Institutional aspects of the formation and development of a resilient electronic commerce market

This research examines the institutional aspects of developing a resilient e-commerce market in Ukraine. The institutional approach allows us to consider various aspects of formation, functioning, and changes within the social institutions and their influence of e-commerce solutions on individuals’ activities and social interaction. During the literature review, the various approaches to the essence of the institution as an economic category were considered. The author proposed considering the e-commerce institution as a socially formed system that structures interaction within the e-commerce market by implementing formal and informal rules that influence subjects’ activities by establishing restrictions and organizing motivational mechanisms that support the desired behavior to maximize the aggregate economic impact. The roles and functions of the leading institutional players, particularly state institutions, market institutions, research institutions, and public and non-profit institutions, are defined. The literature review determined that e-commerce adoption is significantly determined by the response to pressure from external agents (consumers and competitors) and internal agents (employees). The model of the institutional environment of the e-commerce system is presented. The proposed model is based on the interaction of e-commerce institutions that contribute to institutionalizing e-commerce technologies within the Ukrainian business environment. The institutional influence is being implemented by utilizing the interaction of the ‘business-government-society’ triad. Among the expected institutional effects of the general modernization of the socio-economic system, the harmonization of relationships between individual participants and the reduction of resource asymmetry can be highlighted. Three types of institutional pressures that influence the enterprises’ decisions to adopt and develop e-commerce systems are discussed, particularly coercive, regulatory, and mimetic types of pressure. The interaction of these types of institutional pressure thereby influences the enterprises’ perception of barriers and opportunities for adopting and utilizing e-commerce. Keywords: e-commerce, institutionalization, resilience.