Siew Fan Wong

Determinants of customer loyalty in the Korean smartphone market

Smartphone attributes and corporate factors influence customer satisfaction.Customer satisfaction and switching barriers affect customer loyalty.The moderating effect of relationship length is supported.The moderating effect of usage experience is partially supported. Since the Korean smartphone market has reached a saturation state, device manufacturing companies are re-focusing their resources and capabilities to enhance customer loyalty in order to retain existing customers and attract new customers. However, there are only few previous studies on customer loyalty of smartphones. The purposes of this study are to examine the effect of customer satisfaction and switching barriers on customer loyalty, and evaluate the moderating effects of usage characteristics in the Korean smartphone market. To test the research model, we collected data from 700 smartphone users via a face-to-face survey method. The results show that customer satisfaction and switching barriers (alternative attractiveness and switching cost) have significant impacts on customer loyalty. The device features (functions, usability, and design) and corporate factors (customer support and corporate image) significantly influence customer satisfaction. Usage characteristics (relationship length and usage experience) moderate some of the links in the research model.

The effect of perceived risks and switching barriers on the intention to use smartphones among non-adopters in Korea

Timely diffusion of IT products is critical to the success of technology companies. However, many IT products fail to attain the critical mass required for profitability. Although several studies have identified perceived usefulness as the primary factor in IT adoption, statistics indicate that some Korean consumers avoid IT products despite understanding their utility. This study empirically examines the effects of perceived risks and switching barriers on Korean non-adopters’ intention to use smartphones. The results indicate that the intention to use smartphones is generally influenced by perceived usefulness, financial risk, and cost effectiveness. Those who choose to avoid smartphones despite perceiving their usefulness have additional concerns regarding the perceived non-attractiveness of other service providers. This study samples non-adopters and analytically compares individuals with high levels of smartphone utility perception and varying levels of smartphone usage intention, thereby providing insights to organizations for customizing products and marketing approaches to tap into this market niche.

A three-tier ICT access model for intention to participate online a comparison of developed and developing countries

The digital divide between countries is a critical phenomenon separating the countries that ‘have’ (mostly developed countries) from the countries that ‘have not’ (mostly developing countries). It places developing countries in a disadvantaged position economically, politically, and socially that in turns affects the life and social well-being of the citizens. Current understanding of the digital divide is limited by usage of secondary data, which prompts scholars to call for more theoretically-based empirical research. Since the key to reducing the digital divide is to increase people’s access to ICT, this study developed and empirically tested a 3-tier ICT access model to determine the effect on ICT development of intention to participate in online activities among citizens in developed and developing countries. The model was founded on three existing research frameworks. In addition, this study theoretically clarified the relationship between four types of ICT access and how they contribute to intention to participate online. Survey data of university students from Korea and Cambodia was collected. The results confirm the effect of ICT development on citizens’ intention and isolate key factors that impact the two countries differently. Technological access was found to impact extrinsic motivational access and skills access. Social access influenced extrinsic and intrinsic motivational access and skills access. Implications for research and practice are discussed.

Understanding antecedents to perceived information risks An empirical study of the Korean telecommunications market

With increasing usage of electronic devices, people are creating digital footprints of their everyday actions. These footprints come in the form of big data, and can provide useful insights into customer preferences, thus enabling companies to gain business benefits. However, customers may perceive usage of their personal information as a threat. The telecommunications sector is facing this issue. It is capable of collecting huge amount of data due to wide usage of smartphones and mobile Internet. Yet, it is unable to capitalize on these data. To manage customer perception of information risks in giving telecommunications companies permission to use their personal information, this study examines factors that influence customers’ risk perception. A survey of 512 Internet panel members in Korea shows that information practices play an important role in shaping information privacy concerns, trust, and perceived information risks. Information privacy concern is the strongest predictor of perceived information risks, followed by perceived data control, and trust. Perceived policy awareness and perceived information protection significantly influence perceived data control. The findings imply that telecommunications companies ought to increase the level of customer trust, improve their information practices, and reduce customers’ information privacy concerns if they want to lower customer perception toward information risks.

Customer attribution of service failure and its impact in social commerce environment

As social commerce gains popularity, companies need to address service failure cases that cause expansive consumer damage. While existing literature has examined service failure in the traditional e–commerce market, the unique consumer relational characteristics of social commerce makes it difficult to directly extend current understanding to this business model. Founded on the attribution–affect–behaviour model, this study examines consumer–perceived source of service failure and its impact on negative emotions and post–purchase behaviours. A survey of 300 active social commerce users who have experienced at least one service failure shows that consumers blame failed incidents on social commerce companies and merchants. Regret and disappointment lead to dissatisfaction. Dissatisfied consumers spread negative e–WOM and have lower tendency to repurchase from the same social commerce sites. This study underscores the importance of close collaboration between social commerce companies and merchants in delivering satisfactory services to customers.

