who cannot use the ICT (i.e. the Internet and do not have email address) were not a part of this
study as, most probably, they are not using e-commerce or online shopping.

2. Theoretical framework
2.1. Developing countries and e- commerce
As mentioned in previous section, e- commerce brought several benefits in our daily life, such as the
diffusion of new information and technology, sales promotions, friendly customer services and effective
collaboration of supply chains (Suhail et al., 2009). Furthermore, e-commerce helps reducing the costs
of the products and services as well as creating new job opportunities (Khan, 2013). Another significant
advantage of e-commerce is that it helps organizations to enhance their productivity by reducing running
costs and making the business more competitive with other organizations (Moomal and Masrom, 2015).
Additionally, e-commerce allows for higher profits and margins as the operating cost of running a
business is less (WTO, 2013). Another motivating advantage of e-commerce is that it has a great
potential for empowerment of women, particularly in the developing countries, by effectively utilizing
their skills. Best practices have shown (Maier and Nair- Reichert, 2007) with the different cases where
the e-commerce projects tap the skills of women and exploit their potential. It is also seen that women
demonstrated their success in both cases: women as owner of e-commerce business and also women as
e-commerce consumer (Maier and Nair- Reichert, 2007). Nevertheless, it is important to mention that
the growth of e-commerce had also made it clear that consumer behaviour had changed (Ahmed, 2011).

12
E-Commerce had flourished predominantly in the developed countries at a fast pace, where its benefits
have been realized quite swiftly (Suhail et al., 2009). However, there are still many countries in the
world where awareness regarding e-commerce among the people is very low, particularly in the
developing nations, where the level of adoption of e- commerce is different from the developed ones
(Khan et al., 2013). For example, in Asia; the know-how of online shopping is limited compared to
Europe and America (Sohaib and Kang, 2014).
For instance there might be several reasons why e-commerce is still not popular among citizens in the
developing nations. These reasons include lack of infrastructure, low average income, lack of credit
cards penetration in the society, the security of personal data, lack of customer’s trust in online
transactions and slow progress of e-commerce in the country may restrict adoption of e- commerce. In
addition, Ibikunle (2013) is pointing out that access to technology, infrastructure and software are also
playing a major role in the adoption of e-commerce in developing countries. It is also worth mentioning
that PC penetration is still very low in many developing nations compared to the developed nations
(Ibikunle, 2013). Moreover, digital divide (Ibikunle, 2013) and cultural issues are also important causes
to explore (Sohaib and Kang, 2014). Kshetri (2007). Furthermore, emphasis can also be made on
cognitive barriers such as knowledge, skills, lack of confidence in using ICT and other technologies,
educational issues and consumer’s age might limit the adoption of e- commerce in developing countries.
Qureshi et al. (2014) pointing out that demographic profile, partially, has a link with online shopping.
Gender and family, socioeconomic status and living environment are also important factors to mention.
Overall, Pakistan is one of such developing countries where adoption of e-commerce is extremely
limited.

2.2. Overview of Pakistani’s use of PC’s,

Internet and development
Pakistan is the 6th largest country in the world (Research and Markets, 2015) located in South Asia,
bordering the Arabian Sea, between India on the east and Iran and Afghanistan on the west and with
almost 200 million population. 36% of the total population is living in urban places and 64% in rural
(Youngblood, 2014; Sohaib and Kang, 2014). As far as gender is concerned, 78.9 million are women
(Youngblood, 2014). In addition, the country has the highest ratio of young people in the World with
over 54% of young people of age under 24 years (Index Mundi, 2014), overall, 91% of country’s
population fall under the age of 54 years. In 2013, the income per capita in the country was around
$1275 per year (World Bank, 2013).
Today, we are living in the world where ICT has been penetrated into almost all activities of our daily
lives (Moomal and Masrom, 2015), and it has become the prime focus of technological evolution around
the globe. For the last two decades, there could be observed enormous growth in the use of the IT for

13
the business purposes globally (Moomal and Masrom, 2015). It is important to note that world’s
broadband subscribers have increased with the major proportion of users belong to Asia. Similarly,
Internet connectivity in Pakistan has also been growing rapidly for the past few years (PTA, 2014).
Broadband penetration in the country has been increasing and, as per data, 3.79 million users are using
broadband (PTA, 2014) as presented in Figure 1.

Figure 1: Broadband penetration in Pakistan in recent years (PTA, 2014)

Figure 1 shows that even though the number of broadband users has been increasing rapidly every year,
it reached only around 2.07% (i.e. 3.79 Million) in 2013-14.
It is also interesting to note that the total ‘Tele-Density’ in the country has reached 79, 6% in 2014 (see
Fig. 2), where the mobile segment was the main contributor (PTA, 2014). The Tele-Density refers to
the number of main telephone lines in the country for every 100 inhabitants. The term is also used to
refer to the level of a country’s telecommunications infrastructure (Mbarika et al., 2003). The growth
trend for the Tele-Density could be observed from Figure 2.

14
 Figure 2: Tele-Density in Pakistan in 2014 (PTA, 2014)

Figure 1 and 2 highlight the fact that even though almost 77% of the population is using mobile phones,
there are still only 2.07% broadband users (PTA, 2014). It is shown in Figure 3 that the number of
cellular mobile subscribers in Pakistan has reached 139.9 million by the end of 2014 (Dawood, 2014).
Figure 3 reveals the share of 5 major mobile companies in Pakistan from 2009 to 2014.

Figure 3: Growth of Mobile Subscribers in Pakistan segmented by operators (Dawood, 2014)

Recent studies showed that fast penetration of 3G and 4G connections are predicting that the number of
mobile broadband subscribers will rise up to 45-47 million in Pakistan by 2020 (Research and Markets,
2015; Dawood, 2014; PTA, 2014). As the population of the country expects to reach 226 million by
2025, mobile broadband penetration is expecting to reach 79 million, according to Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA, 2014).

15
 2.3. The digital divide in Pakistan
Despite the considerable growth of ICT in Pakistan, there are difficulties and challenges when it comes
to adoption of e-commerce in the country. According to the latest reports, one of the major challenges
is unpopular online payment infrastructure, since paying by cash remains the most popular way of
payment in the country (Research and Markets, 2015). Trust deficit and lack of security for online
transactions is another important issue (Research and Markets, 2015), as most of the people are reluctant
to rely on e-commerce due to insecurity and lack of awareness of e-banking (Moomal and Masrom,
2015). It is important to note that Pakistan was ranked on 104th place out of 144 countries by “The world
economic forum’s Global information technology Report” in 2013 which shows that e- Readiness of the
country is not sufficient for the wider adoption of the e-commerce by all segments of the society
(Moomal and Masrom, 2015). Therefore, inadequate infrastructures could also be considered as one of
the main reasons why the popularity of e-commerce is not increasing in the country (IORMA, 2013).
Furthermore, the low literacy rate might also be one of the barriers when it comes to adoption of ICT
and e- commerce. Though, the encouraging fact is that the literacy rate in the country has been increasing
between the period 2010 to 2015 (UNESCO, 2015), there are still only 51 million literate adults in
Pakistan which is very low. However, overall, 55% of the population can read and write to some extent
(Mundi Index, 2014).
Another important phenomenon to take into consideration is the existence of gender discrimination in
Pakistan. When it comes to gender issues, it could be observed that there is a clear gender inequality in
the country (Bukhari and Ramzan, 2013), where the women are being widely discriminated and many
of them are encouraged to stay at home (Youngblood, 2014). This is happening more frequently in rural
areas of the country (Shah and Baporikar, 2013). Gender discrimination is deep-rooted as a result of
various social factors over the history of the country (Bukhari and Ramzan, 2013). Many times, limited
access to public facilities by women is “explained” by socio-cultural norms that constrain female
mobility in order to protect the honour of the family (Shah and Baporikar, 2013). Maier and Nair-
Reichert (2007) have also pointed out that women are facing more barriers to adopt ICT. This may be
due to lack of training and access, high cost of equipment and connection as well as non- user
friendliness of hard-and software (Maier and Nair- Reichert, 2007).
The study conducted by IORMA (2013) offered certain suggestions regarding how to bridge the digital
divide by focusing on improving the connectivity, e-leadership, e-business climate, uniformly spreading
of broadband in the entire country as well as improvements in the security of the users’ data in order to
reduce the cybercrime (IORMA, 2013).

16
 2.4. E- Commerce in Pakistan
As mentioned in section 1.3 and 1.5, despite the growth of ICT in the country the e- commerce adoption
remains, in principle, in its embryonic stage (Moomal and Masrom, 2015; Sohaib and Kang, 2014).
However, the country is gradually moving toward the digital modes and during this process is facing
good and bad experiences (Moomal and Masrom, 2015). Citizens, in turn, are also starting to be aware
of the fact that business on the Internet is providing many benefits (IORMA, 2013). Research conducted
by Qureshi et al. (2014) and Moomal and Masrom (2015) is pointing out that Pakistan is facing many
challenges and that is why the consumer’s online purchase rate is very low. On the other hand, the
economic theories are suggesting that the diffusion of new technologies can have significant impact on
economic growth and development (Moomal and Masrom, 2015) and the country has tremendous
potential for the development of e- commerce because of its large population and high proportion of
young people in the society (Research and Markets, 2015).

