While information privacy has been studied in multiple disciplines over the years, the advent of the information age has both elevated the importance of privacy in theory and practice, and increased ...the relevance of information privacy literature for Information Systems, which has taken a leading role in the theoretical and practical study of information privacy. There is an impressive body of literature on information privacy in IS, and the two Theory and Review articles in this issue of MIS Quarterly review this literature. By integrating these two articles, this paper evaluates the current state of the IS literature on information privacy (where are we now?) and identifies promising research directions for advancing IS research on information privacy (where should we go?). Additional thoughts on further expanding the information privacy research in IS by drawing on related disciplines to enable a multidisciplinary study of information privacy are discussed.
Online product reviews help consumers infer product quality, and the mean (average) rating is often used as a proxy for product quality. However, two self-selection biases, acquisition bias (mostly ...consumers with a favorable predisposition acquire a product and hence write a product review) and underreporting bias (consumers with extreme, either positive or negative, ratings are more likely to write reviews than consumers with moderate product ratings), render the mean rating a biased estimator of product quality, and they result in the well-known J-shaped (positively skewed, asymmetric, bimodal) distribution of online product reviews. To better understand the nature and consequences of these two self-selection biases, we analytically model and empirically investigate how these two biases originate from consumers’ purchasing and reviewing decisions, how these decisions shape the distribution of online product reviews over time, and how they affect the firm’s product pricing strategy. Our empirical results reveal that consumers do realize both self-selection biases and attempt to correct for them by using other distributional parameters of online reviews, besides the mean rating. However, consumers cannot fully account for these two self-selection biases because of bounded rationality. We also find that firms can strategically respond to these self-selection biases by adjusting their prices. Still, since consumers cannot fully correct for these two self-selection biases, product demand, the firm’s profit, and consumer surplus may all suffer from the two self-selection biases. This paper has implications for consumers to leverage online product reviews to infer true product quality, for commercial websites to improve the design of their online product review systems, and for product manufacturers to predict the success of their products.
This paper extends Ajzen's (1991) theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explain and predict the process of e-commerce adoption by consumers. The process is captured through two online consumer ...behaviors: (1) getting information and (2) purchasing a product from a Web vendor. First, we simultaneously model the association between these two contingent online behaviors and their respective intentions by appealing to consumer behavior theories and the theory of implementation intentions, respectively. Second, following TPB, we derive for each behavior its intention, attitude, subjective norm, and perceived behavioral control (PBC). Third, we elicit and test a comprehensive set of salient beliefs for each behavior. A longitudinal study with online consumers supports the proposed e-commerce adoption model, validating the predictive power of TPB and the proposed conceptualization of PBC as a higher-order factor formed by self-efficacy and controllability. Our findings stress the importance of trust and technology adoption variables (perceived usefulness and ease of use) as salient beliefs for predicting e-commerce adoption, justifying the integration of trust and technology adoption variables within the TPB framework. In addition, technological characteristics (download delay, Website navigability, and information protection), consumer skills, time and monetary resources, and product characteristics (product diagnosticity and product value) add to the explanatory and predictive power of our model. Implications for Information Systems, e-commerce, TPB, and the study of trust are discussed.
Although an extensive body of research has emerged on marketing in computer-mediated environments, the literature remains fragmented. As a result, insights and findings have accumulated without an ...overarching framework to provide structure and guidance to the rapidly increasing research stream, which is detrimental to long-term knowledge development in this area. To address this issue, the authors organize and synthesize findings from the literature using a framework structured around four key interactions in computer-mediated environments: consumer–firm interactions, firm–consumer interactions, consumer–consumer interactions, and firm–firm interactions. The proposed framework serves a valuable organizational function and helps identify a broad spectrum of gaps in the literature to advance the next generation of knowledge development.
Online markets pose a difficulty for evaluating products, particularly experience goods, such as used cars, that cannot be easily described online. This exacerbates product uncertainty, the buyer's ...difficulty in evaluating product characteristics, and predicting how a product will perform in the future. However, the IS literature has focused on seller uncertainty and ignored product uncertainty. To address this void, this study conceptualizes product uncertainty and examines its effects and antecedents in online markets for used cars (eBay Motors). Extending the information asymmetry literature from the seller to the product, we first theorize the nature and dimensions (description and performance) of product uncertainty. Second, we propose product uncertainty to be distinct from, yet shaped by, seller uncertainty. Third, we conjecture product uncertainty to negatively affect price premiums in online markets beyond seller uncertainty. Fourth, based on the information signaling literature, we describe how information signals (diagnostic product descriptions and third-party product assurances) reduce product uncertainty. The structural model is validated by a unique dataset comprised of secondary transaction data from used cars on eBay Motors matched with primary data from 331 buyers who bid on these used cars. The results distinguish between product and seller uncertainty, show that product uncertainty has a stronger effect on price premiums than seller uncertainty, and identify the most influential information signals that reduce product uncertainty. The study's implications for the emerging role of product uncertainty in online markets are discussed.
