Multichannel integration services: Consumer decision making in integrated sales channels

As digitalization and technological innovations have blurred the line between physical and electronic channels, enormous growth rates in internet use have motivated most established retailers to expand their business to include online sales. These multichannel retailers are now under severe pressure from pure online retailers, since their physical infrastructure decreases their ability to compete via prices. While this infrastructure could also present opportunities to differentiate themselves by offering integrated multichannel services, their appeal is not fully understood by either researchers or practitioners. Building upon previous studies in online and offline commerce, this study investigates and explains the impact of different multichannel integration services on consumers’ channel selection preferences. The results indicate that the appeal of integrated multichannel offerings differs widely from the previously investigated channel options. Accordingly, channel convergence requires research to adapt to technological advancements and apply a more complex view to the study of multichannel commerce

Which Processes Do Users Not Want Online? - Extending Process Virtualization Theory

Following the advent of the Internet more and more processes are provided virtually, i.e., without physical interactions between involved people and objects. For instance, E-Commerce has virtualized shopping processes since products are bought without physical inspection and interaction with sales staff. This study is founded on the key idea of process virtualization theory (PVT) that from the users’ perspective not all processes are equally amenable for virtualization. We investigate characteristics of processes, which are causing users’ resistance toward the virtualized process. Surveying 501 individuals regarding 10 processes, this study constitutes the first quantitative test evaluating the prediction capabilities of PVT by analysis of varying processes. Moreover, it introduces and successfully tests the extended PVT (EPVT), which integrates PVT with multiple, related constructs from extant literature in a unified model with multi-order causal relations. Thereby, it clearly enhances our understanding of human behavior with regard to the frequent phenomenon process virtualization

How Digital Divide affects Public E-Services: The Role of Migration Background

After the private sector the public sector also tries to benefit from the advantages of electronic service delivery, in particular from lower costs and higher service quality. While more and more services are available electronically, resident behind. But high usage rates and therefore a maximized potential target group, covering major parts of society, are essential prerequisite for successful public e-services. If the residents are not using the newly created electronic services, neither they benefit from better service quality nor do the public service provider save money. Digital divide research can be leveraged to maximize the potential target group of public e-service. For this purpose a focus on public e-services as level of analysis is required, since Internet access or regular Internet usage are necessary but no sufficient conditions for being able to use public e-services. This study employs qualitative research methods in an exploratory case study design to analyze the influence of migration background on the capability to use public e-services. It provides two testable propositions for further confirmatory research: Due to limited language skills and different cultural experiences, for residents with migration background Internet experience does not directly translate into confidence in their own public e-service skills

Understanding the impact of group characteristics on individual’s privacy behavior–a systematic literature review

As a result of on-going digital transformation, privacy concerns and resulting privacy behavior play an important role in everyone’s life and affect both individuals as well as groups of individuals. However, there is a lack of literature on the impact of group characteristics on individual privacy behavior. Thus, the goal of this work is to provide an overview of the group-level factors that influence an individuals’ privacy behavior. By conducting a systematic literature review, we identified a total of 14 articles which investigate several factors influencing privacy behavior on the group-level. We find the theory of multilevel information privacy (TMIP) as most promising avenue to understand the role of group factors for individual privacy behavior and extend TMIP by group characteristics, group behaviors, as well as privacy concerns. Finally, even though several papers investigated the impact of group factors, there is still a big need for more research in this area