Online Dating Sites: A tool for romance scams or a lucrative e-business model?

Online dating sites are a new lucrative B2C e-business model, however, these sites are increasingly used by felons and scammers to exploit vulnerable customers. Although the impact of online dating scams on victims is vast, and online dating sites are a growing e-business, research on this topic is almost non-existent. The few studies on online dating sites are generally from Psychology addressing user issues. The aim of this research is to explore online dating sites as an e-business model, types of scams carried out via these sites, and regulations required to protect users of online dating sites. Using document analysis, this research will establish the current business models of online dating sites, the types of online dating scams, the impact of these scams on victims, and will develop a typology of these issues for the protection of users and for reducing this new type of cybercrime. Findings of this research will contribute to knowledge on online dating sites as an e-business model which unfortunately is misused by some users for criminal activities to provide future research directions

Impact of Customer Relationship Management on Brand Equity: Private Hospitals in Jaffna

The primary aim of the study is to find out the impact of customer relationship management on brand equity private hospitals in Jaffna city, Sri Lanka. The study was carried out independent sample t- test, one way ANOVA (f- test) and multiple regressions to test the operational hypotheses. The survey method used in this study is a questionnaire and a total of 127 usable responses were obtained using convenience sampling technique. Finding reveled that, Customer relationship management has impact on brand equity, and there is a significant mean different in brand equity between male and female consumers. Further the researcher suggested that, private hospitals administration bodies should have to acquire skills and knowledgeable employees in the hospitals, of action plans, providing quality of services based on humanity, and consider the organizational structure. This study would hopefully benefit to the new business makers of Jaffna as well as Sri Lanka. Key words: Brand Equity and Customer Relationship Management.

SAFEGUARDING AGAINST ROMANCE SCAMS – USING PROTECTION MOTIVATION THEORY

Online dating offers new opportunities for individuals to seek a romantic partner; however, the platform has also been exploited by criminals seeking to perpetrate scams, classified as online dating (romance) fraud. These are arguably one of the most distressing frauds, as victims suffer both financially and emotionally. Thus, this emergent issue has fielded increasing attention from diverse disciplines, though research still remains limited – in particular, investigation of romance fraud from a risk mitigation and information systems (IS) approach has been neglected. This study begins to address these shortfalls by utilising Protection Motivation Theory (PMT) as a framework for understanding the factors and processes underlying intention to use protective tools safeguarding against online dating (OD) scams. The results of Partial Least Squares analysis showed the perceptions and importance of PMT factors differs among protection mechanisms, highlighting the need to better understand and thus enhance the mechanisms based on empirical evidence. Additionally, an online dater‘s assessment of the protective mechanism (and protective response) generally has a greater influence on adopting protective behaviour, than the evaluation of the scam itself

Love on the line: The social dynamics involved with people meeting other people using New Zealand online dating sites

The intention of this thesis is to explore whether New Zealand trends in online dating parallel those identified by overseas studies, or whether patterns are emerging that are unique to New Zealand society. The Internet Windows Messenger instant messenger service (MSN) was used to interview 32 subjects about their experiences with online dating, covering areas such as motivation for using online dating; types of relationships sought; barriers to online dating; online rapport and offline chemistry; online infidelity; and managing 'difference'. Drawing on these responses, this thesis presents findings pertaining to a diverse group of New Zealanders' attitudes towards and uses of online dating. Some of the key findings show that online rapport does not guarantee offline chemistry; that there are gender differences in attitudes towards appearance, age, and receiving sexually explicit material online; and that sexual experimentation and infidelity are being facilitated through online dating. The issue of 'difference' as it relates to online dating has been largely neglected by overseas researchers, and for this reason was extensively included in this research. Key findings relating to 'difference' show that there is a clear split between those interviewees whose 'difference' impacted positively on their online dating experience (those with sexual 'difference' falling into this category), and those whose 'difference' impacted negatively (those with physical or mental 'difference'). In addition, those interviewees with a sexual 'difference' have been able to connect with other like-minded people through online dating, contributing to the 'normalization' of previously considered deviant behaviours. Based on the research presented in this thesis, it appears that New Zealand online dating activities are consistent with overseas trends, although there are indications that some behaviour may be more specific to New Zealand society, such as gender differences in relation to bisexuality, and covert same-sex encounters involving men who are either married or who state in their profiles that they are 'straight' or heterosexual

