IRACST- International Journal of Research in Management & Technology (IJRMT), ISSN: 2249-9563 Vol. 5, No6, December 2015 385 The Key Factors Affecting B2C Acceptance in Egypt: An Empirical Investigation Dr. Ibrahim Al Sahouly Senior Lecturer October University for Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA) Faculty of Management Sciences, Marketing Department, 6 th of October City, Egypt E-mail: isahouly@msa.eun.eg Dr. Tahir Rashid Professor University of Salford, Business School, Salford, Greater Manchester M5 4WT, United Kingdom E-mail: t.rashid@salford.ac.uk Abstract— This research aims at investigating the effect of inter- related micro-variables (level of trust, perceived security and perceived self-efficacy) and macro-variables (availability of active legislations and technological level) on the acceptance of e- commerce as the independent variable in Egypt. Applying the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and adopting quantitative research methodology, questionnaires were carried out amongst 600 Egyptian consumers. The results of the survey indicate that trust, security, current technological level, active legislations and self- efficacy all affected Egyptians consumers’ acceptance of business-to-consumer (B2C) e-commerce. The research further discusses significant implications that can be adopted at both the micro and macro levels in Egypt and presents the Conceptual Model for B2C acceptance in Egypt. Keywords- Business- to- Consumer e-commerce, Egyptian e- commerce; TAM model, B2C in the Arab world. I. INTRODUCTION Information and Communications Technology (ICT) evolution has affected the way businesses are managed both internally and externally by creating new goods, services, delivery channels and tools by which the organisation can enhance relationships with its customers (Turban et al., 2011). Consequently, it has evoked the concept and practice of e-commerce. The successful presence of e-commerce has helped to create low cost and high efficiency for product and service sales through a more dynamic and interactive venue of opportunities where the world has become the marketplace (Soloman, 2015). Electronic commerce is a relatively new concept that emerged in the 1970s (Laudon and Traver, 2012). There are various definitions of electronic commerce as the researchers have not been able to agree on a conclusive definition for the concept (Mesenbourg, 1999; Riggins and Rhee, 1998; Swatman, 1996; Wilkins et al., 2000). Some researchers have highlighted that the complexity of the elements of e-commerce makes it difficult to define the term and suggest interpretations that focus specifically on their own area of research (Wilkins et al., 2000). Therefore, this paper aims at investigating the key micro and macro factors that affect the acceptance of e-commerce by Egyptian consumers. The Arab Republic of Egypt (ARE) is still at its early stages of using (B2C) e-commerce and its diffusion is very fragmented (ICT, 2013). Egypt is the most populous Arab country, with a population that has reached 85.55 million in the beginning of 2014 (Egypt Human Development Report, 2015). The proportion of Internet users in Egypt is 30 million (The Future of the Internet Economy in Egypt, 2014), which further means that only 35.08% of the Egyptians use the Internet, and 64.92% of the population do not use it. Furthermore, only two per cent of Egyptian Internet users buy products and services on-line (The Future of the Internet Economy in Egypt, 2014), which means that only 600, 000 Egyptians shop on-line out of 85.55 million; a fact which gives a clear indication of the low rate of on-line shopping users compared to the total number of population. This situation a fact which further reflects the urgent need to conduct intensive studies to identify the causes behind the current lack of e-commerce acceptance by the Egyptian consumers, and try to find the appropriate solutions to this problem, given the potential significance of e-commerce and the need to keep pace with the rapid technological developments taking place worldwide. Therefore, there is an urgent need to identify and explore the factors that influence the B2C acceptance so that appropriate solutions can be proposed to address them. The acceptance of e-commerce process by consumers crystallises around two major aspects: [1] getting information about the product, and [2] purchasing the product from an on- line vendor (Laudon and Traver, 2012). Accordingly, the working definition of e-commerce that will be employed throughout this paper is the use of information technology (IT) applications within B2C contexts to attract new consumers and strengthen relationships with existing ones through improving internal processes, existing products, and enhancing consumer's