Legal Enforceability of Electronic Contracts in Pakistan Perceptions of Businesses and Consumers

Abstract

Electronic contracts (e-contracts) are increasingly used in Pakistan due to rapid growth in digital commerce; however, their legal enforceability largely depends on public perceptions, awareness, and trust in the legal and technological systems supporting them. To evaluate business and consumer perception of the legal enforceability of e-contracts in Pakistan and to explore the factors that affect the perceptions. The present study is a descriptive cross-sectional study carried out in Islamabad, Pakistan from January to June 2025. 412 respondents (206 businesses and 206 consumers) were selected by stratified sampling. The data were gathered using a structured questionnaire which was designed from the study objectives and literature review. Awareness of the Electronic Transactions Ordinance (ETO) 2002, trust in e-contracts, perceived security of electronic transactions, and perceived legal enforceability were the factors that were assessed. The SPSS version 26 software was used to analyze the data using independent samples t-test, Pearson correlation, and multiple linear regression. The results showed that the findings indicated a moderate level of awareness, trust, perceived security and legal enforceability among the respondents. The difference between businesses and consumers was significant with businesses having a more positive perception on all the study variables. The factors that were found to be significant predictors of perceived legal enforceability were awareness, trust and perceived security. The extent to which people feel that e-contracts are enforceable in Pakistan is mainly driven by their digital awareness, trust and perceived security, emphasizing the need to increase digital literacy and boost institutional confidence.