How online social ties and product-related risks influence purchase intentions: A Facebook experiment

Drawing on information processing theory and the stimulus–organism–response model, we developed research hypotheses about consumers’ decision-making processes. Specifically, we examined the effects of online tie strength, perceived diagnosticity, and product-related risks on consumers’ purchase intentions. We conducted a field experiment on Facebook to test these hypotheses. We found that the product information and recommendations provided by friends with whom consumers have strong ties are perceived as having a high level of diagnosticity. The latter increases the probability that the consumers will purchase the product in question. Product-related risks moderate the effect of tie strength on perceived diagnosticity. For high-risk products, the information and recommendations provided by strong-tie contacts have a greater effect on purchase intentions than the information and recommendations provided by weak-tie contacts. However, we did not find this effect for low-risk products. We discuss the implications of our findings for both theory and practice.     

Understanding customers' loyalty intentions towards online shopping: an integration of technology acceptance model and fairness theory

As with any other information system (IS), the success of online shopping depends largely on customer satisfaction and other factors that will eventually increase customers' loyalty intentions. This article integrates two major variables of technology acceptance model (TAM), trust, and fairness to construct a model for investigating the motivations behind customers' loyalty intentions towards online shopping. The hypothesised model is validated empirically using data collected from 311 customers of an online shopping store. The results indicated that distributive, procedural and interactional fairness were strong predictors of trust, which in turn influenced satisfaction. Distributive fairness and interactional fairness exhibited significant positive effects on satisfaction. Perceived usefulness and satisfaction influenced loyalty intention towards online shopping. Perceived ease of use acts indirectly on loyalty intention through the mediating effect of perceived usefulness. Implications for theory and practice and future research directions are discussed.     

Understanding dynamics between initial trust and usage intentions of mobile banking

Mobile banking is an emerging application of mobile commerce that could become an additional revenue source to both banks and telecom service providers. It is a form of service convergence enabled by innovative technologies. Despite the alleged benefits of mobile banking, its acceptance has been short of industry expectations. One plausible explanation may be consumers' initial lack of trust in available services. The objective of our research is to reveal the mechanisms associated with the initial formation of people's trust in mobile banking and intention to use the service. For this, we attempt to understand the effect of four antecedent variables (structural assurances, relative benefits, personal propensity to trust and firm reputation) on shaping a person's initial trust in mobile banking and its usage intention. They represent four types of trust-inducing forces: institutional offering (structural assurances), cognition (perceived benefits), personality (personal propensity) and firm characteristics (firm reputation). We examine individual significance of the selected antecedents and also their comparative reliability in explaining the two exogenous variables. The technical basis of our empirical research is the innovative mobile banking solution that uses cellphones with a built-in smart chipset. The survey data are analyzed using structural equation modelling. The analysis showed that three variables (relative benefits, propensity to trust and structural assurances) had a significant effect on initial trust in mobile banking. Also, the perception of initial trust and relative benefits was vital in promoting personal intention to make use of related services. However, contrary to our expectation, the reputation as a firm characteristics variable failed to attract people to mobile banking.     

Understanding social loafing in knowledge contribution from the perspectives of justice and trust

Many studies have confirmed that social loafing can greatly undermine a group’s performance. The negative impact of social loafing is even more pronounced in knowledge contribution, since much valuable knowledge is implicit and thus easy to conceal. However, few studies have centered on investigating the effect of social loafing on knowledge contribution, namely, knowledge contribution loafing (KCL). The aim of this study is to develop an integrative understanding of major KCL antecedents in team projects. We employ as our theoretical framework the widely applied Social Exchange Theory (SET) and focus on two of its core concepts, trust and justice, each of which is in turn sub-divided into three types to facilitate a more comprehensive understanding. Through a cross-industry survey of 157 groups in Taiwan and after a partial least squares (PLS) analysis, the result of this study shows that KCL can be effectively diminished by raising interactional justice and benevolence-based trust. Additionally, we find that procedural, interactional and distributive justice as well as integrity-based trust also exert a positive effect on boosting benevolence-based trust.     

