Adding clicks to bricks: A study of the consequences on customer loyalty in a service context

With the explosion of the Internet many firms are incorporating technology into their marketing and operations and are adopting a multichannel strategy. The impact of this strategy has been especially high in the services area, which has traditionally relied on close, personal contact between customers and employees. This study explores how overall customer loyalty is built as a consequence of the value provided by each channel (offline and online). It also analyzes the moderating role of complexity of services used and customers’ Internet access in the service value–loyalty link. The model is tested with a sample of 302 multichannel financial services customers who use both the offline (traditional) and the online channel. Results show that offline perceived service value increases online perceived value; offline value has a stronger effect on overall loyalty than online value; and online service complexity and Internet adoption moderate the influence of service value on overall loyalty. Implications for management and theory are discussed.     

Migrating to internet-based e-commerce: Factors affecting e-commerce adoption and migration at the firm level

Web technology has enabled e-commerce. However, in our review of the literature, we found little research on how firms can better position themselves when adopting e-commerce for revenue generation. Drawing upon technology diffusion theory, we developed a conceptual model for assessing e-commerce adoption and migration, incorporating six factors unique to e-commerce. A series of propositions were then developed.Survey data of 1036 firms in a broad range of industries were collected and used to test our model. Our analysis based on multi-nominal logistic regression demonstrated that technology integration, web functionalities, web spending, and partner usage were significant adoption predictors. The model showed that these variables could successfully differentiate non-adopters from adopters. Further, the migration model demonstrated that web functionalities, web spending, and integration of externally oriented inter-organizational systems tend to be the most influential drivers in firms’ migration toward e-commerce, while firm size, partner usage, electronic data interchange (EDI) usage, and perceived obstacles were found to negatively affect e-commerce migration. This suggests that large firms, as well as those that have been relying on outsourcing or EDI, tended to be slow to migrate to the internet platform.     

User profiling and virtual agents: a case study on e-commerce services

The main contribution of this work is the design of an application framework based on both conversational agents and user profiling technologies for the development of e-commerce services. User profiles are exploited by conversational agents to help customers in retrieving potentially interesting products from a catalogue. Three techniques were used for collecting data for a usability test: eye-movement tracking, questionnaire, and recording the user-system dialogue. The main outcomes of the experimental sessions are: (1) the dialogue capabilities of the agent facilitate the interaction between the user and the e-commerce site; and, (2) user profiles improve the retrieval capabilities of the agent. Finally, some limitations of the user profiling techniques adopted in the framework are discussed and a more sophisticated content-based profiling technique is proposed.     

Business-to-business e-commerce adoption: An empirical investigation of business factors

We develop an overarching model to explain the adoption of business-to-business e-commerce using five business factors: external environment, organizational context, decision-maker’s characteristics, technology context, and organizational learning. Data collected from IS executives was analyzed using logistic regression. Our model has a good fit with over 77 % variance explained. Findings indicate that the existence of informal interest groups, and the tolerant attitude of decision makers towards negative information about business-to-business e-commerce have significant influence on the adoption decision. In addition, our results indicate that price intensity and perceived barriers negatively affect the adoption decision.     

The adoption and diffusion of e-commerce in developing countries: The case of an NGO in Jordan

The case study in this research involves a nongovernmental organization (NGO) in Jordan in the Middle East, which attempted to utilize electronic commerce (EC) to streamline its business processes and information flow to businesses in Jordan and to other international businesses interested in the Jordanian market. The NGO managed to achieve these tasks expeditiously, and its EC initiative assisted in adding an effective digital parallel to existing systems and processes in this NGO. The NGO is directly involved in the e-government initiative empowered by H.M. King Abdullah II. At this end, with this royal support, the NGO successfully adopted EC. During the adoption and implementation process, the organization encountered numerous difficulties, as detailed in this research. However, the full success of EC was hampered by other factors. Initially, other governmental entities related indirectly to this NGO were not EC-ready. Second, although Web site utilization was growing in this NGO, most member merchants were reluctant to switch to the online arena and to abandon traditional practices in obtaining information and resources from this NGO. However, the NGO is aware of these concerns and envisages resolving such hurdles in its medium- to long-term projections. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

A conceptual framework for the adoption of big data analytics by e-commerce startups: a case-based approach

Information Systems and e-Business Management - E-commerce start-ups have ventured into emerging economies and are growing at a significantly faster pace. Big data has acted like a catalyst in...     

基于零售商资金约束供应链采用RFID技术的决策及融资分析

为研究零售商存在资金约束和库存错放时,供应链成员采用无线射频识别(radio frequency identification,RFID)技术及融资决策的均衡问题,以单制造商和单资金约束零售商组成的两级供应链为研究对象,基于报童模型构建供应链成员采用RFID技术前后零售商是否融资4种情景下的收益模型,求解出相应的最优解并探讨供应链成员RFID采用决策与零售商的融资策略.研究发现:当零售商的自有资金适中时,供应链成员采用RFID技术一定程度上能够缓解零售商的资金约束;零售商选择融资时,供应链及其成员能够承担更高的RFID成本;零售商分摊RFID固定成本的比例对制造商、零售商和供应链能够承担的RFID标签成本阈值有决定性的影响.     