3. Methodology
All research has to follow a set of rules which researcher carefully chooses before starting the work.
Research strategies and methods are used for structuring every scientific study, helping collecting the
data (Denscombe, 2007) and describing how the research process will be done (Sullivan, 2001). The
main purpose of defining research methodology is to set path for the entire research of any project. In
the present work, the methodology helped defining the mechanisms of desired data acquisition method,
analysis and processing of the acquired data as well as facilitated presenting and discussing the results
obtained from the analysis which consequently lead to providing the answers to the research question.
It is important to note that there are several different research approaches, being employed by the
researchers, such as experiments, ethnography, phenomenology, grounded theory, mixed methods,
action research, surveys and case studies (Denscombe, 2007). Before embarking into the details of the
research approach used in this study, it is useful to provide a brief overview of the main research
approaches, being used in the literature, in order to better explain the reasons for the research approach
selected for this thesis.

3.1.1. Brief overview of different research approaches

The first approach to start the discussion is the experiment approach, which is aiming on examining the
properties of, and relationship between, specific factors. The experiments usually take place under
specific conditions, and usually conducted in the laboratories (Denscombe, 2007). As the current study
will not include the experiments of any kind, this approach was not suitable for the research.

17
Ethnography is another strategy, which literally means a description of people or cultures, and often
associates with the anthropology. As the strategy mainly focusing on the lifestyle, understandings and
beliefs of people (Denscombe, 2007) it was not adopted for this research.
The next is the phenomenology approach, which is mainly concerned with human experiences and views
of the individuals, and is associated with humanistic research of small- scales. The phenomenon in this
approach is seen as something that stands in need of explanation. This approach relies on processes of
categorizing things, abstracting, quantifying and theorizing them, as well as concentrating on the matters
directly experienced by the people. The main advantages to this approach are that it offers the prospect
of authentic accounts of complex phenomena and is focusing on the experiences (Denscombe, 2007).
As this approach has a humanistic style of research and is focusing on the ways people are interpreting
the social phenomena, it could not be appropriate for this study.
Grounded theory is another approach which is used for developing the theory by letting the theory to
emerge from the data (Sullivan, 2001). The studies where grounded theory approach is used will usually
be recognized as qualitative research in the research community. It is used whenever the researcher has
an aim to explore new territory in terms of the subject manner of their investigation or the extent to
which relevant theories have already been developed. This approach is also popular in studies of human
interaction. Main advantages of the approach are that there is no specific method which is linked by this
approach and, therefore it is fairly adaptable. The disadvantages are that it is difficult to predict the
nature of the sample which will be used for the data collection. There are also chances that the theory
generated from the data might ignore the influence of social, economic and political factors (Denscombe,
2007). Based on the aims and the objectives of current research it was clear that the study aimed to
gather either quantitative or mixed data. The research findings, on the other hand had to extend the
theory but not create a new one, and therefore this approach was not suitable for this study.
Next approach is the action research approach, which is aiming to solve practical and real- world’s
problems, typically at work and in organizational settings. This approach is discovering more about
phenomena, and is a cyclical process where the research involves a feedback loop. There are several
benefits to this approach, such as that it allows using different techniques for the collection of the data.
The disadvantages are that it limits the feasibility of exercising control over factors of relevance to the
research, as well as it usually involves additional work (Denscombe, 2007). It could be concluded that
action approach was not suitable for this study either. Section below discusses in detail the “case study”
approach, which was selected for this research.

3.2. Choice of Research Approach

The “Case Study Approach” was used in this work as it was the most suitable approach to deal with the
research questions mentioned in Section 1.8. Typically, a case study is aiming to provide an in-depth
understanding of a particular case (Denscombe, 2007), and in this study it helped to explore a problem

18
by using a specific case as a specific illustration (Creswell, 2013). This approach is suitable where the
researcher has little control over the events, which are occurring naturally (Denscombe, 2007) within a
case or a bounded system (Creswell, 2013). Current thesis is focusing and exploring a particular case of
e-commerce adoption in Pakistan, therefore this study could be identified as a single instrumental case
study (Creswell, 2013). Denscombe (2007) mentioned several advantages of this approach, one of which
is that it allows researchers to utilize multiple methods and multiple sources for the collection of the
data (Denscombe, 2007), such as direct observations, interviews, document analysis, etc. or
combinations of these methods (Sullivan, 2001). Apart from discussing the advantages of this approach,
it is also important to know the main disadvantages of this approach. The data collected with the help
of case studies may be vulnerable to criticism in relation to the credibility of generalizations made from
the findings, as well as approach is producing mainly “soft” data (Denscombe, 2007). However, based
on the phenomenon which is studied in this case, as well as looking into the research questions, the
present case gathered an important mixture of qualitative and quantitative data with the help of a method
within a Survey strategy.

3.2.1. Choice of Survey Strategy

In order to adopt the useful method for the data gathering for this case study, the ‘Survey Strategy’ was
adopted. The survey strategy is a data- collection technique in which information is gathered from the
individuals by having them respond to different questions (Sullivan, 2001). A survey research strategy
endeavors to discover relationships among variables and is the most common form of the research
strategy in the area of social sciences. The strategy is mainly producing quantitative data (Denscombe,
2007). This strategy allowed researcher to access a wider group of participants from every background
within the mentioned sampling frame, which was the easiest and the most feasible way of collecting the
data for this case study. This strategy is also relatively cheaper, according to Denscombe (2007)
compared to other strategies and its adoption also saved much time. However, despite all the advantages
with this strategy the researcher should be aware of the disadvantages with the surveys. First of all, it
came not as surprise that surveys were easily ignored in this study. Moreover, the data could not be
checked for honesty and it was the biggest bias (Denscombe, 2007). It is important to note that within
this strategy, there are different research methods available in order to collect the data required for the
analysis.

3.3. Choice of Data collection method

The research methodology in this thesis primarily aimed to collect the relevant data from the selected
sample frames belonging to different age groups and backgrounds. The data collected for this study was
comprised of qualitative and quantitative nature. In order to obtain the appropriate data to deal with the

19
research questions mentioned in Section 1.8, a detailed research questionnaire was used. According to
Denscombe (2007), the data could be collected through various ways, such as through questionnaires,
online or direct interviews etc. (Denscombe, 2007). However, as it could be seen from earlier research
in the similar area, conducted by Yousaf et al. (2012), Qureshi et al. (2014) and Sattar (2014) etc., the
researchers had chosen questionnaire as their primary research methodology.

3.3.1. Questionnaire
After having gone through all the possible data collection methods such as direct observations, document
surveys, structured and un-structured interviews and questionnaires (Denscombe, 2007), it has been
found that both questionnaires and interviews are suitable data collection methodologies for this study.
It is important to note that both of these data collection methods come under the domain of survey
strategy. However, the interviews required the researcher’s presence in the country where research
supposed to be conducted, which made is not feasible due to various reasons including the time
constraints as well as other limitations. Skype interviews could not be possible either due to lower
broadband capacity in the country, time differences and availability of the participants. Taking into
consideration all the advantages and disadvantages of the above mentioned methods, it has been chosen
to collect the data for this research through an open-ended questionnaire, which also made it possible to
reach a wide group of IT users (Denscombe, 2007).
The questionnaire can be of different kinds, according to Denscombe (2007). For example, they can be
done through distribution via post or the Internet. The major disadvantage, to both types of
questionnaires, is their lower response rate. However, according to Denscombe (2007) this also depends
on, to some extent, how the questionnaire is presented to the participants. Another problem may be that
the same participant can fill the questionnaires multiple times, and, therefore the data can be polluted.
However, as mentioned before by Denscombe (2007), the main benefits of the questionnaire data
collection method are that it helped save the time, financial resources and also made it feasible to access
a wider group of participants within the mentioned sampling frame even from long distance. The
questionnaire of this study consisted of open and closed end questions including the Lickert scale
questions. Further details about the application of survey questionnaire are presented in 3.4.1.
.
3.3.2. Choice of data analysis technique
There are many different approaches being used by the researchers in order to analyze, explain or
interpret the data effectively. Qualitative and quantitative are the two most widely used data analysis
techniques (Denscombe, 2007). Qualitative approach is adopted for creating thick, rich descriptions
(Randolph 2008), and presents the data results using words-based descriptions, whereas, quantitative
data technique describes results with digits. According to Denscombe (2007), qualitative research is
frequently premised on the idea that the theory and the methods will emerge during the course of the

20
research, and will not be specified at the beginning. The current research presents the theory part in the
beginning of the study and the actual results are presented at the end of the thesis. In this work, the
theory was carefully compared with the results obtained from the analysis of the questionnaires.
Denscombe (2007) also points out that qualitative research, usually associated with the involvement of
the researcher, and it should be mentioned that in this study, the researcher was involved in all the stages:
from introducing the theory to presenting the results. On the other hand, since the survey strategy and
its method were adopted for this study, the researcher gathered mainly quantitative data (Denscombe,
2007). Therefore, in order to present the results in various ways such as figures with percentages, the
results from Likert Scale, as well as text, it was more practical adopting a mixed approach, comprising
of both qualitative and quantitative approaches.

