Critical review of the e-loyalty literature: a purchase-centred framework

Over the last few years, the concept of online loyalty has been examined extensively in the literature, and it remains a topic of constant inquiry for both academics and marketing managers. The tremendous development of the Internet for both marketing and e-commerce settings, in conjunction with the growing desire of consumers to purchase online, has promoted two main outcomes: (a) increasing numbers of Business-to-Customer companies running businesses online and (b) the development of a variety of different e-loyalty research models. However, current research lacks a systematic review of the literature that provides a general conceptual framework on e-loyalty, which would help managers to understand their customers better, to take advantage of industry-related factors, and to improve their service quality. The present study is an attempt to critically synthesize results from multiple empirical studies on e-loyalty. Our findings illustrate that 62 instruments for measuring e-loyalty are currently in use, influenced predominantly by Zeithaml et al. (J Marketing. 1996;60(2):31-46) and Oliver (1997; Satisfaction: a behavioral perspective on the consumer. New York: McGraw Hill). Additionally, we propose a new general conceptual framework, which leads to antecedents dividing e-loyalty on the basis of the action of purchase into pre-purchase, during-purchase and after-purchase factors. To conclude, a number of managerial implementations are suggested in order to help marketing managers increase their customers’ e-loyalty by making crucial changes in each purchase stage

Factors Influencing Perceptions Toward Social Networking Websites in China

Based on an online national survey of 503 respondents, this study empirically investigates factors influencing perceptions toward social networking websites (SNWs) in China. More specifically, user demographics and media\ud characteristics were examined. While income was found to be a significant predictor of users’ attitude toward SNWs, gender, age, educational level and marital status were insignificant, suggesting that demographic divides may be\ud diminishing when it comes to online social media in China. Both perceived risk and enjoyment were found to have significant positive effects. Managerial implications were discussed

The influence of national culture on the attitude towards mobile recommender systems

This is the post-print version of the final paper published in Technological Forecasting and Social Change. The published article is available from the link below. Changes resulting from the publishing process, such as peer review, editing, corrections, structural formatting, and other quality control mechanisms may not be reflected in this document. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. Copyright @ 2013 Elsevier B.V.This study aimed to identify factors that influence user attitudes towards mobile recommender systems and to examine how these factors interact with cultural values to affect attitudes towards this technology. Based on the theory of reasoned action, belief factors for mobile recommender systems are identified in three dimensions: functional, contextual, and social. Hypotheses explaining different impacts of cultural values on the factors affecting attitudes were also proposed. The research model was tested based on data collected in China, South Korea, and the United Kingdom. Findings indicate that functional and social factors have significant impacts on user attitudes towards mobile recommender systems. The relationships between belief factors and attitudes are moderated by two cultural values: collectivism and uncertainty avoidance. The theoretical and practical implications of applying theory of reasoned action and innovation diffusion theory to explain the adoption of new technologies in societies with different cultures are also discussed.National Research Foundation of Korea Grant funded by the Korean governmen

Why continue sharing: determinants of behavior in collaborative economy services

La economía colaborativa está revolucionando la forma en que los consumidores utilizan los bienes y servicios. En nuestro estudio modificamos y ampliamos el modelo de confirmación de expectativas para determinar los factores motivacionales que impulsan la satisfacción y la intención de continuar usando los servicios de viajes colaborativos. Más importante aún, agregamos el valor social como un factor adicional. En este estudio fueron encuestados usuarios españoles experimentados de BlaBlaCar. La calidad del servicio, la utilidad percibida, la confianza y el valor social son determinantes de la satisfacción de los usuarios experimentados y, a través de ella, de la intención de continuar usando; mientras que no es el caso para el impacto ambiental ni para los beneficios económicos. Además, la confianza afecta directamente a la intención de continuar. Estos resultados tienen implicaciones gerenciales relevantes, mostrando que los usuarios de algunos servicios colaborativos están motivados por otros factores además de los económicos.The sharing economy is revolutionizing the way consumers use goods and services. In our study we modify and extend the expectation confirmation model to determine the motivational factors which drive the satisfaction and continue intention to use ridesharing services. Most importantly, we add social value as an additional factor to those previously studied in the literature. We apply our model in a survey among experienced Spanish users of BlaBlaCar. Service quality, perceived usefulness, trust and social value are determinants of satisfaction of experienced users and through it, of intention to continuance; while it is the case neither for environmental impact nor for economic benefits. Additionally, trust affects directly continuance. These results have relevant managerial implications, showing that users of some sharing services are motivated by other factors than purely economic