Generation Y’s Behavioural Usage of Small Businesses’ Retail Websites in Canada

This research delves into the factors that influence Generation Y’s usage of Canadian small businesses’ retail websites in order to suggest how they can be attracted to use them more. Based on the Use of Technology Two (UTAUT2) theory, questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews revealed linkages between Behavioural Intention, Habit, Facilitating Conditions and Use Behaviour with demographic variables moderating some relationships. Improving the website designs and social media marketing can entice Generation Y consumers

Os desafios do comércio online de luxo em Portugal e sua potenciação para o incremento das exportações nacionais

Tese de doutoramento em Gestão, Universidade Lusíada de Lisboa, 2022Exame público realizado em 20 de Dezembro de 2022Com o advento da internet surgiu o comércio eletrónico que apesar de crescente ainda representa um desafio para determinados setores, como os bens de luxo. Este desafio deriva, em parte, não só do facto de este tipo de bens terem atributos específicos, como a qualidade, a exclusividade e a tradição, mas também, das características do próprio meio eletrónico de comercialização. Um local virtual, massificado, desregulamentado que parece contrariar a própria natureza deste tipo de bens. Porque não é clara a adesão do cliente de luxo à forma como são vendidos os restantes bens na internet e, não existindo, por parte dos produtores, vontade de “massificar” os bens de luxo, vulgarizando-os num ambiente “desregulado”, resulta daqui a necessidade de descobrir formas inovadoras e capazes de contrariar este aparente paradoxo importando recordar que o consumo online se desenvolveu inicialmente sob o paradigma da minimização do preço e que o relativo ao luxo é muito recente. Ou seja, há que conseguir atrair o consumidor de bens de luxo para o espaço virtual, mas contendo todos os requisitos que o consumidor de luxo está habituado a receber quando se desloca à loja física. Vislumbra-se assim uma oportunidade, a explorar pelas empresas nacionais, para incrementar as suas vendas e assim as exportações. Por conseguinte, a presente investigação radica no desafio sobre como se poderá implementar/incrementar o comércio online de bens de luxo em Portugal. Deste modo, com o propósito de se compreender amplamente o processo de compra online de bens de luxo por parte do consumidor e, especificamente, de entender os fatores determinantes nesse processo, este trabalho de investigação pretende contribuir para o aprofundamento e esclarecimento da problemática do comportamento do consumidor de bens de luxo numa perspetiva de gestão online de tal comércio. É, portanto, espectável que os resultados obtidos contribuam para o desenvolvimento de meios mais adequados à comercialização online dos bens de luxo, identificando os fatores críticos de sucesso e também, que resultem numa verdadeira vantagem competitiva para as entidades que os pretendam implementar. Numa primeira fase, na revisão da literatura, estudaram-se a nível internacional os casos mais bem-sucedidos, para, numa segunda, extrapolar as conclusões para o panorama nacional, com o propósito de aferir de que forma se poderão impulsionar as vendas online e consequentemente as exportações. Assim sendo começou-se por aferir as características que distinguem os bens de luxo dos bens comuns e de que forma são encarados pela teoria económica. Seguidamente, devido ao fenómeno inédito da pandemia COVID19 analisou-se o seu impacto no comércio mundial destes bens, o qual apesar de negativo nas vendas verificadas nas lojas físicas, veio impulsionar de forma positiva as vendas online. Decorrente do estudo do comércio online de bens de luxo no mundo procedeu-se à identificação das principais marcas deste setor, o seu volume, evolução e projeção de vendas, bem como os países que mais exportam e também que mais compram. Igualmente procurou identificar-se os hábitos dos consumidores. O mesmo exercício foi feito para a economia portuguesa, identificando, entre outros fatores, os setores que mais exportam e as características dos consumidores dos países de destino, sem nunca perder de vista os aspetos que suportam o comércio online, como por exemplo, o grau de difusão de redes de comunicação ou de equipamentos móveis. O passo seguinte foi, com base nas características da economia nacional e dos eventuais destinatários, discernir as primeiras ideias sobre como potenciar as exportações deste setor. Destas noções resultaram as seguintes research questions que, corporizam a alma deste trabalho e orientaram as investigações realizadas: • Será que existe comércio online de bens de luxo? • Que tipos de bens de luxo portugueses se podem exportar? • Quais são os atributos dos websites de comércio online de bens de luxo mais relevantes para promover o seu sucesso? De seguida, após caracterização dos bens de luxo, averiguou-se a forma como são comercializados nos canais tradicionais e no ambiente online. Algo que como se irá constatar, à primeira vista, se revela antagónico e que por esse mesmo motivo necessita de atenção e cuidado especial. Concomitantemente prosseguiu-se para o estudo dos modelos comportamentais de compra dos bens comuns, dos bens de luxo e do comércio online. Procedeu-se à análise das vantagens e desvantagens do comércio online, bem como dos casos de sucesso de websites de comércio online de bens de luxo de referência internacional. O passo seguinte consistiu na criação de um quadro conceptual onde se procedeu à densificação das research questions e das hipóteses, que visou conjugar os diversos aspetos da problemática num modelo conceptual sobre como comercializar online bens de luxo de forma a potenciar as vendas sem desvirtuar as características deste tipo de bens, seguido da definição da metodologia com a criação do plano de investigação. Tendo por base uma metodologia assente na observação dos fenómenos, após se ter identificado a forma como diversos autores descrevem um website de sucesso e também as características que estes têm, distinguindo-os dos websites comuns, procedeu-se à escolha de um modelo para avaliação dos mesmos. Este modelo teve por base o Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (Tavares, 1984), que permitiu identificar os principais fatores que norteiam a qualidade dos websites de bens de luxo. Consequentemente prosseguiu-se para a avaliação dos 100 websites das marcas mais bem-sucedidas no comércio mundial de bens de