Web Acceptance Model (WAM): Moderating effects of user experience

Our study empirically examined how Davis's Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) helped managers predict a user's intention to revisit a website and how this changed over time as a user gained experience of the Internet and the website. The user's experience of the website played a moderating role. For less experienced users, perceived ease of use was found to be a more important factor in deciding to revisit the website, whereas perceived usefulness had more effect on more experienced users. Thus, web designers can identify and remove web factors that hinder user acceptance and address underlying obstacles to post-adoption usage.     

Usability beyond the website: An empirically-grounded e-commerce evaluation instrument for the total customer experience

A customer's experience with an e-commerce environment extends beyond the interaction with the website, including delivery of products, post-sales support, consumption of products and services, and so on. It is the total customer experience that influences the customers' perceptions of value and service quality, and which consequently affects customer loyalty. In our cross-disciplinary research in human-computer interaction (HCI) and relationship marketing, we have been investigating how HCI and customer relationship management (CRM) strategies can be integrated in the design of e-commerce so as to engender customer retention, trust and loyalty. We have performed a series of empirical studies to understand customers' requirements and perceptions about service-quality from e-shopping and e-travel environments. From these studies, we have developed an empirically-grounded evaluation instrument, E-SEQUAL, which we discuss in this paper. The development team can apply it at different phases of an e-commerce development life-cycle to integrate customers' perceived dimensions of service quality into the design and evaluation of e-commerce.     

Understanding the effect of flow on user adoption of mobile games

Mobile games as an emerging service have not received wide adoption among users; especially, presenting a compelling experience to users may be crucial to their usage. Drawing on the flow theory, this research identified the factors affecting user adoption of mobile games. The results indicated that perceived ease of use, connection quality and content quality affect flow. Among them, content quality has the largest effect. Flow, social influence and usage cost determine usage intention. The results imply that service providers need to improve users’ experience in order to facilitate their adoption and usage of mobile games.     

A study of virtual product consumption from the expectancy disconfirmation and symbolic consumption perspectives

Researchers have not specifically considered the determinants of satisfaction and repurchase intention with regard to virtual products. Using the expectancy disconfirmation model and symbolic consumption theory, this study presents and empirically examines a model of customer satisfaction and repurchase intention in this context. Using structural equation modeling to analyze the data collected from 477 consumers of virtual products, this study validates the influence of perceived customization and perceived sociability on customer satisfaction and repurchase intention with regard to virtual products. Additionally, this study statistically confirms the important mediating roles of outcome expectations and perceived quality in the indirect effects of perceived customization and perceived sociability on customer satisfaction. This study also verifies that customer satisfaction is a critical mediator of the indirect influence of the other four constructs in the proposed model on the consumers’ repurchase intention with regard to virtual products.     

Understanding continuance usage intention of mobile internet sites

Due to the high acquisition costs and low switching costs, retaining users and facilitating their continuance usage are crucial for mobile service providers. Integrating both perspectives of perceived utility and flow experience, this research identifies the factors affecting continuance usage intention of mobile internet sites. Data were collected through a survey, and data analysis was then conducted with structural equation modeling. The results indicated that system quality and information quality affect perceived usefulness, satisfaction and flow. And these three factors determine continuance usage intention. Among them, flow has the largest effect on continuance usage intention. The results imply that service providers need to improve users’ experience in order to facilitate their continuance usage of mobile internet sites.     

Service Quality and Perceived Value's Impact on Satisfaction, Intention and Usage of Short Message Service (SMS)

