Recommendation content matters! Exploring the impact of the recommendation content on consumer decisions from the means-end chain perspective

Consumers increasingly rely on social media to obtain product information. The vlog, a new kind of social medium, has been adopted by sellers to connect with consumers. Through this platform, sellers can cooperate with vloggers to recommend products or services to consumers. Extending beyond the previous perspective that consumers’ perceptions and behaviors are influenced by vloggers’ attributes, we herein investigate the influence of recommendation content. Drawing on the means-end chain framework, this paper investigates how the attributes of recommendation content affect consumers’ intention to adopt (i.e., follow) the recommendation. Data collected from 513 respondents provides support for the proposed influences. The results indicate that source credibility, content diagnosticity, and content serendipity drive consumers’ recommendation adoption intention. This research contributes to the literature on rec-vlog marketing by clarifying the significant role of recommendation content. Implications are discussed regarding these findings.     

Understanding Chinese online users and their visits to websites: Application of Zipf's law

Competition for consumers to visit company websites has intensified in recent years. An important indicator of website popularity (and consequent survival) is the extent to which the website can draw consumer visits vis-à-vis other websites. A majority of the current understanding on consumer visits is limited to a single website, and leaves little knowledge on the performance of one website compared with others. In tracking the Internet usage behavior of 200 individuals in Mainland China for 30 consecutive days, we applied Zipf's law to identify the divergence points separating popular websites from non-popular ones. Two measurements were used, namely, visit traffic (number) and visit engagement (time spent). We observed that 94.87% of the entire visit traffic is devoted to 15.08% of all visited websites, whereas 84.63% of engagements are on the top 6.16% visited websites. These findings suggest that few websites accounted for the bulk of online traffic and time. Further, we segmented the dataset based on two key proxy variables of user demographics, which are gender and occupation. The findings on visit traffic remained salient after considering user segments, but the findings on website engagement varied across different user segments. Our further analysis, which categorized the visited websites by their main service, revealed the type of Internet users attracted to popular websites.     

Exploring antecedents and consequence of online group-buying intention: An extended perspective on theory of planned behavior

With the development of electronic commerce, many dotcom firms are selling products to consumers across different countries and regions. The managers of online group-buying firms seek to increase customer purchasing intentions in the face of competition. Online group-buying refers to a certain number of consumers who join together as a group via Internet, for the purpose of buying a certain product with a discount. This study explores antecedents of intention to participate in online group-buying and the relationship between intention and behavior. The research model is basaed on planned behavior theory, electronic word-of-mouth, network embeddedness, and website quality attitude. An online survey is administered to 373 registered members of the ihergo website. Data is analyzed using the partial least squares method, and analytical results demonstrate that for potential consumers, experiential electronic word-of-mouth, relational embeddedness of the initiator, and service quality attitude influence intention to engage in online group-buying; for current consumers, intention to attend online group-buying is determined by the structural and relational embeddedness of the initiator, system quality attitude positively affects intention, and intention positively affects online group-buying behavior. This study proposes a new classification of electronic word-of-mouth and applies the perspective of network embeddedness to explore antecedents of intention in online group-buying, broadening the applicability of electronic word-of-mouth and embeddedness theory. Finally, this study presents practical suggestions for managers of online group-buying firms in improving marketing efficiency.     

Eye tracking technology to audit google analytics: Analysing digital consumer shopping journey in fashion m-retail

Rapid changes in digital consumer behaviour, influenced by exponential adoption of smartphones, require timely and sophisticated responses from retailers to these consumer needs. With a growing amount of big data available, fashion retailers need to innovate and develop more sophisticated analytics for new consumer behaviours such as m-commerce. This research has considered how Google Analytics data can be applied to develop customer journey maps to understand digital consumer behaviour. A multi-method research design was used, incorporating an innovative mobile eye tracking technology and mobile fashion consumer data from Google Analytics. Digital customers’ shopping journeys on the fashion retailer’s website were mapped using data sourced from eye tracking and Google Analytics, gathered in parallel. The comparison of these shopping journeys allowed a critical evaluation of the precision and usefulness of the Google Analytics database. Google Analytics tracked only half of the digital users’ activities, whereas eye tracking data documented digital consumers’ interaction with all elements of the fashion retailer’s website. The conclusion reached is that eye tracking can be used to audit the Google Analytics database for potential gaps in data and also to inform and improve marketing decision-making.     