luxo, procurando identificar os fatores de sucesso distintivos dos mesmos e com isso consolidar um modelo de avaliação de websites. Com as aprendizagens efetuadas procedeu-se à recolha de dados alicerçada na elaboração de dois inquéritos online. Um junto de 186 empresas nacionais, potenciais exportadoras de bens de luxo, com o intuito de compreender os bens mais suscetíveis de serem comercializados online. E outro destinado a aferir, junto de 705 consumidores, quais são os fatores que mais valorizam com o intuito de promover o comércio online de bens de luxo. Depois de aplicados os inquéritos seguiu-se a fase de análise dos mesmos. Recorrendo a várias ferramentas de análise como o IBM SPSS e EXCEL, bem como a diferentes métodos de análise estatística, principalmente, medidas de dispersão e tendência central, e também de análise correlacional, no sentido de se fazer um estudo das respostas obtidas de modo a poder inferir as principais conclusões. Da aplicação desta metodologia resultou a identificação do perfil sociodemográfico do consumidor online de bens de luxo português, bem como do perfil das empresas portuguesas relativamente à vontade e à forma como tentam vender online. Para além disso, identificaram-se os fatores mais valorizados nos websites de bens de luxo internacionais e comparativamente a sua diferença relativamente aos websites nacionais Verificou-se que: a) Na vertente da produção nacional: • Existe uma forte coincidência entre os bens de luxo mais vendidos online e as principais exportações nacionais; • O destino das exportações nacionais tem uma forte coincidência com os países que mais comercializam online bens de luxo. b) Na capacitação das empresas portuguesas: • O volume de comércio online das empresas portuguesas ainda é inferior a um terço das vendas totais, e deste, a esmagadora maioria tem como destino o território nacional; • É muito reduzido o uso de ferramentas analíticas no comércio online português; • Comparativamente com as empresas que comercializam online bens de luxo, o envolvimento das empresas nacionais nas redes sociais é reduzido; • A logística nacional é menos desenvolvida relativamente aos principais países destinatários do comércio de bens de luxo; • Existe alguma inadequação nos fatores mais valorizados pelos websites de luxo internacionais mais bem-sucedidos e as características dos websites das empresas nacionais; c) Sobre o consumidor português: • Existe uma predisposição para comprar online; • O valor das compras, no universo dos bens de luxo, é relativamente reduzido, situando-se, principalmente, na categoria do “luxo acessível”; • As preferências de compras de bens online coincidem com a produção de bens de luxo que são mais vendidos online; • Os fatores que mais motivam a compra online são a comodidade e a segurança; • Existem evidências que grande parte dos consumidores online são influenciados pelas redes sociais; • As características mais apreciadas dos websites que vendem online são a pesquisa rápida, a rapidez na entrega e a qualidade gráfica do website. Em suma, a presente pesquisa não só evidencia a existência de mercado internacional, como igualmente de mercado português para comércio online de bens de luxo, identificando algumas das suas características. Para além disso, este estudo permitiu identificar os bens de luxo com maior suscetibilidade de sucesso de venda online, bem como evidenciou os atributos dos websites que mais contribuem para o sucesso do comércio online de bens de luxo. Em conclusão, considera-se que as respostas obtidas às “research questions” constituem uma contribuição significativa para melhorar o conhecimento quer do comportamento do consumidor português relativamente ao comércio online, quer sobre os fatores determinantes do sucesso dos websites de comércio online, e, ainda, bem assim, sobre as orientações a adotar pelas empresas nacionais para potenciarem o comércio online tendo como objetivo o incremento das vendas e consequentemente o aumento das exportações nacionais.With the development of the internet, electronic commerce has emerged, which can still increase and represent a challenge for certain types of goods, such as luxury goods. This challenge originates, in part, not only from the specific attributes of this kind of goods like quality, uniqueness and tradition, but also from the characteristics of the electronic means of commercialization itself. A virtual, massified, unregulated place that seems to contradict the very nature of this type of goods. Because the luxury customer's adherence to the way other goods are sold on the internet is not clear and, since there is no desire on the part of the producers to "massify" luxury goods, making them more popular in a "deregulated" environment, it results hence the need to find innovative ways to counter this apparent paradox. It is important to remember that online consumption was initially developed under the paradigm of price minimization and that luxury is very recent. In other words, it is necessary to be able to attract the consumer of luxury goods to the virtual space, but containing all the requirements that the luxury consumer is used to receiving when going to the physical store. There is thus an opportunity to be explored by national companies to increase their sales and thus exports. Therefore, the present investigation is based on the question of how to implement/increase the online commerce of luxury goods in Portugal. In order to understand the process of online purchase of luxury goods by the consumer and, particularly, to understand the determining factors in this process, the present study contributes to deepening the problem of consumer behavior from a perspective of online management of such a process. business. It is, therefore, to be expected that the results achieved will contribute to the creation of more adequate means for the online marketing of luxury goods, identifying the critical success factors and a real competitive advantage for the organizations that implement them. From the literature review, in a first phase, the most successful cases were studied at an international level, to, in a second one, extrapolate the conclusions to the national panorama, with the purpose of assessing how online sales can be boosted and consequently exports. Thus, it began by assessing the characteristics that distinguish luxury goods from common goods and how they are viewed by economic theory. Then, due to the unprecedented phenomenon of the COVID19 pandemic, its