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The paper analyses factors that usually influence the adoption of online commerce, focusing in particular on how social influence acts in this process considering in particular an Italian sample. It investigates about the actual transaction behaviour, and not just the intention to shop online. Starting from analysing technology acceptance models of literature, the paper proposes and empirically validates a new model for e-commerce adoption. A self-administered survey approach was used to collect data from a sample of different ages, genders and educational levels by using a structured questionnaire. Empirical data were analysed using correlation and regression analysis. Results showed that social influence, usability and perceived usefulness are predictors of the frequency of use and then, of e-commerce adoption. The paper gives both a theoretical and an empirical contribution to the e-commerce literature by designing and testing a model for predicting online consumers’ behaviour and enhancing the e-commerce adoption understanding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is predicted that significant and ongoing investment in M-Commerce platforms and application development by commercial entities will fundamentally change consumers' shopping and web browsing behaviours. However, the evolving behaviour of Smart Phone users is somewhat tempered by concerns over M-Payments. If Smart Phones are to reach their full M-Commerce potential, the ability of consumers to transact and pay for products/services through these devices in an easy, safe and reliable manner must be addressed. In response, this paper contributes a theoretical model and empirically tests the model to explore Irish consumers' perceptions of using Smart Phones to make M-Payments for products/services. The findings present conclusive evidence that trust is the most powerful factor influencing consumers' willingness to use Smart Phones to make M-Payments. While perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use influence the payment decision, their impact is much lower. Mobile self-efficacy and personal innovativeness have almost no direct impact. The paper concludes that irrespective of individuals' high levels of personal innovativeness or mobile self-efficacy and irrespective of whether Smart Mobile Media Services are perceived as useful and easy to use, consumers will not make M-Payments, until they are convinced that Smart Phone M-Payment systems are safe and reliable. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The advent of social networks opened a myriad opportunities for merging the social character of trust with the technical possibilities offered by the Internet and its availability as a mobile service. While most of the computational trust models aim to detect trustworthy entities, much less attention is paid to how these models are perceived by the users who are the core of the system. This paper delves into the workings of online trust systems under user bias and analyses the user behaviour through biases defined by Prospect theory. By performing empirical study on an existing system, we are able to demonstrate that there is a huge discrepancy between the aim of implementation of the online trust models and the users’ perception of those models. Understanding of this relation by the system designers can reduce complexity and improve the user experience and the system performance. The results imply that the tendency of the users to exhibit cognitive biases is not only the cause, but also the effect from the trust system design. These results and the analysis are then used to propose to the system designers a methodology for user bias identification and mitigation in the form of a Choice architecture for trust systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In recent years, online shopping has been proliferated around the world. Online retailers’ reputation and purchase intentions are critical for survival and profitability of any online store. Thus, this study proposes a research framework to examine the perceived justice effects on customers purchase intention and online retailers’ reputation. A confirmatory factor analysis was conducted to demonstrate the reliability and validity of the measurement model, and the structural equation modelling technique was used to test the research model. The hypothesised model was validated empirically using data collected from 383 online shopping customers in China. The results indicated that perceived procedural, distributive and interactional justice components were strong predictors of customers purchase intention and online retailers’ reputation while online retailers’ reputation had significant effects on purchase intentions. Finally, theoretical and managerial implications are also presented in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

A great challenge for luxury marketers is how to harness Internet’s incredible influence on customers while still maintaining and adhering to the customer-based brand equity (CBE) of luxury brands. This study aims to investigate the effect of website design on the CBE of luxury brands. Integrating the research on aesthetic design and luxury branding, we develop and empirically validate a research model, specifying that two aesthetic design dimensions (aesthetic formality and aesthetic appeal) can stimulate a strong sense of luxury, which in turn leads to a positive evaluation of CBE. Furthermore, the effect of aesthetic design on the sense of luxury is contingent upon brand familiarity prior to the exposure of a luxury brand website. The research model is validated with a survey study involving 201 participants. The paper includes implications for website design to deliver online brand experience and develop CBE with specific online consumer groups. As an early attempt to examine the website design effect on online branding experience and brand equity, this study contributes to both literature of website aesthetics and online luxury branding. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]