Trust In and Adoption of Online Recommendation Agents

Online product recommendation agents are becoming increasingly prevalent on a wide range of websites. These agents assist customers in reducing information overload, providing advice to find suitable products, and facilitating online decision-making. Consumer trust in recommendation agents is an integral factor influencing their successful adoption. However, the nature of trust in technological artifacts is still an under-investigated and not well understood topic. Online recommendation agents work on behalf of individual users (principals) by reflecting their specific needs and preferences. Trust issues associated with online recommendation agents are complicated. Users may be concerned about the competence of an agent to satisfy their needs as well as its integrity and benevolence in regard to acting on their behalf rather than on behalf of a web merchant or a manufacture. This study extends the interpersonal trust construct to trust in online recommendation agents and examines the nomological validity of trust in agents by testing an integrated Trust-TAM (Technology Acceptance Model). The results from a laboratory experiment confirm the nomological validity of trust in online recommendation agents. Consumers treat online recommendation agents as social actors and perceive human characteristics (e.g., benevolence and integrity) in computerized agents. Furthermore, the results confirm the validity of Trust-TAM to explain online recommendation acceptance and reveal the relative importance of consumers\u27 initial trust vis-¨¤-vis other antecedents addressed by TAM (i.e. perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use). Both the usefulness of the agents as tools and consumers\u27 trust in the agents as virtual assistants are important in consumers\u27 intentions to adopt online recommendation agents

Effects of Impulse and Habit on Privacy Disclosure in Social Networking Sites: Moderating Role of Privacy Self-Efficacy

Prior research on privacy disclosure primarily focuses on conscious factors leading to intentional disclosure. In this study, we identify two unconscious factors, i.e., the habit of self- disclosure and the impulse of self-disclosure, which lead to users’ privacy disclosure behavior in social networking sites (SNS). We contribute to the existent literature by investigating the effects of these two factors on privacy disclosure behavior in SNS and examining a contingent factor for the effects of these two unconscious factors. Our results reveal that both habit and impulse have significant effects on privacy disclosure in SNS. The effects of habit and impulse are moderated by users’ privacy self-efficacy. Particularly, privacy self-efficacy weakens the effects of impulse on self-disclosure but strengthens the effect of habit on self-disclosure

The Effects of Portal Affiliations and Self-Proclaimed Assurance on Consumer Trust: Investigating Customers\u27 Purpose of Visit as a Moderator

Customers sometimes visit Internet stores just for fun, without strong intentions to purchase a product (hereafter to browse ), and they sometimes visit with strong intentions to purchase a product (hereafter to purchase ). Our research question is whether or not customers respond to the same interface features in a different manner depending on their purpose of visit (e.g., to browse or to purchase). We believe that this is an important question for Internet stores. If Internet stores can predict different influence of a certain web interface feature on customers who have strong purchase intentions from the store, then they can design Web shopping sites to serve those customers more effectively. For example, assuming that those customers who visit to purchase usually conduct checkout processes, while those who visit to browse are less likely to conduct checkout processes, it would be effective to include the Web interface features that are especially effective for those who visit to purchase in the checkout screens. This study will investigate whether or not customers\u27 purpose of visit (e.g., to purchase or to browse) moderates the impact of portal affiliation and a store\u27s self-proclaimed assurance on customer trust. A laboratory experiment is designed to investigate whether or not customers who have a different purpose of visit respond to portal affiliation and self-proclaimed assurance in a different manner

Evaluation of the Effect of Saturated Silty and Fine Sand Foundation Improved by Vibro-Flotation in Seismic Area

The improvement of liquefaction foundations in seismic region has been concerning many engineers. The authors had carried out experimental studies on the improvement of saturated silty and fine sand foundations at the suburbs of Beijing by vibroflotation method. The test results are described and the improvement effects are evaluated in this paper

How Story Works in Mobile App Stores? Exploring the Same-Side Effect from the Storytelling Perspective

The growing number of mobile apps has contributed to an innovation diffusion paradox whereby the accelerated pace with which mobile apps are being developed and updated has stymied their own diffusion. Due to consumers’ limited personal involvement with mobile apps, storytelling, as an emerging and novel product recommendation format, is gaining traction as a promotional mechanism for diffusing mobile apps within the ecosystem. Storytelling is particularly amenable to the context of mobile app stores by giving affective meaning to the focal app being promoted and strengthening its association with other apps available from these stores. To this end, we construct a research model to illustrate how consumers’ demand for related mobile apps is shaped by similarity in functional and visual attributes between these apps and the focal app being promoted via storytelling. Our model also sheds light on how the preceding effects could be mitigated by within-developer influence