impact on the world trade of these goods was analyzed, which, despite being negative in sales in physical stores, positively boosted online sales. As a result of the study of the online commerce of luxury goods in the world, the main brands in this sector were identified, their volume, evolution and sales projection, as well as the countries that export and also buy the most. It also sought to identify consumer habits. The same exercise was carried out for the Portuguese economy, identifying, among other factors, the sectors that most export and the characteristics of consumers in the countries of destination. Without ever losing sight of the aspects that support online commerce, such as the degree of diffusion of communication networks or mobile equipment. The next step was, based on the characteristics of the national economy and the eventual recipients, to discern the first ideas on how to boost exports in this sector. These notions resulted in the following research questions that embody the soul of this work and guided the investigations carried out: • Is there online commerce in luxury goods? • What types of Portuguese luxury goods can be exported? • What are the necessary factors for Portuguese luxury goods websites to promote the trade of goods online? Then, after characterizing the luxury goods, the way in which they are marketed in traditional channels and in the online environment was investigated. Something that, as will be seen, at first glance, proves to be antagonistic and that for the same reason needs special attention and care. Subsequently, the study of behavioral models of purchase of common goods, luxury goods and online commerce was carried out. An analysis of the advantages and disadvantages of online commerce was carried out, as well as the success stories of international luxury goods online commerce websites. The next step consisted in the creation of a conceptual framework where the research methodology was defined with the creation of the research plan, the objectives and densification of the research questions that aimed to combine the various aspects of the problem in a conceptual model on how to sell online luxury goods in a way to boost sales without detracting from the characteristics of this type of goods. Based on a methodology grounded on the observation of the phenomena, after having identified the way in which several authors describe a successful website and also the characteristics they have, distinguishing them from common websites, a model was chosen for evaluation. This model was based on the Multi-Attribute Utility Theory (Tavares, 1984), which allowed the identification of the main factors that guide the quality of luxury goods websites. Consequently, proceeded to evaluate the 100 websites of the most successful brands in the world trade of luxury goods, seeking to identify their distinctive success factors and thereby consolidate a website evaluation model. Based on the lessons learned, data collection was carried out based on the preparation of two online surveys. One with 186 national companies, potential exporters of luxury goods, in order to understand the goods most likely to be sold online. And another, aimed at assessing, with 705 consumers, which are the factors they value the most in order to promote the online commerce of luxury goods. After the surveys were applied, the analysis phase followed. Different analysis tools were used (IBM SPSS and EXCEL) as well as different methods of statistical analysis, namely measures of central tendency and dispersion, and also of correlational analysis, in order to be able to infer the main conclusions. The results of the present investigation identified a sociodemographic profile of the online consumer of Portuguese luxury goods, as well as the profile of Portuguese companies regarding the willingness and way they try to sell online. In addition, it identified the most valued factors on international luxury goods websites and their difference compared to national websites. It was possible to verify that: a) On national production: • There is a strong coincidence between the most sold luxury goods online and the main national exports; • The destination of national exports has a strong coincidence with the countries that most trade luxury goods online; b) On the Portuguese companies: • The volume of online commerce by Portuguese companies is still less than a third of total sales, and of this, the overwhelming majority is destined for the national territory; • The use of analytical tools in Portuguese online commerce is very low; • Compared to companies that sell luxury online, the involvement of national companies in social networks is reduced; • National logistics are less developed in relation to the main destination countries for the luxury goods trade; • There is some inadequacy in the factors most valued by the most successful international luxury websites and the characteristics of the websites of national companies; c) About the Portuguese consumer: • There is a predisposition to buy online; • The value of purchases, in the universe of luxury goods, is relatively low, being mainly in the “affordable luxury” category; • Online purchase preferences for goods coincide with the production of luxury goods that are most sold online; • The factors that most motivate online purchases are convenience and security; • There is evidence that most online consumers are influenced by social networks; • The most appreciated features of websites that sell online are quick search, quick delivery and the website's graphic quality. The present research not only shows the existence of an international market, but also a Portuguese market for online commerce of luxury goods, identifying some of its characteristics. In addition, this study allowed the identification of luxury goods with greater susceptibility to successful online sales, as well as highlighted the attributes of websites that most contribute to the success of online luxury goods commerce. In conclusion, it is considered that the answers obtained to the "research questions" constitute a significant contribution to improve the knowledge of the behavior of the Portuguese consumer in relation to online commerce, as well as the determinant factors of the success of online commerce websites, and also, as well as on the guidelines to be adopted by national companies to boost online commerce with the objective of increasing sales and, consequently, increasing national exports