SMS, being an almost instantaneous communication medium that connects people, is now a phenomenon that has grown and spread around the globe at an amazing speed. Given the current trend of SMS usage and its potential growth, this paper will provide an insight of the extent to which how service quality and the value perceived by the SMS users have an impact on their extent of the SMS usage in the post SMS adoption phase. Specifically, this article will examine how service quality of the service providers and perceived value affect customer satisfaction and how customer satisfaction will affect their behavioural intention to continue to use SMS which in turn affects the extent of SMS usage in the local context. Using partial-least-squares, an analysis was conducted based on the 150 surveys collected to test for the proposed relationships. The results showed that the tangibles, empathy and assurance dimensions of service quality are antecedents of customer satisfaction and a positive relationship exists between customer satisfaction and customers' behavioural intentions to continue to use SMS. Additionally, the positive relationship between customers' behavioural intentions to continue to use SMS and the extent of SMS usage is also significant. These results were similar to the results shown by Cronin and Taylor (1992) studies. The perceived value/customer satisfaction relationship investigated in this research was in line with Fornell et al.(1996) and Cronin et al.(2000) where perceived value was one of the determinants of customer satisfaction. Specially, the results revealed that perceived value, together with tangibles, empathy and assurance aspects of the service quality, played an important role in determining customer satisfaction for SMS. Implications of the above results for research and practice are discussed.     

Do customization programs of e-commerce companies lead to better relationship with consumers?

The purpose of this study is to propose a model that explains the consumers’ perception of customization in e-commerce. This study suggests two determinants of consumer attitude toward the e-commerce website with customization options: perceived participation and perceived company responsiveness. Consumer attitude was posited to influence consumers’ intention to consider a long-term relationship with an e-commerce company. In this model, two consumer characteristics—consumer expertise and preference stability—were considered as moderators of the relations between consumers’ perception of participation and company’s responsiveness and consumer attitude toward the customization program. The model was tested by structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS 14.0, and the posited relations were confirmed. The moderating effect of preference stability was found significant. The perceived participation level of those with a more stable preference influenced their attitude toward the customization experience, while the company’s responsiveness was influential only for those with a less stable preference.     

Examining the Effects of Passive WeChat Use in China

ABSTRACT

Passive usage of social network services (SNSs) refers to individuals’ browsing behavior and information consumption without active interaction with other SNS users. Using the data collected from 295 users of WeChat, the most popular SNS in China, the authors identify two types of passive use and test their different consequences. Confirmatory factor analysis in Study 1 shows passive WeChat use includes two subdimensions, namely, passive social and nonsocial use. Passive social use means browsing friends’ posts, whereas passive nonsocial use refers to browsing information on WeChat official accounts. The partial least squares structural equation modeling results in Study 2 suggest that both social and nonsocial use have positive effects on users’ social capital and online well-being, and further increase their continuance usage of SNSs. However, passive social use is also associated with users’ depressed mood, which in turn decreases their continuous usage intention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

WISDOM: A website design method based on reusing design and software solutions

ContextWebsites are increasingly important for advertising and announcing information and they have become virtual business operations support tools. Thus, website designers have to take an increasing number of criteria (cost, delay, quality, security, maintenance) into account during design process to satisfy the needs.ObjectiveThe objective of this paper was to present our WISDOM method that: guides the designer through the website design process, proposes design solutions based on already existing solutions for online website design, facilitates the choice of software components to implement specific services, and speeds up website construction.MethodThe originality of our method is that it links the design process to formalized experience and a software component characterization that allows both functional and non-functional aspects to be considered.ResultsThis method relies on the state-of-the-art strengths in the website design process, modeling dimensions, Model-Driven Engineering and the patterns approach. We propose an implementation of our method as a dedicated website which helps website design and provides a website analysis catalog and a software component analysis catalog.ConclusionOur analysis of the method’s use highlights that formalizing the steps of the design process helps designers, especially novice designers, to design a website; our analysis of the tool’s use highlights its efficiency for rapid website development and its use of the “website family” concept. The results are so very encouraging for both method and tool; both facilitate website design by reusing existing solutions and components.     

Consumer perception of interface quality, security, and loyalty in electronic commerce

Customer interface quality, perceived security, and customer loyalty are critical factors for success of an e-commerce website; however, the relationships among them are not fully understood. We proposed a model for testing the relationships among them and the important outcomes of the site: switching costs and customer loyalty. Data was collected to test the model using a web-based survey, and empirical analyses were performed using SEM. The analytical results demonstrated that customer interface quality and perceived security positively affected customer satisfaction and switching costs, and thus customer loyalty to an e-commerce website. Specifically, our study showed that switching costs positively moderated the effect of customer satisfaction on customer loyalty; this moderating effect is discussed.     