3.4. Application of the Research Strategy

Having discussed the selected research methodology, research approach, data collection- and data
analysis method, it is presented here how these chosen methods will be applied in order to achieve the
aims and objectives as well as properly address the issues raised in the research questions illustrated in
Section 1.8. As mentioned earlier, data will be collected through online surveys and will be analyzed
using a mixed method approach by combining the elements of both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Consequently, mixed method approach helps the researcher answering the questions which could not be
answered with quantitative or qualitative approaches alone (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2011). It is
important to mention that this method facilitating improvement of the accuracy of the findings as well
as makes it possible describing the results in a more precise way (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2011;
Denscombe, 2007). In this study, the data were initially analysed and compared with the help of
quantitative method. The results of the study were coded and later on presented not only in the form of
words, but also in the form of images, Likert scale score results and text, or, in other words, with the
help of the mixed method.

3.4.1. Application of Survey Questionnaire

Questionnaires were constructed keeping in view the research questions, aims and objectives. The
questionnaire was managed, distributed and executed with the help of Google Documents. The link was
distributed among the members of the sampling frame through their private and work e-mail addresses.
The total number of participants were not defined in the beginning of the study, however, there were
sent totally 150 e-mails. In order to reach an equal number of male and female participants, the
questionnaire was sent to equal number of male and female participants.
The questionnaire was designed in, such as a way that it could be answered without any assistance.
Detailed and precise instructions were included how to answer to the questions. A short covering letter

21
(see Appendix 2) was also included in every e-mail along with a consent form (see Appendix 3) in the
beginning of the questionnaire (see Appendix 1). The order of the questions was systematic and easy to
follow. The language was not complex and easy to understand. The questionnaire consisted of both close
and open-ended questions, which opened the possibility for the participants leaving the comments and
their opinions regarding the matter. Multiple-choice items and Likert scale items were used for
structuring some of the questions. Likert type scale had 5 numbers which is, according to Sullivan
(2001), the most common numbering scale being offered to respondents to choose their answers
accordingly. The questionnaire was constructed in such a way that it would have 2 groups of
respondents: those who using e-commerce and those who never heard about it. As the majority of people
in Pakistan is using mobile phones for accessing the Internet (see section 2.2.), the questionnaire was
also compatible to mobile devices with a user- friendly interface.
However, it came not as surprise that some of the potential participants refused to participate in the study
by sending the e-mails and letting know about this (Sapsford and Jupp, 2006; Sullivan, 2001), as well
as overall lower response rate did not come as a surprise either (Denscombe, 2007). It should also be
mentioned that all the participants who participated in the survey provided complete answers to the
questions. It is worth mentioning that it was not possible to follow up non-responders by sending them
an extra e-mails and find out why they refused to participate (Sapsford and Jupp, 2006; Sullivan, 2001),
since it appeared as some of the people simply ignored the survey, especially females in this case study.
3.4.2. Application of Sampling strategy
In order to collect a reliable data, it is important to define and describe an adequate data collection
sampling strategy (Graziano and Raulin, 2013). A sample may be called a set of elements selected in
some way from a population. Primarily, the aim of defining the sampling is to save the time and efforts,
obtain consistent and unbiased estimates of the population status in terms of whatever being researched
(Sapsford and Jupp, 2006). As according to Denscombe (2007), the data for this study could not be
collected from everyone in the population. Therefore, it was required to choose which ‘category of
people’ should be researched, e.g. also called as the sample. The first step before proceeding for
sampling is defining the population type (Sapsford and Jupp, 2006). This study primarily aimed at the
Pakistani citizens who are having access to the Internet and also having an e-mail address, since the
questionnaires were distributed through e-mails. As it is also mentioned in the Section 1.9, of this thesis,
the citizens who do not have access to the Internet were not a target group for this study. Subsequently,
it meant that those citizens who are having access to the technology and the Internet are able to “be
online” and fill the questionnaire, even though the Internet speed might be slow in most parts of the
country.
According to Sapsford and Jupp (2006) whenever the researcher is talking about sampling, the
population can be thought of as consisting of sampling units. Sampling units can be families, individuals,
groups, etc. When sampling units are being set up, then these units are organized by the researcher into
a sampling frame (Sapsford and Jupp, 2006). Selection of the population for this research was based on

22
the aim of the research as well as according to the definition of the research problem of this work.
Therefore, the primary aim of the survey was reaching the equal number of adult male and female
participants. Participants of this study also belong to different age and backgrounds, as well as having
different level of education and IT- experience. For this study, ‘non-probability sampling or convenience
sampling’ was used. This approach primarily aims to reach the participants, who are readily available
(Graziano and Raulin, 2013). The sampling frame was chosen from the direct and indirect personal
contacts by using social media and other internet sources. It is important to note that the author never
had any direct contacts with majority of the participants. The snowball sampling was used to collect the
data for this study (Denscombe, 2007). It should be mentioned that apart from the Internet access
limitations (see Section 1.9), there was no other specific choice of the sampling frame and all the citizens
who had an e-mail address had a chance to be selected for being a part of this study.

3.4.3. Practical arrangements

Practical arrangement for the data collection from the participants was a very important part of pre-
arranging the survey conduction for this study. First of all, it was necessary to select a sampling frame
and plan how the questionnaire should be distributed in order to reach a wider group of participants.
Careful planning of the construction of the questionnaires according to the research aim and problem
definition was a crucial part of this work. Selection of the suitable candidates and finding their e-mail
addresses for the questionnaire distribution was also a challenging part. Finally, survey questionnaire
was distributed among the participants to their e-mail addresses.

3.4.4. Data analysis

The main purpose for analyzing something was to get a better understanding of what was being analysed.
Totally, there were five main stages of data analysis used in this work, such as data presentation, initial
exploration, analysis, presentation as well as the validation of the data. Application of some of the named
data analysis stages used in this thesis are discussed briefly in the below paragraphs.
Initial data exploration plan was focused on looking for obvious recurrent themes or issues, the
researcher can add certain notes to the data, such as writing memos for capturing the ideas. On this stage,
the researcher is observing the obvious trends and correlations in the collected data (Denscombe, 2007).
Or in other words, the researcher needs to familiarize himself with the data that have been collected in
order to, on later stage, prepare it for the analysis (Sapsford and Jupp, 2006). In this work, before starting
the actual analysis, collected data were initially explored, coded when needed and sorted out according
to relevance.
After undertaking initial data exploration of the gathered information, data analysis with the help of
mixed method was carried out at a single point or at multiple points. It involves certain steps undertaken
by the researcher and key decisions made at different steps (Creswell and Plano Clark, 2011). The data

23
were analysed and compared. Where the multiple choice questions were adopted, many times the
percentage of responses exceeded 100%. In some figures it was crucial to investigate the data gained
from male and female participants separately, and therefore, the genders were divided into 2 categories
with 100% each. The analysis of the Likert Scale or likewise known as the summated rating scale was
done by summarizing the answers of the respondents and dividing them by the number of respondents
(Sullivan, 2001). After organizing and comparing the data, appropriate figures were generated by using
MS Excel “Graphical toolbars of Microsoft”. Subsequently, the graphical figures obtained from the data
analysis were included in this thesis in sections 4 and 5.

3.4.5. Validity and reliability of the data

In order to show the importance of the study, validity and reliability are discussed in this section.
Quantitative validity shows that scores received from participants demonstrated meaningful indicators.
In qualitative research, there is less focus on the reliability, but more on the validity, since in this case it
is important to determine if the data provided by researchers is accurate, can be trusted, and is credible
(Creswell and Plano Clark, 2011). In order to get a valid data for this research it was important to prepare
an easy questionnaire which could be understood and answered without any assistance (Sullivan, 2001).
The qualitative data in the research were accurately coded in the way that it would be possible to group
it into the same categories in order to acquire as valid data as possible.
Another type of validity is the sampling validity, which providing understanding if a measuring device
covers the full range of meanings of forms that would be included in a variable that is being measured
(Sullivan, 2001). The sample was thoroughly described in the Section 3.4.2. The argumentation why
this kind of sample was suitable for this research was given. Therefore, the sampling validity in the study
is carefully considered.

3.5. Tools used in the study

As mentioned by LaPelle (2004), Microsoft (MS) Excel with the built-in functions could also be used
for analysing qualitative as well as quantitative data (LaPelle, 2004). In this study, the qualitative and
quantitative data were sorted out and organized with the help of MS Excel data analysis and sorting
tools. The tool was used for the preparation of the data collection as well as for the presentation of the
results. Google Documents were used for construction of the survey. Google e-mail together with the
Google Documents was used for the distribution of the questionnaires.

