Sustained website traffic through consumers' patronage at the post-adoption stages is known as a key to the survival of an online service provider. Although a firm's survival depends much on repeated use, whether or not a firm survives is also influenced by a variety of other behavioral outcomes that include, but are not limited to, word-of-mouth, willingness to pay, and inattentiveness to alternatives. Whereas post-adoption research has recently paid attention to repeated use, the information systems field still lacks a systematic investigation into other behavioral outcomes that transcend mere usage. In an attempt to extend the horizons of post-adoption research, we develop and test a model that explains post-adoption behaviors in the context of online services. First, drawing on a dual model of relationship maintenance in consumer behavior research, we propose a conceptual framework to study and explain online consumer behavior. In particular, our model predicts that two contrasting mechanisms, that is, dedication and constraint, are the main drivers of post-adoption phenomena (i.e., consumers' post-adoption reactions to online services--beliefs, attitudes, intentions, and behaviors). We empirically test the proposed dual model through the use of data collected from 510 users of online portals. The results of structural equation modeling analysis indicate that, as expected, the dedication- and constraint- based mechanisms simultaneously, yet differentially, determine online consumer behavior. In general, our findings suggest that it is essential in examining the complex nature of post-adoption phenomena to take into account the interplay of the dedication- and constraint-based mechanisms.
Although Internet users are expected to respond in various ways to privacy threats from online companies, little attention has been paid so far to the complex nature of how users respond to these threats. This paper has two specific goals in its effort to fill this gap in the literature. The first, so that these outcomes can be systematically investigated, is to develop a taxonomy of information privacy-protective responses (IPPR). This taxonomy consists of six types of behavioral responses--refusal, misrepresentation, removal, negative word-of-mouth, complaining directly to online companies, and complaining indirectly to third-party organizations--that are classified into three categories: information provision, private action, and public action. Our second goal is to develop a nomological model with several salient antecedents--concerns for information privacy, perceived justice, and societal benefits from complaining--of IPPR, and to show how the antecedents differentially affect the six types of IPPR. The nomological model is tested with data collected from 523 Internet users. The results indicate that some discernible patterns emerge in the relationships between the antecedents and the three groups of IPPR. These patterns enable researchers to better understand why a certain type of IPPR is similar to or distinct from other types of IPPR. Such an understanding could enable researchers to analyze a variety of behavioral responses to information privacy threats in a fairly systematic manner. Overall, this paper contributes to researchers' theory-building efforts in the area of information privacy by breaking new ground for the study of individuals' responses to information privacy threats.
Despite the significant opportunities to transform the way that organizations conduct trading activities, few studies have investigated the impetus for organizational strategic moves toward business-to-business (B2B) electronic marketplaces. Drawing on transaction cost theory and institutional theory, this paper identifies two groups of factors--efficiency- and legitimacy-oriented factors, respectively--that can influence organizational buyers' initial adoption of, and the level of participation in, B2B e-marketplaces. The effects of these factors on initial adoption of and participation level in B2B e-marketplaces are empirically tested with data collected, respectively, from 98 potential adopter and 85 current adopter organizations. The results of a partial least squares analysis of the data indicate that the two groups of factors exhibit different patterns in explaining initial adoption in the preadoption period and participation level in the postadoption period. Specifically, all three of the efficiency-oriented factors investigated in this study--product characteristics, demand uncertainty, and market volatility--and their subconstructs exhibit a significant influence on adoption intent or participation level, or both. The results demonstrate that two legitimacy-oriented factors--mimetic pressures and normative pressures--and their subconstructs have a significant impact on adoption intent, but not on participation level. Our findings also indicate that clearly different patterns exist between the two groups of factors in explaining adoption intent and participation level.
Managing electronic trading partner relationships is a key to successful development of an interorganizational systems (IOS) network. Firms often exercise their power and offer reciprocal investments to their trading partners in developing an IOS network. However, limited effort has been made to empirically validate their effects on increasing IOS usage between trading partners. This paper gauges the effects of these two relational factors--power and reciprocal investments--within the context of an electronic data interchange (EDI) network development. Moreover, the role of channel climate in increasing EDI usage is explicated with a particular focus on its determinants and impacts. With insights obtained from social exchange and transaction cost theories, a research model is developed and tested with data collected from 233 suppliers with electronic linkages via EDI with a nationally recognized retailer of home improvement supplies and materials in the United States. The customer's reciprocal investments in the form of BDI-related support are proven to be effective in increasing EDI volume and diversity. However, power exercised is found to be not effective. Suppliers' cooperation with the customer, which is influenced by perceived uncertainty, trust, and transaction-specific investments, is found to have strong effects on EDI volume and diversity. Finally, the reciprocal investments are found to be an even more effective strategy when suppliers desire to keep a more cooperative relationship with the customer.