E-parliament: Opening the door

Parliaments around the world are becoming aware that they, and the individual members of the parliament, can use digital technologies to support greater engagement with citizens and their communities. This article reports on communication patterns of the Parliament of Australia and the community, the potential of Web 2.0 to increase engagement and accountability and research with the Australian community and members of the parliament on information needs for a new website implementing interactivity.     

e-Government readiness: Does national culture matter?

e-Government readiness varies significantly across nations. This research explored the relationship of national culture values and practice to e-Government readiness. Eighteen hypotheses were formulated and tested. With the exception of performance orientation and assertiveness, national culture values and practices correlated negatively and positively with e-Government readiness. In addition, gender egalitarianism, institutional collectivism, performance orientation, and uncertainty avoidance values were found to be key determinants of e-Government readiness. The findings of this research provide a foundation for culturally-based policies and strategies aiming at enhancing e-Government readiness across nations.     

Can the internet reduce corruption? A cross-country study based on dynamic panel data models

This study attempts to estimate the effects of internet adoption on reducing corruption by using a panel consisting of 70 countries covering the period from 1998 to 2005. The results of Granger causality tests reveal that, while causality running from internet adoption to corruption reduction can be established, the causality between internet adoption and corruption is bi-directional. To deal with the problem of endogeneity, the dynamic panel data (DPD) models are employed. The estimation results show that the effects of internet adoption on corruption reduction are statistically significant but not too substantial. Our findings suggest that the internet has shown a capacity for reducing corruption, but its potential has yet to be fully realized.     

Benchmarking e-Government: A comparison of frameworks for computing e-Government index and ranking

Countries are often benchmarked and ranked according to economic, human, and technological development. Benchmarking and ranking tools, such as the United Nation's e-Government index (UNDPEPA, 2002), are used by decision makers when devising information and communication policies and allocating resources to implement those policies. Despite their widespread use, current benchmarking and ranking tools have limitations. For instance, they do not differentiate between static websites and highly integrated and interactive portals. In this paper, the strengths and limitations of six frameworks for computing e-Government indexes are assessed using both hypothetical data and data collected from 582 e-Government websites sponsored by 53 African countries. The frameworks compared include West's (2007a) foundational work and several variations designed to address its limitations. The alternative frameworks respond, in part, to the need for continuous assessment and reconsideration of generally recognized and regularly used frameworks.     

The mediating role of mental imagery in mobile advertising

The future of communication and advertising is mobile. There is, however, little empirical evidence as to exactly how mobile advertising works. This research examines the role of mental imagery elicited by mobile advertising and its mediating effect on trust in the advertising message (ad trust) and purchase intention. Using a 2 × 2 factorial experimental design, we examined the influence of the type of message – SMS vs. MMS – and type of content – informational vs. transformational – on the three dimensions of mental imagery: vividness, quantity and elaboration. Results show a greater impact of MMS mobile ads and transformational ads on vividness and elaboration, while SMS mobile ads have a greater impact on the quantity dimension. The study also suggests that ad trust can be improved by enhancing the mental imagery elicited by mobile ads. Vivid and elaborate mental imagery mediates the effect of the type of ad on ad trust and exerts a positive influence on purchase intention. These findings have important implications for mobile advertisers since overcoming trust issues remains a major obstacle in the adoption of this medium. In addition, practical aspects of mobile ads’ conception and design are discussed and directions for future research are suggested.     

Effects of e-CRM on customer–bank relationship quality and outcomes: The case of Thailand

This research examines and measures the outcomes of electronic customer relationship management (e-CRM) system implementation in the Thai banking industry from customers' perspectives.Because most e-CRM implementations cannot be directly seen or recognised by customers, a literature review and interviews with experts in the Thai banking industry were used to develop a new construct called ‘customer-based service attributes’ to measure e-CRM outcomes from customers' perspectives. A full-scale field survey of 684 customers of Thai commercial banks was then conducted. A service attribute model and a model that combined relationship quality and outcome were constructed, and their validity and reliability was confirmed. Analysis of the results by using structural equation modelling (SEM) illustrated that e-CRM implementation has a statistically significant positive relationship with customer-based service attributes and with the quality and outcome of customer–bank relationships as well as an indirect effect on relationship quality and outcome through customer-based service attributes.     

Web-enabled supply chain management: Key antecedents and performance impacts

Despite increased interest and growing investments in web-based supply chain management (SCM) applications, firms face numerous challenges in successfully web-enabling their SCM activities. In this research, we focus on two main objectives – (i) to understand the key antecedents that affect the web-enablement of SCM activities; (ii) to document the performance impacts of web-enabled SCM efforts. Based on a large-scale, questionnaire survey of North American organizations, we assessed the influence of six factors namely – supplier synergy, information intensity, managerial IT knowledge, interoperable IT infrastructure, perceived IT returns on investments (ROI) and formal governance mechanisms – on the extent of web-enabled SCM. Our results revealed a strong positive influence of supplier synergy, information intensity, managerial IT knowledge, inter-operability and formal governance mechanisms on the extent of web-enabled SCM. We also found a negative association between relative cost–benefit perceptions and the extent of web-enabled SCM. Further, we also found strong positive association between extent of web-enabled SCM and the benefits realized from SCM efforts. We discuss the implications of our results for research and practice.     

The relationship of service failure severity, service recovery justice and perceived switching costs with customer loyalty in the context of e-tailing

Given that e-tailing service failure is inevitable, a better understanding of how service failure and recovery affect customer loyalty represents an important topic for academics and practitioners. This study explores the relationship of service failure severity, service recovery justice (i.e., interactional justice, procedural justice, and distributive justice), and perceived switching costs with customer loyalty; as well, the moderating relationship of service recovery justice and perceived switching costs on the link between service failure severity and customer loyalty in the context of e-tailing are investigated. Data collected from 221 useful respondents are tested against the research model using the partial least squares (PLS) approach. The results indicate that service failure severity, interactional justice, procedural justice and perceived switching costs have a significant relationship with customer loyalty, and that interactional justice can mitigate the negative relationship between service failure severity and customer loyalty. These findings provide several important theoretical and practical implications in terms of e-tailing service failure and recovery.