基于可用性的移动商务系统采纳研究框架*

从系统可用性的角度来探究移动商务的采纳问题,探讨了对移动商务系统可用性的定义和测量,分析了可用性对采纳的影响机制问题,提出移动商务系统可用性受到移动设备特性、WAP网站特性、移动通信网络特性以及情境因素等四个方面因素的影响,并对这四个方面进行了深入的分析和探讨。提出了一种基于可用性的移动商务采纳研究框架,希望引起学术界对移动商务系统可用性的更多关注,并更好理解影响移动商务采纳的因素。     

Barriers to e-commerce and competitive business models in developing countries: A case study

This paper integrates and extends research on e-commerce in the developing world. We use three categories of feedback systems–economic, sociopolitical and cognitive—to offer a simple model of e-commerce barriers in the developing world. We also examine characteristics of e-business models that can be successfully employed in developing countries. Then, we provide the case of an e-business model followed by a Nepal-based multiple international award winning online provider. This paper’s theoretical contribution is to explain the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of e-commerce in developing countries and to identify clear contexts and attendant mechanism.     

Barriers to e-commerce and competitive business models in developing countries: A case study

This paper integrates and extends research on e-commerce in the developing world. We use three categories of feedback systems–economic, sociopolitical and cognitive—to offer a simple model of e-commerce barriers in the developing world. We also examine characteristics of e-business models that can be successfully employed in developing countries. Then, we provide the case of an e-business model followed by a Nepal-based multiple international award winning online provider. This paper’s theoretical contribution is to explain the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of e-commerce in developing countries and to identify clear contexts and attendant mechanism.     

Trust and e-commerce: a study of consumer perceptions

Increasing use of the World Wide Web as a B2C commercial tool raises interest in understanding the key issues in building relationships with customers on the Internet. Trust is believed to be the key to these relationships. Given the differences between a virtual and a conventional marketplace, antecedents and consequences of trust merit re-examination. This research identifies a number of key factors related to trust in the B2C context and proposes a framework based on a series of underpinning relationships among these factors. The findings in this research suggest that people are more likely to purchase from the web if they perceive a higher degree of trust in e-commerce and have more experience in using the web. Customer’s trust levels are likely to be influenced by the level of perceived market orientation, site quality, technical trustworthiness, and user’s web experience. People with a higher level of perceived site quality seem to have a higher level of perceived market orientation and trustworthiness towards e-commerce. Furthermore, people with a higher level of trust in e-commerce are more likely to participate in e-commerce. Positive ‘word of mouth’, money back warranty and partnerships with well-known business partners, rank as the top three effective risk reduction tactics. These findings complement the previous findings on e-commerce and shed light on how to establish a trust relationship on the World Wide Web.     

A model of e-commerce adoption (MOCA): consumer's perceptions and behaviours

The paper analyses factors that usually influence the adoption of online commerce, focusing in particular on how social influence acts in this process considering in particular an Italian sample. It investigates about the actual transaction behaviour, and not just the intention to shop online. Starting from analysing technology acceptance models of literature, the paper proposes and empirically validates a new model for e-commerce adoption. A self-administered survey approach was used to collect data from a sample of different ages, genders and educational levels by using a structured questionnaire. Empirical data were analysed using correlation and regression analysis. Results showed that social influence, usability and perceived usefulness are predictors of the frequency of use and then, of e-commerce adoption. The paper gives both a theoretical and an empirical contribution to the e-commerce literature by designing and testing a model for predicting online consumers’ behaviour and enhancing the e-commerce adoption understanding.     

Intelligent value-based customer segmentation method for campaign management: A case study of automobile retailer

Most marketers have difficulty in identifying the right customers to engage in successful campaigns. So far, customer segmentation is a popular method that is used for selecting appropriate customers for a launch campaign. Unfortunately, the link between customer segmentation and marketing campaign is missing. Another problem is that database marketers generally use different models to conduct customer segmentation and customer targeting. This study presents a novel approach that combines customer targeting and customer segmentation for campaign strategies. This investigation identifies customer behavior using a recency, frequency and monetary (RFM) model and then uses a customer life time value (LTV) model to evaluate proposed segmented customers. Additionally, this work proposes using generic algorithm (GA) to select more appropriate customers for each campaign strategy. To demonstrate the efficiency of the proposed method, this work performs an empirical study of a Nissan automobile retailer to segment over 4000 customers. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed method can more effectively target valuable customers than random selection.     

