Psychological elements explaining the consumer's adoption and use of a website recommendation system: A theoretical framework proposal

The purpose of this paper is to understand, with an emphasis on the psychological perspective of the research problem, the consumer's adoption and use of a certain web site recommendation system as well as the main psychological outcomes involved. The approach takes the form of theoretical modelling. Findings: A conceptual model is proposed and discussed. A total of 20 research propositions are theoretically analyzed and justified. Research limitations/implications: The theoretical discussion developed here is not empirically validated. This represents an opportunity for future research. Practical implications: The ideas extracted from the discussion of the conceptual model should be a help for recommendation systems designers and web site managers, so that they may be more aware, when working with such systems, of the psychological process consumers undergo when interacting with them. In this regard, numerous practical reflections and suggestions are presented

A Multi-Agent Simulation of Retail Management Practices

We apply Agent-Based Modeling and Simulation (ABMS) to investigate a set of problems in a retail context. Specifically, we are working to understand the relationship between human resource management practices and retail productivity. Despite the fact we are working within a relatively novel and complex domain, it is clear that intelligent agents do offer potential for developing organizational capabilities in the future. Our multi-disciplinary research team has worked with a UK department store to collect data and capture perceptions about operations from actors within departments. Based on this case study work, we have built a simulator that we present in this paper. We then use the simulator to gather empirical evidence regarding two specific management practices: empowerment and employee development

Analysing the Role of Interactivity in User Experience

An experimental investigation into the role of interaction in user experience (UX) with a controlled manipulation of interactivity features (e.g. avatars, interactive video) in a university information website is reported. The more interactive version had better affect and hedonic ratings, even though its perceived usability was worse. Analysis of qualitative data showed users were attracted to the interactive features, although they complained about poor usability. The results of the experiments are discussed to consider the role of interactivity in user experience and the differences between users’ quantitative judgements of UX and their comments on interactive features which reveal different perspectives

Adapting tam and ECT: continuance intention of e-shopping in Saudi Arabia

The objective of this study is to clarify the theoretical problem and identify factors that could explain the level of continuance intention of e-shopping in context of Saudi Arabia. The study proposes a revised technology acceptance model that integrates expectation confirmation theory to measure age differences with regard to continuance online shopping intentions. Structural equation model confirms model fit. The research findings confirm that Perceived usefulness, enjoyment, and subjective norms are determinants of online shopping continuance. The structural weights are mostly equivalent between the young and old groups, but the regression path from subjective norms to perceived usefulness is not invariant, with that relationship being stronger for the younger respondents. This research moves beyond online shopping intentions and includes factors affecting online shopping continuance. The model explains 65% of the intention to continue shopping online. The research findings suggest that online strategies cannot ignore either the direct and indirect effects on continuance intentions

Understanding the factors that derive continuance intention of e-shopping in Saudi Arabia: Age group differences in behaviour

The objective of this study is to clarify the theoretical problem and identify factors that could explain the level of continuance intention of e-shopping in context of Saudi Arabia. The study proposes a revised technology acceptance model that integrates expectation confirmation theory to measure age differences with regard to continuance online shopping intentions in Saudi Arabia. The sample (n=465) consists of 68.8% women and 31.4% men, 348 younger than 35 years old and 117 older than 35. A structural equation model confirms model fit. The research findings confirm that Perceived usefulness, enjoyment, and subjective norms are determinants of online shopping continuance in Saudi Arabia. The structural weights are mostly equivalent between the young and old groups, but the regression path from subjective norms to perceived usefulness is not invariant, with that relationship being stronger for the younger respondents. This research moves beyond online shopping intentions and includes factors affecting online shopping continuance. The model explains 65% of the intention to continue shopping online. The research findings suggest that online strategies cannot ignore either the direct and indirect effects on continuance intentions in Saudi Arabia. The model can be generalized across the three main commercial regions of Saudi Arabia

Multimodal E-Commerce: A Usability and Social Presence Investigation

This thesis investigates empirically multimodal socially interactive e-commerce interfaces. The overall hypothesis is that multimodal social interaction will improve the usability of e-commerce interfaces and increase the user‘s feeling of social presence, decision making and product understanding when compared to an equivalent non-multimodal socially interactive interface. The investigation consisted eight conditions in three experimental phases. The first experimental phase investigated non-socially interactive, static-socially interactive, and interactive-socially interactive interfaces (three conditions) using an e-commerce platform with a dependent sample of users (n=36). The second experimental phase continued with the comparative evaluation of a further two conditions based on the results of the first phase. An audio and an avatar-based socially interactive conditions were evaluated with two independent groups of users (n=18 for each group). The third experimental phase investigated three socially interactive conditions. These were text with graphics, auditory stimuli, and avatars. The results demonstrate that socially interactive metaphors in e-commerce interfaces improved the ability of users to use presented information effectively, make decisions in comparison to non-social or static social interactive interfaces. An avatar-based socially interactive e-commerce interface improved the user‘s social presence. A set of empirically derived guidelines for the design and use of these metaphors to communicate information in a socially interactive atmosphere is also introduced and discussed

Towards the Development of a Simulator for Investigating the Impact of People Management Practices on Retail Performance

Often models for understanding the impact of management practices on retail performance are developed under the assumption of stability, equilibrium and linearity, whereas retail operations are considered in reality to be dynamic, non-linear and complex. Alternatively, discrete event and agent-based modelling are approaches that allow the development of simulation models of heterogeneous non-equilibrium systems for testing out different scenarios. When developing simulation models one has to abstract and simplify from the real world, which means that one has to try and capture the 'essence' of the system required for developing a representation of the mechanisms that drive the progression in the real system. Simulation models can be developed at different levels of abstraction. To know the appropriate level of abstraction for a specific application is often more of an art than a science. We have developed a retail branch simulation model to investigate which level of model accuracy is required for such a model to obtain meaningful results for practitioners.Comment: 24 pages, 7 figures, 6 tables, Journal of Simulation 201

A user perspective of quality of service in m-commerce

This is the post-print version of the Article. The official published version can be accessed from the link below - Copyright @ 2004 Springer VerlagIn an m-commerce setting, the underlying communication system will have to provide a Quality of Service (QoS) in the presence of two competing factors—network bandwidth and, as the pressure to add value to the business-to-consumer (B2C) shopping experience by integrating multimedia applications grows, increasing data sizes. In this paper, developments in the area of QoS-dependent multimedia perceptual quality are reviewed and are integrated with recent work focusing on QoS for e-commerce. Based on previously identified user perceptual tolerance to varying multimedia QoS, we show that enhancing the m-commerce B2C user experience with multimedia, far from being an idealised scenario, is in fact feasible if perceptual considerations are employed