| Psychological Contract Violation in Recommendation Agent Use | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 21-25 | |
| Sandeep Goyal; Fred Davis; Moez Limayem | |||
| We examine whether psychological contract theory can explain users'
responses to e-commerce recommendation agents (RAs). Theories of social
response to technology, trust in technology, and technology adoption are used
to adapt psychological contract theory from the interpersonal domain to user-RA
domain. We theorize that a psychological contract breach will cause a negative
emotional reaction, called a psychological contract violation, which, via trust
and usefulness perceptions, will influence users' intentions to follow an RAs'
recommendation. Two studies elicited perceived user-RA mutual obligations,
which form the basis for the posited psychological contract. We outline a Study
3 to measure preference strength for these obligations, and a Study 4 to test
the effect of breaching these obligations on theorized emotional, cognitive,
and behavioral reactions to the RA. Using these studies, insights can be gained
about how to design RAs to achieve important business results and avoid
negative side effects. Keywords: Psychological contracts, recommendation agents, obligations, and online
decision making | |||
| Designing a Personalized Health Risk Communication Website to Motivate User Attention and Systematic Processing | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 26-31 | |
| Christopher A. Harle; Julie S. Downs; Rema Padman | |||
| A web-based diabetes "risk calculator" is being developed and evaluated to
determine the impact of personalized risk estimates and interactive feedback on
user attention and systematic information processing. Preliminary experiments
that randomized participants to two different health websites suggested that a
risk calculator with personalized risk estimates did not increase (and may have
decreased) systematic processing, focused immersion and information seeking. We
describe a series of think aloud user studies which were conducted to provide a
qualitative evaluation of the experimental protocol and explore alternate
explanations for these unexpected findings. User study results suggested that
the prior findings may have been driven by a lack of perceived novelty of the
risk information, selective attention, and an expectation of personalization in
both experimental conditions. Findings are consistent with satisficing in
information search and have implications for the design of health information
and future experiments that evaluate these types of interventions. Keywords: consumer health informatics, information processing, information seeking,
personalization, think-aloud | |||
| Personal Temporal Structure Usage in Electronic Temporal Coordination Systems: A Qualitative Study | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 32-34 | |
| Dezhi Wu; Benjamin Ngugi | |||
| Temporal structures have been argued to be an important element of business
affecting both the processes that are undertaken within an organization and the
overall productivity of the organization. As such, it might be considered
appropriate for an organization to engage in what can be called temporal
coordination in order to ensure that previously ad hoc temporal structures are
now used to enhance and integrate business processes. Two in-depth interview
studies with management were conducted to explore what types of temporal
structures were used by professionals in their temporal coordination processes.
The preliminary study results indicate that the majority of temporal structures
being used are explicit clock-based temporal structures. This study therefore
suggests that system design modifications are needed for enhancing the current
electronic temporal coordination systems through incorporating new functions of
manipulating more diverse temporal structures (e.g., implicit temporal
structures) to achieve more efficient temporal coordination. Keywords: Time, temporal structures, temporal coordination, electronic calendar
systems | |||
| Hedonic and Utilitarian Outcomes of Website Social Presence: The Impacts of Framing and Time Constraints | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 35-39 | |
| Dianne Cyr; Milena Head | |||
| It is now generally recognized that online shopping has both utilitarian as
well as hedonic components. In this research we created and tested a model in
which perceived social presence resulted in enjoyment (hedonic component) as
mediated by involvement, and alternatively perceived social presence resulted
in effectiveness (utilitarian component) as mediated by trust. All paths in the
model were confirmed. Involvement was found to have a medium effect on
enjoyment and trust had a medium effect on effectiveness. In addition, the
impact of whether a task is framed to be utilitarian or hedonic in nature was
tested. While questionnaire data revealed no significant differences,
eye-tracking data indicated that users spent more time viewing hedonic versus
utilitarian zones. Finally, time constraints in website viewing were examined
and users in an unlimited time group (versus 5 seconds of viewing time)
experienced higher levels of involvement, enjoyment, trust and effectiveness
toward the website. Keywords: Hedonic, utilitarian, website design, perceived social presence | |||
| The Role of Website Service Functionality in Explaining Price Dispersion and Price Trade-offs in Online Markets | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 40-45 | |
| Sameh Al-Natour; Izak Benbasat; Ronald T. Cenfetelli | |||
| In this paper we report on two studies that (1) examine whether service
quality and the set of functionality offered by a website can explain price
dispersion in the online electronics market, and (2) investigate whether
customers are willing to trade-off lower prices for more website functionality.
