Consumers' Online Information Search: Gen Yers' Finding Needles in the Internet Haystack

There exists a paucity of research attention afforded to understanding consumer information search behavior on the Internet, vis-a-vis existing information search models such as an interactive, consumer experience in the offline realm. Thus, the present study investigates whether the factors inculcated within traditional cognitive processing models remain significant in the online information setting. Grounded in the contributions of Punj and Staelin (1983 Punj , G. N. , & Staelin , R. ( 1983 ). A model of consumer information search behavior for new automobiles . Journal of Consumer Research , 9 ( March ), 366 – 380 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and Srinivasan and Ratchford (1991 Srinivasan , N. , & Ratchford , B. T. ( 1991 ). An empirical test of a model of external search for automobiles . Journal of Consumer Research , 18 ( September ), 233 – 242 .[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) in the context of offline information search, this study proffers an empirical model of consumer online information. The empirical findings reveal that Perceived Risk and Perceived Cost do not significantly contribute to the consumer online information Search Effort. Rather, both of these conventional antecedents and Enjoyment significantly impact the satisfaction of young consumers' online information search endeavors. We recommend further studies to examine consumer information search behavior in other contexts (e.g., mobile phones) across countries.     

Consumers' Online Information Search for a New Restaurant for Dining-Out

ABSTRACT

By Nelson (1970)'s categorization, purchasing a service such as dining-out at a new restaurant is ‘experience-oriented’ in its nature, and its quality cannot be easily searched before the actual consumption. However, it has been suggested that the interactive nature of the Internet will improve market efficiency by creating a new channel of communication that allows the provision of information about experience attributes in a readily available format (e.g., other consumers' rating online). The paper empirically investigates this notion by exploring consumers' online information search behavior for a new restaurant for fine dining. The extent of usage of various online information sources and the perceived importance of each source are investigated in the United States and in Taiwan. Results show that information from other consumers is considered more important than information from sellers, but that US consumers favor non-Internet sources of information while Taiwanese consumers favor online sources.     

Business Ethics in Western and Northern Europe: A Search for Effective Alliances

Business ethics in Westenr and Northern Europe has acquired a certain momentum during the last fifteen years, both as an academic discipline and as a point of reference in business policies. The article reports about developments in academia in various countries, and the founding of national and Europe-wide networks and organizations bringing together representatives from business as well as from universities. It presents sources of information on the state of affairs, and proposes some parameters by which the national varieties of posssible alliances between ethical thinking and business policies can be depicted more adequately. The thesis of the report is that, in order to be operational, business ethics in Western and Northern Europe has to become part of the total configuration of economic, historical and ideological components that shape the social fabric on a national level.     

中国商品:如何亮相欧洲

位于汉诺威的德意志梅斯AG公司(Messe AG)是全球最大的会展机构之一,公司董事会主席恩斯特·罗威(Ernst Raue)负责在世界各国举办的贸易展览工作.本刊中欧之桥专栏记者就中国厂商为什么应去欧洲及怎样到欧洲参展的话题对他进行了采访.     

冲突性信息对消费者信息搜索行为的影响——基于功能性食品健康声称的实证研究

通过实验法研究有关健康声称的冲突性信息是否以及如何影响消费者的行为。结果发现:当有关功能性食品健康声称的有效性存在相互冲突(相对于互补)的信息时,消费者的信息搜索倾向更强;认知闭合需要在冲突性信息对消费者信息搜索倾向的影响中起反向调节作用;消费者对健康元素的矛盾态度是有关功能性食品健康声称的冲突性信息对消费者信息搜索倾向影响的中介变量。     

Why India Lags Behind China and How It Can Bridge the Gap

Though India has been growing at six per cent annually since the late 1980s, it trails behind China, which has been growing at ten per cent per annum since 1981. The single most important factor explaining this difference is the relatively poor performance of Indian industry. Whereas the share of industry in China's GDP rose from 42 per cent in 1991 to 51 per cent in 2001, it remained virtually stagnant in India. By contrast, services grew rapidly in India, expanding from 42 per cent in 1991 to 48 per cent in 2001. With the information technology sector less than two per cent of the GDP, services growth was largely in the informal sector. Approximately 77 per cent of India's workers live in rural areas. To bring a large chunk of this workforce into the modern sector, India must achieve a much higher growth in the traditional, unskilled‐labour‐intensive industry. Growth in the information technology sector gives India an extra lever but cannot be the main engine of transformation. Therefore, the right approach is to walk on two legs: traditional labour‐intensive industry and the modern IT industry. Both legs need strengthening through further reforms. The paper suggests four specific reforms, three for industry and one for IT, necessary to achieve the transformation to a modern economy.     

