Reexamining Technology Acceptance in Online Task Behaviors

With rapid advances in information technology, information systems and software have become more versatile and multifunctional. However, users may have varying degrees of preferences to different functions and tasks that can be accomplished using a single technology. In order to investigate this phenomenon, this study adopts a previous study by Gefen and Straub (2000) as a reference point and uses Internet technology to investigate two tasks: information search and online purchasing. The current study provides a more comprehensive picture of applying task behaviours by decomposing each variable in the technology acceptance model (TAM) according to the two online tasks. The proposed model was tested with survey data from 435 respondents. Results demonstrate that TAM holds its explanatory utility very well when applied to task behaviours. Convergent and discriminant validities indicate that each task possesses its own characteristics and variables. A structural equation modelling test was performed and the results show that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness have significant relationships with intention only within its task but not outside. As a result, our results outperform those reported in the baseline study of Gefen and Straub. It is therefore advisable for organizations in deploying technology to delineate user behaviour by tasks and explore the impact of the technology on individual tasks

Membangun Kembali Kepercayaan Masyarakat Pasca Pelanggaran Dalam Business to Consumer (B2C) E-Commerce: Studi Empiris Di YOGYAKARTA

This paper focuses on the process of rebuilding reputation and the intention level of the community to continue trust after trustees fix their e-commerce systems. This research integrates two previous research models to assess rebuilding post trust violation through system improvement that may influence the intention to continue trust. The objectives of the research are to examine the efforts of rebuilding post trust violation on the Business to Consumer (B2C) E-commerce and test the effect scale of the system improvement on the intention of the customers to continue trust. Using the data of 267 respondents that experienced trust violations, the result shows that the intention to continue trust was significantly related to the communication improvement, rebuilding trust through system improvement and confirmation by trust restoration. Meanwhile, the variables of the commitment to guarantee, product varieties and third party support were not significantly related to the rebuilding of post-violation trust in B2C electronic commerce. The paper also discusses the implications of the findings both theoretically and practicall in detail

Trust formation processes in innovative collaborations: networking as knowledge building practices

Purpose - This study examines the practices and processes of trust building and use in collaborative networking for product innovation and compares face to face with virtual networking. Design/Methodology/Approach – Guided by a literature review and preliminary participant observation, 16 open ended interviews collected data about the processes in 11 small biotech firms. These data were inductively analysed by the constant comparative method to develop explanatory themes. Findings – Trust was seen as requirement for successful collaborative innovation, but we identified how different dimensions of trust are located in the trust building processes. Trust works by creating a platform of confidence that fosters flows of information and the exchange of tacit knowledge. Two types of trust relationships, the technical and the social, work in different ways to produce different, but complementary, types of trust. Virtual environments suit technical trust building but are less suited to developing deeper, more enduring forms of trust. Originality/Value – The paper contributes conceptually by theorising the trust building process and its role in collaborative innovation. It addresses a gap in the literature in identifying how trust is produced, developed and employed in furthering innovation, in particular the behavioural patterns of using virtual networks in furthering innovation

Nível de confiança que o visitante tem nos postos de turismo oficiais e tourist service

O ponto de partida para o estudo foi a confiança, uma área muito sensível e subjetiva, mas definitivamente importante para que o turismo se torne ainda mais importante na sua sustentabilidade. A partir da experiência profissional da investigadora surgiu o problema de perceber se os visitants da cidade do Porto, confiam mais nos postos de turismo oficial ou nos tourist service. A proposição de que a confiança desempenha um papel central na forma como as instituições de serviços se apresentam aos seus clientes, Ennew e Sehkon (2014). Serão explorados os construtos da confiança. O turismo é conhecido por estar na esfera económica, é "um motor do crescimento económico, desenvolvimento inclusivo e sustentabilidade ambiental" ( OMT, 2013). Será abordado o tema dos Destination Marketing Organizations ou Destination Management Organizations e do Destination Management Companies, para uma fácil percepção de diferenças de tourist services e postos de turismo oficiais. Para dar resposta ao problema, foi realizado um questionário nos postos de turismo oficiais e nos tourist service, com base nos resultados foi possível perceber o significativo nível de confiança dos visitants nos postos de turismo oficiais e tourist service.The starting point for the study was trust, a very sensitive and subjective area, but definitely important for tourism to become even more important in its sustainability. From the professional experience of the researcher came the problem of perceiving if the visitors of the city of Porto rely more on the official tourist offices or the tourist service. The proposition that trust plays a central role in the way service institutions present themselves to their clients, Ennew and Sehkon (2014). The constructs of trust will be explored. Tourism is known to be in the economic sphere, is "an engine of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability" (WTO, 2013). It will address the topic of Destination Marketing Organizations or Destination Management Organizations and Destination Management Companies for an easy perception of the differences in tourist services and official tourism offices. To answer the problem, a questionnaire was carried out at the official tourism and tourism service stations, based on the results, it was possible to perceive the significant level of confidence of tourists in official tourism and tourist service.Mestrado em Gestão e Planeamento em Turism

Social capital and engagement in Nigerian small business marketing.

