Dual Role of Trust and Self-Efficacy in Mediating and Moderating the Digital Market Adoption of Underserved MSMEs in Developing Countries

This study addresses the critical challenge of digital market adoption among
underserved MSMEs in developing countries, who face significant barriers beyond infrastructure. It extends the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework by incorporating individual-level factors: self-efficacy and trust. This study reveals that trust plays a significant dual role in digital market adoption among underserved MSMEs: acting as a crucial foundational psychological state that enables other factors to influence adoption, and as a moderator that strengthens the impact of perceived usefulness and facilitating conditions on adoption intention.