Differential Impact Of Web And Mobile Interactivity On E-Retailers\u27 Performance

This study investigates the differential impact of machine and person interactivity in both Web and mobile e-commerce channels on e-retailers’ operational and financial performance. Based on the data on 463 large e-retailers in U.S. and Canada, interesting findings that Web machine interactivity and mobile person interactivity have significantly positive impact on e-retailers’ operational performance, while Web person interactivity and mobile machine interactivity do not. E-retailers’ operational performance was found to have significantly positive impact on e-retailers’ financial performance. Overall, this study provides in-depth insights into the differential role that machine and person interactivity in Web and mobile channels play in impacting e-retailers’ performance. Implications for research and practice as well as suggestions for future research are discussed

Factors Influencing Small Medium Enterprise’s Behavior in Adopting E-fulfillment Services

Purpose: Since the SMEs were the key players in these current digital businesses in Indonesia, the purpose of this study is to analyse the benefit in adopting the e-fulfillment services by considering the variable of technology acceptance model that was related with trust. Design/Methodology/Approach: This research was used three exogenous variables, namely: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived security and risks-free. In addition, the research considered the adoption in new e-fulfillment services platform as endogenous variable with trust as intervening variable. The data collected from the SME’s who are located in the Jakarta and its surrounding areas and further analyzed statistically using Structural Equation Model approach. Findings: The key finding of this research was trust played a significant role in influencing the customer adoption of the e-fulfillment platform. The research also showed that perceived ease of used was the main factor in creating customer trust. The maximum usage of e-fulfillment services allowed the SME’s to focus more the product development and marketing activities. Research, Practical & Social Implications: SME’s would enjoy strong business competitive positioning if they were able in adopting the e-fulfillment services. Originality/Value: Since the concept of e-fulfillment services were quite new in Indonesia, the study recommends the needs to increase the awareness and knowledge to SME’s by ensuring the benefit of this new platform.&nbsp

Addressing Health Misinformation Dissemination on Mobile Social Media

With the pervasive use of social media apps, it is now common to see that people share health related information on the mobile social platforms. The spread of health misinformation on social media apps such as Facebook and WeChat poses serious threats to individual and public health. To address this issue, we drew upon reflective-impulsive model and went beyond the traditional view of users as reasoned decision makers by arguing that the health misinformation dissemination on social media apps is primarily driven by the impulsive system (habit and avoidance orientation). To reduce the dissemination, the reflective system should be strengthened. Accordingly, we propose that the presence of a message which emphasizes the negative effects of health misinformation dissemination and/or the accountability for health misinformation dissemination will reduce users’ dissemination of the misinformation. Situational factors such as time availability, environmental noisiness and the dispositional moderator trait mindfulness will moderate the intervention effects

The Effects of Adaptive Marketing Capabilities Organisational Ambidexterity and Website Interactivity on SaaS Performance

Cloud computing growth has driven the adoption of the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model, delivering business software to B2B buyers through cloud-based subscriptions. Despite existing research on the SaaS model, non-technological determinants in B2B marketing literature have received limited attention. This study, grounded in Dynamic Capability Theory (DCT), investigates how adaptive marketing capabilities, organisational ambidexterity, and website interactivity affect SaaS performance. A survey of 426 SaaS providers across Asia, Australia, and the United States reveals four key findings: exploitation capabilities mediate the link between adaptive marketing capabilities and SaaS performance; the effects of adaptive marketing capabilities on SaaS performance are mediated through website interactivity; SaaS providers need both exploration and exploitation capabilities, combined with website interactivity, for enhanced SaaS performance; and in conditions of high market and technological uncertainty, simultaneous pursuit of exploration and exploitation capabilities and website interactivity enhance SaaS performance. The study contributes to the B2B marketing literature, focusing on enhancing SaaS performance by utilising dynamic capabilities. Consistent with DCT, the study challenges established beliefs, emphasising that exploitation capabilities alone can enhance SaaS performance, contrary to the traditional emphasis on the simultaneous interaction of exploration and exploitation capabilities. The research underscores the significance of website interactivity as a higher-order dynamic capability, along with exploration and exploitation capabilities, offering valuable insights for SaaS providers to excel in turbulent markets. Additionally, the study introduces and validates social interaction as a fourth dimension of website interactivity, expanding the understanding of this critical aspect in the B2B SaaS context

Empowering Information Systems Users: The Role of Timely and Customizable Information for User Engagement and Selection Behavior

