The purpose of this study is to examine the formation of customer e-loyalty to a social shopping website. The formation of customer e-loyalty to a social shopping website is examined based on cognitive-affective-conative-action loyalty framework. This study proposes that customer e-loyalty is strongly associated with website quality, e-satisfaction and participation. Seven website attributes (i.e., visual aesthetics, navigation, efficiency, user friendliness, security/privacy, entertainment and community driveness) identified in previous research are employed to measure website quality that affects e-loyalty formation. There are 449 data collected from a southwestern university in the U.S., but only the responses from 333 Pinterest users are used to test the hypotheses. Exploratory factor analysis is used to identify dimensionality of social shopping website attributes, and multiple regression and linear regression analysis are conducted to test hypotheses in this study. Results of the study indicate that five significant factors including efficiency, user friendliness, security/privacy, entertainment and community driveness are directly associated with customer e-loyalty. Indeed, such website quality factors as the determinant of cognitive e-loyalty directly affect overall customer satisfaction (affective e-loyalty), customer purchase/return intention to the website (conative e-loyalty), and customer participation, positive eWOM and co-shopping (action e-loyalty). The findings of this study have provided evidence that social shopping website quality dimensions are directly associated with customer e-loyalty to the website. Also, the findings have shown important implications to ensure quality website attributes to increase customer loyalty to a social shopping website.

Technology acceptance research is a constantly developing field. The disciplines that contributed to its development are either beliefs focused or system focused. The unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) combined both. The current research model proposes an extension to the UTAUT that accounts for online usage behaviour. The proposed research model is tested in two countries (UK and Jordan) to investigate the viability of the unified model of technology acceptance in different boundaries as a model of individuals’ discretionary usage of Internet banking. The study also questions the roles of other determinants and moderators in this context. Results found support for the effect of the proposed extension, website quality perceptions, on usage behaviour in both countries’ models; the total effect of this extension exhibited website quality perceptions the most influential determinant of usage behaviour in both models and performance expectancy construct was second in effect. Social influence had no impact on the usage behaviour in both models, which is consistent with previous research that advocates a declining role of social influence under discretionary usage and increased experience conditions. Furthermore, the moderating role of performance expectancy previously established in TAM’s research was supported in the UTAUT model in both countries’ models. Moreover, both models reported a non-moderating effect of gender, which, is also in line with recent research findings that suggest declining gender differences under voluntary usage conditions and advanced experience. Education and income were moderators only for the UK model. Although the research findings demonstrated that both countries’ models were “configurally” similar with respect to model specifications, the models’ explanatory power for usage behaviour was dissimilar: the UK’s model explanatory power exceeded that of Jordan’s model presenting an opportunity for future research. The current research contributes to knowledge in the field of technology acceptance research. It demonstrated that website quality perceptions, as a multidimensional concept, play an important role in the online usage context. It also demonstrated that the unified model of technology acceptance established in the western culture can be transferred to a non-western culture although with varying degrees of explanation power.

With the rapid innovation of information technology and online service, the Internet as a new media has drastically changed the online behavior of human interaction. Microblogging that limits the number of characters allowed in a post to 140 words has emerged as a new and frequent communication via web postings. Microblogging has been used not only for social interaction but also for marketing and product promotion by companies and organizations. As the development of social community services become more mature, the new concept called ¡§social commerce,¡¨ that combines social networking and online shopping appears to be a promising new business model. The purpose of this study is to examine the usage behavior of microblogging by investigating the effect of social support and other factors on the intention to continue use a microblog and the intention to accept social commerce. An online survey was conducted on Plurk users. The results indicate that: (1) the motivations for writing blogs, social support and website quality have significant influences on the relationship quality between users and Plurk. Higher perceived social support and higher website quality result in a higher level of relationship quality; (2) The motivations for writing blogs and the perceived social support increase the self-disclosre behavior; (3) The perceived social support and website quality have positive impact on social commerce intention; and (4) The motivations for writing blogs, website quality, relationsip quality and self-disclosure have positive impacts on the intention to continue use the microblog.

