| Summary: | The increasing number of Jordanian Internet users should naturally be reflected in e-commerce conversions. However, this is not the case. Although social-media users in Jordan are becoming more engaged and involved in social-media transactions, e-commerce activities have not experienced a similar trend. This issue has been identified in the literature as the e-commerce awareness paradox, wherein customers are partially aware but are not engaged. This thesis investigates the lack of e-commerce adoption in Jordan, with special emphasis on exploring the role of awareness in e-commerce adoption. Using a mixed-method approach comprising Archival Research, Survey, Interviews, Focus group, and Narrative Inquiry Ethnography research, this thesis has emphasised that awareness should not be perceived as a holistic entity that influences the engagement of e-commerce, but rather as multiple degrees of awareness associated with different e-commerce processes. This thesis contributes to the Information Systems body of research by providing a new quantitative mapping technique. It projects a non-integral view of awareness on the ecommerce processes, which has resulted in identifying four distinctive awareness levels. Those four levels of awareness are Awareness of Products/Services (AOP/S), Awareness of Brand (AOB) Awareness of Payment (AOP), and Awareness of Delivery (AOD). Consequently, this mapping technique helped to put awareness into perspective as to what process of e-commerce needs to be tackled to appropriately help e-commerce practitioners to identify where they need to focus on the online acquisition journey. In addition, it provides an innovative level of stakeholder involvement that helped in identifying the role of the businesses and stakeholders in facilitating e-commerce. This has helped to provide several solutions to overcome many barriers that impediment the adoption of e-commerce in Jordan. Finally, this thesis provides a generic framework through the deployment of e-commerce processes, levels of awareness, and, stakeholders’ involvement which helps to integrate the process of successful e-commerce adoption within the Jordanian context. It contributes to gain a better understanding of the different level of awareness, which needs to be considered in each process of e-commerce for successful online shopping.
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