Do the Means and the Source Matter? A Study on the Actual Usage of Digitally Disseminated Coupons

How to effectively distribute coupons digitally to consumers who may exercise them remains an enduring, yet important, issue to address. In this study, we seek to answer two questions. First, would the dissemination of product discount coupons through mobile technology, such as the mobile phone network via the short-message-service (SMS), yield different effects on consumers, compared to a more traditional communication technology such as e-mail? Second, does the source, that is, the merchant or referral from peers, matter to a consumer? We build on the theoretical lens of cognitive effort (technology) and social capital (source) to theorize and empirically validate the conjectures through a real-world field experiment spanning four weeks. In terms of technology, the results indicate no significant difference in terms of the usage rate of coupons between the two technological means through which the coupons were disseminated. However, in terms of the source, we observed a higher propensity of using coupons received from a peer as compared to coupons received from a merchant. Furthermore, the forwarding rate of the discount coupons was significantly higher via e-mail as compared to SMS. Implications for research and practice are discussed

The role of acid-base imbalance in statin-induced myotoxicity

Disturbances in acid-base balance, such as acidosis and alkalosis, have potential to alter the pharmacological and toxicological outcomes of statin therapy. Statins are commonly prescribed for elderly patients who have multiple co-morbidities such as diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular and renal diseases. These patients are at risk of developing acid-base imbalance. In the present study, the effect of disturbances in acid-base balance on the inter-conversion of simvastatin and pravastatin between lactone and hydroxy acid forms have been investigated in physiological buffers, human plasma and cell culture medium over pH ranging from 6.8 to 7.8. The effects of such inter-conversion on cellular uptake and myotoxicity of statins were assessed in vitro using C2C12 skeletal muscle cells under conditions relevant to acidosis, alkalosis and physiological pH. Results indicate that the conversion of the lactone forms of simvastatin and pravastatin to the corresponding hydroxy acid is strongly pH-dependent. At physiological and alkaline pH, substantial proportions of simvastatin lactone (~ 87% and 99%, respectively) and pravastatin lactone (~ 98% and 99%, respectively) were converted to the active hydroxy acid forms after 24 hours of incubation at 37 °C. At acidic pH, conversion occurs to a lower extent, resulting in greater proportion of statin remaining in the more lipophilic lactone form. However, pH alteration did not influence the conversion of the hydroxy acid forms of simvastatin and pravastatin to the corresponding lactones. Furthermore, acidosis has been shown to hinder the metabolism of the lactone form of statins by inhibiting hepatic microsomal enzyme activities. Lipophilic simvastatin lactone was found to be more cytotoxic to undifferentiated and differentiated skeletal muscle cells compared to more hydrophilic simvastatin hydroxy acid, pravastatin lactone and pravastatin hydroxy acid. Enhanced cytotoxicity of statins was observed under acidic conditions and is attributed to increased cellular uptake of the more lipophilic lactone or unionized hydroxy acid form. Consequently, our results suggest that co-morbidities associated with acid-base imbalance can play a substantial role in the development and potentiation of statin-induced myotoxicity

An empirical assessment of second life vis-à-vis chatroom on media perceptual assessment and actual task performance

The contribution of media in fostering communications and exchanges of idea is an enduring topic of investigation. However, our review of existing theories on media and human cognition suggests that there remain taunting contradictions in their theoretical assumptions and postulations with regard to computer-mediated communication (CMC) usage. Specifically, the social presence theory postulates that a rich medium could better facilitate the communication activity by promoting a greater “awareness” of the communicating party, which may then lead to better task performance. Yet, a richer medium could also distract an individual's focus of attention as suggested by the cognitive theory of distraction-conflict. To reconcile these contradicting perspectives, this study conducted an empirical comparison of two CMC tools, i.e., Second Life and online chatroom, in terms of users' perceptions of the media and their actual task performance in these media. The results suggest that a rich medium, such as Second Life, could lead to better perceptual evaluations of users in terms of telepresence, curiosity arousal, and immersion in media. However, the use of a lean medium, such as chatroom, could lead to better task performance in terms of users' recall ability, and the quality of ideas generated during the mediated interactions. Implications for research and practice are discussed

