Effects of various characteristics of social commerce (s-commerce) on consumers’ trust and trust performance

The development of social networking sites (SNSs) has given rise to a new e-commerce paradigm called social commerce (s-commerce). S-commerce is a subset of e-commerce and uses SNSs for social interactions and user contributions to facilitate the online buying and selling of various products and services. Recent years have witnessed the rapid growth of s-commerce in Korea, but this growth has involved a number of transaction-related issues such as no delivery and the delivery of wrong items. In particular, consumers’ trust has become a crucial factor in the success of s-commerce firms, requiring these firms to make more effort to gain this trust. In this regard, this study identifies the key factors in s-commerce [reputation, size, information quality, transaction safety, communication, economic feasibility, and word-of-mouth (WOM) referrals], that is, the characteristics of s-commerce influencing Korean consumers’ trust in s-commerce. In addition, the study assesses the effects of trust on trust performance (purchase intentions and WOM intentions). The results of an empirical analysis based on a sample of 371 s-commerce users indicate that all the characteristics of s-commerce (except for economic feasibility) had significant effects on trust and that trust had significant effects on purchase and WOM intentions. The results have important implications for s-commerce firms wishing to develop a successful business model for providing their customers with trustworthy services.     

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.     

The antecedents of customer satisfaction and its link to complaint intentions in online shopping: An integration of justice,technology, and trust

Complaint behaviors are critical to maintaining customer loyalty in an online market. They provide insight into the customer's experience of service failure and help to redress the failures. Previous studies have shown the importance of customer satisfaction as a mediator for complaint intentions. It is important to examine the antecedents of customer satisfaction and its link to complaint intentions. Online shoppers are both buyers of products/services and users of web-based systems. Trust also plays a critical role in forming a psychological state with positive or negative feelings toward e-vendors. In this context, there are three major concerns: justice, technology and trust. This study proposes a research model to combine these issues, in order to investigate complaint intentions. Data were collected from an online survey wherein subjects were encouraged to reflect on recent service failure experiences. The results from testing a structural equation model indicate that distributive and interactional justice contribute significantly to customer satisfaction and, in turn, to complaint intentions, but procedural justice does not. Technology-based features and trust are also important in determining the two target variables. The implications for managers and scholars are also discussed.     

Examining branding co-creation in brand communities on social media: Applying the paradigm of Stimulus-Organism-Response

This paper examines the antecedents of branding co-creation that include social networking sites’(SNSs) participation motivations,customer participation, brand trust and brand loyalty in social media brand communities by applying the “Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm”. The survey method was used to gather data from 407 social media users. Data were analysed using structural equation modeling techniques. The findings reveal that SNSs’ participation motivations positively influence customer participation, which in turn significantly affects brand trust and brand loyalty. Consequently, both brand trust and brand loyalty positively influence branding co-creation in brand communities on social media. Furthermore, brand trust contributes as a mediator between customer participation and brand loyalty on social media brand communities. Although studies on relationships examined through the lens of the Stimulus-Organism-Response paradigm are popular, to the authors’ surprise there is scant literature examining the relationships between SNSs’ participation motivations, customer participation in social media brand communities, brand trust, brand loyalty and branding co-creation.     

Mental disorders on online social media through the lens of language and behaviour: Analysis and visualisation

Due to the worldwide accessibility to the Internet along with the continuous advances in mobile technologies, physical and digital worlds have become completely blended, and the proliferation of social media platforms has taken a leading role over this evolution. In this paper, we undertake a thorough analysis towards better visualising and understanding the factors that characterise and differentiate social media users affected by mental disorders. We perform different experiments studying multiple dimensions of language, including vocabulary uniqueness, word usage, linguistic style, psychometric attributes, emotions’ co-occurrence patterns, and online behavioural traits, including social engagement and posting trends.Our findings reveal significant differences on the use of function words, such as adverbs and verb tense, and topic-specific vocabulary, such as biological processes. As for emotional expression, we observe that affected users tend to share emotions more regularly than control individuals on average. Overall, the monthly posting variance of the affected groups is higher than the control groups. Moreover, we found evidence suggesting that language use on micro-blogging platforms is less distinguishable for users who have a mental disorder than other less restrictive platforms. In particular, we observe on Twitter less quantifiable differences between affected and control groups compared to Reddit.     

装配式建筑发展水平空间差异及其影响因素研究

以中国31个省份作为空间研究单元,构建以装配式建筑发展基础环境、生产建造实力、技术创新水平、可持续发展潜力4个方面的装配式建筑发展水平评价体系,运用均方差决策法、探索性空间数据分析、地理加权回归模型,探究中国装配式建筑发展水平的空间差异特征并进行影响因素分析。研究结果表明:(1)从空间分布特征看,中国装配式建筑发展水平总体偏低,空间分布差异显著,呈由东向西递减的空间格局;(2)从空间关联特征看,中国装配式建筑发展水平存在空间集聚现象,以分布在江、浙、沪等省份的显著高高聚集和蒙、新、宁等省份的显著低低聚集为主;(3)从影响因素看,中国装配式建筑发展水平的影响因素存在明显的空间差异,影响作用由大到小的因素排名为:市场需求>环保支出>政府导向>经济水平>技术创新>人口集中程度>产业结构>交通物流环境>建造成本。     

