Jonna Järveläinen

Online Purchase Intentions: An Empirical Testing of a Multiple-Theory Model

Security and privacy issues have drawn much attention in the electronic commerce research area, and e-vendors have adjusted their online shopping systems to convince customers that vendors and systems are trustworthy. Therefore, this study concentrates on how consumers choose their purchasing channel when the environment is relatively secure. Is the choice based on preferring conversation with customer service, complexity of product, prior online shopping experience, social influence or perception of system usefulness or ease-of-use? The technology acceptance model, media richness theory and social influence model were combined in a research model tested with a Web survey. Based on the responses of 1,501 customers of a passenger cruise company, prior experience of traditional and online channels and perceived usefulness had a substantial effect on behavioral intention to use the online channel in the future.

IT incidents and business impacts: Validating a framework for continuity management in information systems

Abstract Information technology (IT) incidents that make data inaccessible may cause businesses to lose customers, reputation and market position. Previous studies on information management have identified data availability as a key priority, and the literature on disaster recovery and business continuity describes ways of preparing for and avoiding IT incidents. However, no frameworks for information system continuity management (ISCM) have yet been validated. This research draws on a framework for business continuity management, and extends it to the context of information systems. The framework is validated in a survey of IT managers and chief information officers in large private and public organisations operating in Finland. The results suggest that the embeddedness of continuity practices in an organisation has perceived business impacts whereas, in contradiction of previous theory, there is no such direct relation in the case of organisational alertness and preparedness. The theoretical contribution is to validate the ISCM framework statistically. On the practical level, social factors such as committed managers and employees are influential in decreasing negative business impacts. Further research on the embeddedness of continuity practices is called for.

Information security and business continuity management in interorganizational IT relationships

Purpose – This paper aims to understand how managers of IT and information security aim to enhance information security and business continuity management in interorganizational IT relationships, such as outsourcing, cloud computing and interorganizational systems.Design/methodology/approach – An explorative study of large multinational or local organizations operating in Finland was conducted. In total, 18 IT and information security managers were interviewed with semi‐structured questions.Findings – First, the author discovered that several methods such as contracts, audits and standards were applied to balance power relationships between organizations or transfer responsibilities to other parties. The objectives of these methods are different within organizations. Second, the paper presents a comprehensive view of different security and continuity solutions in interorganizational IT relationships. The findings have practical value for IT managers and information security experts.Research limitations/im...

Busting myths of electronic word of mouth: the relationship between customer ratings and the sales of mobile applications

Business and academic research frequently highlights the power of electronic word of mouth, relying on the knowledge that online customer ratings and reviews influence consumer decision making. Numerous studies in different disciplines have been conducted to examine the effectiveness of electronic word of mouth communication. Previously, typically small sample studies suggest that positive electronic word of mouth increases sales and that the effects depend on the volume and valence of reviews and ratings. This studys contribution lies in testing the relationship between electronic word of mouth and the sales of applications in a mobile application ecosystem (Google Play) with an extensive dataset (over 260 million customer ratings; 18 months). The results show that higher values of valence of customer ratings correlate statistically significantly with higher sales. The volume of ratings correlates positively with sales in the long term but negatively in the short term. Furthermore, the relationship between electronic word of mouth and sales seems to be more important when the price of the application increases. The findings also underline the importance of the choice of a measurement period in studies.

Against All Odds - A Story of a Successful Mobile System Acceptance among a Tough Crowd

Two public organizations in early childhood education adopted a simple mobile system with female employees in their 50’s to replace an internal paper based data collection system in order to improve information quality and accelerate the billing and payroll process. The workers of this sector emphasize the human-to-human interaction with children and parents, and perceive ICT as time consuming nuisance leaving less time for actual child caring. The objective of this paper is to explore why the mobile system was accepted, although the odds were against it. The system acceptance and incentives seem to have a connection to information timeliness and quality in this context.

Co-created Effective, Agile, and Trusted eServices

Online advertising is a high and a constantly growing business with an elaborate complexity. An important position is occupied by intermediaries, such as ad networks, marketing agencies and companies specialized in delivering software for managing and displaying advertising campaigns. Efficient use of advertising budgets and maximizing profits from ad impressions are the common goal of all players. This goal is usually achieved by manual management of advertising campaigns. Such management requires a very good prediction of Web users’ behavior and web site traffic. We have tested the performance of an ad emission simulator for various campaigns and different types of constraints (e.g. capping or targeting). Real data from completed campaigns has been used for the experiment. It has been shown that predicting performance of advertising campaigns that have constraints is considerably more difficult than predicting simple campaigns. Our result applies even if we use a Web traffic sample from the current period (idealized Web traffic prediction) and a simulator that practically emulates ad server operation (the most realistic prediction approach).

Value-creating E-Government business Models for Early childhood Education in Finland

In many cases, e-government is considered a name for transforming informative public services into electronic mode, although the focus of e-government should be on creating value for citizens as well as public organizations. In this article we apply Amit and Zott’s (2001) e-business value creation methods to an egovernment environment, namely early childhood education in Finland. The objective of the collaborative action research study was to find out what kind of business models in e-government would create value for citizens. The methodological result based on the collaborative nature of the study is a method for analyzing and generating business models. Amit & Zott’s framework also seems to be applicable to the e-government environment, and we were able to draw many viable business models for early childhood education, which forms the practical contribution of the study.

IT Service Continuity: Achieving Embeddedness through Planning

Business customers and regulations as well as different IT service management frameworks expect that IT services are continuously operating. A service interruption might have severe impact on customer relationships, business, sales or image of the company. Therefore, organisations spend enormous amounts of time in continuity and recovery planning for IT services, and several continuity planning methodologies have been introduced. However, the connection between continuity planning and continuity management is somewhat unclear, and embedding the continuity practices into organisations have not been discussed in detail in planning methodologies. This paper will focus on how IT service continuity planning embeds continuity by reviewing continuity planning methods. The continuity planning practices that influence achieving embedded ness are analysed from qualitative and quantitative data from large organisations operating in Finland. The findings suggest that a number of planning practices support the transition from planning to embedded ness, such as creating awareness, increasing commitment, integrating the continuity practices into organisational processes and learning from incidents.

Perceived Usefulness and Ease-Of-Use Items in B2C Electronic Commerce

The standard perceived usefulness and ease-of-use items of technology acceptance model were developed for organizational contexts, but they are also used in studies of consumer acceptance of electronic commerce. However, the terms used in the items are to some extent ambiguous. It is difficult to evaluate improvement in productivity, performance or effectiveness in purchasing products online. In this paper, items from a few recent electronic commerce studies applying technology acceptance model are summarised. Web-based qualitative data is analysed and the emerged features of electronic commerce that are important to consumers are compared with the measurement items from prior research. Finally, a combination of items based on the comparison is proposed. Consumers perceive the 24/7 accessibility of Web shopping site as useful, but this feature has not been measured in the prior studies reviewed here.

“Welcome Old Mate, Deal with It Newcomer” — Web Site Customer Support Evaluation Based on Customers’ Experience Level

User friendliness should be the aim of every web site design, but consumers with different levels of online shopping experience perceive different features as user friendly. Prior research has shown that the purchasing channel selection of consumers is influenced by many variables, for example Internet self-efficacy and prior online shopping experience. This study reports results of a web site evaluation, in which support features for customers with varying levels of experience and Internet self-efficacy were sought from top 9 European multi-category travel sites. Although the studied sites seemed to be quite similar, there were differences especially in features supporting inexperienced customers.