偶发性创新——区别于传统创新的过程模式

从创新活动中偶然性的重要作用出发,结合现实背景和相关理论,提出一种区别于传统创新的过程模式——偶发性创新,即由偶然因素引发的创新。归纳出偶发性创新的基本特征和构成要素,并指出其与一般创造过程的区别。进而在前人实证研究的基础上,提出偶发性创新较一般创新模式而言通常蕴含更高技术价值的观点,指出该创新模式可能成为突破性创新的替代方案,成为跨越型技术产生的源泉之一。     

初始网络信任和持续网络信任形成与作用机制比较/FONT

网络信任的缺位是制约电子商务进一步发展的主要瓶颈,探讨消费者信任的决定要素及由此产生的行为意愿,对于指导业界制定正确的消费者信任提升策略具有重要意义。本研究认为,无网络购物经验消费者初始信任的形成和作用机制与有网络购物经验消费者的持续信任形成和作用机制存在较大差异,为此,分别建立了两类消费者的网络信任模型。基于B2C和C2C网站消费者的大样本数据,采用结构方程建模方法,实证检验了理论模型和相应的一系列假设。研究结果表明：（1）两类信任的形成机制存在明显差异。无网络购物经验的消费者,基于对卖家声誉、网站安全性和网站易用性等反映客体（卖家和网站）特征的因素的感知,判断是否应当信任卖家;有网络购物经验的消费者,则更依赖对商家响应能力和联系沟通水平等反映双方互动特征的因素的体验,判断是否应当继续信任卖家。（2）两类信任的作用机制相似。不论是网络初始信任还是网络持续信任,都决定了消费者的信息提供意愿和网上购物意愿,并且网上购物意愿与信息提供意愿正相关。     

How does social support promote consumers' engagement in the social commerce community? The mediating effect of consumer involvement

This study aims to reveal the mechanism of how consumers’ engagement is established in social commerce communities. Building upon social support theory, we propose models and employ datasets obtained from Douban.com to empirically investigate the different effects of emotional and informational support on consumers’ engagement and how involvement mediates these relationships in the social commerce context. At the same time, the moderating role of product presentation is examined to help clarify the impact of social support and consumer involvement. Our analyses reveal that the two subdimensions of social supportive information are positively related to consumer involvement, together promoting consumers’ engagement in the community. In particular, involvement imposes a full mediating influence on emotional support but a partial mediating impact on informational support. Product presentation strengthens the effects in that the predictive effect of determinants on engagement is more pronounced for books with electronic versions in the social commerce community. For researchers and managers, these findings emphasize the benefits of the social commerce community, particularly with regard to Douban.com in China.     

顾客历史行为和优惠券对其购买决定的影响——基于一项实验研究

基于一项以5600名分类网站顾客为对象的实验,检验了顾客历史行为和电子优惠券促销对其未来购买决定的影响,特别是两者的交互影响.其中,历史行为包括历史购买和历史点击浏览行为.结果表明,历史购买行为和电子优惠券及其交互项对顾客未来购买决定均有显著正向效应;而就历史点击浏览行为而言,尽管其对网络顾客购买决定的直接效应并不显著,但当给曾经点击过产品购买页面的顾客发放优惠券时,其购买意愿相对于未曾点击过购买页面的顾客购买意愿更强.     

Seller reputation or product presentation? An empirical investigation from cue utilization perspective

This study examines the interaction effects of two types of cues in different scopes (i.e., seller reputation as a high-scope cue and product presentation as a low-scope cue) on consumer product quality evaluation, under different involvement situations. Drawing on the cue utilization theory and involvement-related literature, we propose that cues used in people's decision making processes are contingent on product involvement. Through the conduction of behavioral experiments with eye-tracking technology, the findings show that, under high-involvement situations, both seller reputation and product presentation significantly and independently influence product quality evaluation while their interaction effect does not. While under low-involvement situations, seller reputation significantly influences the product evaluation and moderates the effect of product presentation on consumer product quality evaluation. The effect of product presentation on product evaluation is weakened by seller reputation. The findings, to some extent, are reinforced by the eye-tracking data through the trace and analysis of fixation count and fixation time. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

论互联网网站资源的管理创新

本文认为，网站资源是网络信息资源的重要组成部分，而网站管理则是网络信息资源管理的关键，在此基础上，作者着重从管理思想和管理模式两个方面论述了网站管理的创新问题，并提出了网站管理模式创新中应遵循的三个原则。     

高校网站安全问题分析

探讨高校网站建设中存在的安全问题,提出改进建议,以提高网站的安全性,使网站更好地为师生服务。     

Evaluating websites from a public value perspective: A review of Turkish local government websites

Government website evaluations do not always reflect the websites’ aims. Often, only aspects such as content and quality are considered, whereas the primary goal of these websites is to deliver public value. In this paper we introduce the public value perspective for website evaluation. A meta-analysis of website evaluation literature is presented, the findings being that there is no uniform or comprehensive set of website evaluation metrics and that the public value perspective is largely neglected in the website evaluation literature. Next, we describe how we integrated web evaluation and public value literature in order to develop a set of criteria used for evaluating the websites of sixteen Turkish local governments. The websites performed relatively well on traditional indicators, but less well on public values measures. In particular, we found that the websites are good at supporting requests, categorization and usability, but not satisfactory at providing platforms for citizen engagement, responsiveness and dialog. Finally, we argue that the public value perspective should be incorporated in the evaluations of websites and other public efforts.     