Online banking in Bahrain : role of attitudes and beliefs in shaping consumer behavior toward adoption

The advancesin communicationa nd computert echnology and the availability of the Internet have made it possible that people can do most of their banking transactions from a remote location even without having the need to visit their local branch. With the growing reputation of Bahrain as a financial centre in the Arabian Gulf region, existing banks face intensive competition from new comers which made the banking industry in Bahrain opt for a more aggressive approach in the development of new online banking services. This thesis reports key findings from an empirical study of the Bahraini banking customer experiences with the adoption of online banking. It provides an understanding of what and how the specific factors influence the decision making process of the bank customers whether or not to bank on the Internet in the Bahraini context. It utilises a theoretical model to examine the intent to adopt online banking service. Using an amalgamated model adapted from two models in the fields of technology research and technology acceptance, this research analysed the relationships between the intention to adopt online banking services and the attitude toward online banking use, subjective norm toward online banking use, selected user perceptions (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risk, perceived behavioural control) and selected user characteristics (age and income). A questionnaire was employed to collect the data for this research and path analysis was used to analyse the relationships between the proposed model variables. Out of the 13 original model hypotheses, 9 were confirmed. However, the overall model was found to be weak in explaining the relationships regardless of their significance. Furthermore, current non-users were segmented and a binary logistic regression was used to predict the possibility of future adoption among this segment. It was concluded that about 88% of current non-users are predicted to be future online banking users in Bahrain. In general, the behavioural intention to adopt online banking service in Bahrain was found to be driven primarily by attitudes toward online banking services, and customers' perceived behavioural control. The practical and theoretical implications of these findings are discussed. In summary, this research helps to identify perceptions and factors that explain the intention to adopt online banking service. These factors may be important to the banks and policy makers who wish to encourage the widespread adoption of online banking services in BahrainEThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo