Kathleen Keeling

On‐screen characters: their design and influence on consumer trust

Purpose – Previous research has focused on how trustworthiness can be evoked by the physical design of on‐screen characters (OSCs) within the e‐commerce interface. The purpose of this study is to investigate whether or not the OSCs representation, along with user differences, influence, how likeable, appropriate and trustworthy they are.Design/methodology/approach – A web site was created for a simulated online bookseller and 183 people from various countries participated in the experiments. OSC representations were tested under four conditions in the main experiment: facial appearance (human‐like vs cartoon‐like) and gender (male vs female).Findings – The results suggest that the human‐like characters are more likeable, appropriate and trustworthy in general terms. However, when perceived capabilities of OSCs are measured, a mismatch can occur between expectations and capabilities of the human‐like OSCs. In fact, cartoon‐like OSCs, especially female, had more positive effects on the web site interface.Re...

A typology of roles for avatars in online retailing

Avatars are now appearing as online assistants on transactional websites, yet their scope is still limited. This paper explores their potential roles in providing assistance, a friendlier interface and purchase recommendations. As avatars are at early stages of implementation, the conceptual framework draws upon human-computer interaction research, plus cognate literature on salesperson roles and the use of synthetic characters in other contexts. The empirical study involved two longitudinal panels of online buyers and an international, online survey of 2114 internet users. Following split-sample principal components analysis and k-means clustering, four categories of role preference are identified. The results inform decisions on the appropriateness of avatars, their adaptation to customer needs and buying contexts, and their possible roles. Hypothesised relationships with age, gender and online buying experience are tested, suggesting scope for avatar role segmentation. Suggestions are offered for marketers and website designers, considering deploying avatars, and for future research directions.

Co-evolving E-tail and On-Line Communities: Conceptual Framework

This paper explores the problem of designing a Web site that meets the needs of both an evolving community and an evolving business. It reports a case study of a business that introduced an e-tail site and an associated on-line community. The site development used an existing community-centered development method. The study found that participants had different motivations for visiting the site—some only wanted product information and purchase, some were seeking social support and information, others sought a more intense experience and greater social involvement. Failure to recognize the separate needs of these clusters resulted in not fully achieving business- and community- building goals. The analysis of the relationship between Web site design, cluster needs, and business goals offers a conceptual framework for co-evolving community and business.

Should retail trade companies avoid recruiting maximisers

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate differences in characteristics, job outcome experiences and attitudes of maximiser and satisficer decision-making style groups working in the retail trade. Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 140 participants who have accepted a job offer in the retail trade in the past six months in the USA was conducted on Amazon Mechanical Turk. The survey examined participants’ opinions and attitudes towards their present job and established which job information source(s) they had used to search for retail trade job-related information. Findings – The results show that compared to satisficers, maximisers exert more effort when searching job information, have higher uncertainty avoidance and need for cognition, and experience more post-decisional regret. In this sample, any significant differences between maximisers and satisficers in relation to job satisfaction, company commitment, and intention to quit their present job are restricted to certain groups. Fo...

Consumer perceptions of Interactive Service Robots: A Value-Dominant Logic perspective

We propose a “Value-Dominant Logic” approach to complement HRI research by integrating two well-known user-centric methodologies from the field of marketing. From the results of laddering interviews accompanied by a visual projective technique we show that consumer value perceptions of robots in a retail service environment are of a paradoxical nature where behavioral and social norms are expected of the robot, yet not for the user. Our consumer oriented value-based approach can contribute to the field of HRI by providing a complementary means of user-centered design/ methodology/requirements gathering and additional multidisciplinary collaborations.

A trust agent for e-commerce: looking for clues

Features of trust or trust attributes are often presented to the consumer by some clues on the homepage. To date, which clue is associated with which trust attributes and the degree of the correlation between clues on the homepage and consumer perceptions towards trust attributes has received little attention. In a study with ninety sites, clues linked to trust attributes were identified and tested against consumer perceptions. The results show that clues correspond to the consumer searching strategy for trust attributes. The clues are used as a basis for developing a personal trust agent (PTA) to assist consumers in assessing the trustworthiness of e-commerce (EC) Websites.