This study explores social capital and engagement in Nigerian small business marketing. It examines how Nigerian small business owner-managers develop and use social capital in the network of relationships to overcome marketing constraints. Social capital can be viewed as a marketing asset available in network relationships. The process perspective of social capital enables understanding of the formation and use of social resources in networks. Social resources in networks are accessed through relationships built on trust and commitment over time. Although small businesses in Nigeria contribute to the nation's economic and social development, they operate under severe resource constraints. These constraints are mainly due to business size and limited resources, such as limited market impact, limited marketing skills and expertise, and limited access to resources. However, small business' inherent advantages, such as strong drive and enthusiasm, enable social connections with networks. This study builds on and develops engagement as an advanced form of relationship marketing in Nigerian small businesses. The concepts fit the context of a developing country with low resource availability and limited access to marketing resources. However, despite the increasing use of the concept "engagement", empirical-based understanding of processes underpinning engagement in small business context remains underexplored. A qualitative research approach is adopted to investigate the processes and dynamics of Nigerian small business owner-managers' engagement with various networks for marketing. The complex nature of the phenomenon requires a range of qualitative techniques for data collection and analysis to understand the meaning of small business owner-managers' actions during networking. Qualitative data were obtained through participant observation and semi-structured interviews with small business owner-managers in Nigeria. The thematic data analysis approach was adopted using the constant comparative analysis method to compare emerging themes and categories. This approach provides a description and understanding of data interpretations. It explains how Nigerian small business owner-managers engage with multiple networks in a long-term relational exchange relationship for marketing. The research findings identify engagement as a dynamic and iterative process resulting from network interactions, the strength of network ties, network interdependence and stability. This study's novelty lies in explaining the formation and use of social capital by engaging various networks in small business marketing. It further explores and develops the concept of engagement as a much stronger network relationship to involve networks in marketing. This study proposes a research model that explains the social capital formation and engagement processes of various networks in small business marketing. It develops and demonstrates small business marketing beyond transactions and offers theoretical contributions to the concept of social capital formation and use in small business engagement marketing. Finally, this study proposes recommendations for practice, theory and suggestions for further research

Inter-firm cooperation: Empirical analyses of how to set up and maintain successful R&D outsourcing relationships

In order to cope with the continuing pressure of rapidly developing and commercializing innovations, organizations have increasingly turned to external sources of knowledge by integrating R&D supplier firms into the innovation process. Using the “market” for the generation of valuable knowledge inputs certainly allows for specialization benefits but at the same time renders the outsourcing party vulnerable to opportunistic behaviour of its R&D supplier. This dissertation is designed to examine the drivers and consequences of R&D supplier opportunism. It, furthermore, strives to identify mechanisms that are effective in curbing R&D supplier misbehaviour

