An integrative framework of comparing SaaS adoption for core and non-core business operations: An empirical study on Hong Kong industries

Software as a Service (SaaS), which offers the possibility to cover both core and non-core business operations of a company, has profoundly transformed traditional outsourcing approaches. As SaaS represents promising solutions for a variety of business processes, it is important to identify a theoretical framework to evaluate SaaS adoption for these two types of operations. We propose an integrative framework to evaluate SaaS adoption by including four perspectives-economic savings, strategic influences, management attitudes toward ownership and vendor's service quality; and formulate hypotheses to predict the difference in SaaS adoption for core and non-core business operations. We validate our framework using data from 269 companies across different industries in Hong Kong. The results support the integrative framework. Perceived cost advantage has a positive influence on SaaS adoption for non-core business operations, whereas a gap in IT capabilities has a positive influence on SaaS adoption for core business operations. Furthermore, perceived service quality has a positive influence, and management attitude toward ownership and control has a negative influence on SaaS adoption for both types of operations.