The results highlight the importance of functionality offered by retailer
websites in explaining the dispersion in observed prices, especially compared
to service quality and market share. Study 2 demonstrates that customers attach
different importance to product prices and have non-zero valuations for website
functionality. Keywords: Online shopping, price dispersion, price premiums, website functionality,
service quality | |||
| The Impact of Motivation and Prevention Factors on Game Addiction | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 46-50 | |
| Zhengchuan Xu; Yufei Yuan | |||
| Adolescents' addiction to game has a negative impact on the aberrance of
adolescents. Although limited research has been done on the cause of game
addiction, no research has been conducted on the effectiveness of prevention
measures. In this paper, we propose a model to study the impact of both the
motivation and prevention factors on game addiction. Surveys were conducted
among middle school students in Shanghai, with 623 valid responses. The
analysis results show that among all prevention factors, only attention switch
has significant negative impact on game addiction, however, dissuasion and
parental monitoring have positive correlation with game addiction. The
rational, resource shortage and cost have no significant impacts on game
addiction. The analysis results also show that among all motivation factors,
mechanics, relationship and escapism have significant positive impact on
addiction. Keywords: Addiction, impulse control disorders, computer games, motivation, prevention | |||
| A Study on Interaction Factors Influencing Use Intention of Interactive Video Service: Focusing on Media Synchronicity | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 51-55 | |
| Seunghwa Yang; Seongtaek Lim; Inseong Lee; Sujin Lee; Jinwoo Kim | |||
| Interactive Video Services (IVS) are a new type of media service that
enables users to cast and watch videos as well as exchange messages with
others. Three factors that influence IVS usage, which are technology factor,
communication factor, and contents factor, were derived from the theory of
interactivity. Dimensions of each factor were identified through qualitative
study. We constructed a structural model of use intentions of IVS, followed by
a survey conducted to statistically verify the structural model. The model
reflects one of the key traits of IVS, media synchronicity, as a moderating
variable. Our findings presented that each factor has a significant effect on
use intentions of IVS and that the degree of effect is moderated by media
synchronicity according to the differences between real-time and non-real-time
IVS. Keywords: Interactive Video Service (IVS), media synchronicity, interactivity, use
intention | |||
| How Old are You, Really?: Cognitive vs. Chronological Age in Technology Acceptance Decisions | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 56-60 | |
| Se-Joon Hong; Carrie Lui; Jungpil Hahn; Kar Yan Tam | |||
| With increasing trends toward global aging and accompanying tendencies of
(older) individuals to feel younger than they actually are, an important
research question to ask is whether factors influencing IT acceptance are the
same across individuals who perceive themselves to be as old as they actually
are (i.e., cognitive age = chronological age) and those that perceive
themselves to be younger than they actually are (i.e., cognitive age <
chronological age). We conduct an empirical analysis comparing these two groups
in the context of mobile data services (MDS). Our results show that for the
"young at heart", perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use and perceived
enjoyment play significant roles in their IT acceptance decisions, whereas for
those who perceive themselves to be as old as they actually are, perceived ease
of use and subjective norms were significant. Implications for research and
practice are discussed. Keywords: Age, chronological age, cognitive age, technology acceptance, mobile data
services | |||
| The Role of Authenticity in the Experience of Visitors Interacting with Museum Technologies | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 61-65 | |
| Jessie Pallud | |||
| Cultural places such as museums tend to rely on Information Technologies
(IT) to support their exhibition and communication to the public. Although
technology has undeniable advantages for museums and their visitors, it is not
evident that IT contributes both to more enjoyment and to an experience of
authenticity. Indeed, little attention has been paid to user reactions with
hedonic systems available in cultural heritage sites. The objective of this
research is to assess affective and cognitive reactions of museum visitors
interacting with IT. We also try to determine the role played by authenticity
in visitor interactions with museum technologies. To test our hypotheses, a
free simulation experiment was conducted at a French national museum where 184
questionnaires were completed. The results indicate that technologies are not
incompatible with perceptions of authenticity and that IT can contribute to
edutainment experiences of visitors. Keywords: Authenticity, enjoyment, emotions, learning, immersion; museum technologies | |||
| Website Design, Trust and Culture: An Eight Country Investigation | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 66-71 | |
| Dianne Cyr | |||
| Website design elements (information design, information content, navigation
design, visual design), disposition to trust, website trust, and transaction
security are examined for differences in an eight country sample with a total
of 1156 participants (including Canada, the United States, India, Germany,
Japan, Mexico, Chile, and China). Within Canada, users from English Canada and
French Canada were also compared. In a theoretical context that includes
cultural differences for uncertainty avoidance (e.g. Hofstede's classification)
and the GLOBE study which identifies similar country clusters, overall and as
predicted, low uncertainty avoidance countries of French Canada, English
Canada, and the United States have the highest scores on the various constructs
indicating more favorable reactions by users. Largest differences across most
of the constructs occur between Germany, Japan, and China with other countries
in the sample. Keywords: website design, culture Note: Best paper award | |||
| A Study of the Dynamic Nature of Trust from a Longitudinal Perspective | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 72-77 | |
| Dan J. Kim | |||
| Trust is dynamic in nature. It is a process rather than an outcome; it
develops over time. Trust is an essential ingredient for successful business
transactions in electronic commerce. Yet, there is little empirical research on
the dynamic nature of trust in information systems and electronic commerce
areas using a longitudinal (pre- and post-phase) approach. This paper proposes
a model of dynamic trust from a longitudinal perspective. Furthermore, it
provides empirical evidence of the dynamic nature of trust in the context of
e-Channel and e-Vendor. The results of the study show that a consumer's trust
changes over time due to variations in the level of trust in the pre-purchase
phase and satisfaction with a previous transaction in the post-purchase phase.
The results also reveal that satisfaction and post-trust are strong
determinants of a consumer's future intention to reuse the e-Channel and to
repurchase through the e-Vendor. Keywords: Dynamic Trust Model, Pre-Trust, Satisfaction, Post-Trust, E-Channel Trust,
E-Vendor Trust | |||
| Participating in Open Source Software Projects: The Role of Empowerment | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 78-82 | |
| Weiling Ke; Ping Zhang | |||
| As a community-based innovation, Open Source Software (OSS) development
intrigues researchers and practitioners, especially on why OSS projects succeed
with light coordination and control mechanisms. In the view that the viability
and sustainability of an OSS project rely on individuals' contribution and
engagement, we investigate how the psychological feelings of empowerment
derived from the assessments of OSS tasks affect participants' participation
outcomes. In particular, we posit that empowerment can lead directly to
participants' task performance and satisfaction in OSS projects. In addition,
empowerment's effect on task performance and satisfaction can also be mediated
by task effort. The research model is supported by data collected from 233 OSS
participants. Theoretical contributions and managerial implications of this
study are discussed. Keywords: Empowerment, Open Source Software, participation | |||
| Usability of "Trusted Shops" An Empirical Analysis of eCommerce Shops | | BIBK | Full-Text | 83 | |
| Axel Winkelmann; Matthias Boehm; Jörg Becker | |||
Keywords: Usability, eCommerce shops, empirical analysis, seals of approval, trusted
shops | |||
| The Effect of Personalized Virtual Model and Voice Chat Support on Presence in Collaborative Online Shopping | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 84 | |
| Hong-Ki Kim; Kil-Soo Suh; Dongmin Kim | |||
| Collaborative online shopping refers to the activity in which a consumer
shops at an online store concurrently with one or more remotely located
shopping partners such as her friends or family. Although collaborative
shopping is one of the popular ways of shopping in an offline context, many
existing studies regarding online shopping have focused mainly on shopping by
individuals; few studies have examined how to enhance the collaborative online
shopping experience. This study examines two features that have the potential
to enhance collaborative online shopping experiences in the context of a
clothing store: a personalized virtual model and voice chat support between
shopping partners. Drawing from theories of media richness and social presence,
we will examine whether implementing these two features can increase
telepresence and copresence. Keywords: Collaborative shopping, telepresence, copresence, avatar, chat, online store | |||
| Facilitating the Usage of Decision Strategies by Interactive Decision Aids: A Conceptual Analysis | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 85 | |
| Jella Pfeiffer; René Riedl; Franz Rothlauf | |||
| Internet shops like amazon.com or activeshopper.com enable customers to
compare a large amount of products (e.g., digital camera) and product
properties (e.g., price) in form of a comparison matrix. For choosing the
preferred product from a comparison matrix, customers apply decision
strategies. Riedl et al. (2008), for example, summarize and define thirteen
important decision strategies (Behavior Research Methods, Vol. 40, No. 3, pp.
