Mara Bergamaschi

Trust, information asymmetry and professional service online referral agents

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate how the intermediation of an online agent in the relationship between prospective clients and professional service providers affects individual purchasing processes and decisions, and satisfaction with the professional service provider once the commercial transaction is concluded. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the integrated trust-technology acceptance model, modified to include two additional variables to take into account of the specificities of the context investigated – users’ perceived reduction of information asymmetry and satisfaction with the professional service provider – a research framework is developed and tested with a research design combining a decision tree procedure with structural equation modelling and multi-group analysis. Participants are 188 users of an Italian website which incorporates an online agent that refers notaries to prospective clients. Findings Decisions to purchase professional services brokered by online agents depend upon trust in the agent, and users’ perceptions of the agent’s ability to reduce information asymmetry, as well as its perceived usefulness. Online agents for professional services can be effective as well as efficient: users who bought the service from an agent-referred notary had higher levels of satisfaction with their professional service provider than users who purchased the service from a different notary. Originality/value This is the first empirical effort to investigate the effects of online agents in the specific context of professional service purchasing. The uniqueness of the research context permitted identification of a new type of online agent, the “double-sided online referral agent”.

The cross-effects of sponsorship in non-professional sports communities

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the cross-effects of on-site sponsorship on online sponsorship effectiveness in communities. The research evaluates how members’ commitment to a sports-oriented community and attitude to brands providing sponsorship developed through sponsorship on-site, and sponsor-community fit, influence the effectiveness of online sponsorship measured as the intention to purchase the same brands online through sponsoring banners displayed on the community web site. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a web-survey from a self-selected sample of 272 respondents belonging to non-professional sports communities. By drawing on the principal tenets of the theory of reasoned action, the authors developed a theoretical framework and tested it through a structural equation model to evaluate the role of attitude to sponsor brands developed through sponsorship on-site, and its antecedents, on the intention to purchase the same brands online through spons...

The interplay between policy guidelines and local dynamics in shaping the scope of networks: the experience of the Italian Departments of Mental Health

In the mental health field, the creation of networks that can guarantee the smooth coordination of services and organizations across sectors is a priority in the policy agenda of several countries. In Italy, Departments of Mental Health (DMHs) have been designated responsible for the system of specialist mental health services, and also mandated as the conveners and leaders of interorganizational and cross-sectoral networks, by a system-wide reform. This study aims to understand how mental health networks have been assembled in this context and the factors and motivations that have shaped their scope. By combining an analysis of policies with a survey of DMH directors, we have determined that DMHs have preferentially formed collaborative relationships with social service providers (local governments) and the voluntary sector. In contrast, relationships with substance abuse and addiction services and primary care providers were weak and stifled by a lack of trust and by conflict about respective contributions to mental care. We explore the reasons for this selectivity in interorganizational relationships and propose that a lack of targeted incentives in policy guidelines, on the one hand, and the existence of a mandated network leadership, on the other, have led to a rather narrow range of collaborations.