EFFECTS OF VIRTUAL COMMUNITIES ON PURCHASING DECISION-MAKING: THE MODERATING ROLE OF INFORMATION ACTIVITIES

Marketing professionals gradually utilize virtual communities as a new media for affecting sales by spreading information about brand, quality, price, experience, effectiveness, etc. Studies related to this subject usually focus on influence of electronic word of mouth and posters’ opinions on product choice. Lack of considering passive participants and natures of virtual community induces our interest. For comprehensively understanding every participant’s attitude toward information in virtual communities, we classified members based on their activities of posting, viewing and accepting information. According to the classification, we further explore comparative importance of antecedents regarding to members’ intention to adopt information for purchasing decision-making in variant groups. Data was collected by questionnaires and actual number of posting behaviors. Results show that the importance of economic, relational and social factors varies from different groups. Information shoppers, who browse most information and rarely post messages, view relational and social factors as main contributors toward intention to adopting information as a decision aid. Advice seekers, who expect to get effective recommendations and rarely post messages, think relational factors is a major determinant. Advice providers, who are primary posters and seldom accepting others’ opinions, think economic and social factors are important to intention of adopting information

Factors Influence Information and Knowledge Sharing in Organization

In today\u27s business environment, competitive advantage increasingly requires the open sharing of knowledge by organizational members [22]. Although the practitioners place emphasis on the importance of knowledge sharing, empirical researches on knowledge sharing are still limited, and little research has been done to understand the factors that influence knowledge sharing in organizations. This study investigates cultural and interpersonal factors that influence an individual’s propensity to share information and knowledge that he or she has created. Three different situations of sharing (information product, self-developed knowledge and organization-developed knowledge) were considered. The study found that organization culture influenced individual’s beliefs of organization trust and psychological safety, and those who perceived higher trust and psychological safety seemed more likely to share information and knowledge with others

Exploring Tacit Knowledge Sharing Intention and Behavior within Workgroup from the Perspectives of Social Capital and Behavioral Control

Several researchers suggest that tacit knowledge sharing among employees is a process of social interaction by nature. Accordingly, the perspectives of social capital and behavioral control are employed in this study to investigate an individual’s tacit knowledge sharing and behavior within a workgroup. This study collects data through a multi-informant questionnaire design. There are three areas of interesting results. First, results show that tacit knowledge sharing intention and behavior can be induced by affect-based trust through organizational citizenship behavior. Second, internal control has positive effect on tacit knowledge sharing intention, but the relationship between internal control and tacit knowledge sharing behavior cannot gain support. Third, external control positively moderates the relationship between tacit knowledge sharing intention and behavior. It is interesting to note that tacit knowledge sharing intention does not necessarily lead to tacit knowledge sharing behavior unless the moderating effect of external control is taken into account. These findings and their implications are also addressed

The Mediating Effect of Commitment on Customer Loyalty in eBrokerage: An Enhanced Investment Model

Customers could switch service provider easily because of lower searching cost and identical service in online environment. Most marketing research for customer loyalty emphasizes the effect of satisfaction and switching barrier, derived from investment model. However, how satisfaction and switching barrier influence customer loyalty has been less conclusive. The possible reason is neglect of commitment. We inject the concept of commitment in relationship marketing, which consists of affective and continuous commitment, into investment model for enhancing mediating role of commitment. Empirical results gathered from online survey in virtual financial communities show that commitment is the essential mediator in cultivating customer loyalty. Besides, satisfaction and switching barrier influence loyalty by different component of commitment, affective continuous commitment respectively. Affective commitment is more important than continuous commitment. E-brokerage should pay attention to earning customers’ commitment for retaining customers

Media Strategy vs. Content Strategy in Online Advertising: Exploring the Influence of Consumers’ Goal-Directedness for Web Navigation

As the Internet grows rapidly, how online media can be best utilized for advertising purposes increases its importance. Based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), this research incorporates consumers’ goal-directedness for Web navigation as an important moderator influencing the success of online advertising strategies. Using the lab experiment approach, results of this research not only support the perspective of the ELM but also show how both advertising strategies (media/content) should be designed and implemented in accordance with consumers’ goal-directedness for Web navigation to achieve maximum advertising effectiveness. Results of this research demonstrate the uniqueness of the online media and also remind future researchers of the importance of goal-directness for Web navigation and consumer involvement in the online advertising context

On Initial Trust Building for eCommerce: Revisiting from the Perspective of Signal Theory and Trust Transference

Trust building for consumers has been a main stream of research in e-commerce. However, little research pays attention to how consumers treat the revealed information about warranty, privacy statement, assurance, and related statements. Although this information is provided in real-world settings, their effectiveness has not been fully understood. This study attempts to look into this issue by employing signal theory and perspective of trust transference. Empirical results gathered from lab experiment show that warranty perception, rather than the assurance itself, is the critical antecedent of initial trust building. Once consumers discredit the revealed information in a web site, the signals will fail to induce consumers’ trust. Information from a trusted third party may be an efficient way to build consumer trust. However, it should be noted that information from trusted third party will not be effective if consumers fail to notice them, or misunderstand their meanings. Hence, e-tailers should devote to build initial trust by applying assurance and quality signals from independent institutions

Motivations for Using Information for Decision making in Virtual Communities The Moderating Effects of Usage Behavior

Virtual communities are increasingly being viewed as important shopping reference groups and are being used as a new medium for affecting sales. In virtual communities, individuals generally exchange product information with others. This information guides members on the best products and where to buy them. We investigated the motivation behind virtual community members’ decision to use information when they inspire more individuals to join shopping reference groups and influence product sales. Most previous research on this subject has emphasized the influence of electronic word of mouth and the posters’ opinions regarding product choice. We further developed this idea by examining the various perspectives that are part of virtual communities’ nature vis-à-vis members’ activities of posting, viewing, and accepting information.We also explored the comparative importance of motivating factors behind members’intentions to use information for purchase-related decision making in different groups from three perspectives: the social exchange theory, gratifications theory, and the information adoption model. We collected data through an online survey and by examining respondents’ actual posting behaviors. We showed that the importance of economic, relational, and social factors differs among groups. “Information browsers” mostly browse through information, rarely post messages, and consider relational and social factors as the main contributors to using information for decision making. “Information consumers” expect effective information, rarely post messages,and consider relational factors as a major determinant. “Information providers,” the primary posters, seldom accept others’ opinions and consider economic and social factors important for the intention of using information for decision making. Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/pajais/vol4/iss1/2

Why Focal Firms Share Information? A Study of the Effects of Power and Information Technology Competence

Supply chain management has become an important issue for Taiwan\u27s manufacturing industry due to escalating global competition. Virtual vertical integration is an important issue in supply chain management. Because organizations only have limited resources, they pursue long-term partnership with specific transaction partners. They share information to improve visibility, speed responses to markets, and reduce costs from information distortion or information asymmetry. This study empirically explores the factors affecting inter-organizational information sharing from the perspective of focal firms. 1,000 questionnaires were administered to top 1,000 manufacturing companies in Taiwan, with 139 valid responses. The results show that partner\u27s power and relation-specific asset investments positively affect inter-organizational information sharing. On the other hand, the partner\u27s power does not significantly affect the organization\u27s relation-specific investments. This study further investigates the moderating role of information technology competence. The result indicates that when an organization has lower information technology competence, the relationship between the partner\u27s power and relation-specific investments is significant. Implications and discussion are then provided