795-807). The application of most of these strategies can be facilitated by
interactive decision aids like (i) sorting of products, (ii) a conditional drop
function, or (iii) performing pairwise comparisons between products (see
examples below). This research studies the relationship between decision
strategies and the proper interactive decision aid(s). In particular, it
addresses the following research question: Which type of interactive decision
aid is necessary to support the application of specific decision strategies?
The provision of decision aids is important, because they may reduce the effort
to apply a particular strategy and/or increase decision accuracy. Based on our
conceptual analysis, web designers can tailor systems that offer those decision
aids that fit best to their customers' decision strategy, thereby facilitating
decision processes. Keywords: decision making, interactive decision aids, e-commerce, human-computer
interaction, decision strategies | |||
| Comparison Of Users' Perceptions In The Pre- And Post-ERP Implementation Phases | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 86 | |
| Sue Abdinnou; Khawaja Saeed | |||
| This study examines users' perceptions (Capability, Value, Timing, and
Acceptance) of an ERP implementation at a major aircraft manufacturing company
in the pre-Implementation phase (T1) and the immediate post-Implementation
phase (T2), which is referred to in the literature as the Shakedown Phase. Our
study is one of only a few that looks at users' perceptions over time, and that
focuses on the Shakedown phase. We obtained 205 T1-T2 matched responses and 120
open ended comments at the post-implementation phase (T2). A comparison of the
four key perceptions shows a statistically significant drop for all of the
perceptions, except for User Acceptance. This is an interesting finding,
implying that users continue to perceive the ERP system as important even
though their perceptions regarding capability, value, and timing drop
significantly from pre-implementation to post-implementation stage. We further
explore the variations in these perceptions across tenure with the company and
job profiles. Keywords: ERP, implementation, shakedown, users, perceptions | |||
| The Effects of Portal Affiliations and Self-Proclaimed Assurance on Consumer Trust: Investigating Customers' Purpose of Visit as a Moderator | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 87 | |
| Dongmin Kim; Weiquan Wang; Izak Benbasat | |||
| 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' purpose of visit (e.g., to purchase or to browse) moderates
the impact of portal affiliation and a store's 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. Keywords: Trust, Portal Affiliation, Assurance, Purpose of Visit, Moderation | |||
| Matching People And Groups: Recruitment And Selection In Online Games | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 88 | |
| Bo Reum Choi; Robert E. Kraut; Mark Fichman | |||
| Massively multiplayer online games (MMOGs) have great potential as sites for
research within the social and behavioral sciences and human-computer
interaction. This is because "guilds" -- semi-persistent groups in online games
-- are much like groups in real organizations. In this paper, we examine how
groups and individuals find appropriate matches and whether appropriate matches
lead newcomers to stay longer in their groups in an online game environment.
Results from archival data, observation, and survey in the game World of
Warcraft (WoW) indicate that different selection methods lead to person-group
fit for social and task-oriented characteristics and good fit leads recruits to
stay longer in their group. In particular, recruitment of new members to
task-oriented guilds was most successful when brief interactions were used
whereas recruitment to social-oriented guilds was most successful when
probationary periods and referrals were used. Keywords: Fit, MMOGs, Guilds, Players, Selection, Retention | |||
| Customization and/or Social Shopping: How do Digital Millennials Shop Online? | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 89 | |
| Arnold Kamis; Jonathan Frank | |||
| This paper investigates how Social Shopping and Customization interplay to
affect Digital Millennials' online shopping experience. We test whether the
social richness of online shopping in pairs can overcome the leanness of the
online shopping experience. Can the interactivity of Online Customization
accomplish the same purpose? Is there a synergistic, interaction effect? Our
2x2 experimental design with 182 subjects examines this question with
customizable versus packaged vacation travel. Analyses of Perceived
Effectiveness, Perceived Ease of Use, Perceived Enjoyment and Intent to
Purchase suggest that a user's Intention to Purchase is linked to the
suitability of the site's user interface as well as the perceived social /
technological richness of the website. The results shed light on Digital
Millennials' online shopping preferences and provide guidance to web site
designers incorporating Social Shopping or Customization into online shopping
applications. Future research will extend the results to other populations,
task domains and devices. Keywords: social shopping, customization, digital millenials, online shopping, intent
to purchase | |||
| Study of the Organizational Critical Success Factors Affecting the Quality of IT Service | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 90 | |
| Ninad Naik; Dan J. Kim; T. Andrew Yang | |||
| Information systems have been a well researched topic based on their
development, implementation, effectiveness, success and more recently
Business-IT alignment. Of late, since the new model of IS function which
includes a significant "service" component, there have been number of studies
on "how to measure IT/IS service quality using the SERVQUAL instrument". Our
literature review, however, has revealed that there are few studies which
provide a holistic view of which organizational factors affect the attributes
of SERVQUAL and in what manner. In this paper, we first identify the individual