24
 3.6. Bias
It is important to mention that a researcher should always be aware of possible bias in the research.
There are several points that researcher should pay attention to. For the foremost, there may be
experimenter reactivity, which means that the entire research may be influenced and controlled by
certain actions of the researcher. In order to avoid this kind of bias in the current study, the researcher
justified the importance of the questions and tried to pay equal attention to all the points in the
questionnaire without omitting any particular one (Sullivan, 2001). However, in order to meet the aim
of the research, certain prioritizing of the questions could not be avoided, for example, such as the
opinions of the people from different age, genders etc.
Another bias is experimenter bias, which may affect the researcher and his opinions about certain things
(Sullivan, 2001). In this case, if the researcher pre-made up his mind about certain points it might be
difficult to change the opinions. The named above two biases are more likely to occur whenever the
direct contact with the participants is occurring, however, the researcher should be aware of these
possible biases.
Furthermore, it should also be mentioned that there might be a response-set bias or in other words, it is
also called as the tendency to respond in a socially acceptable manner (Sullivan, 2001). In order to avoid
this kind of bias, it was important to provide the detailed information to the participants regarding the
research, as well as point out that the questionnaire is anonymous and they are encouraged to be honest
in their answers.

3.7. Research ethics

In order to avoid possible biasing and to carry out a reliable study, the research ethics shall be followed.
It is important to understand that whenever conducting a research, the participants should trust the
researcher, because the honesty in their answers is crucial (Denscombe, 2007). This applies both to the
research with direct and indirect interaction with the participants. Therefore, the participants were
provided with enough information regarding the researcher and the research itself (Denscombe, 2007;
Sullivan, 2001). In order to meet the research ethics requirements, the survey questionnaire (see
Appendix 1), which was used for the data collection was distributed along with a covering letter (see
Appendix 2) and a consent form (see Appendix 3).
Confidentiality is also one of the important factors which should be discussed in every research as well
as in the consent form. Participants must be sure that the personal information provided during the
survey will not be disclosed to anyone (Denscombe, 2007). Every participant was encouraged to read
the consent form before starting answering the questionnaire, in which it was stated that the conducted
information is confidential and the participation of the respondent is voluntary. Since the questionnaire
was constructed with the help of the Google Documents, the researcher was not able to see which

25
participants gave particular answers. Therefore, participants were assured that the information which
they provided will be kept confidential and anonymous.

4. Results and Analysis

This chapter presents and discusses the results obtained from the online survey questionnaire. The data
obtained has been analyzed and presented in the form of figures, Likert scale results and text. In order
to structure the data of diverse nature, the results of survey questionnaire were divided into five main
categories. The categories include gaining of the personal information of the respondents, level of know-
how of IT devices of the respondents, emotional response throughout the dealing with IT applications,
know-how of e-commerce, and identification of potential barriers in the growth of e-commerce in
Pakistan. All the mentioned categories included various questions in order to investigate
comprehensively the factors, obstructing the expansion of e-commerce, such as gender, professional
background, education, age, cultural barriers, mistrust on companies, security issues of communication
of personal and financial information online, convenience, reliability and safety of the products
delivered. It is important to note that in the first part of this research, the know-how and the accessibility
towards ICT facilities of the respondents was explored. This is due to the fact that access and the know-
how of the ICT and use of the Internet is a prerequisite in order to utilize e-commerce technology.

4.1. Personal information of the respondents

Gender and age of the respondents
The survey questionnaire was sent through emails to 150 participants belonging to various age groups
and genders, however, only 51 respondents submitted the questionnaire. Among them 67% were male
and 33% were female respondents, which is clearly illustrating that the majority of the males responded
the survey as compared to females. In the survey both males and females of different age groups
participated. 16% of the respondents were 18-25 years old, for the age of 26-30, 24% responded.
Similarly, for age group of 31-40, 36% respondents participated. A rising pattern of IT usage has been
observed as the age of the respondents increased occur from between 18 to 40 years. On the other hand,
between 40-60 years, the percentage of respondents started to decrease significantly. The questionnaire
responses revealed that the younger generation was more actively involved in using IT applications and,
hence, also keenly took part in the research.
Education Level of the Participants

26
In this study, the highest frequency of 49% among the respondents falls under the category of having
Master’s degree or higher level of studies, followed by the 27% who has the Bachelor’s degree. A very
small percentage of almost 14% and 10% were studied at College and Secondary School level. Whereas,
it is important to note that none of the respondents in this study were uneducated.
Occupation Analysis
From the results of this survey, it can be seen that almost 76% of all respondents have Bachelor or higher
University degrees. It should also be mentioned that 73% of the respondents were working professionals.
However, 11% of the respondents were students, 10% housewives, 4% unemployed and only 2%
pensioners.
Age trends when respondents started to use IT
The age of the participants was divided in four age bands, namely less than 17 years old, 18-30, 31-59
and 60 or older (see Fig. 4). From the results, it can be seen that 50% of the respondents started using
IT at the age band of 18-30 years, 35% of the respondents started using IT at the age of 17 or earlier. On
the other hand, only 15% of the respondents started using IT in the age band of 31-59 years. It is
interesting to mention that none of the participants started using IT at the age of 60 or older. Figure 4
below, shows that 64% of the women who participated in the survey started using IT in age band of 18-
30 years as compared to 41% of men, who started using IT in the same age group.

Relation between gender and age IT

started being used

64%

41% 41%
24%
18%
12%

Women Men

<17 18-30 31-59

Figure 4: Relation between gender and age IT started being used

Frequency of IT (Internet) usage

The number of hours of daily use of IT was also divided into different groups. There were namely 6
groups, 8h or more, 5-8h, 3-4h, 1-2h, 1h or less as well as the occasional use.

27
 Frequency of daily IT use
Occasional use 1h or less 1-2h 3-4h 5-8h 8h and more

2%
25% 25%

12%

25%
11%

Figure 5: Frequency of daily IT use by the respondents

From Figure 5, it can be observed that almost 50% of the respondents have been using IT for more than
5 hours a day. 11% of the participants are using IT 3-4h per day, 12% are using it 1-2h every day. It
could be seen that 25% and 2% are using IT 1h or less and on occasions respectively.

Gender, Education and number of hours IT is

being used
67%
47%
41%

12% 9% 9%
6% 6% 3%

Women (B.Sc or Women (college Men (B.Sc or MS Men (college or

MS degree) degree or sec. degree) sec. school)
school)

60min or less+occasional use 1-2h 3h or more

Figure 6: Distribution of number of hours IT is being used depending on gender and education

It has been observed that 67% man and 47% women with Bachelor or higher degree are using IT 3h or
more in a day (Fig. 6). It should also be mentioned that only 18% of all male participants using IT 60
min or less per day. However, according to Figure 6, 41% women with college education or less are
using IT 60 min or less per day. It can be clearly seen that it is only women, with lower level of education,
are using IT 60 min per day or less (or occasionally). Whereas, the number of hours of using IT, did not
change considerably as the level of education was changed of male participants.

28
 4.2. Level of know-how of IT devices of the
respondents

Experience of using IT applications

In order to get a better understanding of the IT users’ experience level, a question about the level of IT
experience of the users was also asked in order to judge how well-versed the respondents are with IT.
According to the study results, 37% of the respondents have the preliminary know-how of the
technology. On the other hand, 45% were highly expert or users who are equipped with intermediate
level skills. It had been also observed that 89% of all highly experienced IT users who participated in
the survey were using IT 5h or more.
Type of Technology (device) being used for accessing the Internet
In order to get a better understanding, which technology is being used by the participants for accessing
the Internet, they were encouraged to provide the answer on the question regarding the technology which
they were using. From the results, it has been observed that 55% of the respondents were using laptops
for accessing the Internet. Similarly, 29% were using desktop computers and 14% were using smart
phones for accessing the Internet. It is interesting to note that the female participants who started using
IT below 17 years of age are using only laptops. Those female participants who started using IT in the
age 31-59 are using only desktops. The male participants who started using IT below 17 years of age or
at the age of 18-30 are using different technology, whereas, those participants who started using IT in
the age of 31-59 are using only laptops.
Ownership of the devices
It has been observed that 71% women and 85% men own their devices. Furthermore, 24% women were
sharing their technology, whereas, only 3% of men are sharing their technology with someone. Those
participants who are borrowing their devices are 5% of women and 6% of men respectively (see Fig. 7).

29
 Ownership of the technology among male
and female participants
85%
71%

24%
5% 3% 6% 6%

Women Men

Sharing tech. Own it Borrow it Use in library

Figure 7: Ownership of the technology device among male and female participants

It has been observed from the survey that all Professional IT users own their devices. These users are
having a Bachelor’s or Master’s degrees and using IT 3h or more per day. However, no clear correlation
with age has been found regarding this matter. On the other hand, it could be noticed that those users
started using IT in the age of 30 or below.
How long the technology device is being used
In order to get a better overview over the trends of the technology which is being used in Pakistan, the
participants have been asked to tell about how long their device is being in use. The results showed that
22% of the respondents started using their IT device within a year. Similarly, 18% respondents started
to use their IT device between the last 2-3 years. This shows a constantly increasing trend of diffusion
of new IT based devices in the Pakistani society. However, 18% of the respondents are using their
devices 6-7 years and 28% of the respondents of the survey have been using their devices for 7 years or
more. It is also interesting to mention that 26% of male respondents are using technology which is 7
years or more, whereas, only 2% of female respondents are using technology which is 7 years or older.
It is also could be seen from the Figure 8 that 16% of all the respondents who are using their device, 1
year or less are male, whereas, only 6% females having the devices which are 1 year old or less (see Fig.
8). Similarly, based on the survey results, the majority of the female participants were using their devices
which are 2-7 years old.