Exploring the cognitive and affective bases of online purchase intentions: a hierarchical test across product types

Whereas there is ample e-commerce research on how online store beliefs and consumer online affective states may influence online purchase intentions, no research so far has examined whether the hierarchy of effects between these concepts differs across product types. In this study, we fill this research gap by examining the explanatory power of the think-feel-do hierarchy versus the feel-think-do hierarchy in predicting online purchase intentions towards search versus experience products and high involvement versus low involvement products. Hypotheses are formulated and tested using a quasi-field experiment (n = 198) design. The results show the robustness of the think-feel-do hierarchy for three out of four product types (experience, low involvement, high involvement). Remarkably, the results also demonstrate that the formation of online purchase intentions for search products may occur via a more experiential form of online purchase decision-making. Implications of our findings for theory and online store practitioners are discussed.     

Understanding consumer intention to participate in online travel community and effects on consumer intention to purchase travel online and WOM: An integration of innovation diffusion theory and TAM with trust

The growing presence of online travel communities is leading to great developments in the travel industry. Grounded in the innovation diffusion theory (IDT) and the technology acceptance model (TAM), this paper seek to develop and empirically test a comprehensive framework to examine the antecedents of customers' intention to participate in online travel community. Using SEM to analyse the data collected from a sample of 495 members, the results indicate that innovation diffusion theory and TAM with trust provide an appropriate model for explaining consumers' intention to participate; this intention in turn has a positive influence on intention to purchase and positive WOM. Furthermore, religiosity plays an important role in understanding consumers' behavioural intention. The results offer important implications for online service provider and are likely to stimulate further research in the area of online travel community.     

An empirical study on consumer first purchase intention in online shopping: integrating initial trust and TAM

To understand the first purchase mechanism in online shopping, this study established an integrated model of initial trust and TAM. According to the analysis results, initial trust beliefs were significantly influenced by initial trust bases such as company reputation, structural assurance, and trusting stance, and initial trust beliefs indirectly influenced the first purchase intention through consumer attitude. In TAM constructs, only perceived usefulness directly influenced the usage attitude of online shopping systems, then indirectly influenced the first purchase intention. These results imply that online consumers consider perceived ease of use as a basic requirement for system design. It was also found that there is a time cushion between the time of first purchase and the time of belief formation. On the whole, these results reinforced the theory that a relationship between belief (trust and perceived usefulness) and intention was better explained when it was mediated by attitude.     

Building trust online: Interactions among trust building mechanisms

Lack of trust has been shown to be a major obstacle to the adoption of online shopping. However, there has been little investigation of the effectiveness of various trust building mechanisms and their interactions. In our study, three trust building mechanisms (third-party certification, reputation, and return policy), were examined. A scenario survey method was used for data collection. 463 usable questionnaires were collected from respondents with diverse backgrounds. Regression results showed that all three trust building mechanisms had significant positive effect on trust of the online vendor. However, their effects were not simple; they interacted to produce a different overall effect on the level of trust. These results have both theoretical and practical implications.     

Re-examining the influence of trust on online repeat purchase intention: The moderating role of habit and its antecedents

Customer loyalty or repeat purchasing is critical for the survival and success of any store. By focusing on online stores, this study investigates the moderating role of habit on the relationship between trust and repeat purchase intention. Prior research on online behavior continuance models perceives usefulness, trust, satisfaction, and perceived value as the major determinants of continued usage or loyalty, overlooking the important role of habit. We define habit in the context of online shopping as the extent to which buyers tend to shop online automatically without thinking. Building on recent research on the continued usage of IS and repeat purchasing, we develop a model suggesting that habit acts as a moderator between trust and repeat purchase intention, while familiarity, value and satisfaction are the three antecedents of habit. Data collected from 454 customers of the Yahoo!Kimo shopping mall provide strong support for the research model. The results indicate that a higher level of habit reduces the effect of trust on repeat purchase intention. The data also show that value, satisfaction, and familiarity are important to habit formation and thus relevant within the context of online repeat purchasing. The implications for theory and practice and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Online purchase intentions: A multi-channel store image perspective

The advantages of the bricks-and-clicks retail format in the battle for the online customer has been widely discussed but empirical research on it has been limited. We applied a multi-channel store image perspective to assess its influence on online purchase intentions. Drawing on a sample of 630 customers of a large music retail store in the Netherlands, the results demonstrated that offline and online store perceptions directly influenced online purchase intention. In addition, our findings confirmed that offline store impressions were used as references for their online store counterparts. Synergy and reference effects are discussed.     