organizational factors affecting the quality of IT service, and then develop a
conceptual model to classify those factors and their relationships. The goal of
our project is to study how those factors affect the quality of IT services
and, with that understanding, to find ways to improve the quality of IT
services. The proposed framework will facilitate organizations to judge the
present state of their IT ecosystem and guide them to improve their IT service
quality. Keywords: IT Service Quality, Information Systems, IS Effectiveness, Critical Success
Factors | |||
| User Behavior and Decision Making: The role of decisional Guidance in Decision Support | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 91 | |
| Alison Parkes; Michael Davern | |||
| The very nature of decision support systems (DSS) is to guide and support
the user. Yet decisional guidance has surprisingly not dominated empirical DSS
research. In this research we examine the role of decisional guidance in
decision support. We postulate that the effect of decisional guidance on
decision outcomes is mediated by the subjective experience of the user in
interacting with the DSS. Furthermore we develop a theoretical and empirical
analysis of the different role decisional guidance plays for users of different
levels of domain expertise: novices and experienced (but not expert)
practitioners. Using a purpose built experimental platform with 135 subjects we
find the effects on decisional guidance on perceptions of the DSS and
confidence in decision outcomes varies interactively between type of guidance
(informative versus suggestive) and level of expertise. Keywords: Decision support, human computer interaction, decisional guidance,
expertise, confidence, perceived usefulness | |||
| Understanding Conflict Escalations in Virtual Teams: A Social Network Approach | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 92 | |
| Bin Zhu; Mark Gaynor | |||
| One crucial aspect of conflict management in teams is to avoid conflict
escalation. When escalation occurs the entire team will be consumed by
arguments among disputants and cannot accomplish its task. While many studies
have provided theoretic framework for the academic understanding of team
conflicts, they did not suggest convenient measurement for the monitoring of
the status of team conflicts. This project seeks to bridge this gap by studying
four hundred virtual teams that were formed over past ten for complex tasks. We
will apply social network analysis to identify the social network patterns
associated with conflict escalations. We believe that the results from this
research could contribute to the theoretic understanding of the conflicts in
virtual teams. In addition, this study could provide mangers and team leaders
measurements to monitor the status of conflict. Finally, the research described
may provide insight for the design of CMC systems. Keywords: Social Network Analysis, Virtual Teams, Team Conflict | |||
| An Empirical Analysis of Usability-Sociability Design for Sustaining Virtual Communities | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 93 | |
| Xianghua Lu; Jie Yu; Guanchun Yang | |||
| This study aims to explore how the usability and sociability design of
virtual communities could encourage members' continuous participant in the
communities. A theoretical model is proposed to explain the effects of
usability and sociability design on continuous participation through members'
perceived usefulness, enjoyment and sense of belonging. Data is collected from
members of five popular leisure oriented virtual communities in China. The
results show that both perceived usefulness and enjoyment have impacts on
members' continuous participation intention. Among the usability and
sociability design factors, we find that personalized service is the most
critical mechanism that encourages members to continuously participate in
virtual communities, while community infrastructure, friend connection and
event organization also have positive effects on members' continuous
participation intention through individual motivations. However, it is
surprised to find out that leaders' involvement has no influence on members'
continuous participation intention. Both theoretical and practical implications
of this study are discussed. Keywords: Usability-sociability design, Virtual community, Continuous participation | |||
| Computer Mediated Social Ties and Knowledge Sharing | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 94 | |
| Israr Qureshi; Yulin Fang; Nicole Haggerty; Deborah Compeau | |||
| Understanding social interactions and knowledge sharing behavior in the
organizational context is important as an organization's success is
increasingly dependent on how efficiently and effectively knowledge workers
share information with others. Knowledge workers are increasingly interacting
via computer and communication technologies. In this research we integrate
theories of computer mediated communication with theories and prior mixed
findings about the strength of social ties and knowledge sharing to theorize
about the effects of computer-mediated communication (CMC) on social ties and
ultimately on knowledge sharing between individuals in firms. Specifically we
theorize about the ability of CMC to a) support diverse social ties, and b)
facilitate frequency-based strong social ties that hold strong trust -- both
supporting knowledge sharing. In a social network survey of 70% of employees in
an innovation driven organization located in China, our analysis confirms our
theorizing and offers contributions to IS and organizational researchers as
well as practitioners. Keywords: Social interactions, computer mediated communication, social ties, social
networks, knowledge sharing | |||
| Towards Understanding the Formation and Impact of E-service Failures | | BIBAK | Full-Text | 95 | |
| Chee-Wee Tan; Izak Benbasat; Ronald T. Cenfetelli | |||
| E-service failure has been the bane of e-commerce by compelling consumers to
abandon transactions entirely or to switch to brick-and-mortar establishments.