30
 Relation between gender and how
long technology is being used among
all participants of the survey

26%
16%
10% 8% 8% 8% 6% 10%
6%
2%

Women Men

±1 year or less 2-3 years 4-5 years 6-7 years 7 years or more

Figure 8: Relation between gender and how long technology device is being
used among all the participants of the survey

Access to the Internet

It can be seen from the results that almost 49% of the respondents have the Internet access at all times
in their devices, whereas, 31% use free Wi- Fi hotspots or have the Internet access in their homes only.
20% of the respondents do not have the Internet access at all. However, it can also be observed from
Figure 9, that 62% of all men who participated in the survey have unlimited access to the Internet,
whereas only 24% of all participated in the survey women have the unlimited access to the Internet (see
Fig. 9).

Relation between the Internet access

and gender

62%

29% 29%
24%
18%
12% 14% 12%

Women Men

Unlimited access Wi-Fi only No access Using at home

Figure 9: Relation between the Internet access and gender

It has been found by the survey that the participants who are not good at using IT or having less
experience in using IT are usually not having the access to the Internet at all the times.

31
 Relation between level of education
and the Internet access

0,3

16%
0,1
6%0,06 8% 8% 4% 4%
2% 2% 2% 0,02

Unlimited Wi-Fi only No access Using at home

access

Secondary School College Bachelor degree Master degree

Figure 10: Relation between level of education and the Internet access

On the other hand, there have been observed slight correlation between the level of education and the
access to the Internet pattern. Figure 10 shows that 46% of all the participants, who are having unlimited
Internet access are Master- and Bachelor degree holders. 16% of the participants who are not having the
access to the Internet are having College- and Secondary school level of education (see Fig. 10).

4.3. Emotional response while dealing with IT

devices and applications
In this section, overall feelings of the respondents, after their interaction, with IT are presented. The
feelings elaborate briefly the positive and negative feedbacks of the respondents.

32
 Feeling when interacting IT
Easy to operate 3,3
3,8

Clear presentation 3,2

3,9

Simple website Links 3,6

4

User friendly interface 3 Females

3
Males
Satisfaction 3,6
3,6

Easiness 3
4

0 1 2 3 4 5
Lickert Scale (Results shown in averages, with 5 as maximum)

Figure 11: Participants feelings when interacting with IT

Figure 11 presents the results of Likert Scale regarding how the participants are feeling whenever
interacting with IT. The scale had 5 different levels (from 1 to 5 with 5 shows the highest positive
feeling). As far as general feelings are concerned, it can be observed that the female participants are
slightly behind their male counterparts whenever it comes to the level of easiness operating with the
technology. It is also seen that the female participants, many times do not feel that the help links on the
screen are simplifying the tasks as well as that the presentation on the screen is usually clear. It was also
found that women found it more difficult to learn to operate the IT devices as compared to their male
counterparts. Regarding the satisfaction after interacting with the technology and the user- friendliness
of the interfaces of the technology device is concerned, both male and female participants are having
equal level of satisfaction.

4.4. Know-how of e-commerce

As yet, personal information as well as the factors pertains to the diffusion of common IT based
applications among the respondents were investigated. These factors mainly included age, education
level, occupation, use of IT, and access to the Internet of the respondents. In this section, the attitude of
the respondents towards e-commerce is analyzed. Furthermore, possible obstacles in the use of e-
commerce in Pakistan are meticulously identified and discussed.

Use of e-commerce
It can be observed that 67% of the respondents are not using e-commerce (e-shopping) or they are not
having sufficient know-how about e- commerce. Furthermore, only 33% of the respondents have the
know-how about e-commerce. Results clearly show that as the education level of the participants goes

33
higher, there are more chances that they use e- commerce. From Figure 12 below, it can be observed
that 41% of all the female participants, and 35% of all male participants are using e-commerce. 59% of
all women and 53% of all men are not using e-commerce. It could also be observed that 12% of all male
participants do not have understanding about the e-commerce.

Relation between gender and know-how

about e-commerce in male and female
participants

59% 53%
41% 35%
12%

Women Men

Using e-commerce Not using e-commerce Do not know about e-commerce

Figure 12: Relation between gender and know- how about the e-commerce

The purpose of using e-commerce

It was found from the results that only 21% of the respondents had used e-commerce for shopping until
now. It is important to note that most of the respondents have a College or University level education
and are still not interested in e-commerce. Furthermore, 33% of the e-commerce users’ had satisfactory
feeling about using it, among them 8% were highly pleased. The participants, who were highly satisfied,
were professional IT users. 12% of the participants said that they do not like e-commerce, where 37%
were not sure and 10% replied that they never tried e-commerce.
Reasons of not using e-commerce (multiple answers)
In order to get a better understanding of why participants were not using e-commerce, they were
encouraged to share their views by using multiple answers. Figure 13 explains some of the important
reasons why the respondents were not using e-commerce. It is found that 26% of all the respondents
preferring to purchase products in the shops. 22% of the respondents attributed to the fact that they afraid
of doing shopping online and they feel that it is better to buy the product in the shop. This highlights the
existence of mistrust and fear among the customers for e-commerce.

34
 Relation between why participants of
different genders are not using e-
commerce

14% 14% 16%

12%
10% 10%
8% 8%
4%
2% 2%

Female Male

better to buy in shops afraid of buying no technology costly none no time

Figure 13: Relation between why participants of different genders are not using e-commerce

Figure 13 also shows the contribution of other reasons such as time constraints, no access to the
technology or having no technology at all, as well as cost issues of the online products. Overall, the
majority of the female respondents is not purchasing online because they are feeling it is better to
purchase it in the shops, they are afraid of using e-commerce as well as they do not have the technology
for this purpose. The same reasons of not using e-commerce were also pertain to the majority of the
male respondents, i.e. 44%.
Opinion about e-commerce from technology point of view
In the previous sections, it was observed that e-commerce was not adopted by the majority of the
respondents in Pakistan. Although, a small proportion of University and College educated youngsters
have awareness about e-shopping or e-commerce, still people have many doubts and fears about the
quality of the product they will receive after paying the money. As mentioned previously, merely 21%
respondents bought things online, and out of them, 14% were satisfied about what they got for their
money.
Overall views about e-commerce
Results shows that 25% of the respondents believed that special cyber laws are required in order to
protect the rights of the customers. In online shopping, there is no direct contact between the retailer and
the customer and the customer is not being able to see or touch the product directly. In addition, 47% of
the respondents were afraid of insecure money transactions with online shopping. Furthermore, debit
cards issued by many banks in Pakistan do not support online transactions, particularly international
transactions. Moreover, 25% of the respondents declared poor user interface and website format as a
main barrier in the growth of e-commerce. Apart from, 17% of the respondents are still trusting in that
e-commerce will help business in Pakistan to grow in future.

35
 4.5. Identification of potential barriers in the
growth of e-commerce in Pakistan
This section discusses in more details the possible existing barriers in the expansion of e-commerce in
Pakistan. The results showed that 64% of the respondents who used online shopping belong to the male
gender, and consequently 36% were female. It is interesting to note that 73% of the males and females
who used online shopping were working professionals and having a University level education. It means
that e-commerce is not much known among college, school, housewives or low-educated working class.
This also shows that by taking proper measures a vast majority of the population can also be included
in the e-commerce circle.
The participants have also been encouraged to answer the question if there are any cultural barriers in
the Pakistani society that are restricting citizens from using e-commerce.

Relation between gender and cultural

barriers
79%
59%
41%
21%

Women Man

Yes No

Figure 14: Relation between gender and cultural barriers according to the participants

From Figure 14, it can be seen that the majority of all the female participants of the survey, namely 59%,
believed that there were cultural barriers which were restricting them from using e-commerce. On the
other hand, only 21% of all male participants believed that there were cultural barriers which were
limiting them from using e-commerce. It shall be pointed out that there was no visible correlation
between the distribution of the answers and age, education, Internet use or IT experience of the
participants. The participants have also been asked to share what are the possible barriers could be which
are limiting them from using e-commerce (see Fig. 15).

36
 Relation between gender and possible
barriers
59%
41%
18% 18% 27% 20%
5% 12%

Women Man

Unsure about the realibility Security concerns

Unsure about the quality of products None

Figure 15: Relation between gender and possible barriers

The majority of female and male participants, namely 59% of female and 41% male were concerned
about the reliability of new technology. Female participants were equally concerned about the security
as well as they were not sure about the quality of the products they may purchase online. 27% of male
participants were concerned about the security issues, whereas, only 12% of all male participants were
concerned about the quality of the products they may purchase online (see Fig. 15).

