E‐commerce adoption among Moroccan agricultural cooperatives: Between structural challenges and immense business performance potential

Abstract

This paper explores the barriers that Moroccan agricultural cooperatives face in adopting E‐commerce and the perceived impact this approach would hae on their business performance. We surveyed 120 Moroccan agricultural cooperatives and interviewed 13 cooperative presidents to collect both quantitative and qualitative data. We use descriptive and inferential statistics including independent t‐tests, One‐way ANOVA and post‐hoc analysis for quantitative data while we use thematic analysis for qualitative analysis. We document that the most important barrier to the adoption of E‐commerce in Moroccan agricultural cooperatives is the lack of information related to the low digital literacy of the cooperatives in question. Further, cooperatives believe that E‐commerce will have the highest impact on their brand image and competitiveness but will have the lowest impact on operating speed. Our results show that the higher the level of digitalization the higher the perceived impact of E‐commerce on business performance of Moroccan cooperatives. Our study provides a basis for understanding the challenges faced by Moroccan agricultural cooperatives in adopting E‐commerce. Our results can be used to craft policies and programs that ease the integration of this segment into the digital ecosystem of Morocco.

Can E-commerce development policies promote the high-quality development of agriculture?—A quasi-natural experiment based on a China’s E-commerce demonstration city

“…This study has the following innovations. (1) In terms of research methods, this study uses the progressive differential model to study the impact of implementing of the NEDCs policy on the high-quality development of agriculture. Standard errors are clustered at the city level by simultaneously controlling for both time-fixed and city-fixed effects.…”

“…With the rise of E-commerce in recent years, countries worldwide have attempted to use E-commerce network markets to promote agriculture development and further expand agricultural product sales channels, such as Morocco [ 1 ] and Spain [ 2 ]. E-commerce plays a vital role in enhancing the vitality of economic development, improving the efficiency of resource allocation, promoting the development and upgrading of traditional industries, and opening up employment and entrepreneurship channels [ 3 ].…”

“…This study focuses on the following issues: (1) Whether and to what extent E-commerce development policy can promote the improvement of agricultural development quality; (2) Whether the impact of E-commerce development policy on high-quality agricultural development is different in regions with different primary conditions; (3) As time goes by, how will the impact of E-commerce development policy on farmers' high-quality development change. The research will not only help us clarify the role of E-commerce in improving the quality of agricultural development and provide empirical evidence for the impact of E-commerce on agriculture, but also provide decision-making references and scientific advice for promoting high-quality agricultural development in rural revitalization.…”

An introduction to rural and agricultural development in the digital age

“…By estimating panel data (1980–2019) from 24 Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development countries, Shobande and Ogbeifun (2022) showed that ICT adoption helps promote environmental sustainability by reducing global carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) emissions. E‐commerce adoption reduces fertilizer use (Ji et al, 2023), empowers rural women (Yu & Cui, 2019), and boosts regional development and cooperation (Jabbouri et al, 2022; Liu et al, 2021; Qin & Fang, 2022; Reardon et al, 2021). Ji et al (2023) estimated the county panel data (2000–2020) from China and found that e‐commerce adoption increases the marginal income of agricultural products and promotes the mechanization level, which finally contributes to a reduction in chemical fertilizer application at the county level by 21%.…”

Female leadership, internet use, and performance of agricultural cooperatives in Vietnam

“…Farmer organizations, cooperatives, and other forms of collective action are thus expected to be a venue to reduce high transaction costs (Valentinov, 2007), improve the economies of scale (Hoang et al., 2021; Ma et al., 2023), and increase the bargaining power of their members (Su & Cook, 2020). They also play an important role in facilitating agricultural technology adoption and innovations among their members (Ma et al., 2022; Jabbouri et al., 2022; Zhang et al., 2020). Other advantages of agricultural cooperatives might include, for example, increases in farm productivity and income, farm sustainability, and gender equality (Candemir et al., 2021; Govindapuram et al., 2022; Ferguson & Kepe, 2011; Fischer & Qaim, 2012; Ho et al., 2017; Lijia & Xuexi, 2014; Nguyen et al., 2017; Ma et al., 2022; Sarpong‐Danquah et al., 2022; Zheng et al., 2023).…”