Automatic keyphrase extraction techniques: A review

Keyphrases are useful in organizing an overwhelming number of resources while providing ease of access for information retrieval. However, manually assigning keyphrases to a document is very expensive in terms of both human resources and time consumption. Therefore, there is a need for automatic keyphrase extraction. While techniques for automatic keyphrase extraction have been researched for a number of years, the accuracy rate remains low. This paper reviews existing automatic keyphrase extraction techniques with the goal of understanding their strengths and weaknesses. In future improvement of automatic keyphrase extraction technique, these identified strengths should be preserved while the weaknesses should be addressed so that a higher accuracy rate can be achieved. The results show that two important sub-processes should be the focus for further research. The paper also proposes a future study to address this issue.

Assessing organizational business intelligence maturity

Business intelligence (BI) is a strategic resource that helps organizations to facilitate decision making processes in order to sustain competitive advantage. Despite the apparent significance of BI to the success of business activities, many organizations are still in the early stages of BI implementation. To gain full benefits of BI, it is essential that organizations start to move toward a higher level of maturity in their BI implementation. This paper develops and tests a BI maturity model with the goal of eventually using the model to guide organizations in their effort to move toward a higher maturity level in their BI initiatives. Preliminary results indicate that while organizations are using BI, they are not getting full benefits from their BI initiatives. More efforts need to be put in for organizations to move to the highest maturity level.

A literature analysis of the use of Absorptive Capacity construct in IS research

We analyze the use of ACAP in IS research through a comprehensive literature analysis.We reveal that the majority of the IS research conceptualizes ACAP as a capability.Various misalignments between ACAP conceptualization, operationalization and measurement continue to do a disservice to the accumulated research.The research should help IS researchers to conceptualize and operationalize ACAP appropriately. Since the seminal inception of Absorptive Capacity (ACAP) by Cohen and Levinthal (1990), it has been adopted widely in information systems (IS) research. This paper analyzes the use of ACAP in IS research through a literature analysis of ACAP-related papers published in 52 reputable IS journals from 1990 to 2015. Drawing on a review of the evolution of ACAP, the analyses conducted include: (1) descriptive analysis of ACAP in IS papers; (2) domains of ACAP usage; (3) analysis of hypotheses and propositions to show how ACAP is being used to explain various organizational phenomena in IS research; and (4) analysis of the measures to provide insights into the operationalization of ACAP in IS research. Our findings suggest that while the majority of the research correctly conceptualizes ACAP as a capability, various misalignments between ACAP conceptualization, operationalization and measurement, and the level of analysis in the literature continue to do a disservice to the accumulated research in ACAP. The findings and recommendations should help IS researchers to conceptualize and operationalize ACAP appropriately.

Knowledge sharing behavior among community members in professional research information centers

South Korea is a world leader in human capital and research investment. However, compared to other countries with similar levels of resource input, Korea has relatively weaker output performance. This is a concern for the Korean government and the funding agencies that invest heavily in R&D activities. Since knowledge sharing among members influences the output performance within an R&D sector, this paper investigates the factors that affect the knowledge sharing intention and behavior among members of a national R&D center in Korea. A total of 286 members in the Biology Research Information Center participated in a survey. The results show that intrinsic and extrinsic motivations significantly influence the members’ intention to share knowledge. Cognitive and relational capital also exert significant effects on the members’ knowledge sharing intention. Structural capital, however, does not have any significant effect on intention. The members’ intention to share knowledge links significantly to their actual knowledge sharing behavior.

A Comparison of the Digital Divide Across Three Countries with Different Development Indices

The digital divide between countries is a critical phenomenon that places developing countries in a disadvantaged position economically, politically, and socially. While the phenomenon has drawn the attention of many, a theoretical account using empirical test of primary data is lacking. Building on a three-level digital divide framework, this study tested the effect of country development index on three levels of the digital divide. Survey data from university students in Cambodia, Iran, and South Korea show that country development index has a significant effect on all three levels of the digital divide. While the countries differ on the hedonic values of IT use, there is no significant difference in the utilitarian values of IT use. Korea, being a developed country also differs significantly from Cambodia and Iran in the digital access divide, digital capability divide, and digital usage divide. The results have important implications for companies as well as government policy-making and intervention programs.