Electronic commerce adoption: an empirical study of small and medium US businesses

By combining two independent research streams, we examined the determinant factors of strategic value and adoption of electronic commerce as perceived by top managers in small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in the midwest region of the US. We proposed a research model that suggested three factors that have been found to be influential in previous research in the perception of strategic value of other information technologies: operational support, managerial productivity, and strategic decision aids. Inspired by the technology acceptance model and other relevant research in the area, we also identified four factors that influence electronic commerce adoption: organizational readiness, external pressure, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness. We hypothesized a causal link between the perceived strategic value of electronic commerce and electronic commerce adoption. To validate the research model, we collected data from top managers/owners of SME by using an Internet survey.     

The moderating effects of gender on e-commerce systems adoption factors: An empirical investigation

For e-commerce designers and human–computer interaction researchers, electronic commerce (e-commerce) systems adoption factors and the moderating effects of gender are important topics. Even though there are research endeavors to explain e-commerce systems adoption, one of the main questions to be answered is regarding the normative and affective factors based on the theory of reasoned action and self-determination theory. In this paper, social norms, perceived enjoyment, and their relationships to intention to adopt an e-commerce system are tested (n = 322). Furthermore, the moderating effects of gender are tested based on the sociolinguistic literature. As expected, the influence of social norms is stronger in the female group while the influence of enjoyment is stronger in the male group. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed in the paper.     

Electronic commerce adoption: an empirical study of small and medium US businesses

By combining two independent research streams, we examined the determinant factors of strategic value and adoption of electronic commerce as perceived by top managers in small and medium sized enterprises (SME) in the midwest region of the US. We proposed a research model that suggested three factors that have been found to be influential in previous research in the perception of strategic value of other information technologies: operational support, managerial productivity, and strategic decision aids. Inspired by the technology acceptance model and other relevant research in the area, we also identified four factors that influence electronic commerce adoption: organizational readiness, external pressure, perceived ease of use, and perceived usefulness. We hypothesized a causal link between the perceived strategic value of electronic commerce and electronic commerce adoption. To validate the research model, we collected data from top managers/owners of SME by using an Internet survey.     

Hospitality and hostility in hospitals: a case study of an EPR adoption among surgeons

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the adoption of healthcare information systems (HIS) from a user perspective. Our case study concerns how a group of orthopaedic surgeons experienced and reacted to the adoption and mandatory use of an Electronic Patient Record system in a Danish hospital. We propose to use the concepts of hospitality and hostility to turn our attention to the interaction between the host (the surgeons) and the guest (the information system) and consider how the boundaries between them evolved in the everyday work practices. As an alternative to previous studies on technology adoption, these concepts help us appreciate and put special emphasis on particular aspects of the adoption process: the mutual and co-constitutive relationship between the users and the technology and the continued co-existence of both positive and negative attitudes among the users. The findings suggest an alternative way of thinking about an adoption process that is considered relevant to managers who strive to ensure successful adoption of HIS.     

Software process improvement in small organizations: a case study

The Capability Maturity Model for software has become a major force in software development process improvement. We looked at the role of process improvement in the context of a small organization. Although the Capability Maturity Model integration is replacing the CMM, we focused on the older CMM. We had to look at more than which CMM key process areas apply to small businesses. Our overall goal was to institute good software development practices, we used the language of the CMM to gain the management's cooperation. Applying these practices is essential to managing growth, yet undertaking this effort without prior experience could impede a small company's innovative nature. This case study's purpose was to investigate the success factors of a software process improvement effort for a small software development organization.     

Optimizing sunk investments in e-commerce: a quality assurance challenge for small businesses

In a traditional retail environment, the reputation value of a brand name leads profitable firms with established brands to work hard to maintain quality. A store may rely on its reputation to signal that its goods are of high quality. A retailer that expects repeated purchases by a consumer – if it provides high-quality products – has a strong incentive not to provide defective products or poor service. Translating this type of quality assurance into digital sales media poses unique challenges, particularly for small businesses. Retailers that have only a local geographic reputation require innovative strategies to convince a potential global market that the products or services they provide are of appropriate quality when they make the move into electronic commerce retailing. This paper provides a model that identifies a number of unique factors that should be considered when estimating the optimal level of investment into an e-commerce initiative. Decisions of this type are particularly difficult for small businesses because they may lack expertise in digital marketing and sales and they may have insufficient resources required for ideal levels of investment. These constraints have led to some creative cost and risk minimizing solutions that have been adopted by certain small businesses in their effort to make the transition into the digital marketplace. Published online: 22 August 2001     

The impact of E-commerce capabilities on online retailer performance: Examining the role of timing of adoption

This study examines how the timing of the adoption of e-commerce capabilities affects the performance of online retailers. By applying a resource-based view and innovation diffusion theory, we examine capability adoption by the top 500 US online retailers over seven years period. We present how e-commerce capabilities differentially contribute to performance outcomes. Capabilities vary in the durability of benefit, with some providing earlier adopter benefits and others showing benefits later in their life cycles. We find that some capabilities reward later adopters, contrary to prior research. These results support that adoption timing is key to the understanding of the contribution of e-commerce capabilities to online retailer performance.