Evaluating the Adoption of Electronic Invoicing Standards in Large B2B Enterprises: Determinants, Barriers, and Strategic Implications

Abstract

Electronic invoicing has become an important component of contemporary business to business exchanges, as organizations seek to reduce manual processing, improve payment visibility, and comply with evolving tax and reporting obligations. Large enterprises operating complex supply networks are under particular pressure to migrate from paper based and unstructured digital invoices toward standardized electronic formats that can be processed automatically across multiple systems and partners. Despite the availability of mature technical standards and a growing ecosystem of service providers, adoption trajectories remain uneven and heterogeneous across industries and regions, suggesting that non technical factors are highly influential. This paper examines the determinants, barriers, and strategic implications of adopting electronic invoicing standards in large business to business enterprises. It synthesizes insights from research on information systems adoption, interorganizational systems, and supply chain management to structure an interpretive discussion of organizational, technological, regulatory, and relational conditions that shape adoption decisions. Particular attention is given to issues of integration with legacy systems, governance of data and processes, supplier enablement, and alignment between internal finance, procurement, and IT functions. The paper further considers how standardization influences process transparency, working capital management, and the configuration of buyer supplier relationships. Rather than proposing a single prescriptive model, the discussion highlights the multiple trade offs and path dependencies that organizations navigate when designing and implementing electronic invoicing solutions. The analysis is intended to provide a structured perspective that can inform reflective decision making among large enterprises that are evaluating or revisiting their electronic invoicing strategies.