Relation between gender and participant's

opinions regarding e-commerce
39%
34%
26% 26%
18% 18%
12% 12%
9% 9%
6% 3%

Women Man

Require good infrastructure Require quick Internet speed

Require newest technology My technology does not support e-commerce
Infrastructure not enough Do not know/not using

Figure 16: Relation between gender and participant's opinions regarding e-commerce

Figure 16 above illustrates the relation between gender and the opinion of the participants regarding e-
commerce. It can be seen that 34% of all participated females believed that quick Internet speed is
required in order to use e-commerce. 12% pointed out that good infrastructure as well as newest
technology was required to use e-commerce. 18% of female participants also pointed out that their
current technology did not support e-commerce and also the infrastructure they were using was not

37
enough for utilizing e-commerce. The majority of male respondents, namely 39% believed that good
infrastructure was required in order to use e-commerce. 52% of male respondents were also believing
that quick Internet speed was crucial as well as their infrastructure was not enough for doing e-
commerce. Another 9 % of male participants believed that e-commerce required new technology. 6%
of female and 9% of male participants could not provide any answer to this question due to their
uncertainty regarding the matter (see Fig. 16). In order to get a better overview of the emotional
perceptions on e- commerce of the participants, a Likert Scale was adopted for helping the participants
to choose the most suitable answer from the scale.

Emotional perception regarding e-commerce

Inexperience users needs considered 2,4

2,8
Websites not allow corrections 2,7
2,7
Delivery same product as ordered 3,5
3,3
E-commerce Reliability 2,4
2,4
Unsecure to provide information 2
2 Females
help message helpful 2,9
3,4 Males
e-commerce is simple 3,5
3,2
Products easy to explore 2,8
3,3
0 0,5 1 1,5 2 2,5 3 3,5 4
Lickert Scale (Results shown in averages, with 5 as maximum)

Figure 17: Participants emotional perception regarding e-commerce

Figure 17 presents the results obtained by Likert Scale type questions (scale of 1 to 5 used in this work).
It can be seen that both males and females having problem in the exploration of new products on e-
commerce websites. For most of the female participants the online shopping tasks can be performed in
a straight- forward manner, whereas, male participants are considering e-commerce as less simple. The
participants were asked if the help messages on the screen were helpful when it comes to e- commerce.
The female participants were slightly behind compare to their male counterparts. Most of the
participants, however, felt that e- shopping reliability as well as the transferring of personal and financial
information data is unsecure. Both men and women were having the same opinion regarding this issue.
It should also be taken into consideration that no visible correlation with the age, education level or IT
experience level of the participants has been observed. According to most of the female participants, the
delivery of the products was usually the same as ordered. On the other hand, male participants were less
satisfied regarding this issue. The participants were also pointing out that it is not easy to correct and
amend the mistakes. It is interesting to note that, in response to the question, if experienced and

38
inexperienced users’ needs to be taken into consideration, participants were not interested in being taken
into the consideration, but believed that all the users should be treated equally. Finally, all the
participants were encouraged to share their opinion openly regarding the future of e- commerce in
Pakistan.

Figure 18: Gender based opinion regarding the bright future of e-commerce in Pakistan

Figure 18 shows that 79% of all male participants were optimistic about the bright future of e-commerce
in Pakistan. On the other hand, merely 29% female respondents believe that e-commerce has a brighter
future in Pakistan. It is clearly shown that female participants have far less know-how about e-commerce
in Pakistan and, hence, less certain about its future in Pakistan.

Overall view of Future of e-commerce in Pakistan

Figure 19: Future of e-commerce in Pakistan

39
Having discussed the main barriers in the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan, the possible future of e-
commerce, as per respondents of the survey, in Pakistan is presented in Figure 19. It is important to note
that, despite all the complications and issues discussed in the previous sections, 39% of the respondents
still believe that e-commerce has a bright future in the country. Whereas, 31% of the respondents are
mentioning that it is difficult to say today, as until the main issues will not be addressed at the country’s
level, the future of e-commerce is still uncertain in Pakistan. It is altogether positive that only a small
number of respondents (4%) said that e-commerce has no future at all in Pakistan (see Fig. 19).

5. Discussions
Today, ICT has been penetrated into almost all activities of our daily lives. Rapid expansions in ICT
have been providing straightforward key solutions for comprehensive developments universally. One of
such amazing activities which ICT is offering is e-commerce or e-business. The growth of e-commerce
is not only occurring at a remarkable pace in the developed countries but also in the developing countries
as well. In 2013, the world’s e-commerce sales have been around 567.3 billion USD and it is expected
to grow further. E-commerce has been recognized as a useful tool for economic development of the
countries as it is offering easiest ways of conducting the businesses. However, still there exist several
issues hindering the successful adoption of e-commerce in many developing countries of the world.
These issues include digital divide, economic, sociopolitical and cognitive problems (Odedra-Straub,
2003; Kshetri, 2007). Since Pakistan is the 6th largest country in the World by virtue of its population
size, therefore, it is interesting to investigate possible reasons limiting male and female citizens from the
adoption of ICT and e-commerce.
The present work is a case study in which the data were collected with the help of open-ended online
survey questionnaire, which is the most suitable and feasible method for the collection of the data. The
sampling frame in the study was the Pakistani citizens who having access to the technology and the
Internet. The survey questionnaire was circulated to 150 participants, out of which only 51 respondents
submitted their responses.
Even though the survey questionnaire was distributed among an equal number of men and women, yet
the 67% respondents of this study were males. This result highlights that female were either less
interested in using ICT or do not have easy access to ICT. As already mentioned by Bukhari and Ramzan
(2013) there is a clear gender inequality gap in Pakistan. This, together with named above results
findings, highlights that there are cultural barriers in the country, which limiting female counterparts
from the freedom of movement and, consequently, limited access to the technology as compared to their
male counterparts.

40
It is important to note that the participants of this study belong to different age groups. However, the
majority of participant’s falls under the age of 40 or less. 85% of all the participants started using IT
when they were 30 years of age or below, which is also in line with Index Mundi (2014) and the fact
that Pakistan has the highest ratio of young people in the World. It is interesting to mention that the
majority of female participants started using IT in the age band of 18-30, compared to the male
participants, who started using IT in the age of below 17 or ages of 18-30 years.
As mentioned earlier that there is only 51 million adults in the country who are literate, therefore, the
majority of the respondents of this study falls under the category of Master’s degree (47%) or higher
level of studies, followed by the 27% who has the Bachelor’s degree. Furthermore, the data concerning
the occupation of the participants also revealed that 73% of the respondents of the study were working
professionals, which might be due to the sampling techniques, since the category of highly educated
people only constitutes a small proportion of the overall population of the country. However, the results
clearly showed that most IT and e-commerce is adopted by the highly educated lot (College and
University graduates) of the Pakistani society. Therefore, it highlights the fact that the majority of the
remaining population can also learn and benefit from IT, if the IT-related subjects may be taught at
‘School level in Pakistan’ in the same way as they are being taught in College and Universities. It is also
worth mentioning that 89% of experienced IT users who participated in the survey are using IT 5h or
more per day. Consequently, there is an observed correlation between the IT experience level of the
respondents and the number of hours IT is being used.
Regarding the types of technology being used by men and women in Pakistan, the data revealed that
55% of the respondents were using laptops for accessing the Internet. Moreover, even though Pakistan
is a developing country with a low per capita income of around $1275 per year (World Bank, 2013), the
majority of the respondents owns their technology (device) to access the internet. However, it is clearly
seen that the female users are still sharing their technology with someone, whereas, it is found less likely
that men are sharing their devices.
Furthermore, over the recent few years there have been noticed expansion of ICT in Pakistan as the
Government is introducing policies in order to provide support to IT companies. It is shown that both
broadband penetration, Tele-Density and the number of mobile subscribers is growing in the country
(Fig. 1, Fig. 2 and Fig. 3). Recently 3G and 4G licenses were sold to cellular companies, resulting in an
increased popularity of smart phones in Pakistan. It was observed from the study that 80% of all the
participants were having Internet access. According to Research and Market (2015), Pakistan, is one of
the prominent developing countries, where the broadband penetration has been growing fast, but even
though, there were only 3.79 million broadband users in 2014. Moreover, the female citizens, in most
cases, are having limited access to public facilities which is “attributed” to socio-cultural norms (Shah
and Baporikar, 2013). The similar predicament, that only 24% of the female participants are having
unlimited Internet access is also revealed by the study results. Furthermore, those participants who,
having unlimited Internet access is Bachelor degrees holders or higher. The participants with the college