Assessing organisational trust and personality in a public organisation

This dissertation focuses on assessing organisational trust and personality in a public organisation. In this quantitative study, conducted in a South African public organisation (Gauteng province), dimensions of organisational trust were correlated with the personality dimensions (measured by combined trust and personality instrument). A cross–sectional quantitative research design was conducted on a selected sample of permanent employees from auditing and support business units (N = 350) at a public organisation. The data was collected through a web-based survey. The results revealed significant relationships between the variables. Specifically, the results revealed that credibility and work support were stronger correlated to agreeableness than the five dimensions of personality. For instance, a Pearson correlation analysis revealed that agreeableness correlated significantly and positively with credibility (r = 0.652) and work support (r = 0.626). In the same vein, conscientiousness correlated significantly and positively with trust relationship (r=0.695) and credibility (r=0.622). Additionally, a positive and substantial significant relationship was observed with the dimension openness to experience which correlated significantly and positively with trust relationship (r=0.505) and work support (r=0.503). Furthermore, the results showed that neuroticism correlated significantly and positively with credibility (r=0.590) and trust relationship (r=0.567). The results of the regression analysis further confirmed that agreeableness, conscientiousness, and openness to experience would predict organisational trust. The agreeableness dimension made the most significant predictor of organisational trust. Neuroticism dimension did not make a significant contribution to predicting organisational trust. This indicates that personality dimensions are likely to be related to higher levels of organisational trust. Subsequently, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was executed on the measurement models of the instruments used via SPSS AMOS version 27. As the result of confirmatory factor analysis, it was found that the personality and organisational trust dimensions factor structure showed the good fit to the data (χ2= 0.379, df = 2, p = 0.685, CFI = 1.00, TLI = 1.02, NFI= 0.99, RFI= 0.98, IFI= 1.00 RMSEA = 0.00); (χ2= 1.195, df = 7, p = 0.302, CFI = 0.999, TLI = 0.998, NFI= 0.995, RFI= 0.989, IFI= 0.999 RMSEA = 0.29), eliminating the need of any modifications. All factor loadings were statistically significant, with highest loading on neuroticism (β = 0.86), followed by conscientiousness (β = 0.80), agreeableness (β = 0.78), openness to experience (β =0.68), credibility (β = 0.98), followed by work support (β = 0.93), team management (β = 0.93), information sharing (β = 0.91), trust relationship (β = 0.86) and interpersonal trust (β = 0.63) respectively.Centre for Industrial and Organisational PsychologyM. Com. (Industrial and Organisational Psychology

Doing privacy right or doing privacy rights. Examining the influence of privacy activities in the nonmarket environment on consumer attitudes and intentions

Data breaches are rising in magnitude and cost, with technology and privacy threats advancing at a faster pace than privacy regulation. A more sustainable approach to privacy beyond regulation is required. Whilst privacy studies suggest that exceeding regulatory minimums reduces privacy incidents, there is a dearth of scholarship researching privacy activities beyond regulatory minimums. Organisations typically conduct activities beyond regulatory minimums in the nonmarket environment e.g., political and socially responsible activity. Thus, the nonmarket environment provides a starting point for insight into privacy activities beyond regulation. This research utilises a three-stage sequential mixed-methods approach. Each stage is underpinned by theories of control and justice. In the first stage, an Online Delphi Survey is conducted to develop a taxonomy of control-based and justice-based nonmarket privacy activities. A theoretical framework of four primary approaches to privacy in the nonmarket environment is then developed. In the second stage, a number of CSR (CSR) reports (n=90) are reviewed using thematic analysis (leveraging the taxonomy previously developed). Control and justice totals are then calculated for the privacy activities reported in these publications, enabling their approach to nonmarket privacy to be positioned in one of four primary nonmarket privacy orientations. In the third stage, a theoretical framework is developed, based on the Power Responsibility Equilibrium (PRE) theory. Using this framework, a number of hypotheses are formulated regarding the relationships between nonmarket privacy activities and consumer trust, privacy concern, and purchase intention/continuance intention. These hypotheses are explored quantitatively using an experimental vignette methodology (n=396 for the first experiment, and n=503 for the second experiment). Control is found to be associated with increased privacy concern, and reduced consumer trust and purchase/continuance intention. Justice is found to be associated with reduced privacy concern, and increased consumer trust and purchase/continuance intention. This research describes a typology of nonmarket privacy for the first time, and examines a previously unexplored phenomenon. This research extends PRE Theory to the context of nonmarket privacy activities. This research also extends CSR posture theory with the addition of an additional posture called the Warrior posture, and extends the three Generations of CSR with a Fourth Generation of CSR. The research findings provide insights which can assist organisations to address consumers’ privacy concerns and enhance their corporate reputation and bottom line results

Responsabilidad social corporativa desde la perspectiva de la fuerza de ventas: antecedentes y consecuencias

El objetivo general de esta Tesis Doctoral es aportar conocimiento sobre los antecedentes y las consecuencias de la percepción de RSC en el contexto de ventas. Esto es, estudiar los determinantes y los mecanismos subyacentes que influyen sobre la percepción de la RSC de los vendedores, y analizar las principales consecuencias que se derivan de una percepción positiva de estas prácticas por parte de la fuerza de ventas. Para lograr este objetivo, se realiza una revisión profunda de la literatura sobre la RSC, analizando la relación entre la RSC y el marketing, para, finalmente, profundizar en la relación entre la RSC y la fuerza de ventas. Sobre la base de esta revisión teórica se proponen seis modelos conceptuales contrastados mediante la metodología de ecuaciones estructurales y la estimación por mínimos cuadrados ordinarios a través de la herramienta PROCESS para SPSS. Para ello se emplean dos muestras, una de 252 consumidores y otra de 176 pares de supervisor-vendedor