Basically, to evaluate the operational performances of online auction is according to seller¡¦s transaction and investment in the auction website. Thus, how to maintain good relationship with the existing seller switching and attract new seller is the most attention and major care for auction service provider. However, there were few prior researches focused on the topic of online auction switching and examined from real case. In this study, we tried to develop a measuring model and explore the factors that relate to auction seller¡¦s switching. In July 2006, Yahoo! Kimo auction, the largest auction website in Taiwan, announced a new fee scheme which would charge 3 percent transaction handling fee on its sellers from Aug. 10. Many users expressed objection to the new charge scheme. During the same period, Ruten, a new joint venture auction website that combined eBay and Taiwanese portal operator PChome is nearly ready and makes some responding strategic approaches to attract new user. Many sellers of Yahoo! Kimo auction thought to switch auction provider. Base on the background, the study aim to explore auction seller¡¦s switching behavior through switching costs, including procedure costs, financial costs, and relational costs. Moreover, we examined how website quality, fee, anti-lock-in, and anti-switching affect switching intention and behavior. A total of 292 usable questionnaires were gathered through online surveys from auction discussion board and BBS. The data were analyzed by partial least squares (PLS) to test the hypotheses. We find that switching costs, website quality, fee have negative effect on seller¡¦s switching intention. Anti-lock-in and anti-switching have moderating effect in the model. According to the finding, we provide useful guidance for auction seller and auction service provider.

The aim was to explore experiences and needs of information following a prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart defect, and to assess the quality of publicly available information websites about congenital heart defects. Study I was a qualitative interview study that explored experiences among 11 parents to prenatally diagnosed children. Respondents tried to grasp the facts today while reflecting on the future, and personal contact with medical specialists was valued. The analysis showed that the Web contained an overwhelming amount of information. Study II was a qualitative interview study that explored experiences among 26 females and males 5-15 weeks after a prenatal diagnosis. Respondents hunted for information in a confusing reality, with a need for information about various topics and methods for information delivery. Although high satisfaction with the specialist information was described, the information was considered overwhelming and complex. Supplemental information was sought via the Web. Insufficient information about induced abortions was described. Study III was a quantitative study that explored content and quality of 67 English websites about congenital heart defects. Few websites included information about prenatal aspects, such as pregnancy termination. The overall quality was poor, especially reliability and information about treatment choices. Study IV was a mixed methods study that explored the quality of 10 Swedish websites about congenital heart defects, from the perspectives of 9 assessors with personal experience of a prenatal diagnosis. Quantitative Likert scale assessments were followed by written open-ended questions and focus group discussions. Quantitative assessments represented unfulfilled quality criterion for treatment choices, and partially fulfilled quality criteria for appearance, details, relevance, suitability and overall quality. Websites had significantly different scores for all investigated quality criteria. Various issues were highlighted in the responses to the open-ended questions and during the discussions, including inappropriate advertisements, biased information, poor illustrations, complex language and poor trustworthiness. In conclusion, expectant parents faced with a prenatal diagnosis of congenital heart defect in the fetus try to grasp the unexpected, an attempt that involves difficulties in relation to information. These are present during the consultation with health professionals and when searching for web-based information.

E-loyalty is an important aspect for practitioners to understand as it determines a digital company’s success. The Subscription Video on Demand (SVOD) industry is rapidly growing and becoming more competitive, which emphasizes the need to understand the key determinants of e-loyalty towards them. A quantitative study was thereby performed to investigate these. Data was collected from a survey examining e-satisfaction, e-trust, website/application quality, switching barriers, and customization, with the purpose of testing whether these can be considered key determinants in the SVOD context. The results include a regression model explaining 51.89% of the variance in e-loyalty, and show that e-trust and e-satisfaction had the largest impact on e-loyalty. These can thereby be considered key determinants of e-loyalty towards SVOD services in this study, which is in line with previous findings. Although, the results indicate that established theories might not be fully applicable, since switching barriers and website/application quality had negative impacts on e-loyalty. / E-lojalitet är en viktig aspekt för marknadsförare att ha förståelse för, då detta påverkar digitala företags framgång. De streamingtjänster som är prenumerationsbaserade och tillhandahåller videoinnehåll, som kallas SVOD, växer snabbt och marknaden blir alltmer konkurrenspräglad. Detta betonar behovet av att förstå de avgörande faktorerna när det kommer till e-lojalitet gentemot dem, vilket denna studie ämnar undersöka. Med en kvantitativ metod och enkätundersökning samlades data in, där fokus var på faktorerna e-kundnöjdhet, e-tillit, webbside/appkvalitet, byteshinder och kundanpassning för att se om dessa är avgörande i e-lojalitet i SVOD-kontexten. Resultaten inkluderar en regressionsmodell som beskriver 51.89% av variansen i e-lojalitet, samt visar att e-tillit och e-kundnöjdhet har störst påverkan på e-lojalitet. De ses därför som de avgörande faktorerna i denna studie vilket är i linje med tidigare studier. Dock visar resultaten att etablerade e-lojalitetsteorier inte verkar vara fullt applicerbara på SVOD-kontexten, eftersom byteshinder och webbside/appkvalitet påverkade e-lojalitet negativt i denna studie.

