A Study on Research Directions and Implications of E-Commerce in China

In the late 90’s of last century, E-commerce became the focus of research following its application in government, enterprises and many other fields. In this paper, we present a literature review of academic journal papers in China that was published on the subject between 1999 and 2012. We organize these studies into four main categories: technological issues, applications areas, support and implementation issues, and other issues. All of the papers in the review are allocated to the main and sub-categories based on their main focus. Our analysis of these papers provides useful insights on the anatomy of the E-commerce literature, and should aid the creation and accumulation of knowledge in this domain. A comprehensive list of references is also presented. It is hoped that the review will be a good resource for anyone who is interested in E-commerce research in China, and will help to stimulate further interest in this area. The implications for E-commerce researchers and practitioners and suggestions for future research areas are discussed.