Affiliate marketing in SMEs: the moderating effect of developmental culture

Abstract

The primary objective of affiliate marketing is to promote products or services via online distribution channels through third parties. However, its application has remained scarce despite being acknowledged as an efficient means of encouragement for SMEs to compete globally. This research adopts various technology adoption models to identify determining factors of intention to use affiliate marketing among SMEs. Developmental culture is included in the research model to assess its moderating effect. An online survey questionnaire has successfully obtained 180 usable responses for data analysis. The findings show that perceived usefulness, observability, and social influence are significant determinants of intention to use affiliate marketing. Developmental culture is found to moderate the results. Low developmental culture enhances the relationship between perceived usefulness and the intention to use affiliate marketing whereas high developmental culture strengthens the relationship between compatibility and the intention to use affiliate marketing. Implications of this study are discussed.