The Process of Trust Formation in E-Business: Insights from Case Studies of Two Small Firms

Purpose: The purpose of this research is to investigate and theoretically explain the process of trust formation in high risk e-business.

Methodology/approach: The interpretive case-based approach has been used in this study. Inductive analysis of interview data helped to develop the process model of trust formation in the context of business-to-business e-market transactions by two small firms.

Research implications: This research explains how and why trial outcomes influence trust formation. The findings also indicate the importance of the trialing process as a legitimate means of determining trustworthiness of the other party and the e-business platform. These findings add to the existing body of knowledge on trust in e-business and have important implications for further research.

Practical implications: The practical implication is that if sponsors of business-to-business e-markets can support initial trials, it would foster trust and lead to more active usage of e-business methods.

Originality/value/contribution: This research shows that trust formation in high risk e-business is a dynamic process, influenced by changes in risk perceptions from repeated trial outcomes in initial stages, a departure from prior variance studies with assumptions of static perceptions of risk and trust.     

Responsible Marketing and Its Impact on Business Performance: A Longitudinal Study

This research article explores, analyzes, and justifies the requirement of socially responsible activities of the corporation in the light of alternative approach to marketing promotion. In fact, this research claims for more societal activity-based promotion (responsible marketing) in place of product driven advertisement-based marketing (traditional) only. Thus, this research refutes the combined impact of societal activities (donation and employee expenditure) and advertisement (Advertisement Expenditure) on business performance (Profit/Sales). This has been analyzed with longitudinal (time series) data for 15 year period of the available 9 companies in capitaline database. Appropriate methodologies in regards to time series data have been performed. The findings are thought-provoking since the evidence of combined effect is not that much visible, though its impact in comparison with marginal effect is quite more. Finally, to conclude this research refutes the utility of advertising as a means of promotion, but at the same time, it indicates the changing direction of advertisement content from product feature-based to more societal activity-based.     

Exploring the Influence of Celebrity Worship on Brand Attitude,Advertisement Attitude,and Purchase Intention

The celebrity worship considered as an anomalous psychological behavior with major consequences on personality development of an individual is examined with the important constructs of marketing namely, brand attitude, advertisement attitude and purchase intention. The study is carried out with a sample size of 386 respondents. The model is tested using structure equation modeling where celebrity worship is studied by examining its three dimensions individually as well as in aggregate implementing an existing celebrity worship scale. The study reveals some interesting findings with celebrity worship having a direct positive relationship with advertisement attitude and purchase intentions, whereas brand attitude is found to be significantly negatively associated with celebrity worship. The future research scope for the study and its practical implications are discussed based on the findings of the study.     

A simplified test for preference rationality of two-commodity choice

We provide a simplified test to determine if choice data from a two-commodity consumption set satisfies the Generalized Axiom of Revealed Preference (GARP), and thus the preference or utility maximization hypothesis. We construct an algorithm for this test and illustrate its application on experimental choice data. JEL Classification C91, D11, D12 An erratum to this article is available at .     

The Impact of R&D Cooperations and Mergers in Pharmaceuticals on Research Activities and Drugs Offered on the Market

In the last 10 years, the pharmaceutical industry has experienced steep, unprecedented price increases which are frequently attributed to increasing drug development costs. To cope with rocketing development costs, companies engage in Research and Development (R&D) cooperations. We study the impact of R&D cooperations on firms' research activities and drugs offered on the market. Using a comprehensive dataset, we find that R&D cooperations formed at the early stage of the drug development process increase the number of R&D projects and the number of drugs offered on the market. Late stage R&D cooperations, formed among larger firms in technology and product markets, increase firms' research activities, but reduce the number of drugs launched on the product market. Results suggest that large firms cooperating in the late research stage re‐optimize their R&D pipelines and eliminate similarly aligned research projects.     

A contribution on the nature and treatment of missing data in large market surveys

Nonresponse (or missing data) is often encountered in large-scale surveys. To enable the behavioural analysis of these data sets, statistical treatments are commonly applied to complete or remove these data. However, the correctness of such procedures critically depends on the nature of the underlying missingness generation process. Clearly, the efficacy of applying either case deletion or imputation procedures rests on the unknown missingness generation mechanism. The contribution of this article is twofold. The study is the first to propose a simple sequential method to attempt to identify the form of missingness. Second, the effectiveness of the tests is assessed by generating (experimentally) nine missing data sets by imposed missing completely at random, missing at random and not missing at random processes, with data removed.     

Joint venture instability in developing countries under entry

We explain the rationale for share adjustment in an international joint venture (JV) and opening up of a wholly owned subsidiary by the foreign JV partner. If the cost difference between the JV and other firms is small, the foreign firm opens a wholly owned subsidiary and completely sells-out its shares in its previously formed JV. If the cost difference is intermediate (large), the foreign firm adjusts (increases) its shareholding in the JV and opens (does not open) a competing subsidiary. JV instability may be the outcome of a friendly separation. There may also be situations with no share adjustment.     

E-commerce transactions,the installed base of credit cards,and the potential mobile E-commerce adoption

Mobile e-commerce (m-commerce) relaxes consumers’ temporal and geographic purchasing constraints and encourage the establishment of omnichannel markets. It is often argued that rapid increase in smartphone penetration is the primary driver of m-commerce adoption, whereas others contend that early adoption of m-commerce applications are mostly by “relatively heavy” Internet commerce users. Brynjolfsson et al. (2013) argue that rapid increase in smartphone penetration is the primary driver of m-commerce adoption, whereas Einav et al. (2014) contend that early adoption of m-commerce applications are mostly by ‘relatively heavy’ Internet commerce users. This article explores strength of the influences within a nested multiple-service framework, where the reduced-form econometric analysis allows for interdependency between m-commerce and e-commerce services, and the installed base of credit cards. The results reveal a complex situation in which credit cards facilitate e-commerce services, whereas m-commerce adoptions are driven by prior e-commerce and online transaction activity. Also, higher respondent incomes are negatively associated with proposed m-commerce adoption. Surprisingly, privacy concerns do not affect proposed adoption independently; however, an interaction term suggests privacy remains an adoption barrier for the older persons.     

Socio-economic development and software piracy. An empirical assessment

The high rate of software piracy is a growing concern for software developers as well as businesses and governments. It is argued here that the piracy rate is influenced by expected benefits and costs to the pirates. A model is developed using a set of variables that may affect such benefits and costs and hence piracy rate in a country, and tested for a large sample of 53 countries. The results of this paper suggest that the existing socio-economic conditions and the lack of proper institutions in developing and emerging economies may be responsible for high software piracy rates. One may, therefore, infer that the current trends of globalization and socio-economic development may help software piracy in developing countries.     

Is it the wage premium that targets worker turnovers?

The literature on FDI shows that there exists a wage premium that multinational enterprises (MNEs) pay to local workers and link this to a technology spillover argument. The MNEs pay higher wages to prevent worker turnovers and technology leakages. Literature relates the wage premium aspect of FDI using worker mobility data and uses worker turnovers and the technology spillover argument. We relate stock options in the FDI context of worker mobility and find in a simplified framework that the turnover of workers would depend on the relative payments of stock options.