Mobile social networking application viability:a research framework

Purpose – The purpose of this article is to outline a conceptual framework on mobile applications that support social interactions among users to warrant commercial viability of such applications. Design/methodology/approach – We build on the social network paradigm to propose an activity-based view on mobile application usage, and theoretically link the pertinent features of mobile social networking applications (MSNAs) to a set of measurement metrics concerning their commercial viability. Findings – The conceptual framework formulated highlights how MSNAs can be systematically designed and deployed to ensure their commercial viability. Research limitations/implications – A pertinent set of features that support social networking among the users, and their plausible mechanisms in facilitating the commercial viability of MSNAs, are explicated. This facilitates future research endeavours in systematically investigating the emerging form of mobile applications. The limitation lies in a lack of empirical data to validate the formulated propositions, which is beyond the scope of this paper and is directed for future research. Practical implications – A coherent set of measurement metrics are put forward for practitioners to measure the commercial viability of an MSNA. Also theoretically based insights are derived for how they can better derive commercial values from the emerging form of mobile applications. Originality/value – Most relevant previous research has focused either on the MSNAs’ technical design aspects or user behavioural issues. This research ties up the themes on technical design, user behaviour and business consideration in formulating a research framework for assessing the commercial viability of MSNAs

Using personal communication technologies for commercial communications:a cross-cultural investigation of email and SMS

The widespread use of personal communication technologies (PCTs) for commercial message dissemination necessitates understanding that PCTs might lead to better commercial performance in different situations. Building primarily on apparatgeist and social construction theories, this research proposes that consumer responses to PCT-disseminated commercial messages are jointly influenced by the PCT (i.e., technology) that carries general symbolic meanings about its nature and purpose (its “spirit”), and the context culture (i.e., the cultural milieu) in which it is used. We began with focus groups' assessments of two commonly utilized PCTs—email and short message service—which revealed their comparative symbolic meanings in terms of intimacy or formality of communication—to be in line with extant literature. Then, in a commercial setting where retailers leverage PCTs to disseminate product discount coupons, we examined the difference between two distinct environments that differed in their context-cultural dimensions (their cultural milieus of social interaction and communication)—i.e., China (an environment of high context-cultural dimension) and Switzerland (an environment of low context-cultural dimension). To do so, we first validated the context-cultural differences through a survey (study 1) and conducted two matching field experiments in the two countries involving more than one thousand consumers (study 2). Results support our propositions, demonstrating favorable commercial performance for SMS use in the high context-cultural environment and for email use in the low context-cultural environment. Follow-up surveys (study 3) corroborated the results and provided deeper insights into how both PCTs' general meanings and pertinent values in the cultural milieus we studied led to consumer responses. Besides presenting empirical evidence to inform the selection of appropriate PCTs for commercial communications, this research contributes to the theoretical development of apparatgeist and social construction theories via its joint examination of technologies and consumers' environments

Emergent leadership in virtual collaboration settings:a social network analysis approach

Social software systems, such as virtual-worlds and chatrooms, present immense opportunities for companies today, allowing them leverage these systems to exploit the diverse knowledge and intelligence of their members and business associates, and thus respond more effectively in their increasingly competitive markets. This study seeks to advance our systematic understanding of the use of social software systems for knowledge-sharing practices in project work contexts, by attempting to identify and understand how leadership emerges in virtual collaboration settings to organize participants’ interactions for effective outcomes. Two social software systems for virtual collaborations - one emergent (i.e., the Second Life ‘virtual world’) and another widely adopted (i.e., the text-based chatroom discussion system) -were examined via a series of empirical investigations employing hybrid research methodologies that entailed survey questionnaires within a set of field-based quasi experiments. Based on social network analysis results, we observed that the patterning of interactions i.e., the structure of a social network, is a significant predictor of a person being perceived as a leader by other virtual collaborators. The results show that the most effective emergent leaders are those who primarily assume a mediating rather than directing or monitoring roles during virtual collaborations, and that this is consistent across the two social software systems investigated. Implications for research and practice are discussed