Consumers' Needs for Public Education and Corporate Participation Regarding Child Internet Addiction: Based on the Risk Perception Attitude Framework

Internet addiction, which causes physical, behavioral, and psychological problems, especially in children, is becoming an increasingly common disorder in contemporary society. This study investigated the needs of consumers for public education and corporate participation in South Korea to prevent or reduce the risk to young children becoming addicted to the Internet, and classified consumers into four groups according to their risk perception and efficacy beliefs using the Risk Perception Attitude framework. The expressed consumer need for public education was higher for groups with low efficacy beliefs, whereas the expressed need for corporate participation was higher for groups with high efficacy beliefs. These results indicate that consumers who perceive the risk as out of their control feel a higher need for a public approach, while those with high efficacy beliefs feel a higher need for corporate efforts.     

Health Information on the Internet

Electronic Health (e-Health) increasingly strives to provide health information and services to healthcare stakeholders via the Internet, and to actively involve patients in their care. One major chance for these participatory healthcare and patient-centered approaches that integrate patients in healthcare are the phenomena and ideas associated with providing information and healthcare on the Internet. This paper examines the existing body of knowledge on online health information and explores the current state of research through a review of literature as well as past and current research projects. The fundamental categories of the analysis represent the stakeholders in the healthcare sector, the connecting information flows, the information-transferring technological applications, as well as the categories of the TEMPEST model. Based on these findings, causes and future research fields are discussed. The technological category has the largest share of all categories. Based on these findings, causes and future research fields are discussed.     

Currency of Search: How Spending Time on Search is Not the Same as Spending Money

Search theories suggest that a decline in search costs increases search behavior. This relationship has been well supported by prior experimental research but not by studies conducted in retail settings. Our review of the literature suggests that this discrepancy might be driven by the fact that prior experiments typically involve money-based search whereas actual search in retail settings is usually time-based. We argue that the currency of search plays a moderating role. We find that when participants spend money on search, a decrease in search costs has a significant effect on search decisions but, when they spend time on search, a decrease in search costs either has a relatively weak effect (Experiment 1) or no effect at all (Experiment 2). Furthermore, this insensitivity in time also emerges for search payoffs (Experiment 3). We also offer evidence for the processes underlying these effects. Our results provide a new lens to examine inconsistencies in the search literature, and present a view of search that is more applicable to the retail context.     

移动搜索路在何方:中国移动搜索市场研究

如今移动搜索已经变成了一个时兴的话题,几年之间,它从无到有,既有广阔的前景,也在发展中面也面临着各种障碍。本文就移动搜索的现状进行了多方面的分析,并对于未来的发展策略进行了思考,给出一些个人的建议。     

Estimating Contagion on the Internet: Evidence from the Diffusion of Digital/Information Products

Even as the Internet continues to grow as a global platform for communication and commerce, the success of new value offerings on the Internet hinges on acquisition of new customers and retention of existing customers. Central to the flow of customers in and out of trial and repeat behavior in this burgeoning and dynamic environment, characterized by diversity among both producers and consumers of value offerings, is the process of social contagion—active word of mouth that flows among customers or passive observation of others. To estimate contagion on the Internet, the authors develop a trial-repeat purchase diffusion model for successive innovations in value offerings on the Internet. The model extends the state-of-the-art diffusion modeling by incorporating (i) dynamic market potential, (ii) heterogeneity among first-time triers, (iii) heterogeneity in word of mouth due to repeat buyers and non-repeaters (i.e., positive and negative word of mouth), and (iv) dynamic repeat purchase rate. The model also incorporates the influence of product characteristics, specifically source of innovation (i.e., whether the innovation is driven by environmental needs or competitive pressures) and product bundling, and competition. The authors test the model with weekly adoption data for 11 computer software products available on the shareware system, involving over 100 new versions in the period 1991–1994, and in a market whose size grows by a factor of fifty from early 1991 to late 1994. The findings clarify the role of word of mouth effects, competition, and product characteristics in fostering the diffusion process for digital information goods.     