Usability,quality, value and e-learning continuance decisions

Previous research suggests that an eventual information technology (IT) success depend on both its initial adoption (acceptance) and subsequent continued usage (continuance). Expectancy disconfirmation theory (EDT) has been successfully used to predict users’ intention to continue using information technologies. This study proposed a decomposed EDT model to examine cognitive beliefs and affect that influence users’ continuance decision in the context of e-learning service. The proposed model extended EDT by decomposing the perceived performance component into usability, quality, and value. Research hypotheses derived from this model are empirically validated using the responses to a survey on e-learning usage among 183 users. The results suggest that users’ continuance intention is determined by satisfaction, which in turn is jointly determined by perceived usability, perceived quality, perceived value, and usability disconfirmation.     

An interactive clothing design and personalized virtual display system

An interactive clothing design and a personalized virtual display with user’s own face are presented in this paper to meet the requirement of personalized clothing customization. A customer interactive clothing design approach based on genetic engineering ideas is analyzed by taking suit as an example. Thus, customers could rearrange the clothing style elements, chose available color, fabric and come up with their own personalized suit style. A web 3D customization prototype system of personalized clothing is developed based on the Unity3D and VR technology. The layout of the structure and functions combined with the flow of the system are given. Practical issues such as 3D face scanning, suit style design, fabric selection, and accessory choices are addressed also. Tests to the prototype system indicate that it could show realistic clothing and fabric effect and offer effective visual and customization experience to users.

     

Service customization under capacity constraints: an auction-based model

In mass customization, companies strive to enhance customer value by providing products and services that are approximate to customers’ needs. A company’s strategy of allocating its limited capacity to meeting diverse customer requirements directly impact customer perceived value in terms of available options, cost, and schedule. Proposed in this paper is an auction-based mass customization model for solving the problem of service customization under capacity constraints. The proposed model integrates customers’ customization decision making with the allocation of company’s capacity through multilateral negotiation between the company and its customers. The negotiation is conducted through a combinatorial iterative auction designed to maximize the overall customer value given limited capacity. The auction is incentive-compatible in the sense that customers will follow the prescribed myopic best-response bidding strategy. Experimental results indicate that customization solutions computed by the proposed model are very close to the optimal one. Revenue performance is also adequate when there is sufficient competition in the market.     

The relationship between website quality,trust and price premiums at online auctions

This study measures the value of website quality in terms of its impact on trust, intention to transact and price premiums. Prior research on online auctions has focused on the use of reputation systems for building trust in online auction vendors and subsequently to generate price premiums. This study examines the extent to which trust can be induced by improving the quality of online auction listings. A survey of 701 eBay users is conducted which compares the price premiums of two nearly identical online auction businesses, one that has online auction listings with a perceived high quality and the other that has substantially lower perceived quality. Results of this study indicate that website quality can explain 49% of the variation in the trust for eBay sellers. In fact, it shows that sellers with good website quality are all perceived to be equally trustworthy regardless of their eBay reputation; whereas sellers with poor website quality are not perceived to be trustworthy even if they have a high eBay reputation score. The results also show that the trust resulting from increased website quality increases intention to transact and results in price premiums of 12% (on average) for sellers with higher quality listings. Theories from marketing, economics, and social psychology are used to explain why website quality induces trust in unknown vendors without providing any concrete evidence regarding the vendor’s past history.     

Assessing enterprise wiki success from the perspective of end-users: an empirical approach

ABSTRACT

The success of wikis on the Internet has led organisations to introduce wikis within corporate settings for multiple purposes. However, despite the popularity of wikis in the public and subsequently in the corporate environment, an empirical investigation of their benefits for individual performance in organisations is still lacking. This study performs an empirical investigation of 177 corporate wiki end-users to evaluate their perceived performance after wiki use. Enterprise wikis’ perceived end-user performance is evaluated by measuring users’ perceived efficiency, effectiveness and capacity development. The findings suggest that the collaboration quality, information quality and system quality of enterprise wikis help their users in terms of increased efficiency, effectiveness and capacity development.     