This study seeks to identify the means by which information technology helps cocreate relational value in the context of interflrm relationships in the logistics industry — a large and ...information-intensive industry. We identify a set of IT functionalities — single-location shipping, multilocation shipping, supply chain visibility, and financial settlement — that can be used to manage the flows of physical goods, information, and finances across locations in interfirm logistics processes. Progressively more advanced sets of IT functionalities, when implemented and used in the interfirm relationship to execute logistics processes, are proposed to form four distinct IT capability profiles of increased sophistication. Interfirm IT capability profiles of higher sophistication are proposed to help cocreate greater relational value by facilitating the flows of physical goods, information, and finances across locations in the interfirm logistics process. Besides their direct role in helping cocreate relational value, these interfirm IT capability profiles are proposed to further enhance relational value cocreation when complemented by interfirm communications for business development and IT development. Our empirical study was situated in one of the world's largest logistics suppliers and over 2,000 of its interfirm relationships with buyers across industries. Integrated data from four archival sources on the IT functionalities implemented and used in interfirm logistics relationships, interfirm communications, relational value (share of wallet and loyalty), and multiple control variables were collected. The results show that the proposed interfirm IT capability profiles and interfirm communications have both a direct and an interaction effect on relational value. Implications for cocreating relational value in interfirm relationships with the aid of IT are discussed.
Swift Guanxi in Online Marketplaces Ou, Carol Xiaojuan; Pavlou, Paul A.; Davison, Robert M.
MIS quarterly,
03/2014, Letnik:
38, Številka:
1
Journal Article
Recenzirano
The concept of guanxi (i.e., a close and pervasive interpersonal relationship) has received little attention in the literature on online marketplaces, perhaps due to their impersonal nature. However, ...we propose that computer-mediated communication (CMC) technologies can mimic traditional interactive face-to-face communications, thus enabling a form of guanxi in online marketplaces. Extending the literature on traditional guanxi, we herein introduce the concept of swift guanxi, conceptualized as the buyer’s perception of a swiftly formed interpersonal relationship with a seller, which consists of mutual understanding, reciprocal favors, and relationship harmony.
Integrating theories of CMC and guanxi, we develop a model that explains how a set of CMC tools (i.e., instant messaging, message box, feedback system) facilitate repeat transactions with sellers by building swift guanxi and trust through interactivity and presence (social presence and telepresence) with sellers. Longitudinal data from 338 buyers in TaoBao, China’s leading online marketplace, support our structural model, showing that the buyers’ effective use of CMC tools enable swift guanxi and trust by enhancing the buyers’ perceptions of interactivity and presence. In turn, swift guanxi and trust predict buyers’ repurchase intentions and their actual repurchases from sellers. We discuss the implications of swift guanxi in online marketplaces with the aid of CMC technologies.
The Internet has presumably created a level playing field that allows any service provider across the globe to compete for contracts on online outsourcing platforms for information technology (IT) ...services. In this paper, we empirically examine (a) how country (language, time zone, cultural) differences and the country’s IT development affect buyers’ selection of service providers in online outsourcing platforms; and (b) how the reputation of service providers moderates the proposed effects of country differences and the country’s IT development. We integrated a unique data set formed by a sample of 11,541 software development projects from an online outsourcing platform matched with archival sources on the language, time zone, culture, and IT development of countries. Since price is typically endogenous in any supply demand system, we used the exogenous variation of the normalized exchange rate of the currency among countries, as a “cost-shifter” type instrumental variable (IV) for econometric identification. Our panel data analyses results (both with and without IV) show that buyers are negatively affected by country differences in terms of language, time zone, and culture, and prefer service providers from countries with higher IT development. Notably, the reputation of service providers attenuates the negative effects of language and cultural (but not time zone) differences, while it substitutes the positive effect of the country’s IT development. We discuss the study’s theoretical and managerial implications for understanding the global dynamics of online outsourcing platforms and better designing these platforms.
