Institutional and Resource-Based Drivers of E-Commerce Adoption in Relationship-Embedded Wholesale Markets: A Business Model Component Analysis

Abstract

Grounded in institutional theory and resource-based view (RBV), this study examines how institutional isomorphism and resource orchestration explain e-commerce adoption in Vietnamese wholesale markets. Rather than proposing a new behavioral model, we offer context-specific theoretical refinement by demonstrating how established theories operate—and diverge—under the boundary conditions of relationship embeddedness and low digital maturity. Using the Business Model Canvas strictly as a descriptive organizing device, we test institutional and resource-based hypotheses via structural equation modeling with data from 750 wholesale enterprises in Ho Chi Minh City. Trust (reflecting institutional legitimacy) and omnichannel perception (reflecting resource complementarity recognition) fully mediate adoption decisions. Two substantive boundary conditions emerge: performance expectancy does not build institutional legitimacy (H6, β = −0.027, p = 0.473), and perceived usefulness does not enhance complementarity recognition (H9, β = 0.049, p = 0.237). These non-findings are theoretically meaningful divergence points where Western adoption theories break down in institutionally embedded, resource-constrained emerging-economy contexts. The contribution is empirical specification of how institutional theory and RBV explain adoption in B2B wholesale markets where institutional conformity supersedes individual utility.