Background: Because of the high-speed development of e-commerce, online group          buying has become a new popular pattern of consumption for Chinese consumers. Previous research has studied online group-buying (OGB) purchase intention in some specific areas such as Taiwan, but in mainland China. Purpose:    The purpose of this study is to contribute to the Technology Acceptance Model, incorporating other potential driving factors to address how they influence Chinese consumers' online group-buying purchase intentions. Method:     The study uses two steps to achieve its purpose. The first step is that I use the focus group interview technique to collect primary data. The results combining the Technology Acceptance model help me propose hypotheses. The second step is that the questionnaire method is applied for empirical data collection. The constructs are validated with exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis, and then the model is tested with Linear multiple regression.  Findings: The results have shown that the adapted research model has been successfully tested in this study. The seven factors (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, price, e-trust, Word of Mouth, website quality and perceived risk) have significant effects on Chinese consumers' online group-buying purchase intentions. This study suggests that managers of group-buying websites need to design easy-to-use platform for users. Moreover, group-buying website companies need to propose some rules or regulations to protect consumers' rights. When conflicts occur, e-vendors can follow these rules to provide solutions that are reasonable and satisfying for consumers.

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在電子商務網站上，網站設計的品質是影響使用者體驗和滿意度的主要原因。 在過去許多現有的文獻已證實他們之間的關係。不過，大部分研究則是透過問卷調查法了解用戶的反應，也就是說用戶回應有可能不準確並且存在著主觀的共同方法偏誤。而近年來，隨著腦神經科學方法的進步，利用神經科學設備去收集使用者身理資訊在社會科學和資訊系統領域已越來越受到關注。因此有趣的是，比較行為和腦神經研究結果，可以讓我們去了解是否這個新方法會幫助我們洞察網站設計效果。 基於上述目的，本研究設計了一個在台灣和中國現有的網路購物網站的現場實驗。本研究利用行為和神經科學方法去收集沉浸體驗和使用者滿意度的資料。收集腦波數據的特殊儀器是單點腦電圖（EEG），它被用於測量專注度和放鬆度。在本研究模型包括五個主要的網站設計元素（方便，美感，內容，互動性和客製化）做為自變量，沉浸經驗作為中介變量，使用者滿意度作為因變量。行為研究結果發現所有網站設計元素五個設計因素有顯著影響的沉浸體驗、沉浸經驗有顯著正向影響使用者滿意度。然而在神經科學的研究則有不同的發現，網站設計元素僅有方便，內容和客製化對沉浸經驗有正向的顯著影響。雖然沉浸經驗（由專注質和放鬆來衡量）對使用者滿意度的影響仍然存在，但是總體變異被解釋的比例值則較低（從0.56降低到0.10）。本研究認為有兩種可能的解釋：第一種是，我們所使用的腦波測量可能無法像問卷調查可以完全涵括到到整體沉浸經驗。另外可能的解釋是，先前的研究關於沉浸體驗和使用者滿意度可能在分析資料時忽略了潛在的共同方法偏差問題。 另外為了解不同地區網站設計差異，我們分析台灣大陸地區網站資料，行為研究結果發現台灣購物網站設計元素(方便、互動性、客製化)顯著影響的沉浸體驗、而大陸購物網站則是在內容、美感、客製化構面有顯著影響的沉浸體驗，兩者沉浸經驗對使用者滿意度的影響都存在。詢問受測者實際體驗經驗歸納出網站設計特性與行為研究結果相呼應。研究發現台灣一般購物網站具有反應時間快、人性化介面設計、好用搜尋和商品推薦功能特性，業者可以豐富商品內容、改進網站美感提升顧客網站體驗經驗。大陸購物網站具有商品內容豐富、商品平價大眾化、優良推薦功能、界面分類清楚好操作、網站圖片大小適中，配色和文字令人感到舒服等特性，業者可以改進網站反應時間、將網站採用繁體文字、或是提供台灣族群熟悉的網站版型方便顧客與網站互動。 / The quality of website design is a main factor that affects user experience and satisfaction with an e-commerce site. This has been confirmed by many existing literature. However, most of these studies are based on user response through questionnaire surveys. It is well-known that user responses are potentially inaccurate and are subjective to the common method bias. Recently, neuroscience method that takes advantage of neuro-scientific equipment to collect psychophysiological evidence has gained much attention in social sciences and information systems. Therefore, it is interesting to compare our findings from behavioral and neuroscience studies to see whether this new method may provide insights into our understanding of website design effect. With the above purpose in mind, this study designed a field experiment on existing e-tailing websites in Taiwan and China. Both behavioral and neuroscience methods were applied to collect data about their flow experience and user satisfaction. The particular instrument for collecting brain wave data was a one-point electro-encephalogram (EEG), which is useful for measuring attention and relaxation. Our research model includes five main website design factors (convenience, aesthetics, content, interactivity and customization) as independent variables, flow experience as a mediator, and user satisfaction as the dependent variable. Our results indicate that all five design factors had significant impact on the flow experience and the flow experience had significant positive effect on user satisfaction in our behavior study. Our neuroscience study, however, shows different findings: only convenience, content, and customization had positive impact on the flow experience. Although the effect of flow experience (measured by attention and relaxation) on user satisfaction still exist, but the R-square value is much lower (reduced from 0.56 to 0.10). We argue that there are two possible interpretations: one is that the measurement we used may not be able to capture the full flow experience as a questionnaire could do. Another alerting explanation is that previous research on flow experience and user satisfaction may have overlooked the potential common method bias issue in analyzing their data. In order to understand the difference of website design in Taiwan and China, we analysis these data. Our behavioral study shows that Taiwan online shopping design factors( convenience、interactive、customization) had significant impact on the flow experience. And China online shopping design factors (content、aesthetic、customization) had significant impact on the flow experience. Both regions data shows that the flow experience had significant positive effect on user satisfaction.The behavior study result is consistent with the website design features that inquire about users shopping experience. This study found Taiwan shopping sites have these features that including quickly response time、user-friendly interface design、 easy to search and good product recommendation function. Managers can consider enriching commodity content and improving website aesthetic feeling, in order to improve customer website experience. China shopping sites have these features that including abundant commodity、inexpensive merchandise、excellent recommendation function、clear interface classification、 appropriate image size、comfortable colors and character. Managers can improved site response time、use traditional text or provide Taiwan user familiar site type to facilitate customer interaction with website.