Yet, despite the downsides of e-service failures, there has not been a study
to-date that systematically investigates how perceptions of failure arise
within online transactional environments and their impacts on consumer
behavior. Departing from the multi-attribute utility approach prevalent in
conventional consumer research, this study advances a typology of e-service
failure from a goal-directed perspective. Assimilating Lee and Ariely's (2006)
shopping goal theory with Van Osselaer et al.'s (2005) classification of
consumer goals, it is the contention of this study that when transacting
online, consumers are not only motivated to (1) purchase a product suited to
their extrinsic requirements (i.e., consumption goals) and personal preferences
(i.e., criterion goals) while enjoying the transactional experience (i.e.,
process goals), but they are also seeking ways to (2) translate what are often
elusive intentions into tangible objectives (goal activation) and achieve those
objectives in the most efficacious manner (i.e., goal implementation).
Consequently, e-service failures can be delineated according to the type of
consumer goal (i.e., consumption, criterion or process) they target and the
transactional stage (i.e., activation or implementation) at which they occur. A
research model of e-service failure is then constructed and testable hypotheses
are derived.
To empirically validate the model, a 3x3 experimental design is proposed and elaborated. The experiment employs a 3 (Type of Failure: Activation Success + Implementation Failure; Activation Failure + Implementation Failure or Activation Failure + Implementation Success) x 3 (Type of Goal: Consumption; Criterion; or Process) between-subjects factorial design will be conducted. A totally separate control group without any form of e-service deficiency (Activation Success + Implementation Success) across the three goal categories will also be incorporated into the experimental design to contrast differences in consumers' perceptions, attitudes and behaviors arising from the distinction between the presence and absence of implementation failures given the successful activation of consumer goals. It is anticipated that the empirical findings from our experiment will serve to inform academics and practitioners on: (1) how consumer perceptions of different types of e-service failure manifest on e-commerce websites, and; (2) their impact on transactional attitudes and intentions. Conceptually, our proposed experimental study is designed to not only verify the veracity of our research model, but to also challenge the premise underlying past research into consumer behavior. Theories like the EDT have contended that expectations constructed from previous transactional experiences form the baseline from which consumers assess future transactions. Yet, if we were to establish goal activation as a prerequisite for perceptions of implementation failure to arise, it will imply that while prior transactional experiences might be pertinent in affecting consumer behavior, goals -- which are activated through immediate interactions with the e-commerce website -- may be a more salient influence. Additionally, the experiment represents an opportunity to validate our typology of e-service failures by demonstrating how they might occur in reality and explaining why each e-service failure type might be more or less effective in affecting online consumer behavior. Pragmatically, empirical findings can offer cautionary advice to practitioners to be vigilant in web interface design so as to avoid activating unwanted goals, especially when the website is ill-equipped to fulfill them. Further, the typology of e-service failures can provide guidelines for practitioners to establish benchmarks for designing error-free e-commerce websites. Finally, this study acts as a pre-requisite to uncovering corresponding e-service recovery mechanisms that can be offered on e-commerce websites to alleviate consumers' disappointment and feelings of dissatisfaction in the event of e-service failures. Keywords: E-Service Failure, Goal-Directed Perspective, Goal Activation, Goal
Implementation, Consumption Goals, Criterion Goals, Process Goals | |||