“Redressing the Sleeper Effect: Evidence for the Favorable Persuasive Impact of Discounting Information Over Time in a Contemporary Advertising Context,”

The shift in the accessibility of positive and negative information about consumer products on the Internet calls for a revisiting of persuasion effects. A counterintuitive effect, called the sleeper effect, predicts that attitudes toward a persuasive message have the potential to increase in favorableness despite the presence of information discounting the message. An experimental study was conducted to support the existence of the sleeper effect, demonstrate its renewed relevance in the contemporary advertising environment, and provide a foundation for further sleeper effect studies.

Maximising the credibility of realistic job preview messages: the effect of jobseekers’ decision-making style on recruitment information credibility

Abstract Recruiting the right talent is crucial, particularly in sectors, such as the retail industry, with a high turnover and low commitment levels. In today’s job marketplace, jobseekers receive recruitment messages from various sources. Recruiters are increasingly concerned about the effectiveness of their job recruitment messages. Previous research has indicated that recruitment information credibility is critical to mediating a jobseeker’s willingness to join an organisation. However, research on how to maximise the credibility of job recruitment messages has not led to conclusive results. Taking an individual differences perspective, this research presents two scenario-based experiments to explore how retail-trade jobseekers respond differently to experience-based information that is provided by a company-controlled source depending on their decision-making style. Study 1 (746 participants) shows that when the message is presented in the employee’s tone (staff word-of-mouth, SWOM-formed) and contains employee descriptions and opinions, satisficers perceive the message to be more credible. Maximisers, on the other hand, are less likely to be affected by how the message is formed. Study 2 (351 participants) reveals that the joint effect of job-type and the provider’s background information moderated satisficer-style but not maximiser-style jobseekers’ perceptions of credibility. While satisficers are more likely to perceive an employee’s tone (SWOM-formed) message as credible when the message presents a match between the background of the employee and the job type under consideration, maximisers are not affected by this joint effect. The study has theoretical implications that explain the divergent results in the existing recruitment-message studies and has practical implications for recruiters who are seeking to maximise their candidate pool and increase the credibility of their recruitment messages.

An exploratory study of jobseekers’ decision-making styles, recruitment information sources and organisational attractiveness

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the consequences of jobseeker decision-making style on information search behaviour, information evaluation and perceptions of organisational attractiveness (OA). In this study, the authors assess whether, when presented with a realistic job information searching scenario of receiving basic job information from a typical formal short job advertisement, maximisers and satisficers differ on need for further information and evaluation of further information from informal information sources in relation to valence and tie strength. Design/methodology/approach A scenario-based experiment was conducted on 280 participants from the USA, with work experience in retail, using Amazon Mechanical Turk. Findings The results show that, compared to satisficers, significantly more maximisers chose to search for further information about the company/vacancy after receiving a typical short advertisement message. Furthermore, the results highlight the moderating effects of decision-making style (maximiser vs satisficer), tie strength (strong-tie vs weak-tie provider) and message valence (positive vs negative) on jobseekers’ perceived OA. Practical implications Companies seeking to increase their candidate pool should consider accommodating the different decision-making styles of jobseekers by carefully designing the content of recruitment information and utilising recruitment information sources. Although conducted in just one sector, the ubiquity of the maximiser/satisficer decision-making style implies further research to assess the implications for other sectors. Originality/value Research on decision-making style in recruitment is relatively limited. This study demonstrates the differences between maximisers and satisficers in terms of job-related information needs, and the evaluation of the source/content, when searching for a retail trade job.

Using Virtual World Technology to Deliver Educational Services

Despite increasing educational use of immersive virtual environments for seminars, lectures and teaching related events, there is an absence of ceremonial events such as graduation. Graduation is not simply an ‘event’ but a cultural practice, a ritual, marking alife-transition point and public recognition of achievement. This case study reports a recent innovation in the delivery of educational services in which university students take part in an official graduation using the virtual world technology, Second Life (http://www.secondlife.com). This case study has previously been reported in Keeling et al., 2009.