Empathy and online interpersonal trust: A fragile relationship

The rapid growth of personal email communication, instant messaging and online communities has brought attention to the important role of interpersonal trust in online communication. An empirical study was conducted focusing on the effect of empathy on online interpersonal trust in textual IM. To be more specific, the relationship between empathic accuracy, response type and online interpersonal trust was investigated. The result suggests both empathic accuracy and response type have significant influence on online interpersonal trust. The interaction between empathic accuracy and response type also significantly influences online trust. Interestingly, the results imply a relationship between daily trust attitude and online interpersonal trust. People who are more trusting in their daily life may experience more difficulty in developing trust online. There is also some evidence to suggest that different communication scenarios may have an influence on online trust.     

Analysing online purchase intention in Spain: fashion e-commerce

Information Systems and e-Business Management - The importance of e-commerce continues to grow in retail, providing companies with a tool to improve commercial and marketing strategies. In this...     

Examining employee computer abuse intentions: insights from justice,deterrence and neutralization perspectives

Although employee computer abuse is a costly and significant problem for firms, the existing academic literature regarding this issue is limited. To address this gap, we apply a multi‐theoretical model to explain employees' intentions to abuse computers. To understand the motives for such behaviour, we investigate the role of two forms of organizational justice – distributive and procedural – both of which provide explanations of how perceptions of unfairness are created in the organizational context. By applying deterrence theory, we also examine the extent to which formal sanctions influence and moderate the intentions to abuse computers. Finally, we examine how the potential motives for abuse may be moderated by techniques of neutralization, which allow offenders to justify their actions and absolve themselves of any associated feelings of guilt and shame. Utilizing the scenario‐based factorial survey method for our experimental design, we empirically evaluated the association between these antecedents and the behavioural intention to violate Information systems (IS) security policies in an environment where the measurement of actual behaviour would be impossible. Our findings suggest that individual employees may form intentions to commit computer abuse if they perceive the presence of procedural injustice and that techniques of neutralization and certainty of sanctions moderate this influence. The implications of these findings for research and practice are presented. © 2016 John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

Determinants of repurchase intention in online group-buying: The perspectives of DeLone & McLean IS success model and trust

The purpose of this study is to propose a theoretical model to examine the antecedents of repurchase intention in online group-buying by integrating the perspective of DeLone & McLean IS success model and the literature of trust. The model was tested using the data collected from 253 customers of a group-buying website in Taiwan. The results show that satisfaction with website, satisfaction with sellers, and perceived quality of website have positive influences on repurchase intention, while perceived quality of website and perceived quality of sellers have significant impacts on satisfaction with website and satisfaction with sellers, respectively. The results also show that trust in website has positive influences on perceived quality of website and satisfaction with website, whereas trust in sellers influence perceived quality of sellers and satisfaction with sellers significantly. Finally, the results show that perceived size of website has positive influence on trust in website, while reputation of website and reputation of sellers significantly affect trust in website and trust in sellers, respectively. The implications for theory and practice and suggestions for future research are also discussed.     

Development of application-based mobile-service trust and online trust transfer: an elaboration likelihood model perspective

Many firms are developing application-based mobile services (ABMS) as a complementary channel to their online service. Although perceptions of the ABMS determine trust in the ABMS, trust transfer from the online channel plays a role in the formation of ABMS trust. Applying the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) to the study, two objectives were pursued: (1) to investigate the role different influence processes play in the formation of ABMS trust and (2) to assess whether the effects of these influences vary across users, and if so, how. Data collected from 344 users of the online services of a price-comparison service also offering an ABMS were analysed. Based on the ELM, central and peripheral routes of information processing were identified in the formation of ABMS trust. The central routes of information processing that play a role are the influence of online-service trust and ABMS perceived usefulness on ABMS trust, while the influence of ABMS perceived ease-of-use on ABMS trust emerged as a peripheral cue. Furthermore, online-service trust is also a peripheral cue for ABMS perceived ease-of-use. Other theoretical contributions offered by this study are findings that show that ABMS self-efficacy and online-service use influence information processing, but use different ELM routes.     