Examining influence of national culture on individuals’ attitude and use of information and communication technology: Assessment of moderating effect of culture through cross countries study

Few studies have examined the influence of national culture on individuals’ perceptions of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Moreover the few existing studies have contradictory findings. While some researchers have suggested a relationship between culture and individuals’ interactions with and perceptions of ICT innovations, other research found no such link. The purpose of this article is to better understand the influence of culture on individuals’ attitudes by comparing the use of cellular phones in Quebec and Guinea. The findings suggest that Ease of Use and Usefulness are sensitive to cultural influence. However, the hypotheses relative to the moderating effects of culture on the Social Pressure, Image, average calls made and average turnaround time spent on the call are not supported.     

技术认知、风险感知对黄土高原农户水土保持耕作技术采用意愿的影响及代际差异

黄土高原农户对水土保持耕作技术的认知和对水土流失风险的感知是水土保持耕作技术采用意愿的关键影响因素,探究二者对技术采用意愿的作用有利于促进农户技术采用率的提高、控制水土流失、减少入黄泥沙量、改善生态环境。本文利用黄土高原1237户农户的调查数据,基于代际差异的视角,采用逐步回归法和分组回归法,分析了农户技术认知和风险感知对其水土保持耕作技术采用意愿的影响及代际差异。结果表明：①技术认知对水土保持耕作技术的采用意愿有显著的正向影响,技术认知对等高耕作、沟垄种植、少免耕、深松耕、秸秆还田、残茬覆盖和地膜覆盖技术采用意愿的作用强度均是新生代农户大于老一代农户。②风险感知对新生代和老一代农户等高耕作和沟垄种植技术采用意愿均有显著的正向影响,其影响强度存在代际差异;对新生代农户少免耕技术采用意愿有显著的正向影响,对老一代农户深松耕、秸秆还田、残茬覆盖和地膜覆盖技术采用意愿有显著的正向影响。③风险感知在技术认知和采用意愿之间发挥正向调节作用,在等高耕作、沟垄种植、残茬覆盖和地膜覆盖技术采用意愿中,风险感知对于老一代农户的调节作用强于新一代;在少免耕、深松耕和秸秆还田技术采用意愿中,风险感知对于新一代农户的调节作用强于老一代。户主年龄、受教育程度、家庭劳动力数量等控制变量对新生代和老一代农户水土保持耕作技术采用意愿的影响有显著差异。建议农业技术和政策推广视新老农户区别对待,提供有针对性的补贴,并通过鼓励土地流转为技术采用提供便利。     

The moderating role of internal and external resources on the performance effect of multitasking: Evidence from the R&D performance of surgeons

R&D employees frequently must split their limited time between explorative R&D and exploitative operative tasks. This article explores the influence of this multitasking (pursuing both R&D and operations) on employee R&D performance. The article also analyzes how the relationship between multitasking and individual R&D performance interacts with the degree of access to internal and external resources. We hypothesize that multitasking positively affects R&D performance. Furthermore, we assume that the internal resources (funding, facilities, and support) are increasingly relevant when employees combine R&D and operative activities. However, multitasking employees may show less of a need for external resources (access to networks) in comparison to more focused colleagues. The results of a survey of 332 surgeons from 20 academic medical centers in Germany support our hypotheses. We conclude that managers should ensure that their R&D workforce is also involved in daily operations. Output will be optimized if these employees are not only engaged with explorative tasks but are also involved in exploitative activities. However, managers should also ensure that the appropriate organizational support is provided to individuals who attempt to combine exploration and exploitation. Multitasking individuals benefit the most from access to internal resources, whereas external resources are more efficiently allocated to explorative-only employees.     

农户分化、代际差异对宅基地退出意愿的影响——基于宅基地价值认知的中介效应分析

自愿性原则是当前宅基地退出制度的重要实施基础,引导农户自愿有偿退出宅基地对于实现耕地保护目标、推动城镇化进程具有重要意义。本文以武汉城市圈483个实地调查样本为例,通过考察农户分化与宅基地退出意愿的关系,以及宅基地价值认知、代际差异在两者关系中的作用,探究农户分化对宅基地退出意愿的作用机制。研究结果显示：①农户分化对宅基地退出意愿的影响路径包括直接正向影响和通过宅基地价值认知产生的间接正向影响,直接效应占总效应48.54%,间接效应占总效应的51.46%;②代际差异对宅基地价值认知在农户分化与宅基地退出意愿间所扮演的中介作用起到了调节效应,新生代农户受到的宅基地价值认知中介作用更加强烈和显著,而老一代农户的宅基地价值认知中介作用被削弱并趋于不明显。因此,提升农户宅基地退出意愿应从提升农户非农就业水平与引导农户形成合理的宅基地价值认知两个方面着手,并对不同代际农户制定针对性的政策措施以推进宅基地有偿退出。