Information systems (IS) increasingly empower their users by strengthening users’ capability and autonomy to make their own decisions how to use and engage with IS. Specifically, users are empowered when they have sufficient knowledge to make rational decisions within IS and sufficient control to shape their experience with IS. In line with these pillars of empowerment, technological advancements unlock new possibilities for IS providers to empower users with access to high quality information (e.g., by providing timely updates of dynamically changing information) and with the ability to control the information stream (e.g., by implementing interfaces to customize websites). As a result, users have greater autonomy to actively shape their user experience to their likening, making them less dependent on having to identify IS that match their needs. At the same time, empowering users pays off for IS providers, as empowered users are known to form more positive attitudes and intentions to engage with the empowering IS. This thesis addresses the two aforementioned pillars of empowerment through knowledge and empowerment through control. Four studies shed light on how the increasingly prevalent practice of empowering users with timely and customizable information affects user engagement as well as users’ selection behavior. The first strand of this thesis investigates user empowerment through timely information in the context of decision support systems (DSS) that aid users in their selection of which (physical) location to visit. To avoid congestion at locations, such DSS communicate how busy each location is by displaying crowding information (CI), accompanied by timeliness cues indicating when this CI was retrieved (e.g., “updated just now” vs. “average over the last year”). Helping users avoid crowded locations becomes all the more important during periods of extraordinary pathogenic risk, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, where physical distancing is imperative for the containment of the pathogen. Against this background, the first study in this thesis investigates how CI with different levels of timeliness affects how users select between differently crowded medical practices. The results demonstrate that while the display of CI is generally useful for users to avoid crowded locations, providing particularly timely CI (i.e., updated close to real-time) leads users to select less crowded locations even more effectively. Moreover, this effect is strongest for individuals who exhibit low levels of health anxiety – an important contextual variable influencing user behavior during the COVID-19 pandemic. The second study extends the findings of the first study by investigating a context in which hedonic motives may encourage users to seek instead of avoid crowds. Specifically, the study examines how timely CI affects users’ choice between differently crowded bars. Despite users longing for the presence of others as part of their visit experience, the results show that particularly timely CI makes users more aware of potential costs of congestion (e.g., prolonged wait times) and consequently leads users to select less crowded locations – thereby corroborating the previous findings in the utilitarian context of selecting a medical practice. Importantly, timelier CI also increases user engagement in that users express a greater intention to reuse the DSS providing the CI. This finding indicates that timely CI not only contributes to the containment of congestion, but also allows DSS providers to retain users more effectively and thereby achieve recurring impact on the reduction of crowding. The second strand of this thesis investigates user empowerment through customizable information in the context of (banner) ads on websites. As ads oftentimes cause irritation and stifle user engagement with the website, first website providers have begun to empower users to customize how many ads they agree to have displayed. Despite website providers hoping to thereby enhance user engagement, it is unclear how users respond to the ability to customize ads they never asked for. Against this backdrop, the third study investigates how the provision of ad quantity customization (AQC) affects user engagement and which ad quantity levels users opt for. The results demonstrate that offering AQC consistently enhances user engagement in that users with access to AQC stay longer on the website and visit more sub-pages than users who cannot customize ad quantity. Counter-intuitively, a website with ads that offers AQC elicits even greater user engagement than a website that is entirely free of ads by default. In addition, the effect on user engagement is strongest for users accessing the website with a mobile (vs. stationary) device. Interestingly, users do not configure AQC to eliminate ads altogether, but instead opt for 29.0% of the default amount of ads to be displayed. The fourth study seeks to extend the previous findings by shedding light on the underlying mechanism that drives the effect of providing AQC on user engagement. The findings suggest that offering AQC elicits perceived empowerment as a pivotal stimulant with two important outcomes: First, users pay closer attention to the website, thereby discovering more information useful to them and consequently experiencing a greater fit between the website’s information and their own needs. Second, the feeling of being in control over ads, as typically immutable and irritating website elements, elicits a sense of enjoyment. Both informational fit and perceived enjoyment then lead users to engage more intensely with the website. Overall, this thesis showcases the role and importance of IS-enabled user empowerment by providing a more comprehensive understanding of how empowering users with timely and customizable information affects user engagement and users’ selection behavior. In doing so, this thesis answers calls for research that urge scholars to not only shed light on emerging phenomena, but also to enable and empower IS users. The studies in this thesis contribute to IS research on empowerment by (1) revealing the importance of timeliness of information as a thus far under-investigated source of empowerment and by (2) uncovering ad customization as a hitherto largely neglected, yet important piece of web customization that complements our understanding of empowerment mechanisms. In addition, this thesis also offers valuable insights and actionable recommendations how DSS providers and policy makers can harness empowerment through timely CI to recurringly reduce crowding without infringing on users’ freedom. Likewise, this thesis guides website providers how to leverage ads as website elements that users enjoy to customize to boost user engagement with the website as a whole