The online appendix is available at
https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2017.0709
.
For online marketplaces to succeed and prevent a market of lemons, their feedback mechanism (reputation system) must differentiate among sellers and create price premiums for trustworthy sellers as ...returns to their reputation. However, the literature has solely focused on numerical (positive and negative) feedback ratings, alas ignoring the role of feedback text comments. These text comments are proposed to convey useful reputation information about a sellers prior transactions that cannot be fully captured with crude numerical ratings. Building on the economics and trust literatures, this study examines the rich content of feedback text comments and their role in building a buyers trust in a sellers benevolence and credibility. In turn, benevolence and credibility are proposed to differentiate among sellers by influencing the price premiums that a seller receives from buyers.
This paper utilizes content analysis to quantify over 10,000 publicly available feedback text comments of 420 sellers in eBays online auction marketplace, and to match them with primary data from 420 buyers that recently transacted with these 420 sellers. These dyadic data show that evidence of extraordinary past seller behavior contained in the sellers feedback text comments creates price premiums for reputable sellers by engendering buyers trust in the sellers benevolence and credibility (controlling for the impact of numerical ratings). The addition of text comments and benevolence helps explain a greater variance in price premiums ( R 2 = 50%) compared to the existing literature ( R 2 = 20%30%). By showing the economic value of feedback text comments through trust in a sellers benevolence and credibility, this study helps explain the success of online marketplaces that primarily rely on the text comments (versus crude numerical ratings) to differentiate among sellers and prevent a market of lemon sellers. By integrating the economics and trust literatures, the paper has theoretical and practical implications for better understanding the nature and role of feedback mechanisms, trust building, price premiums, and seller differentiation in online marketplaces.
Companies face a trade-off between creating stronger privacy protection policies for consumers and employing more sophisticated data collection methods. Justice-driven privacy protection outlines a ...method to manage this trade-off. We built on the theoretical lens of justice theory to integrate justice provision with two key privacy protection features,
negotiation
and
active-recommendation
, and proposed an information technology (IT) solution to balance the trade-off between privacy protection and consumer data collection. In the context of mobile banking applications, we prototyped a theory-driven IT solution, referred to as
negotiation
,
active
-
recommendation privacy policy application,
which enables customer service agents to interact with and actively recommend personalized privacy policies to consumers. We benchmarked our solution through a field experiment relative to two conventional applications: an online privacy statement and a privacy policy with only a simple negotiation feature. The results showed that the proposed IT solution improved consumers’ perceived procedural justice, interactive justice, and distributive justice and increased their psychological comfort in using our application design and in turn reduced their privacy concerns, enhanced their privacy awareness, and increased their information disclosure intentions and actual disclosure behavior in practice. Our proposed design can provide consumers better privacy protection while ensuring that consumers voluntarily disclose personal information desirable for companies.
Companies face a trade-off between creating stronger privacy protection policies for consumers and employing more sophisticated data collection methods. Justice-driven privacy protection outlines a method to manage this trade-off. We built on the theoretical lens of justice theory to integrate justice provision with key privacy protection features and conceptualized the extent to which these features affect privacy concerns and information disclosure behavior. Notably, we proposed an information technology (IT) solution to balance the trade-off between privacy protection and consumer data collection. In the context of mobile banking applications, we prototyped a theory-driven IT solution, referred to as
negotiation
,
active
-
recommendation privacy policy application,
which enables customer service agents to interact with and actively recommend personalized privacy policies to consumers. We benchmarked our solution through a field experiment relative to two conventional applications: a
non-negotiation privacy policy application
(only a nonnegotiable privacy statement is posted) as a base method and a
negotiation
,
non-active-recommendation privacy policy application
(only a negotiation feature is integrated with the privacy policy). The results showed that the proposed
negotiation
,
active
-
recommendation privacy policy application
decreased privacy concerns and increased consumers’ information disclosure intentions and actual disclosure behavior. A post hoc analysis corroborated these findings, indicating that our design enhanced perceived procedural justice, interactional justice, and distributive justice among consumers and made them feel comfortable to disclose their personal information. Likewise, companies would be able to collect additional personal information from consumers, thereby contributing to a privacy-friendly environment. We discuss contributions and the implications of our proposed IT solution for consumers, companies, developers, and public policy officials.
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