海外并购:中国企业如何应对美欧的反垄断挑战

伴随着中国经济的快速发展和政府出台的一系列政策的鼓励,越来越多的中国企业开始走出国门并购海外企业,尝试着跨国产业重组。然而,国外的反垄断法使得一些中国企业的跨国并购功败垂成。因此,通过对欧美反垄断法体系及近来反垄断规制趋势的具体分析,结合中国企业的实际情况,尝试性地为中国企业进军欧美,顺利进行跨国并购重组提供应对策略。     

Internet Tool Use and Virtual Co-Creation in the Brazilian Construction Industry: Organizational Practices and Consumers' Personal Values

ABSTRACT

This article analyzes the use of Internet tools and virtual co-creation initiatives of firms ranked among the top 100 in the Brazilian building industry. The research was based on observation of the companies' websites and of 200 posts written by participants in a collaborative building project. Websites were observed for the way online interaction tools were aligned to their declared goals. Posts were analyzed using discourse analysis and coded on the basis of the list of values. Results show that only three companies use online tools for the purpose of co-creation and that customer enjoyment is the primary driver of co-creation.     

Search for Nutrition Information: A Probit Analysis of the Use of Different Information Sources

Much consumer research on nutrition information-seeking has focused on prepurchase label reading. This study examines the search for nutrition information from a broader group of sources, because prepurchase label reading appears to be only a small part of consumers' total search. The use of different information sources was analyzed using 2 cost benefit model for search. Benefits are related to the importance of nutrition to the consumer, and to obtaining better food value. Although the model fits better for some sources than for others, support was obtained for the model. The results suggest the usefulness of a cost-benefit approach in understanding consumer information-seeking for nutrition; they emphasize the importance of examining consumers' use of a variety of information sources and support recent suggestions for segmentation of the audience for nutrition information. Policy makers may be able to encourage search for nutrition information by emphasizing the enduring importance of nutrition to consumers.     

中国消费者对国家经济发展的信心调查与分析

借鉴国际消费者信心指数理论,首次对中国消费者信心状况进行调查,根据调查结果编制中国消费者信心指数,并对中国不同特征消费者关于经济发展、就业形势、物价水平、购买住房、收入增加、家庭物质生活等方面的信心状况进行了全面分析。     

中国消费者对国家经济发展的信心调查与分析

借鉴国际消费者信心指数理论,首次对中国消费者信心状况进行调查,根据调查结果编制中国消费者信心指数,并对中国不同特征消费者关于经济发展、就业形势、物价水平、购买住房、收入增加、家庭物质生活等方面的信心状况进行了全面分析.     

我国涉老互联网信息服务企业现状研究

针对我国涉老互联网信息服务企业的数量、规模、产品内容等应用研究几乎还是空白的现状,对中国语境下“涉老互联网信息服务企业”的概念进行了界定,设计了评价指标.针对近三年收集到的我国51家涉老互联网信息服务企业,分别从企业的成立年份、注册地点以及注册资金等属性数据对企业现状进行了分析,从域名创建时间、运营现状、感知有用性、感知易用性、多元化服务五个角度分析了现状.结果显示:我国最早涉老互联网信息服务企业成立于1998年,起步较早,发展较快,但注册资金普遍较小,专业投资企业开始涉入;目前正常运营的网站仅30家,大多访问量低、有用性信息少,易用性待提高.企业多元经营,缺乏专注,亟需聚焦突破后再不断提供增值服务.     

汉堡:面向中国的欧洲大门--德国工商巨头访谈录

正值"2005世界旅游资源博览会"展出前夕,记者应邀来到上海浦东香格里拉酒店宴会大厅.这里,德国工商代表大会和汉堡代表团的工作人员正在为"汉堡之夜"晚会忙碌着.赶在晚会举行之前,记者对德国自由汉莎城汉堡经济劳工部执行总裁弗兰克斯·克莱恩、汉堡旅游局局长迪特里希·冯·阿尔贝杜尔进行了采访.     

Legal Requirements for the Personalization of Commercial Internet Applications in Europe

Most electronic-commerce (e-commerce) applications require the collection and storing of information about customers. As a consequence, the performed transactions involve legal issues. For 3 years, we have been involved in a project that has studied the potentials of personalization of e-commerce systems from the particular angle of small- and medium-sized enterprises. In this article, we pick up a couple of scenarios that many e-commerce vendors face when implementing personalization on their Web sites. The specific focus of the discussion is the legal use of costumer profiles for e-commerce applications. Because most legal issues are difficult to understand for nonlawyers, in this article, we make use of a case study, which shows explicitly what e-commerce vendors need to keep in mind when implementing personalization on their Web sites.