Addressing the Personalization–Privacy Paradox: An Empirical Assessment from a Field Experiment on Smartphone Users

Privacy has been an enduring concern associated with commercial information technology (IT) applications, in particular regarding the issue of personalization. IT-enabled personalization, while potentially making the user computing experience more gratifying, often relies heavily on the user’s personal information to deliver individualized services, which raises the user’s privacy concerns. We term the tension between personalization and privacy, which follows from marketers exploiting consumers’ data to offer personalized product information, the personalization–privacy paradox. To better understand this paradox, we build on the theoretical lenses of uses and gratification theory and information boundary theory to conceptualize the extent to which privacy impacts the process and content gratifications derived from personalization, and how an IT solution can be designed to alleviate privacy concerns. Set in the context of personalized advertising applications for smartphones, we propose and prototype an IT solution, referred to as a personalized, privacy-safe application, that retains users’ information locally on their smartphones while still providing them with personalized product messages. We validated this solution through a field experiment by benchmarking it against two more conventional applications: a base non-personalized application that broadcasts non-personalized product information to users, and a personalized, non-privacy safe application that transmits user information to a central marketer’s server. The results show that (compared to the non-personalized application), while personalized, privacy-safe or not increased application usage (reflecting process gratification), it was only when it was privacy-safe that users saved product messages (reflecting content gratification) more frequently. Follow-up surveys corroborated these nuanced findings and further revealed the users’ psychological states, which explained our field experiment results. We found that saving advertisements for content gratification led to a perceived intrusion of information boundary that made users reluctant to do so. Overall our proposed IT solution, which delivers a personalized service but avoids transmitting users’ personal information to third parties, reduces users’ perceptions that their information boundaries are being intruded upon, thus mitigating the personalization–privacy paradox and increasing both process and content gratification

Understanding Chinese online users and their visits to websites:application of Zipf's law

Competition for consumers to visit company websites has intensified in recent years. An important indicator of website popularity (and consequent survival) is the extent to which the website can draw consumer visits vis-à-vis other websites. A majority of the current understanding on consumer visits is limited to a single website, and leaves little knowledge on the performance of one website compared with others. In tracking the Internet usage behavior of 200 individuals in Mainland China for 30 consecutive days, we applied Zipf's law to identify the divergence points separating popular websites from non-popular ones. Two measurements were used, namely, visit traffic (number) and visit engagement (time spent). We observed that 94.87% of the entire visit traffic is devoted to 15.08% of all visited websites, whereas 84.63% of engagements are on the top 6.16% visited websites. These findings suggest that few websites accounted for the bulk of online traffic and time. Further, we segmented the dataset based on two key proxy variables of user demographics, which are gender and occupation. The findings on visit traffic remained salient after considering user segments, but the findings on website engagement varied across different user segments. Our further analysis, which categorized the visited websites by their main service, revealed the type of Internet users attracted to popular websites

Offline and Online Channels for Customer Relationship Management: An Investigation in the Inter-Organizational Context

This research examines the deployment of online and offline channels as means of interacting with customers to improve corporate customer retention in terms of contract renewal. Our study was held in collaboration with a leading business-to-business (B2B) corporation in Mainland China, which acts as an intermediary to connect local manufacturers to overseas corporate buyers. Three years of empirical data on the firm’s CRM has just been collected. Applying survival analysis, we conducted a pilot examination of the dataset, which unveiled the factors influencing the contract renewal of the local manufacturers. The results show that the frequency of utilizing the online FtF (FacetoFace) channel has a positive relationship with the probability of contract renewal. However, in contrast to what is commonly held, we identify negative relationship between the frequency of utilizing offline sales visits or online indirect inquiries and contract renewal probability