Content design of advertisement for consumer exposure: Mobile marketing through short messaging service

The success of mobile phone-based short messaging service (SMS) commercials as a tool of promotional marketing depends upon the wording, statement, language, presentation − in other words, the overall content of the message. If consumers are not exposed to the mobile phone SMS containing promotional offers, marketers would less likely to achieve any benefits by sending SMS to prospective consumers. This study is aimed to identify and empirically examine the critical variables that can attract consumers to open and read the advertisement on the SMS. To address consumer exposure, the study was designed on the conceptual paradigms of the UTAUT2 with the inclusion of three external constructs: personalization, self-concept, and trust. Through a consumer survey, this study found significant variations from the UTAUT2 to provide new constructs to capture consumer intentions for exposure to the product. By doing so, this study has developed and tested an extended version of UTAUT2, which is named as UTAUT-CEMM (Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology of Consumer Exposure for Mobile Message). It revealed that consumer segmentation and target marketing is the most effective way to communicate with consumers through promotional marketing conducted by the mobile phone SMS. It also suggested that this promotional marketing is valuable only for highly reputable vendors/retailers.     

网站质量保障流程与测试方法优化的研究与应用

针对目前国内网站建设尚处于低水平,网站制作质量参差不齐,网站建设缺乏合理的项目管理科学流程;结合国内的实际情况,提出相关网站质量保障流程与测试方法优化方案,应用到网站开发流程中。优秀的网站质量保障流程与测试方法优化,可以保障网站开发的质量,提高网站建设企业的利润空间,让整个网站建设行业重新焕发生机。     

浅谈图书馆网站导航

网站导航是一种有效的网络资源组织方式，也是图书馆网站能够提供的一种重要的信息服务功能。本文首先论述了网站导航的含义、类型和建立方式，分析了图书馆网站建立网站导航的重要性，然后在调查分析了我国部分图书馆网站建立网站导航现状的基础上，对我国图书馆网站导航建设提出了自己的看法和建议。     

企业网站沟通性与消费者信任的关联路径

通过问卷调查,运用结构方程模型研究了电子商务中企业网站沟通性与消费者信任的关系,建立了网站沟通性与消费者信任的关联路径模型,应用AMOS软件进行验证,结果发现,企业网站的沟通性直接正向影响消费者信任;企业网站的沟通性通过网站的可用性间接影响消费者信任;网站沟通性与可用性相互正向促进。     

镜众传播环境下的图书馆信息服务

阐述镜众这一信息群体的形成和发展以及镜众传播理论的内涵与特征,分析镜众环境下的图书馆信息传播的特点。构建基于镜众传播的图书馆信息服务模式,并提出三种具体的实现方式：基于知识共享的图书馆网站服务模式、基于微博的即时信息发布服务模式和基于微信公众平台的移动信息服务模式。     

网站群在高校数字化校园中的建设与应用

高校网站已经成为数字化校园建设的一个重要组成部分,而目前高校网站数量繁多,存在重复建设、安全性差、信息独立、维护成本高、更新困难等一序列问题,完全不适应高校数字化校园的建设。本文主要讨论了利用网站群技术,结合高校数字化校园的发展方向,提出具体建设方案,将高校一群孤立网站转换为网站群,实现网站的共建共享。     

制约网上团购消费者信任的关键因素——基于网站和卖家诚信视角的考察

提出了网上团购环境下消费者信任影响因素模型,这些因素包括网上社区、客户响应、网络安全、卖家能力、卖家正直、卖家善意、自我效能和情景规范。运用问卷调查数据对模型进行了拟合,结果表明,卖家善意、情景规范、网络安全、客户响应、网上社区显著影响消费者信任,其中卖家善意和情景规范是最重要的影响因素。据此提出提升消费者信任的对策建议,一是卖家塑造善意形象;二是卖家和团购网站团结协作保证情景规范;三是团购网站致力于网络安全、客户响应和网络社区的经营。     

Pricing decisions of consumer innovators

Increasing numbers of consumers who engage in the development of new products are selling their innovations on online marketplaces. We contribute to the scarce research on the commercialization activities of consumer innovators by comparing the consumers’ price decisions with the pricing of firms. Our predictions build on the baseline assumption that the price decisions of consumers are influenced by the same motivations that originally prompt them to innovate. We use a sequential mixed-method approach with a quantitative main study and follow-up qualitative research. The quantitative results draw on a matched-pair analysis of 4,242 computer games released on the online game platform Steam. We find that consumer innovators charge lower prices than firms for comparable games and that consumers and firms show different inclinations in aligning prices with the games’ development costs and perceived quality. The subsequent interview study with 29 hobbyist game developers provides clear support for the motivational explanations of consumers’ pricing decisions. The findings contribute to research on consumer innovation marketing and nascent entrepreneurship. They also improve the understanding of welfare effects resulting from increasing commercial activities of consumers.