Marios Koufaris

The development of initial trust in an online company by new customers

Lack of trust in online companies is a primary reason why many web users do not shop online. This study proposes a model to explain how new customers of a web-based company develop initial trust in the company after their first visit. The model is empirically tested using a questionnaire-based field study. The results indicate that perceived company reputation and willingness to customize products and services can significantly affect initial trust. Perceived web site usefulness, ease of use, and security control are also significant antecedents of initial trust. Finally, we found no support for the hypothesized effect of individual customer trust propensity on initial trust.

Using an attribute-based decision support system for user-customized products online: an experimental investigation

In the decision support systems literature, most studies have concentrated on the direct effects of DSS use and design on decision outcomes and user performance in the workplace. Fewer DSS studies have integrated decision process variables, such as user beliefs and attitudes, in their models. In this paper, we examine the mediating role of decision process variables in the use of an online customer DSS. We do so through an experimental study of an alternative-based and an attribute-based DSS for product customization by online customers. Using cognitive fit and flow theories, we develop a theoretical model with four mediating decision process variables (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, and perceived control) and two of their antecedents: interface design (attribute-based versus alternative-based) and task complexity (choice set size). Our results show that the impact of DSS interface design on behavioral intentions is fully mediated by perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment, although not by perceived control. Specifically, we verify that users of an attribute-based DSS express higher perceived usefulness and perceived enjoyment than users of an alternative-based one. In addition, we find that task complexity has an interesting relationship with usefulness and enjoyment, both of which follow an inverted U-shaped curve as choice set size increases. Finally, we find that for users of the alternative-based DSS, perceived ease of use and perceived control decrease as task complexity increases. However, the attribute-based DSS alleviates that decline for both variables. Among other contributions, our results indicate the importance of including decision process variables when studying DSS as well as the complex effect of task complexity on those variables. Our study also provides some important guidelines for online companies that provide customer DSS on their websites, especially the danger of providing too many product choice options that can overwhelm customers and harm their shopping experience.

The Effect of Web Site Perceptions on Initial Trust in the Owner Company

This study is an empirical examination of the effect of a firms Web site on a customers development of initial trust beliefs after a first visit to the Web site. Specifically, it examines the impact of Web site appeal and usability on the initial trust beliefs of new customers with respect to an on-line company. Web site appeal is found to be a significant predictor of initial trust, which in turn has a significant effect on intention to use the Web site in the future, but the results do not support a relationship between Web site usability and initial trust. Web skills are found to have a positive relationship to perceptions of a Web sites usability, but initial trust in a company has no significant relationship to individual trust propensity. Finally, there is some indication, although not conclusive, that the relationship between Web site usability and initial trust may be significant only for travel-related Web sites, an area where the customers search task can be very complex.

Service Quality in Software-as-a-Service: Developing the SaaS-Qual Measure and Examining Its Role in Usage Continuance

Despite the need to better understand how customers of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions perceive the quality of these software services and how these perceptions influence SaaS adoption and use, there is no extant measure that comprehensively captures service quality evaluations in SaaS. Based on previous SERVQUAL and SaaS literature, field interviews and focus groups, a card-sorting exercise, and two surveys of SaaS using companies, we develop, refine, and test SaaS-Qual, a zones-of-tolerance (ZOT)-based service quality measurement instrument specifically for SaaS solutions. Besides validating already established service quality dimensions (i.e., rapport, responsiveness, reliability, and features), we identify two new factors (i.e., security and flexibility) that are essential for the evaluation of service quality of SaaS solutions. SaaS-Qual demonstrates strong psychometric properties and shows high nomological validity within a framework that predicts the continued use of SaaS solutions by existing customers. In addition to developing a validated instrument that provides a fine-grained measurement of SaaS service quality, we also enrich existing research models on information systems continuance. Moreover, the SaaS-Qual instrument can be used as a diagnostic tool by SaaS providers and users alike to spot strengths and weaknesses in the service delivery of SaaS solutions.

Signaling theory and information asymmetry in online commerce

An e-business environment results in information asymmetry because buyers cannot physically evaluate the quality of products and easily assess the trustworthiness of sellers. Product and seller quality are communicated through website signals. Using signaling theory, we developed a three-dimensional framework to classify website signals. We empirically tested the framework with a comparative content analysis of websites from a sample of online pharmacies. We found that low-quality sellers were likely to avoid costly and easy-to-verify signals and used fewer signals than did high-quality sellers, who used costly and difficult-to-verify signals and displayed more signals. These results provide information to online buyers and regulatory institutions in charge of online retailer evaluation.

