Facilitating Consumers’ Evaluation of Experience Goods and the Benefits for Vendors

Despite the continuous growth of e-commerce, high levels of uncertainty about products and vendors may hinder this growth. Particularly online vendors of experience goods (such as media products) may face challenges to convince consumers, since the quality of their products is hard to assess prior to consumption. Additional guarantees (such as a money back guarantee) as well as easier access to product information may be used to reduce consumer uncertainty. However, these mechanisms are usually not for free. By using experimental techniques and taking media products as an example, we analyze whether reductions in product uncertainty and search costs have an impact on consumer product search and purchase behavior. As an implication for praxis as well as research, we find that vendors can benefit significantly from employing these mechanisms in terms of search requests, purchases and consumer loyalty. Additionally, vendors may profit from consumers’ uncertainty avoidance even if product uncertainty is low

Holistic Model of Website Design Elements that Influence Trustworthiness

Trustworthiness of a website relies foremost on a good first impression which includes the visitor’s perception of the user interface. The focus of this research is to investigate the effects of website design elements on user perception of trustworthiness of a site and provide a set of guidelines for website designers. The research design is based on Yosef Jabardeen’s (2009) “conceptual framework analysis”. In this research paper, a holistic model is developed to depict the relationships among website design elements and trustworthiness. The model was tested, validated and updated using the results of the repertory grid technique, a process that elicits perceptions about a topic from an individual. For this research, the topic was website trust, the objects were the website design elements, and the constructs were elicited perceptions regarding those website design elements. The repertory grid technique was applied in two stages to a set of participants made up of website users and website designers. Analysis yielded useful information regarding website design associations and correlations of perceptions. The research findings confirmed original suggestions regarding associations and produced an updated, validated model of website design elements. The research indicated that while all design elements had their importance regarding trust, those elements that provided for the function and security of the website rated the highest in importance and expectation. The validated model will aid website designers in understanding what elements are appealing to the visual senses and conjure credibility and trust. Most importantly, this new understanding may help designers to create websites that attract and retain new users and establishing a successful presence on the Internet

A Design Theory for Certification Presentations

Prior information system research remains inconsistent of the effects of system certifications. In their current use, certifications are often reduced to graphical seals. This approach fails to incorporate detailed assurance information emanating from the certification process. To address this gap, we adopt a design science approach and deploy a four-phase research design to clarify how to design impactful IS certification presentations. First, we identify sources of users’ limited understanding of seals and formulate a design proposal for a certification presentation by drawing upon the elaboration likelihood model. In the second phase, we formulate and validate a set of design meta- requirements and guidelines to improve certification presentation, using cognitive load theory and Toulmin’s model of argumentation as kernel theories. In the third phase, new certification presentations that comply with the proposed guidelines are developed and evaluated for their effectiveness. We show that presentations that augment seal-based certification presentations with richer assurance information improve certification effectiveness. This increases users’ assurance and trust perceptions when the presentations align with the users’ cognitive information processing needs in ways that reduce their cognitive load and enhance argument quality of assurance information

E-handeln-Är det något för alla? En kvalitativ studie angående män i åldern 50-64 års köpvanor av kläder på internet

Litteratur och studier pekar på att mäns köpvanor av kläder kan förklaras i att män vill handla tidseffektivt. Dessutom roar de sig inte av klädesinköp. Genom denna utgångspunkt angående mäns köpbeteende kan det anses att e-handeln skulle vara ett bra verktyg för att uppfylla de manliga köpbehoven av kläder. Statistik påvisar samtidigt att män sällan köper kläder på internet, speciellt män inom åldersgruppen 50-64 år. Vidare har forskning påvisat att förtroende för digitala tjänster är en påverkande faktor för handel via internet. Syftet med denna uppsats är därför att undersöka hur förtroende påverkar svenska män i åldersgruppen 50-64 års köpvanor av kläder på internet. Utifrån undersökningen framkom det att förtroende för onlinetjänster och nätbutiker var högt hos de intervjuade männen. Trots detta så valde männen i denna uppsats att inte köpa sina kläder via internet. Det framgick vidare att det fanns andra faktorer som påverkade männens köpvanor för klädeshandeln online. Enligt de intervjuade männen var klädeshandel väldigt personligt. Det framkom samtidigt att det finns en brist av information och erfarenheter ifrån andra män inom åldersgruppen, vilket vidare påverkade männens köpbeteende. Det visade sig även att företag erbjuder en bristfällig information och marknadsföring till männen i denna åldersgrupp vilket påverkar männens inställning till att köpa kläder online

Exploring the impact of marketing strategies on building trust in the online shopping