Το διαδίκτυο εισέρχεται ολοένα και περισσότερα στα νοικοκυριά αλλά και στον εργασιακό χώρο των περισσότερων Ελλήνων. Στο περιβάλλον του διαδικτύου, οι χρήστες είναι οι καταναλωτές, και η κατανόηση των προσδοκιών τους είναι υψίστης σημασίας. Η παρούσα διπλωματική εργασία αποτελεί μία προσπάθεια προσέγγισης των κριτηρίων που λαμβάνονται υπόψη κατά την αξιολόγηση των δικτυακών τόπων. Ταυτόχρονα με την θεωρητική προσέγγιση που παρουσιάζεται στα πρώτα κεφάλαια, στην οποία συμπεριλαμβάνονται διάφορα μοντέλα αξιολόγησης, βασισμένα στην υπάρχουσα βιβλιογραφία, επιπλέον επιτυγχάνεται μία εμπειρική διερεύνηση για την αξιολόγηση τριών δικτυακών τόπων που εμφανίζουν διαφορετικό περιεχόμενο. Σκοπός δεν είναι η σύγκριση και η κατάταξη των δικτυακών τόπων σε αξιόλογους ή μη. Αντιθέτως, η συγκεκριμένη μελέτη προσπαθεί να εντοπίσει τους παράγοντες που συμβάλλουν στην αξιολόγηση των δικτυακών τόπων. Τα δεδομένα προήλθαν από την συμπλήρωση ερωτηματολογίων και αναλύθηκαν με το Spss 19 και η μέθοδος που χρησιμοποιήθηκε είναι η παραγοντική ανάλυση. / Nowadays, the internet takes a great and important part in everyday lives in the majority of Greek people , whether at home, at work or in both locales. In the Internet world, users are consumers, and this facts has a great significance in understanding their expectations. This present study comprises an effort in approaching several criteria which could be taken into account for evaluating websites. In the first part of the study there is a theoretical approach which consists of several models of evaluation, based on the existing bibliography. In addition to the theoretical base, an empiric investigation is also represented, which has achieved for the evaluation of three specific websites with different content. The purpose is not to define which sites are “good” and which are “bad,” but rather is to help in identifying the factors that affecting the evaluation of websites. The data was analyzed by using SPSS 19 and Factor analysis method was used to identify the factors.