J. Theor. Appl. Electron. Commer. Res., Volume 10, Issue 2 (May 2015) – 6 articles

This study proposes a service recovery model to describe how cumulative satisfaction, loyalty and word-of-mouth are affected by complaints. The model is based on the role of positive and negative emotions in satisfaction with service recovery processes, with trust acting as a mediator of the relationship between satisfaction with service recovery and cumulative satisfaction, and between positive and negative emotions, satisfaction with service recovery and loyalty. The sample for this study consists of 303 business-to-consumer e-commerce users who made a complaint after an electronic transaction. The results show that positive emotions are a key factor in satisfaction with service recovery processes; this is in contrast to the major role that negative emotions have traditionally played in these models. Furthermore, trust mediates the relationship between satisfaction with service recovery and cumulative satisfaction, and between positive emotions and loyalty. Trust has an important influence on loyalty, and cumulative satisfaction is a strong predictor of word-of-mouth. While prior satisfaction with service recovery studies usually investigated only negative emotions and satisfaction with a specific transaction, this research considers both positive and negative emotions, as well as the mediating effect of trust on the relationship between satisfaction with a specific transaction and cumulative satisfaction. Full article

Security Assertion Markup Language is one of the most widely used technologies to enable Identity Federations among different organisations. Despite its several advantages, one of its key disadvantages is that it does not allow creating a federation in a dynamic fashion to enable service provisioning (or de-provisioning) in real time. A few approaches have been proposed to rectify this problem. However, most of them require elaborate changes of the language and do not provide mechanisms to manage federations dynamically. This paper presents a better approach based on an already drafted Security Assertion Markup Language Profile and requires no change in its specification, rather it depends on the specific implementation. Our proposed approach covers all aspects regarding the management of dynamic Identity Federation. It will allow users to create federations dynamically between two prior unknown organisations and will allow them to manage such federations as long as it is required. Implicit in each identity federation is the issue of trust. Therefore, the trust issues involved in the management of dynamic federations are analysed in details. Finally, a proof of concept is discussed with a few use-cases to elaborate the practicality of our approach. Full article

Online social media has shifted the balance of power from businesses to consumers, with consumers now being able to share information almost unrestrictedly in real-time. As a result, an effort to suppress what may be considered as harmful information can easily backfire, causing the information to instantly spread through user ties. However, what is considered important in such occasions is the way extant and prospective customers may interpret such crises. In this paper, we discuss the case of a Greek Apple authorized service provider and the manner in which it responded to a customer’s complaint in a blog post. The company, instead of using social media to reach out to its customers, chose to move legally against the disgruntled customer, aiming to suppress the relevant blog post, which quickly resulted to the company’s viral defamation. Building upon attribution theory and employing a content analysis of user postings in social media, our study explores stakeholders’ perceptions regarding the company’s reaction and response strategy, seeking to investigate attributions of cause and responsibility. Our results show that, in the initial stages of a crisis, hostile behaviour or refraining from comments altogether, can lead to negative outcomes in relation to a company’s reputation. Full article

Trust is an essential ingredient of constructive human relationships, including economic exchanges. Blindspots are harmful omissions in strategy implementation due to reasons such as corporate inertia or management obsession in pursuing a certain vision mismatched with reality. This article outlines the main areas in which customer trust is under stress in Chilean business-to-consumer e-commerce and how e-buyers circumvent the problems that arise in those areas, from a Communications perspective. We not only discovered compensatory strategies devised by users to overcome those problems, but also some relevant corporate blindspots that should be addressed by retailers. Despite the strong growth of retail sales in emerging Latin American countries, Chilean e-commerce is relatively weak and problems of trust may be an important cause. Four areas of stress were outlined: previous perceptions about the firm, clarity and coherence of online information, personal data security, and delivery and post-sales services. Within these, inter-channel communication incoherence, lack of integration between retailers and outsourced logistics, and incoherent notions of trust emerged as the most important corporate blindspots harming the relationship with customers. On the other hand, we identified four compensatory strategies used by clients: selective auto-exposure, informal certifications, online/offline hybridization and anticipation/incorporation of other people experience. Full article

Business and academic research frequently highlights the power of electronic word of mouth, relying on the knowledge that online customer ratings and reviews influence consumer decision making. Numerous studies in different disciplines have been conducted to examine the effectiveness of electronic word of mouth communication. Previously, typically small sample studies suggest that positive electronic word of mouth increases sales and that the effects depend on the volume and valence of reviews and ratings. This study’s contribution lies in testing the relationship between electronic word of mouth and the sales of applications in a mobile application ecosystem (Google Play) with an extensive dataset (over 260 million customer ratings; 18 months). The results show that higher values of valence of customer ratings correlate statistically significantly with higher sales. The volume of ratings correlates positively with sales in the long term but negatively in the short term. Furthermore, the relationship between electronic word of mouth and sales seems to be more important when the price of the application increases. The findings also underline the importance of the choice of a measurement period in studies. Full article