Ovaj rad bavi se marketinškim strategijama koje za cilj imaju izgradnju poverenja kupaca u onlajn okruženju. Kako bi se postiglo razumevanje okolnosti koje uticu na ove strategije, analizirani su postojeci koncepti i literatura u oblasti onlajn trgovine, poverenja kupaca, sa posebnim osvrtom na faktore koji uticu na poverenje u onlajn okruženju. Istraživanjem faktora poverenja, izdvojeni su faktori za koje je statisticka analiza potvrdila da imaju uticaj na izgradnju poverenja onlajn kupaca. Na osnovu ovih faktora i postojecih teorijskih koncepata, kreiran je okvir izgradnje poverenja kupaca u onlajn okruženju. Ovaj okvir pored opštih smernica formulisanih u vidu marketinških strategija, sadrži i preporuke za implementaciju ovih strategija u praksi. Doprinos disertacije ogleda se u nekoliko kljucnih oblasti: (1) izvršena je sistematizacija literature u oblasti poverenja uopšteno, modela na koje se izgradnja poverenja oslanja i poverenja u onlajn okruženju; (2) dat je sveobuhvatni prikaz stanja prakse u svetu i u zemlji, koji omogucava precizan uvid u oblast onlajn trgovine; (3) kreiran je konceptualni okvir poverenja, kojim je poverenje rašclanjeno u konceptualne celine uz njihov detaljan opis. Ovaj konceptualni okvir obezbeduje temeljan uvid u pojam onlajn poverenja i predstavlja osnovu za dalje formulisanje strategija, aktivnosti i instrumenata za izgradnju onlajn poverenja, ali može poslužiti i kao model za analizu slicnih koncepata, kao što su lojalnost ili zadovoljstvo; (4) identifikovani su faktori koji uticu na poverenje kupaca u onlajn okruženju i predstavljeni na sistematizovan i logican nacin, što cini osnovne smernice za aktivnosti kompanija koje žele da unaprede poverenje onlajn kupaca (5) predstavljen je teorijski okvir kreiranja strategija u onlajn okruženju, koji predstavlja obuhvatan vodic i cija mogucnost primene je znatno šira u odnosu na predmet disertacije. Ovaj okvir moguce je primeniti u procesu kreiranja strategija koje se odnose na ostale aspekte onlajn trgovine, zatim kod strategija vezanih za onlajn obrazovanje, onlajn bankarstvo i brojne druge koncepte; (6) kreiran je okvir izgradnje poverenja, koji ukljucuje strategije i konkretne aktivnosti implementacije, cija primena u praksi obezbeduje izgradnju poverenja onlajn kupaca, kao i smanjenje percipiranog rizika, povecanje percipirane korisnosti i lakoce korišcenja veb sajta prodavnice.This paper deals with marketing strategies aimed at building customers’ trust in an online environment. In order to understand the circumstances that influence these strategies, the existing concepts and literature in the field of online commerce and customers’ trust, have been analyzed, with a special emphasis on the factors that influence trust in an online environment. By researching trust factors, factors confirmed to have influence on online customers’ trust have been singled out. Based on these factors and on the existing theoretical concepts, the framework for building customers’ trust in an online environment has been created. This framework, besides the theoretical guidelines formulated in the form of marketing strategies, provides detailed recommendations for the implementation of these strategies in practice. The contribution of the dissertation is reflected in several key areas: (1) systematization of literature has been done in the area of trust in general, the models in building trust and trust in an online environment; (2) a comprehensive overview of the state of practice in the world and the country, which allows precise insight into the field of online commerce; (3) a conceptual framework of trust has been created, dividing trust into conceptual units with their detailed description. This conceptual framework provides fundamental insight into the concept of online trust and the basis for further formulation of strategies, activities and tools for building online trust, but can also serve as a model for an analysis of similar concepts, such as loyalty and satisfaction; (4) the factors affecting the trust of the customers in an online environment have been identified and presented in a systematic and logical manner, which creates the basic guidelines for the activities of companies that want to improve the confidence of online shoppers (5) a theoretical framework for creating strategies in an online environment has been presented, as a comprehensive guide with a wider possibility for application than the subject of the dissertation. This framework is applicable to the formulation of strategies related to other aspects of online commerce, as well as with the strategies related to online education, online banking and many other concepts, (6) a framework for building trust which involves strategies and concrete activities of implementation, the application of which in practice enables building online consumers’ trust, reducing the perceived risk, the increase in the perceived usefulness and ease of use of the website store is created

Online banking operations management: security concerns on trust in mobile banking system

This thesis was submitted for the award of Doctor of Philosophy and was awarded by Brunel University LondonWhile trust is considered a central aspect of the success of mobile banking systems, privacy and security concerns are seen as the biggest obstacles to building trust in this system. Due to the high level of perceived risk, it is critical for mobile banking managers to reduce the effect of these concerns and foster users’ trust in order to increase the adoption of this service. However, while existing studies have identified the antecedents to trust and their direct effect on it, we still do not know how a persuasive message, which includes privacy and security polices of the mobile banking services, can change trust in this service and how privacy and security concerns play a role in this persuasion process. Determining the variables that are related to developing trust in mobile banking services is crucial in the development of successful tools to improve the consumption of this service. Therefore, this study has set out to investigate and explain the persuasion process used to increase trust in the mobile banking system, with a focus on privacy and security concerns. In particular, it is argued that security and privacy concerns play a positive moderating role in the persuasion process. In particular, this study has involved developing and testing a framework built on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), which is one of the most widely used theoretical frameworks for explaining how peoples’ attitudes are affected by persuasive messages. Thus, built on the ELM, this thesis tests the effect of both the quality of the argument and the credibility of the source of trust. Source credibility includes two common dimensions, which are source expertise and trustworthiness. Security and privacy concerns are added as moderators to test whether they affect the link between the argument of quality and trust. The research framework has been implemented with a sample of 358 mobile banking users in the UK. By using Statistical Package for the Social Science (SPSS) version 20, the data analysis shows significant support for the research model. The aim of this thesis is to contribute to this growing area of research by developing a theoretical model based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model for trust in mobile banking, which could significantly extend the reliability and validity of the previous research. The result of the current research is important for mobile banking managers. It will help to increase trust in this service, which will provide benefits to users and banks alike