Bidding Behavior on Internet Auction: Secondhand versus Newly Manufactured Products

Although auctions have been an important model for price discovery on Internet, economics does not have a precise theory of auctions. Auctions raise many problems such as what types of goods will be sold by auction on Internet, and how bidders bid on Internet auction. It is curious why some newly manufactured products that are sold on the posted-price markets are also sold by auction on Internet. This paper presents a field study on Internet to investigate the differences between the bidding behavior for secondhand and newly manufactured goods. Data is collected on an open-book auction site. The results show that there were really some bidders behaved like evaluators and whether a bidder will be an evaluator or a participator is not affected by common referenced external market price. Furthermore, the prices on posted-price market may affect bids on the auction market., averaged normalized mark up of newly manufactured items were significantly larger than that of secondhand items. Implications of the findings are also discussed in this paper

Why People Blog? An Empirical Investigations of the Task Technology Fit Model

Blog has been one of the fastest growing applications in the Internet. Content provided by users has also been an important source of information. Current studies, however, can not explain well why people build their blog. Based on the Task-Technology Fit (TTF) model, this study examines both the impacts of task and technology characteristics on user evaluation of blog and blog usage. Task needs for using blog are described as selfpresentation, self-orientation, and sociality need; technology characteristics refer to the perception of forward and backward social presence. Results of this study show that selfpresentation, sociality need, and the perception of social presence can explain why people build their blog. Interactions between task and technology features also affect user evaluation and blog usage, as predicted by the TTF model

Toward a Cultural Phenomenon of Blogging--The Impacts of Individualism-Collectivism and Self-efficacy

Blogging is a form of social communication that facilitates human interaction. The cultural orientations of individualism and collectivism, which relate to basic beliefs about human relationships and interactions, should be determinants of blogging. This study explores the impacts of individualism-collectivism orientation on perceived self-efficacy in blogging, along with blogging and attitudes toward blogging. The results from an online survey of bloggers show that peoples\u27 cultural orientation of individualism-collectivism affects blogging through the mediation of perceived self-efficacy. Additionally, while self-reliance and the supremacy of individual goals increase blogging, competitiveness, solitary work preference, and the supremacy of individual interests decreases it. These results may suggest that a new cultural value is emerging among bloggers who wish to reap the benefits of the cyberworld

A Stage For Social Comparison — The Value Of Information In Virtual Communities

Virtual communities have become significant applica tions for the Internet. Previous studies usually treated virtual communities as places for people to share and exchange information and did not explain the social value of comm unities well. This study treated a virtual community as a stage on which people can present themselves to other users while others can see the shows of people to satisfy their social comparison needs. Based on social co mparison theory, this paper investigated the effects of upward social comparison in virtual communiti es on user satisfaction through the mediations of perceived inspiration and self-improvement. Furthermore, these effects were moderated by individual social comparison orientation. The results of this study should enhance the understanding of the nature and the social value of information in virtual communities

An Empirical Classification of Bidders in Online Auctions

Auctions have been a popular way of transaction on the Internet. Most of the studies of auction assume participants attending the auction are homogeneous. However, this assumption is open to question. In fact, every participant has his own personality, risk attitude, behavior, and cost when attending online auctions. This study takes an empirical approach and uses four variables, time of entry, time of exit, number of bids, and number of jump bids, to find the heterogeneity among bidders. We first used k-means clustering method to identify the types of bidders of online auctions, and then used C5.0 decision tree learning algorithm to find the rules to differentiate bidders. A taxonomy of four types of bidders is proposed in the study, which include observers, adventurers, opportunists, and early players. The results also suggest pacing of the auctions is an important factor that will affect bidder’s behavior in online auctions

The Number of Alternative Products and the Information about it on the Online Shop

As the Internet can aggregate and distribute a great amount of information to users, providing numerous products for consumers has been recognized as a major advantage of electronic commerce. Causing by the problem of information overload, however, consumers facing many alternatives on the online shop may feel hard to decide which one they prefer. Based on the theory of decision style and prospect theory, this study explores if too many products sold on the online shop will reduce consumers’ subjective status toward their buying decision. A 3×3 between subjects experiment was conducted and showed that the buyers’ decision style, the quantity of alternative products and the information about it will affect consumers’ subjective status. These results suggest that we should consider the role of electronic intermediaries more carefully, and further examine the theory of information overload and the need for information literacy to prepare for the future

The Intention to Download Music Files in a P2P Environment: Rational Choice, Fashion, and Ethical Decision Perspectives

Downloading unauthorized music file is deemed illegal and immoral, but the peer-to-peer systems have boosted its popularity. Many authors attributed this phenomenon to the low morality of Internet users, but inconclusive evidence to this argument was found. Extant literature seldom noticed that downloading music files is a new mean of music consumption. People, especially young generation, might rationally choose between downloading music files and buying CDs for greater utility for enjoying and pursuing after the fashion of music. This paper presents a conceptual model of file downloading by looking at and integrating these perspectives. An analysis of 834 samples drew from a questionnaire survey of P2P users in Taiwan generally supports the above assertion

Why Do People Share Music Files in the P2P Environment: An Ethical Decision Perspective

Digitalized information and the Internet have brought great impacts on the music and movies industries. This study tested the ethical decision model of Hunt-Vitell to understand why and how people share unauthorized music files with others in the P2P network. Four scenarios of using P2P system and four norms related to them were proposed in the study. The results indicate that the deontological norm of anti-piracy, whether is theft of intellectual property or not, is not the main factors affecting P2P users’ ethical consideration regarding sharing music with others. The results also suggest the music companies should care more about how to realize the benefits of the digital and network technology to increase the consumers’ welfare instead of just declare the intellectual property they owned and resist the innovations caused by the new technologies

The Symbolic Meaning Effect on Smartphone Repurchase: A Comparison of Android and IOS

With Android and iOS as the dominating operation systems, the growth of one player’s influence in the market translates into the loss of its opponent’s market share. In the marketing discipline, expectation confirmation theory is used to study how a consumer’s satisfaction influences his/her willingness to repurchase the product. Scholars extended the theory and developed a post-acceptance model of information system continuance and applied the model to consumers’ continuance with information technological products. This paper will analyse consumers’ repurchase with Android and iOS-based smartphones. More, satisfied customers may still be switching to competitor\u27s product/service. This study therefore explores possible moderators between user satisfaction and repurchase

THE EFFECTS OF PUSH-PULL-MOORING ON THE SWITCHING MODEL FOR SOCIAL NETWORK SITES MIGRATION

Although the number of users has been growing exponentially in SNSs, some SNSs are facing a financial crisis and might be shut down in the near future. Therefore, understand users\u27 incentives to switch to another SNS has great influence on operators\u27 business performance. The study extended Push-Pull-Mooring migratory theory to explain the switching behaviors of users in SNS. Structural equation modeling will applied to analyze data collected from a filed survey. The result can construct a solid switching framework and help operators to understand their customer better