Extending the capabilities of RMM: Russian dolls and hypertext

Hypermedia design is usually ad hoc. Whereas the original Relationship Management Methodology (RMM) provides a structured approach to design and implementation of hypermedia applications, it has limitations that constrain the usability of the kinds of applications it can construct. This paper provides extensions to RMM that enable it to model a much richer class of applications, thereby making the methodology more attractive for software developers to use. The paper also presents a graphical and programming language notation for RMMs new m-slice construct, which is at the core of the extensions presented.

Perceptual antecedents of user attitude in electronic commerce

This paper examines three cognitive antecedents of Web user attitude toward a commercial website -- perceived informativeness, perceived entertainment, and perceived irritation. We tested the theoretical relationships between the three cognitive antecedents, attitude toward the site, and intention to return to the site using Partial Least Squares (PLS) with data collected in a field study of three e-commerce websites. The model explains a high percentage of the variance in attitude toward the site and intention to return and all the coefficients in the model are significant. We conclude that both perceived informativeness and perceived entertain-ment are significantly and positively related to attitude toward the site, while perceived irritation is significantly and negatively related to attitude toward the site. We also conclude that attitude toward the site is significantly and positively related to a users intention to return to the site.

An Experimental Study of the Effects of Promotional Techniques in Web-Based Commerce

This paper explores the effects of two specific message delivery techniques frequently adopted by online stores: continuously animated site banners and unexpected pop-up ads. Results from 128 surveys collected in a 2x2 factorial design showed that each of the two techniques had a significant effect on perceived irritation in the hypothesized direction. This paper also confirmed that perceived irritation has a significant negative relationship with a visitor’s attitude toward the website. This study fills a vacuum in academic research with respect to the negative effects of Web advertising and advises caution in the deployment of certain techniques. This paper advocates future research that links format attributes and presentation techniques to attitudinal consequences in Web advertising, as well as in the design of an entire website.

Influences on the corporate adoption of Web technology

Virtually every brick-and-mortar firm has a Web site today, but this has not always been the case. Some companies quickly established a Web presence with thousands of pages of information available on their sites and even early e-commerce features. Others started with a simple Web site establishing a “front window” on the Web. Some companies did not appear on the Web until much later when it became essential for all businesses to do so. This article explores the roles of senior management and firm resources in the early adoption of Web technology. We endeavor to determine what distinguished firms that embraced the Web and established an early Web presence from firms that did not consider the Web important. Although our data, collected during 1996–1997, is somewhat dated, the results of this study, particularly findings concerning management’s role in adoption, can be generalized to other IT innovations besides Web sites, including electronic commerce capabilities, enterprise software, and supply chain management systems, as well as future technologies yet to appear. Previous research suggests that predicting a firm’s response to new technology necessitates an examination of the leadership and strategic direction of senior management. A consistent finding in early research on system implementation is that management support is related to success [9]. A firm that emphasizes technology as a part of its strategy is likely to have recognized the potential importance of the Internet and to have established a site. A firm that has not created a site for the general public is unlikely to have established an intranet or an extranet. Also, firms with more resources are more likely to invest in a Web presence than firms with fewer resources. Knowledge is a major resource, and resource-rich firms are more likely to have personnel knowledgeable about technology and interested in innovation.

Reconciling top-down and bottom-up design approaches in RMM

The proliferation of intranets and extranets as well as the vast expansion of the World Wide Web (WWW) and electronic commerce indicate the need for a structured hypermedia design methodology that will guide the design, development, and maintenance of large multimedia and hypermedia information systems and collaborative systems. The Relationship Management Methodology (RMM) is a well-known hypermedia design methodology. In this paper we provide an extension to it that enhances the design process. We present an iterative process of application design that incorporates the design of the entire application as well as its components. The process includes the design of an application diagram in a top-down fashion, the design of the components or building blocks using the construct of an m-slice, and the regeneration of the application diagram in a bottom-up fashion. An iterative comparison and refinement of the two versions of the application diagram ensure a better final application.