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

Measuring interaction: An empirical comparison of three OLS regression models

The capacity to correctly assess the existence of interaction is a high-value modeling capability among researchers of information systems (IS), especially those focusing on behavioural paradigm studies. Interaction is a notable aspect for the major theoretical frameworks of the IS field, particularly the adoption theories. Allowing for crossover effects in the Theory of Planned Behaviour resulted in improvements in model prediction (Taylor & Todd, 1995b). This study presents the trimmed model, which does not permit crossover effect relations among variables. In complex models, as mentioned by Pedhazur (1997), one variable may affect another variable indirectly through multiple paths. According to him, it stands to reason that indirect effects, through certain paths, may be more meaningful and/or stronger than others. The findings of this quantitative study lead one to conclude that crossover effect models are more capable of showing the interaction among models’ variables, as well as explaining the highest percentage of variation for a single dependent variable, in comparison to the full and trimmed model

An analysis of the role of competitive intelligence (knowledge management and business intelligence) in globalisation of Saudi Arabia ICT firms.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.This study explored the role of technological, organisational, environmental and attitudinal factors in facilitating the globalisation of Saudi Arabian ICT companies. In particular, the study focused on identifying the drivers of globalisation, especially knowledge management and business intelligence, and steps Saudi ICT companies should take before expanding their businesses outside of Saudi Arabia. A mixed-methods approach was adopted. A total of 81 ICT companies registered with the Communication and Information Technology Commission (CITC) in Saudi Arabia participated in this study, including the three largest ICT operators in Saudi Arabia, namely STC, Mobily, and Zain. Publicly available data from the Saudi stock exchange and other sources were analysed in respect of the three large ICT companies. The CITC organisations were surveyed via questionnaires. A quantitative analysis of the survey data viewed through the lens of the Technology, Organisation, Environment (TOE) framework and the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) model was undertaken, while a qualitative analysis of the documentary data from the three large companies was viewed through the TOE lens only. It was identified that the efficiency of software used in organisations helps them to globalise at any time and that competitive intelligence tools (KM and BI) are also very important. The organisational context is important; large ICT companies can globalise their activities while smaller companies have difficulties in doing so even though they recognise the potential economic benefits of regionalisation and globalisation. Regarding the environmental context, a country’s legislation helps and supports companies to globalise their activities. This is clearly noticeable in the three telecommunications operators, which have no obstacles to prevent them from operating in any country in the world. Finally, ICT and the attendant networked applications have accelerated the integration of the world’s economy through the globalisation of businesses. These effects are also felt by Saudi ICT companies, which are reconsidering their roles as regional economic players

Incorporating Technology Readiness (TR) Into TAM: Are Individual Traits Important to Understand Technology Acceptance?

Researchers have extensively and intensively examined Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) for many years. Unfortunately, despite years of research regarding technology acceptance, researchers today still cannot conclusively answer the question raised by Baron and Kenny (1986): “What processes link traits to behavior?” With respect to the role of individual traits within TAM, at least two research streams can be identified. However, they have generated conflicting results. Our study addresses this question by examining the effects of one set of individual traits, technology readiness (TR) which has four dimensions according to Parasuraman (2000), within TAM. Specially, our research question is about the role of the fours dimensions of TR. We argue that the four dimensions will moderate the hypothesized relationships within TAM. We believe that such a research attempt is a timely response to Venkatesh and Davis’s (2000) call for examining major contingency factors that moderate the effects of subjective perceptions on behavior intentions (BI). Data were collected via online survey. Two dimensions of TR, i.e., innovativeness and optimism, were found to interact with perceived usefulness to determine people’s intention to accept new technologies. Specifically, perceived usefulness was insignificant to influence behavior intention for people who are either optimistic or innovative with respect to new technologies. Such findings were quite interesting as previous research seldom explored contingencies for the perceived usefulness-behavior intention relationship

Intention to use mobile customer relationship management systems

© Emerald Group Publishing Limited. Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to investigate the behavioral intentions of business-to-business (B2B) sales managers to use mobile customer relationship management (CRM) systems in the course of their day-to-day activities. Design/methodology/approach - An extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of mobile CRM system adoption is developed and tested with data from 105 international sales managers representing five B2B companies. Findings - The study extends the TAM framework with three additional constructs derived from mobile technology and sales force automation literature, namely personal innovativeness in the domain of IT, perceived risk, and perceived reachability. The model demonstrates that personal innovativeness and perceived reachability have significant effects on the TAM framework. Research limitations/implications - The relatively small sample size limits the generalization of the results. Practical implications - Sales managers' intention to adopt mobile CRM can be explained by the extended TAM framework. Understanding the key factors that influence intention to adopt a mobile CRM system will aid companies in implementing it among their sales force. Companies willing to foster adoption of a mobile CRM system among the sales force could focus on communicating the usefulness of using the system and benefits gained from enhanced reachability. Recruiting sales people with strong personal innovativeness is beneficial. Originality/value - This study responds the calls for studies on mobile platforms and on the use of mobile B2B applications in sales force management. It is among the first attempts to incorporate variables derived from mobile technology acceptance literature among the sales force into the TAM framework, to better explain acceptance of mobile CRM systems

Consumer Adoption of Self-Service Technologies in the Context of the Jordanian Banking Industry: Examining the Moderating Role of Channel Types

YesThis study aimed to examine the key factors predicting Jordanian consumers’ intentions and usage of three types of self-service banking technologies. This study also sought to test if the impacts of these main predictors could be moderated by channel type. This study proposed a conceptual model by integrating factors from the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT), along with perceived risk. The required data were collected from a convenience sample of Jordanian banking customers using a survey questionnaire. The statistical results strongly support the significant influence of performance expectancy, social influence, and perceived risk on customer intentions for the three types of SSTs examined. The results of the X2 differences test also indicate that there are significant differences in the influence of the main predictors due to the moderating effect of channel type. One of the key contributions of this study is that three types of SSTs were tested in a single study, which had not been done before, leading to the identification of the factors common to all three types, as well as the salient factors unique to each type

ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks: a literature review

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) implementation is a complex and vibrant process, one that involves a combination of technological and organizational interactions. Often an ERP implementation project is the single largest IT project that an organization has ever launched and requires a mutual fit of system and organization. Also the concept of an ERP implementation supporting business processes across many different departments is not a generic, rigid and uniform concept and depends on variety of factors. As a result, the issues addressing the ERP implementation process have been one of the major concerns in industry. Therefore ERP implementation receives attention from practitioners and scholars and both, business as well as academic literature is abundant and not always very conclusive or coherent. However, research on ERP systems so far has been mainly focused on diffusion, use and impact issues. Less attention has been given to the methods used during the configuration and the implementation of ERP systems, even though they are commonly used in practice, they still remain largely unexplored and undocumented in Information Systems research. So, the academic relevance of this research is the contribution to the existing body of scientific knowledge. An annotated brief literature review is done in order to evaluate the current state of the existing academic literature. The purpose is to present a systematic overview of relevant ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks as a desire for achieving a better taxonomy of ERP implementation methodologies. This paper is useful to researchers who are interested in ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Results will serve as an input for a classification of the existing ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks. Also, this paper aims also at the professional ERP community involved in the process of ERP implementation by promoting a better understanding of ERP implementation methodologies and frameworks, its variety and history