41
level education or lower do not have frequent Internet access as compared to University graduates. The
phenomenon illustrates once again that less educated part of the society is not benefiting from the latest
technology trends. However, this is not clear if less educated citizens do not have the economic resources
when it comes to the latest IT trends or they do not have enough knowledge to utilize it.
According to Dawood (2014), almost 77% of the Pakistani population has been using mobile phones.
However, according to the survey, the majority of the participants are using the laptops for accessing e-
commerce. It is interesting to note that the majority of the participants, who were using their IT devices
which were 1 year or less old, were males. On the other hand, only 6% female were having the devices
which were 1 year old or less. The females usually use the devices which were 2-7 years old. The study
did not find any clear correlation between the age of the users and their technology preferences.
Although, 80% of the respondents have Internet access, yet only 33 % of them have knowledge about
e-commerce thus far and only 21% of all the participants were using e- commerce for shopping. On the
other hand, 40% of respondents were using ICT for all other purposes, such as comparing products
online, and getting general knowledge etc. This phenomenon also proves the claim made by Khan et al.
(2013) that the use of e-commerce is different in developing world as compared to developed. Moreover,
33% of all the participants who used e- commerce were satisfied and 8% were highly satisfied by their
experience of e-commerce. Those participants who were highly satisfied were professional IT users,
showing that the level of IT experiences plays a huge role in the adoption and satisfaction with the e-
commerce in the country.
As also mentioned by Makame et al. (2014), there is a lack of knowledge in the developing countries
about the latest trends. As a consequence, even though the percentage of respondents who were having
access to the Internet was considerably high, the respondents were not much aware of the features and
benefits of e-commerce. When it comes to knowledge about e-commerce, all the female participants
were aware of what it was, whereas, there were still 12% of all male respondents who did not know
anything about it. As mentioned by Maier and Nair- Reichert (2007), e-commerce opens new potential
business avenues for women where their skills and talent can be effectively utilized.
According to the study, 41% of all female participants and 35% of all male participants were having
general know-how regarding e- commerce, therefore, it could be understood that it tends to be the
female citizens who are interested in e-commerce the most. Despite this, there were only 36% of women
who were doing online shopping, as compared to 64% of men. It was also found that these e-commerce
users were having University degrees, which again revealed the fact that e-commerce was not much
known among less educated participants, housewives or low-educated working class. Also, it is
important to take into consideration that the cultural aspects (Sohaib and Kang, 2014), as mentioned by
Youngblood (2014), Qureshi et al. (2014), Makame et al. (2014), Ahmed (2011), Shah and Baporikar
(2013), as well as also found by this survey results, 59% of the women and only 21% of men,
respondents of this study, believed that there were still major cultural barriers which were limiting them
from using e-commerce.

42
As pointed out by Qureshi et al. (2014) and also Kshetri (2007), demographic profile has an important
link with the ICT and online shopping. As also found by Qureshi et al. (2014) and the results from this
study that there has not been observed visible correlation between the age of the participants and their
habits when it comes to the ICT or adoption of the e- commerce. However, in this study, it might be
because the participated citizens were mainly educated. On the other hand, slight correlation between
ages when the respondents started using ICT and their gender was found.
There were identified several reasons why the participants are not using e- commerce, one of which is
that they prefer to purchase products in the shops, as also has been discussed by e-commerce (White
paper 2008). The respondents were also afraid of using e-commerce as well as they do not have access
to the technology. Almost the same reasons were also determined by Makame et al. (2014). Moreover,
the majority of the participants’ were unsure about the reliability of new technology, and this is due to
the lack of knowledge about ICT and e-commerce. A large number of females were also concerned
about the quality of the products they may purchase, as well as the security issues. As it was found by a
previous study (Research and Markets, 2015), trust deficit and lack of security are important issues
which restricting citizens from the adoption of e- commerce. The presence of effective cyber laws is of
utmost importance, 25% of the participants of this survey, as in online shopping, there is no direct
contact between the retailer and the customer and the customer is not being able to see or touch the
product directly. Additionally, the results from the Likert Scale revealed that most of the participants
experiencing that the transferring of the personal and financial information is unsecure, as well as e-
shopping reliability is not very high and it has yet to prove its reliability. Moreover, 47% of the
respondents were afraid of insecure money transactions for online shopping, as debit cards issued by
most of the banks in Pakistan do not support online transactions, particularly international transactions.
Therefore, online companies, banks and the Government have to work together in order to provide a
safe and secure e-commerce environment to the customers where both customers’ rights and their money
are secure.
Furthermore, the results obtained from the Likert Scale showed that females are facing more problems
with exploration of new products on e- commerce websites, compared to male participants. Also,
according to the majority of the female participants it is desired to have a better technology device in
order to access the e- commerce, whereas, the majority of male participants believed that the good
infrastructure is crucial. It has also been pointed out earlier by IORMA (2013) and Ibikunle (2013) that
inadequate infrastructure and software are playing an important role in adoption of e- commerce when
it comes to developing countries. Female participants are also perceived as the messages on the screen
are usually not helpful for them when they are using e- commerce.
However, most of female participants believed that online shopping tasks can be performed in an easy
manner (see Fig. 17), and the ordered products will arrive the same as was seen online, whereas, most
of the male participants are somewhere skeptical regarding this claim. It shall be understood that e-
commerce can only be popular in a country if the users are satisfied and they get the product which

43
matches exactly to what they have selected on the websites, and almost half of all participants also feel
that it is difficult to correct and amend the mistakes. Furthermore, non- user friendly hard- and software
may limit the citizens from the adoption of the e- commerce, according to Maier and Nair- Reichert
(2007), White paper (2008), Chen and Pu (2014) and Morris and Probets (2013), and this may also be
seen that 25% of the respondents declared that poor user interface and website format is a main barrier
in the growth of e-commerce. This highlights the fact that the ICT companies shall further simplify the
websites in order to simplify and enhance its usability. Apart from all the issues, 17% of the respondents
still having trust in that e-commerce will help businesses to grow in Pakistan.
The Likert Scale illustrated for the question “if experienced and inexperienced users’ needs to be taken
into consideration”, that the majority of the respondents gave it a very low score. This phenomenon
reveals that the users do not believe that users of different experience level should be taken into
consideration when it comes to the construction of the user- friendly devices and websites. Instead, all
the end-users should be treated equally. It was also found that 79% of all male participants were
optimistic about the bright future of e-commerce in Pakistan. On the other hand, merely 29% female
respondents thinking that e -commerce have a brighter future in Pakistan. It is clearly seen that women
have far less know-how when it comes to e-commerce in Pakistan and, hence, less certain about the
utility and its future in the country.
Despite the existence of a considerable number of barriers, as mentioned above, in the growth of e-
commerce in Pakistan, 39% of the respondents still believe that e-commerce can have a bright future in
the country. On the other hand, looking at the indifferent policies and attitudes of the online companies
and the Government to win the confidence of the customers, 31 % of the respondents believed it is
difficult to say today as until the main issues will not be addressed at the country’s level, the future of
e-commerce is still uncertain in Pakistan. It is altogether positive that only a small number of
respondents (4%) said that e-commerce has absolutely no future in Pakistan.

5.1. Main findings in the study

1. IT is more freely accessible and, hence, being more used by the male respondents as compared
to their female counterparts in Pakistan, as shown in Figure 7 and 9.
2. The majority of female participants started using IT in the age of 18-30 as presented in Figure
4. An equal proportion of male participants started using IT in the age of below 17 or at the age
of 18-30 years.
3. IT was used more than 3h per day by the participants with Bachelor degree or higher. Highly
experienced IT users were using IT 5h per day or more as illustrated in Figure 6.
4. It was also found that, as shown in Figure, only women with lower education levels (college or
secondary school) were using IT 60 min per day or occasionally.

44
5. It was found that more likely female population shared the technology (device) with someone
as compared to male participants as presented in Figure 7.
6. The data presented in Figure 9 and 10 revealed that only 62% of all male participants and 24%
of all female participants are having unlimited Internet access. The majority of the participants,
who are having unlimited Internet are having Bachelor degree or higher.
7. The citizens accessing the Internet mainly from the laptops. Most of the females were using
their devices which were between 2-7 years old, whereas, majority of male respondents using
the devices which were either 1 year old or less or older than 7 years.
8. As revealed in the study, only 33% of the participants have knowledge about e- commerce and
only 21% used e-commerce for shopping. There were only 36% of females who were using e-
commerce for shopping. Primarily, e-commerce was mainly adopted by the highly educated
citizens of Pakistan.
9. 41% female participants and 35% male participants were found to have general knowledge
about the e- commerce. 12% of male citizens do not know anything about e- commerce.
10. The results of Figure 14 showed that 59% of the participated females experienced the presence
of cultural barriers, whereas, only 21% of all male believed that there exists such barriers.
11. The participants of this study mentioned that effective Cyber laws should be implemented. They
were unsure about the reliability of new technology. The equal number of males and females
were also concerned about the quality of the products they may purchase.
12. Poor user interface and website format is a big problem, according to participants.
13. As shown in Figure 11, Females are facing more problems with exploration of new products on
e-commerce websites, as compared to their male participants.
14. As shown from the results of Figure 12 and 17 that there exists a strong potential that e-
commerce will be more popular among females, since they were having relatively more
comfortable experience of online shopping. Furthermore, females trusted more that the ordered
products were the same as ordered, whereas, most of the male participants were somewhere
more skeptical to this claim.
15. It was found that 17% of the citizens who participated in the study are still having trust in that
e-commerce will help businesses to grow in Pakistan.
16. As shown in Figure 19 that 39% of the respondents were positive about the brighter future of
the e-commerce. Furthermore, Gender wise 79% of men and 29% of women were optimistic
about the brighter future of e-commerce in the country as presented in Figure 18.