Adoption of New Technology

The contribution of new technology to economic growth can only be realized when and if the new technology is widely diffused and used. Diffusion itself results from a series of individual decisions to begin using the new technology, decisions which are often the result of a comparison of the uncertain benefits of the new invention with the uncertain costs of adopting it. An understanding of the factors affecting this choice is essential both for economists studying the determinants of growth and for the creators and producers of such technologies. Section II of this article discusses the modeling of diffusion and Sections III to V explore the determinants of diffusion and the evidence for their importance.

Adoption of New Technology

The contribution of new technology to economic growth can only be realized when and if the new technology is widely diffused and used. Diffusion itself results from a series of individual decisions to begin using the new technology, decisions which are often the result of a comparison of the uncertain benefits of the new invention with the uncertain costs of adopting it. An understanding of the factors affecting this choice is essential both for economists studying the determinants of growth and for the creators and producers of such technologies. Section II of this article discusses the modeling of diffusion and Sections III to V explore the determinants of diffusion and the evidence for their importance.

An improved negative selection algorithm based on the hybridization of cuckoo search and differential evolution for anomaly detection

The biological immune system (BIS) is characterized by networks of cells, tissues, and organs communicating and working in synchronization. It also has the ability to learn, recognize, and remember, thus providing the solid foundation for the development of Artificial Immune System (AIS). Since the emergence of AIS, it has proved itself as an area of computational intelligence. Real-Valued Negative Selection Algorithm with Variable-Sized Detectors (V-Detectors) is an offspring of AIS and demonstrated its potentials in the field of anomaly detection. The V-Detectors algorithm depends greatly on the random detectors generated in monitoring the status of a system. These randomly generated detectors suffer from not been able to adequately cover the non-self space, which diminishes the detection performance of the V-Detectors algorithm. This research therefore proposed CSDE-V-Detectors which entail the use of the hybridization of Cuckoo Search (CS) and Differential Evolution (DE) in optimizing the random detectors of the V-Detectors. The DE is integrated with CS at the population initialization by distributing the population linearly. This linear distribution gives the population a unique, stable, and progressive distribution process. Thus, each individual detector is characteristically different from the other detectors. CSDE capabilities of global search, and use of L´evy flight facilitates the effectiveness of the detector set in the search space. In comparison with V-Detectors, cuckoo search, differential evolution, support vector machine, artificial neural network, na¨ıve bayes, and k-NN, experimental results demonstrates that CSDE-V-Detectors outperforms other algorithms with an average detection rate of 95:30% on all the datasets. This signifies that CSDE-V-Detectors can efficiently attain highest detection rates and lowest false alarm rates for anomaly detection. Thus, the optimization of the randomly detectors of V-Detectors algorithm with CSDE is proficient and suitable for anomaly detection tasks

The effect of social media communication on consumer perceptions of brands

Researchers and brand managers have limited understanding of the effects social media communication has on how consumers perceive brands. We investigated 504 Facebook users in order to observe the impact of firm-created and user-generated social media communication on brand equity, brand attitude and purchase intention by using a standardized online survey throughout Poland. To test the conceptual model, we analyzed 60 brands across three different industries: non-alcoholic beverages, clothing and mobile network operators. When analyzing the data, we applied the structural equation modeling technique to both investigate the interplay of firm-created and user-generated social media communication and examine industry-specific differences. The results of the empirical studies showed that user-generated social media communication had a positive influence on both brand equity and brand attitude, whereas firm-created social media communication affected only brand attitude. Both brand equity and brand attitude were shown to have a positive influence on purchase intention. In addition, we assessed measurement invariance using a multi-group structural modeling equation. The findings revealed that the proposed measurement model was invariant across the researched industries. However, structural path differences were detected across the models