Analysing complaint intentions in online shopping: the antecedents of justice and technology use and the mediator of customer satisfaction

Complaint behaviours are the key to the competition in an online market when service quality is a major concern of consumers. An understanding of complaint intentions can provide insight into a negative service experience and in turn, effectively redress consumer's problems. It is our purpose to examine the determinants of complaint intentions in the online shopping. When online consumers essentially involve the purchase of products/services and the use of web-based technologies, two major issues particularly arise in this context, exchange behaviour and technology use. This study thus integrates justice perception and expectation–confirmation model (ECM) of information system continuance to understand customer satisfaction and in turn, complaint intentions. Data were collected for online consumers with negative service experiences. The results of testing the structural model indicated that distributive and interactional justices significantly contribute to customer satisfaction and complaint intentions, but procedural justice does not. ECM-based features, such as perceived usefulness, are all important in determining customer satisfaction and complaint intentions. The implications for managers and scholars are further discussed.     

Understanding the role of technology in service innovation: Comparison of three theoretical perspectives

Although prior studies have stressed the importance of technology in service innovation, debates on the roles of technology continue to surface. This study aims to investigate the role of technology in service innovation based on a service innovation framework. After identifying four innovation orientations, we propose three competing models having different roles of technology (direct, indirect, and moderating). Using data from 193 service firms, we determine which model best explains the role of technology. Results show that technology plays multiple roles in service innovation. Our study helps managers effectively coordinate their technology infusion into service innovation to improve firm performance.     

Understanding customers' repeat purchase intentions in B2C e‐commerce: the roles of utilitarian value,hedonic value and perceived risk

Customer loyalty or repeat purchasing is critical for the survival and success of any store. By focusing on online stores, this study investigates the repeat purchase intention of experienced online buyers based on means‐end chain theory and prospect theory. In the research model, both utilitarian value and hedonic value are hypothesised to affect repeat purchase intention positively. Perceived risk is hypothesised to affect repeat purchase intention negatively and moderate the effects of utilitarian and hedonic values on repeat purchase intention. Utilitarian value is proposed as a formative second‐order construct formed by product offerings, product information, monetary savings and convenience. Hedonic value is also proposed as a formative second‐order construct formed by the six hedonic benefits that have been identified in prior research. Data collected from 782 Yahoo!Kimo customers provide strong support for the research model. The results indicate that both the utilitarian value and hedonic value are positively associated with buyers' repeat purchase intention. A higher level of perceived risk reduces the effect of utilitarian value and increases the effect of hedonic value on repeat purchase intention. Implications for theory and practice and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Social presence,trust, and social commerce purchase intention: An empirical research

Lacking the presence of human and social elements is claimed one major weakness that is hindering the growth of e-commerce. The emergence of social commerce might help ameliorate this situation. Social commerce is a new evolution of e-commerce that combines the commercial and social activities by deploying social technologies into e-commerce sites. Social commerce reintroduces the social aspect of shopping to e-commerce, increasing the degree of social presences in online environment. Drawing upon the social presence theory, this study theorizes the nature of social aspect in online SC marketplace by proposing a set of three social presence variables. These variables are then hypothesized to have positive impacts on trusting beliefs which in turn result in online purchase behaviors. The research model is examined via data collected from a typical e-commerce site in China. Our findings suggest that social presence factors grounded in social technologies contribute significantly to the building of the trustworthy online exchanging relationships. In doing so, this paper confirms the positive role of social aspect in shaping online purchase behaviors, providing a theoretical evidence for the fusion of social and commercial activities. Finally, this paper introduces a new perspective of e-commerce and calls more attention to this new phenomenon of social commerce.