45
 5.2. The recommendations to reduce the
barriers
1. The diffusion of IT can also be increased in the society by introducing it in schools.
2. The online companies and retailers have to create awareness and a sense of trust so that
customers can buy things online.
3. The promotion of know-how and awareness among citizens regarding the benefits of ICT and
e-commerce is important.
4. The Government shall introduce and implement effective cyber security laws to protect the
rights of the online customers.
5. The e-commerce companies shall make easy to understand user interfaces, as this is also one of
the major hindrances in the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan.
6. The majority of the customers in Pakistan are afraid of providing their personal and financial
information to online companies. There shall be an institution or organization on a national
level, which scrutinize all the e-commerce companies and then periodically issue a list of trusted
companies.
7. The banks are also required to devise a protected and friendly mechanism to facilitate people to
undertake online shopping. At present, the majority of the debit cards of most of the banks
cannot support online shopping.
8. It is revealed from this study that Pakistani women, due to so-called cultural constraints, do not
have equal opportunities and freedom as enjoyed by their male counterparts. In order to ensure
active participation of women in the areas of national growth, such as IT and e-commerce
technologies, women shall be provided equal opportunities.
9. Almost all the e-commerce websites are in English language and this is also an important barrier
in the growth of e-commerce in Pakistan. It would be very useful if the online companies can
also have an Urdu version of their website. This will reduce the language barrier issues and a
major part of the population can understand what is exactly being offered and at what terms and
conditions.

5.2. Originality and contributions to the field

Current research investigated and compared which possible IT- and human related barriers are limiting
the use of e-commerce among Pakistani citizens. This work can be seen as a partial extension of a
recently published work Qureshi et al. (2014). However, the current study is providing a deeper and
broader comparison of the gender based factors which are hindering males and females from the use of
e-commerce in the country. It was important to determine these factors in order to bridge the digital

46
divide and take into consideration different problems which genders may have when it comes to ICT-
and e- commerce use.

The current study has contributed to the field in several ways. For the first, it provides a deeper
understanding of the barriers which are preventing the e- commerce adoption in the country. Secondly,
the research presents gender based analysis of these barriers and also illustrates the expansion of ICT in
the country among males and female. Thirdly, the study providing the knowledge about the digital divide
in the country in context to social, technological, gender, education and skills aspects of the users.
Therefore, the present work discusses quite uniquely the social-technological issues and their
correlations. Finally, the work provides useful recommendations to overcome the obstacles and, hence,
expand the use of IT and e-commerce in this highly populated country of the World.

5.3. Future research

The current study found that despite high educational levels of the majority of the users, they are not
practicing e-commerce as it should be. As it is not clear from this study if less educated citizens do not
have the economic resources in order to use the technology or they do not have enough knowledge about
the latest trends. It may be worth continuing to investigate this problem in order to determine what
possible barriers may exist for this issue.
As current research has not focused on the level of income of the respondents, affecting their ability to
use ICT and e-commerce, it will be useful if a study may be conducted keeping in view this aspect as
well, as the per capita incomes of the Pakistanis are quite low, $1275 (Mondi 2013). Therefore, future
research in this regard may reveal interesting facts.
Ahmed (2011) found a significant correlation between customer’s e- purchase intentions and several
human factors, one of which is age. However, research and the study conducted by Qureshi et al. (2014)
did not find any visible correlation with the age and e-commerce use, this may be due to the fact that
majority of the respondents of this study (49%) were MS degree holders or higher, as well as included
only 24% of participants of age 41 or older. Therefore it is also useful to conduct a research by including
only the people of 40 years or older. As the majority of the population belongs to low or uneducated
segment of the society in Pakistan, the results may differ if the study will include the participants who
have less or no education. This will help to get a better overview of how e- commerce is perceived
among less educated or uneducated citizens and what are the possible factors which may limit their e-
commerce adoption and how these obstacles can be removed.

47
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51
Appendix 1- Questionnaire
Gender
Male
Female

Age
18-25
26-30
31-40
41-50
51-60
61+

Education
No education
Secondary School
College
University (Bachelor degree)
University (Masters or higher degree)

What is your occupation?

I am working (professional)
I am housewife
I am unemployed (looking for work)
Student
Pensioner

When did you start using IT applications (Computer or phone with Internet access)?
<17
18-30
31-59
60 or older>

How many hours do you use IT/day?

Less than 60 min per day
1-2h
3-4h
5-8h
8h and more
Occasional use (not using every day)

How experienced IT- user you are?

Professional (can use advanced software, can do programming, construct websites etc.)
Less experienced (I can use some software, know many things about IT use)
Intermediate (I can use IT but sometimes I need help)
Not very good (I usually need help from others)
Not good (I only use IT when others are sitting with me)

52
What kind of technology do you mainly use for accessing Internet?
Desktop
Laptop
Feature phone
Smartphone

Do you own this technology?

Yes
I borrow it
I use in the library
I share with some one

How old this technology is with you?

±1 year or less
2-3 years
4-5 years
6-7 years
More than 7 years

Why do you use this technology?

It is the best and I like it
It is convenient to use
It is cheap to use
It is the only, cheapest one I could buy
I can only use this (I do not understand any other)

Do you have Internet access at all the times?

Yes
No, only use free Wi-Fi
No, only use when I’m at home (work, school)
Usually I do not have access to Internet (only sometimes/few times in a week/month)

Your overall feeling when interacting with technology device

Very bad Very good
12345
Difficult Easy
12345
Frustrating Satisfying
12345
Poor user interface Friendly user interface
12345
Links on the screen simplifies task
Not at all Very much
12345
Presentation of information on screen
Usually confusing Very clear
12345

Learning to operate the system

53
 Difficult Easy
12345

Do you use e-commerce?

Yes
No
I do not know what this is

What do you use it for?

I buy things online
I just compare things online
I only look at the products (not buying)
Other (comment please)…..
I do not use it

If you do not use it, why not? (Multiple choice question)

It is costly
I do not have technology to get access to it
I do have technology but no Internet access
I do not have time
I am afraid of using it
I think it is better to buy products in shops
I have language barriers
Other (please comment)….

Are there any cultural barriers preventing you from using e- commerce?
Yes
No

Which barriers are those? (Multiple choice question)

Unsure about the reliability of this new technology
Security concerns about providing my personal information online
Unsure about the quality of products
Gender barriers
Other (please comment)….

If ever used e-commerce, how was your experience?

Highly satisfactory
Satisfactory
Not sure
I do not like it at all
Other (please comment)….

Can you tell your opinion towards e-commerce from technology point of view? (Multiple
choice question)
E- Commerce require user to have good infrastructure
E- Commerce require user to have quick Internet speed
Newest technology is needed in order to use e- Commerce
My technology does not support e-commerce
The infrastructure which I have access to is not enough for doing e-commerce

54
Other (please comment) ….

What do you think about use of e- commerce? (Multiple choice question)

Special laws for customer rights are required for e-shopping
It can help grow business
User interface not flexible and friendly
Money transactions are not safe
Other (please comment) ….

What is the future of e- commerce in your country?

It has bright future
It is difficult to say today
It has not future
I do not know

Exploring new products on e-commerce websites

Difficult Easy
12345
Online shopping Tasks can be performed in a straight-forward manner
Never Always
12345
Help messages on the screen
Unhelpful Helpful
12345
Your feeling while transferring of your personal & financial information data
Unsecure Secure
12345
e- Shopping reliability
Unreliable Reliable
12345
Delivery of products
Same as ordered on website Not same as ordered
12345
Correcting and amending your mistakes
Difficult Easy
12345
Experienced and inexperienced users' needs are taken into consideration
Never Always
12345
System feedback
Poor Good
12345

List the most negative aspect(s) of use of IT & e-commerce:

List the most positive aspect(s) of IT and e-commerce:

55
Appendix 2- The covering letter

Dear Sir or Madam,

My name is Emy Ågren and I am a Master student at Stockholm University, Sweden. I am conducting
a research for my MS Thesis, regarding the e-commerce in Pakistan.

I would be very grateful if you could help me and answer a few questions of this survey.

The survey can be answered from the PC’s as well as mobile devices. The survey is anonymous, and
the data will be used purely for research purposes.
The information from you will be very valuable for my research and any opinion counts.

It is very difficult to get the data through a survey, and therefore I am very
thankful if you could participate in the survey.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1SAaWlBPSPul-Eg7-AOEhQvYqH_PED_18KrO-
O23tDOk/viewform

Thanks so much!
With kind regards
Emy Ågren
MS Student, ICT4D
Stockholm University, Sweden

56
Appendix 3- The consent form

Dear Participant,
My name is Emy Ågren and I am MS student at Stockholm University (SU), Sweden. I am conducting
a survey for my MS Thesis regarding the e-commerce use in Pakistan under the supervision of Assoc.
Prof. Harko Verhagen (SU). The work will try to explore which main existing barriers are limiting the
adoption of e-commerce among citizens in Pakistan. Any opinion counts!
This survey is anonymous. Used for the creation of the survey software even does not disclose the place
(city) from where the survey was conducted. The researcher will not be able either to see which
participants gave particular answers. Gained from the survey data will be used for research purpose only.
In order to get more valuable data, kindly comment your answers where possible. The survey is using
easy to understand technological terms and therefore could be easily understood by citizens of all levels
of education.
Many of the fields in the survey are required to be filled. You can cancel the survey at any time, but I
am of course very thankful if you complete it till the end. DO NOT FORGET TO CLICK ON
"SUBMIT" IN ORDER TO SEND THE SURVEY.

Thanks a lot for your time!

With kind regards
Emy
svt.grn2010@gmail.com

57
 Department of Computer and Systems Sciences
Stockholm University
Forum 100
SE-164 40 Kista
Phone: 08 – 16 20 00
www.su.se

58

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