From Measurement to Management: the Influence of IT on Service Operations

The state of service management practice and the developments in IT-efficiency research prompt the call for managerial relevance, normative theory building and the conceptualization and measurement of the impact of Information Technology (IT) on service efficiency. Drawing on theoretical insights from economic and behavioral literature, this article deduces a work system centered model of the service outlet and proposes a measurement methodology (ITIMPACT) geared towards the development of a business intelligence tool. The measurement follows a two-step methodology that first assesses compared-to-best efficiency, using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), and subsequently explains efficiency differences using a regression framework. An inter-disciplinary approach bases the first step on econometric logic, while the second takes its foundation in behavioral sciences, and information system research.Service industry;

Payment Systems For The Internet – Consumer Requirements

This paper examines the consumer requirements for payment systems on the Internet. According to previous literature, the eight important features of payment systems from a consumer’s point of view are: security, reliability, privacy, acceptability, person-to-person (P2P), flexibility, price, and ease of use. This research focuses on identifying the importance of these features in general and in specific situations. Five hypotheses are formulated.The results of a mail questionnaire indicate that there is indeed a clear preference ranking of the eight features. This ranking shows that security, reliability and privacy are the most important features of a payment system for Internet purchases.This ranking remains stable for unknown Web shops and expensive products. Internet users value price less then non-users. Buyers value security significantly more than non-buyers, although both groups rank security first. In addition, reliability is less important for buyers than for non-buyers.The research shows that current payment systems used on the Internet (mainly credit cards) do not satisfy consumer requirements. This may be a reason for the disappointing e-retailing sales.E-retailling;

Psychological reasons for consumer trust in e-retailing

This research in progress expands on existing research on e-retailing by examining the psychological factors that influence consumer trust in e-retailing. The psychological factors expected to influence trust are personality-based factors, perception-based factors, experience-based factors, knowledge-based factors and attitude. Hypotheses have been developed based on a thorough review of the trust literature. A pilot study has been conducted in the Netherlands and the results hereof are included in this paper.management information;

Measuring Customer Satisfaction on the Internet

Based on the Expectancy Disconfirmation Model as the underlying construct, methods to measure customer satisfaction with products and the steps to be undertaken in the research process are investigated. The measurement of Derived Satisfaction using (dis)confirmation was identified to be the appropriate approach to CS measurement. Prior research has also shown that during the research process, several points specific to CS measurements need to be accounted for. The Internet services currently used by marketing and social researchers include E-mail, mailinglists, newsgroups, Internet Chat, the World Wide Web (WWW) and Virtual Worlds. Virtual Worlds, being most advantageous for observational studies, are not useful for customer satisfaction research. Virtual Communities, in turn, have some promising characteristics for future use. Internet research methods based on these services include E-mail surveys and WWW-surveys. Common advantages of E-mail- and WWW-surveys include administrative and response speed, cost savings and global reach of respondents. Their greatest common disadvantage is the non-representativeness of the respondents for the larger population as well as their self-selection. Unless access is restricted to a known population, probability sampling is impossible when using the World Wide Web. Based on these insights, the Internet was found to be an advantageous medium for customer satisfaction studies only if specific conditions are met. Companies need to investigate on a case-by-case basis if the online measurement of customer satisfaction is possible in their specific situation. The recommendations were summarized in a decision-making framework. The results of a survey among market research agencies show that practitioners are to a large extent aware of the limitations within which the Internet can be used for customer satisfaction surveys. However, especially WWW-surveys sometimes are conducted in a way that does not lead to representative results.management information;

Internet Adoption Barriers for Small Firms in the Netherlands

Small firms are not adopting the Internet with the same speed their larger brothers do. This despite the fact that Internet can offer a great deal of advantages to small firms. This study aims to explore several factors that influence small businesses in their choice of Internet use (e.g. benefits and barriers). The main barriers to Internet adoption and to developing a Web presences are simply the concern that the Internet or the Website would not lead to more efficiency or lower costs. However, the results show that a number of the benefits that Dutch small firms are deriving from their Websites can be described as “border-crossing”. These results seem to confirm the “international image of Dutch businesses, well aware of the small size of the local market and always searching for potential business opportunities abroad