Arne Floh

WHAT KEEPS THE E-BANKING CUSTOMER LOYAL? A MULTIGROUP ANALYSIS OF THE MODERATING ROLE OF CONSUMER CHARACTERISTICS ON E-LOYALTY IN THE FINANCIAL SERVICE INDUSTRY

At first sight the Internet is the ideal medium for carrying out banking activities due to its cost savings potential and speed of information transmission. From a technological and cost-driven standpoint it may seem quite logical for banks to shift as many banking activities online as possible. At the same time, the question of how to foster customer loyalty arises when the relationship between the bank and the user becomes a virtual one. This paper investigates the importance of antecedents of online loyalty such as trust, quality of the Web site, quality of the service and overall satisfaction. Rather than investigating which factors drive customers to use online banking instead of offline banking, this paper addresses the problem of how to keep customers online and loyal to a specific supplier. A survey among more than 2,000 customers of an Austrian online bank was conducted and a structural equation modeling approach was used to gain important insights into how customer retention in the online banking business can be ensured. Satisfaction and trust were identified as important antecedents of loyalty. Additionally, the moderating role of consumer characteristics (gender, age, involvement, perceived risk and technophobia) was supported by the data.

The role of atmospheric cues in online impulse-buying behavior

This study extends a stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model to include impulse-buying behavior, which plays a vital role in electronic shopping but has not gained much attention in e-commerce research. Grounding our research in environmental psychology, we test the effects of virtual atmospheric cues on online impulse-buying behavior and spending, via a consumer survey. The study applies elaborated mediating variables (shopping enjoyment and impulsiveness) to develop a structural model linking three categories of atmospheric cues of an electronic store (content, design, and navigation) to approach behavior variables (impulse-buying behavior and expenditure). The results support the validity of the S-O-R model in the context of online impulse-buying behavior and show a significant positive effect of two dimensions of virtual atmospheric cues (design and navigation).

Taking a deeper look at online reviews: The asymmetric effect of valence intensity on shopping behaviour

Abstract This study tests the asymmetric effect of user-generated, open-ended online reviews on online shopping behaviour (intention-to-buy, intention-to-recommend, and willingness-to-pay). Three online experiments involving manipulating the valence intensity of online reviews for hotels, books, and running shoes (overall customer sample of n = 818) provide empirical support for the proposed relationship. The valence intensity of online reviews moderates the effect of online reviews on purchase intentions. In other words, a significant change in online shopping behaviour was found for positive medium and strong reviews but not for negative ones. Based on these findings, managers should encourage customers to share their positive consumption-related experiences by offering strong arguments that will convince other customers.

Online Fundraising for Environmental Nonprofit Organizations

Although the Internet provides nonprofit organizations with unprecedented opportunities for fundraising, the volume of online donations has been miniscule. Since one reason for this may be peoples distrust in financial transactions on the World Wide Web, we conducted a survey to gain insights into user trust in and attitudes toward online payment systems. The results indicate that peoples trust in both the organization and the Internet are key factors in shaping their attitudes toward online payments, which in turn influences peoples likelihood of using the Internet for financial transactions such as online donations. Our findings suggest that nonprofits need to pay particular attention to donor relationships, process transparency, and transaction security in order to induce people to donate online.

Adaptive resilience and the competition between retail and service agglomeration formats: an international perspective

ABSTRACT This paper investigates the competitive relationship between dominant urban agglomeration formats (traditional ‘evolved’ town centres and ‘created’ shopping malls) and the drivers of competiveness in the form of key agglomeration resources (accessibility, parking condition, tenant mix, atmosphere). Based on a consumer survey (n, 2,161) across three distinctive European capital cities, covariance-based structural equation modelling reveals remarkably limited differences between formats in terms of the investigated drivers of competitiveness. Positive relationships of patronage towards both formats in all cities and the significant difference in why respondents patronise them suggest a partly complementary existence of the two types of agglomeration. We explain this apparent complementarity through the theory of adaptive resilience that has seen evolved agglomeration formats develop to provide a differentiated offer and consumer attraction compared with enclosed malls.

Assessing the potential of mobile commerce applications: a quantitative survey in the agricultural sector

Recently, there has been a spate of interest in how to find feasible applications for mobile devices. Compared with the great expectations in mobile applications, the actual acceptance rates of users both in commercial and private sectors lag far behind. This is especially true for Europe, whereas in other countries, such as Japan, companies like DoCoMo literally created their own demand. This paper suggests that, instead of pursuing a supply-oriented strategy, it would be better to look at the actual demands of potential users and develop products that would meet their needs. In doing so, we concentrated on the agricultural sector and analysed the needs of farmers and their willingness to adopt new technologies. A statistical analysis helped us to evaluate our findings and served as the basis for the creation of a set of possible applications that could help farmers to carry out their work more effectively and efficiently.

The Consumption-System Wireless Telecommunications and the Perceived Value - Loyalty Intentions Link

Firms are increasingly involved in marketing of consumption-systems that contain both a significant product and service subsystem (Mittal, Kumar and Tsiros 1999). Consumers evaluate the value of the product and the service both separately but also virtually combined. As a result, Shankar et al. (2009) posit that products and services combined into innovative marketing offerings help companies to attract new customers and increase demand among existing ones by providing superior perceived value. Following urges from research (Johnson, Herrmann and Huber 2006) and practice (Shankar, Berry and Dotzel 2009) alike, the interactions between the perceived value of the product (e.g., cellular phones) and the service (e.g., wireless telecommunication services) as well as their affect on loyalty intentions require clarification. The objective of this study is to examine the degree to which perceived value gained from the performance in one part of the system (as with the product) affects perceived value gained from the performance in the other part of the system (as with the service) and vice versa.

A framework for measuring the quality of long-term business relationships

Most of the empirical studies in relationship marketing are based on the assumption that the quality of relationships has a positive effect on their duration and profitability. Unfortunately, none of the papers found in the literature discuss or define what a relationship is or should be. This research note examines conceptually the nature of relationships and their quality. A theoretical framework for measuring the quality of relationships called Business Relationship Closeness (BRCI) is provided.

Messung interner Dienstleistungsqualität bei der Ableistung unfreiwilliger Dienstleistungen am Beispiel des österreichischen Roten Kreuzes

Der vorliegende Beitrag beschäftigt sich mit der Messung unfreiwilliger Dienstleistungen gezeigt am Fallbeispiel des österreichsichen Roten Kreuzes/ Landesverband Niederösterreich. Neben einer praktischen Hilfestellung für die Non-Profit Organisation (Akquisition von neuen Mitarbeitern durch überleitung von „unfreiwilligen“ Zivildienern in den Freiwilligendienst nach Absolvierung des Zivildienstens) werden mit der Betrachtung der Unfreiwilligkeit und der internen Dienstleistungsqualität zwei neue Einflussfaktoren geliefert. Für die Servqual-Forschung bedeutet dies einen neuen Anwendungsfall und somit die Erweiterung des Gültigkeitsbereiches des populären Ansatzes.