Achita Muthitacharoen

Segmenting online customers to manage business resources: a study of the impacts of sales channel strategies on consumer preferences

This study extends our current knowledge in the area of online consumer behavior by examining how a businesss sales channel strategy could influence consumers sales channel preferences. It makes a new argument that business strategies could play an important role in consumer sales channel preference development. When a business offers multiple sales channels (a hybrid model), its customers can compare sales channels either within or outside of the same corporate business. Such freedom is, however, diminished when a business employs the Internet as the only transaction medium (pure Internet store). A matrix was developed to demonstrate how business strategies could interplay in the consumer preference formation process and later was used to segment our respondents into three different groups. They were segmented according to the sales channel strategies of their selected Internet store and the brick-and-mortar store that they used to make a comparison. MANOVA and structural equation modeling tests were performed on 435 survey respondents. Four preferential factors, including transaction cost, product, risk, and social experience, were used as examples and tested across three groups of respondents. Results revealed that online users employ different sets of preferential factors when comparing different sets of sales channels. Such results were thereafter used to draw a new set of online strategies that could be used to allocate business resources more effectively.

To Send or Not to Send: An Empirical Assessment of Error Reporting Behavior

This study examines user perceptions that play a critical role in driving error reporting system (ERS) usage intentions. Building on the technology acceptance model (TAM) and literature on donation behavior, we theorize that value compatibility, role transparency, process transparency, and work interruption influence ERS usefulness and ERS usage intentions. Results show that congruence with users value system, role transparency, and process transparency are important determinants of ERS usefulness. A direct effect of value compatibility, process transparency, and work interruption on intention to use the ERS is also observed. More importantly, our study elaborates on the applicability of TAM and its variables beyond their originally defined constraint. Prescriptive guidelines on effective promotion and design of the ERS are offered.

An Empirical Investigation of the Consequences of Technostress: Evidence from China

With the growing adoption of information technology in organizations, technostress has become a problem that can no longer be ignored. Despite the fact that this form of stress emanates from excessive dependence on technologies, prior studies investigated its consequences mostly from job-centric points of view. The current study argues that technostress consequences are multi-faceted and lead to not only job-centric but also IT-centric detriments. It proposes a model that theoretically ties together the immediate reactions and extensive consequences of technostress for users. Using a survey of 221 Chinese knowledge workers, it was found that the negative influences of technostress expand far beyond what have been identified in prior research. Putting in a broader perspective, it can be detrimental to both the employees job satisfaction and global attitude towards using information and communications technologies. Theoretical and pragmatic implications are also discussed.