Effects of Emoticons on the Acceptance of Negative Feedback in Computer-Mediated Communication

Delivering negative performance feedback is inevitable in the workplace. However, recipients may feel uncomfortable and behave defensively, and may be unwilling to accept negative feedback mainly because they fear losing face. Such unproductive responses are heightened when negative feedback is delivered through computer-mediated communication (CMC) channels in which many nonverbal cues in face-to-face communication cannot be used to alleviate the concerns of losing face. This study examines the effectiveness of emoticons, which are designed as surrogates for facial expressions in CMC environments, in conveying social and emotional signals of the feedback provider. Specifically, based on the feedback process model and the dissonance reduction theory, this study investigates the differing effects of two types of emoticons (i.e., liking and disliking ones) on the acceptance of negative feedback by considering feedback specificity as a contingent factor. Our results suggest that using liking emoticons increases perceived good intention of the feedback provider and decreases perceived feedback negativity when the feedback is specific; however, it has no significant effect for unspecific feedback. By contrast, our results suggest that using disliking emoticons decreases perceived good intention of the feedback provider and increases perceived feedback negativity when the feedback is unspecific, whereas such effects are not significant for specific feedback. In turn, both perceived good intention of the feedback provider and perceived feedback negativity affect acceptance of the negative feedback

An Investigation into Post-Implementation Success of ERP: An Empirical Study of the Chinese Retail Industry

Significant growth in the Chinese retail industry has boosted utilization of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems among Chinese retailers. However, due to the weak information infrastructure of organizations and the inherent complexity of ERP systems, many Chinese retailers have encountered difficulties in achieving the benefits at the post-implementation stage of the ERP deployment. The post-implementation success of the ERP is under researched, though. Therefore, based on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) theory, we develop an integrated model of the post-implementation success of ERP, and empirically test it in the Chinese retail industry. The results show that implementation quality and organizational readiness positively affect the post-implementation success of the ERP, while external support does not exert significant impacts. The research and practical implications of the findings are discussed

Telling an Attractive Digital Story: Unraveling the Effects of Digital Product Placement Strategy on Product Exposure

The accelerated pace with which mobile apps are being launched has translated into an innovation diffusion paradox for mobile app stores. To cope with the avalanche of newly launched apps, conventional product promotion has given way to digital storytelling as a means of bolstering individuals’ exposure to these apps. Digital storytelling, as an emerging and novel format of product placement, has been credited for boosting consumers’ receptivity to featured products through compelling narrative, direct links, and rich media. In this study, we construct and empirically validate a research model that illustrates how digital storytelling can be strategized for product promotion in mobile app stores. In so doing, we endeavor to not only offer an in-depth appreciation of how digital storytelling can aid in promoting mobile apps through the presentation of engaging content but to also shed light on how these promotional effects could be moderated through rich delivery

What Accounts for Organizations’ Different Usage of B2B E-Marketplaces?

A business to business (B2B) e-marketplace is an Internet-based inter-organizational system that facilitates online businesses. It provides two basic functions: search and transaction. Accordingly, organizational usage of B2B e-marketplaces varies across these two functions. The previous research mainly applies the Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory to predict the usage of B2B e-marketplaces, but this theory is insufficient in explaining the unbalanced usage of search versus transaction. This research attempts to fill this gap. We identify a cognitive limitation associated with each usage, i.e., insufficient knowledge of B2B e-marketplaces corresponds to the usage of search and incapability of foreseeing all consequences corresponds to the usage of transaction. Then, we incorporate perceived institutional norm and organizational trust as two remedies into the DOI theory, and argue that the former will affect the use of B2B e-marketplaces for search while the latter will affect the usage of transaction. A field survey is conducted to collect the data, and structural equation modeling is employed to test the research model. The results confirm the hypotheses. Besides, relative advantage and perceived compatibility from the DOI theory also affect both types of usage. This research implies that the usage of Internet-based inter-organizational systems may encounter cognitive limitations, and highlights how the DOI theory can be extended to account for the usage of information systems that provide multiple uses at different adoption stages