Willing to pay for quality personalization? Trade-off between quality and privacy

Online personalization presents recommendations of products and services based on customers’ past online purchases or browsing behavior. Personalization applications reduce information overload and provide value-added services. However, their adoption is hindered by customers’ concerns about information privacy. This paper reports on research undertaken to determine whether a high-quality recommendation service will encourage customers to use online personalization. We collected data through a series of online experiments to examine the impacts of privacy and quality on personalization usage and on users’ willingness to pay and to disclose information when using news and financial services. Our findings suggest that under certain circumstances, perceived personalization quality can outweigh the impact of privacy concerns. This implies that service providers can improve the perceived quality of personalization services being offered in order to offset customer privacy concerns. Nevertheless, the impact of perceived quality on personalization usage is weaker for customers who have experienced privacy invasion in the past. The results show that customers who are likely to use online personalization are also likely to pay for the service. This finding suggests that, despite privacy concerns, there is an opportunity for businesses to monetize high-quality personalization.     

The impact of website quality on customer satisfaction and purchase intention: perceived playfulness and perceived flow as mediators

The purposes of this study are to examine whether perceived playfulness and perceived flow would mediate the relationships among website quality, customer satisfaction, and purchase intention, as well as to assess the degree of reciprocity between perceived playfulness and perceived flow in an online travel agency context. This study suggested a research framework for testing the relationships among the constructs based on the stimulus-organism-response framework. In addition, this study developed a non-recursive model. After validating the measurement scales, empirical analyses were conducted using structural equation modelling. The findings confirm that website quality affects customers’ perceived playfulness and perceived flow, and in turn, would influence their satisfaction and purchase intention. Notably, this study finds that the service quality is more important than information and system quality in influencing customer satisfaction and purchase intention. Furthermore, the study reveals that the relationship between perceived playfulness and perceived flow is reciprocal. Based on the findings, the implications are discussed in the paper and directions for future research are also highlighted.     

The Engagement of Website Initial Aesthetic Impressions: An Experimental Investigation

ABSTRACT

This study investigates how website design features, web page order and visual complexity, influence users’ initial website aesthetic impressions and how such impressions subsequently enhance engagement and intention to use the website. A laboratory experiment was conducted to test the hypotheses using different levels of web page order (high vs. low), visual complexity (high vs. low), and exposure time (one-second vs. no-time-constraint). Overall, the results from structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis suggest that web page order significantly influences visual appeal, engagement, and intention. In addition, the results of multigroup SEM analysis reveal that users evaluate website design very quickly (within 1 s), and that these evaluations remain remarkably consistent over time.     

Adapting the Navigation Interface of Smart Watches to User Movements

ABSTRACT

The high mobility of smart watches can easily impair interaction performance, and many applications are squeezed into an extremely tiny screen, which causes disorientations. Therefore, this study examines the extent of performance impairment caused by user movements and proposes navigation aids to alleviate the impairment. An experiment was conducted among 28 college students to investigate the influence of user movements and navigation aids on users’ performance and subjective feedback. The results indicate that the performance of using smart watches in walking conditions is comparable to that in sitting conditions. However, the use of smart watches while running reduces the success rates of operating, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and flow experience, and it increases subjective cognitive workload. To improve user experience, the effectiveness of providing navigation aids for smart watches is confirmed. Using static navigation aids while sitting and walking and using animated navigation aids while moving can significantly improve users’ perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness and decrease cognitive workload. Based on these results, guidelines for tailoring the interface design of smart watches to user movements through navigation aids are proposed.     

Increasing trust in mobile commerce through design aesthetics

The growth of mobile commerce (m-commerce) has motivated a better understanding of how trust can be built on a mobile device. Researchers have previously examined design aesthetics (or visual aesthetics) of mobile website and incorporated a hedonic component of enjoyment in m-commerce domain, but the relationship between design aesthetics of mobile website design and customer trust in m-commerce has been rarely investigated. In this study, design aesthetics was enhanced to include a website characteristics component as important to trust development on the mobile Internet. This model was examined through an empirical study involving 200 subjects using structural equation modeling techniques. Our research found that design aesthetics did significantly impact website characteristics component, especially customization, perceived usefulness and ease of use, all of which were ultimately shown to have significant explanatory power in affecting customer trust.