REACHING A HIGHER LEVEL OF INFORMATION SYSTEMS INTEGRATION: THE IMPACT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY SUBSTITUTION STRATEGIES ON PROCESS EFFICIENCY

Firms frequently apply more than one information system for their processes and data exchange. This variety is often due to the existence of legacy systems and can cause large inefficiencies. At present, most consumer goods firms aim at replacing non-integrated information flows with electronic data interchange. In doing so, firms constantly increase their level of information systems (IS) integration. However, firms have to decide whether they replace non-integrated legacy systems incrementally or radically. The paper investigates this issue from a conceptual viewpoint that combines the information technology (IT) substitution perspective with the concept of levels of IS integration. An empirical case study investigates two alternative IT substitution approaches, i.e., an incremental and a complete IT substitution, in respect of their impacts on process efficiency improvement. The results indicate that the complete IT substitution achieves significantly larger efficiency gains due to the impact of IS integration levels

CAN DATA QUALITY HELP OVERCOME THE PENGUIN EFFECT? THE CASE OF ITEM MASTER DATA POOLS

The diffusion of standards is characterized by network effects, path dependency, and the penguin effect. Particularly the latter, also referred to as excess inertia, is a frequent inhibitor of the adoption of standards, even if they could provide benefits. This is particularly true for item master data pools that suffer from little adoption in many industries as benefits can only accrue if many firms use them. At the same time, data pools show the potential to improve the quality of item master data by pooling the efforts on data quality assurance. This paper addresses the question whether an improvement of item master data quality can contribute to overcoming the penguin effect by data pools. The theoretical considerations are supplemented by an exploratory qualitative research among the leading retailers in the Austrian food and drug sector. The findings suggest that data quality improvement can be one way to encourage the use of data pools and thus overcome the penguin effect in adoption

Voicing Brands: Users’ choice of recommended brands in voice commerce and e-commerce

In recent years, traditional e-commerce has been complemented by voice commerce where interaction between the user and the information system takes place by means of a voice assistant (VA) instead of written text-based conversation. The audible interaction results in an altered consumer behavior during the customer journey which can impact final product and brand choice. The study at hand acknowledges the higher perceived difficulty of interacting in voice commerce. Against this background, we investigate in what way a VA’s brand recommendation impacts a consumer’s purchase decision in voice-based interaction compared to text-based interaction and how this decision is moderated by prior brand preferences. The results obtained from an online survey with a quasi-experimental design show that a brand recommendation alone does not increase likelihood of brand choice, however a recommended brand is more likely chosen in a voice-based interaction than a text-based one. A priori brand preferences moderate the impact of the voice-based recommendation in case of the recommended brand. The findings imply that voice commerce can strengthen but not replace existing brand preferences in the purchase decision-making process

Cross-cultural consumer perceptions of advertising via mobile devices – some evidence from Europe and Japan

Mobile devices allow constant access to the World Wide Web without time and location barriers and present new challenges for marketers and an array of research questions for marketing researchers. The topic of mobile advertising is of special interest for companies as it enables communication with customers in unprecedented ways. As mobile technologies are being increasingly adopted on a worldwide basis, international m-advertising becomes an issue of growing importance. This paper therefore presents first cross-cultural evidence of individuals’ perceptions of mobile advertising. The analysis is based on a survey of business students in two respective markets, Japan and Austria. Findings of this study show that people are still skeptical about mobile advertising. However, there are slight differences in perceptions between Japan and Austria. Japanese respondents perceive madvertising as more entertaining and valuable. Despite the fact that they are more frequently exposed to mobile advertising messages, they also show a more positive attitude toward it. Implications for practitioners as well as for future research are suggested based on these findings

Digital Cross-Organizational Collaboration: Towards a Preliminary Framework

Digital collaboration in cross-organizational settings is an emerging subfield of information systems research. This paper proposes a framework which describes digital collaboration as a continuous process influenced by a number of factors. The framework is derived from a systematic literature review of 80 research papers, published from 2000 to 2007, in six leading journals. The proposed framework may help to explain various aspects of digital cross-organizational collaboration

Cross-Organizational and Cross-Border IS/IT Collaboration: A Literature Review

The topic of collaboration in cross-organizational and cross-border settings is an emerging subfield of information systems research. This paper presents a compressive literature review of 52 research papers, published from 2000 to 2007, in four leading journals. The focus of the analysis are topics of investigation, sources of data, and the underlying theories. The results indicate that most of the research still focuses on a limited number of technical issues related to inter-organizational systems adoption. The identified research gaps which represent promising research opportunities are discussed

The Last Mile in an Electronic Commerce Business Model - Service Expectations of Austrian Online Shoppers

Many existing research approaches on business models in e-commerce are on a high and aggregated level. Furthermore, there are few empirical insights into the appropriateness of chosen e-commerce business models. The paper at hand focuses on the empirical analysis of the last mile issue in b2c ecommerce. For this purpose a research framework for e-commerce business models is presented that serves as a basis for empirical analyses as well as for managerial decisions. The framework takes strategic decisions and conditions of an e-commerce business model into account. Based on this framework the specific issue of last mile logistics is empirically analyzed. Relevant action alternatives for physical distribution are investigated according to their appropriateness from consumers’ point of view. The empirical study has been carried out on behalf of 180 face-to-face interviews. Results indicate that the product category has a strong impact on customers’ expectations on an electronic retailer’s last mile logistics service whereas the customers’ flexibility in terms of time and location obviously does not influence their requirements for logistical services

Consumer Attitude Toward Advertising via Mobile Devices - An Empirical Investigation Among Austrian Users

Mobile marketing offers great opportunities for businesses. Marketing activities supported by mobile devices allow companies to directly communicate with their consumers without time or location barriers. However, some areas of mobile marketing still need further investigation. Especially, the topic of advertising via mobile devices is of major interest. It addresses consumers with individualized advertising messages via mobile devices. The underlying paper discusses its relevance and investigates antecedents of consumer attitudes toward advertising via mobile devices. The analysis is based on a consumer survey. For this purpose a quota sample of 815 cellular phone users in Austria has been interviewed. The results indicate that advertising value and advertising message content have the largest impact on attitude toward advertising via mobile devices