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This study investigates initial trust formation in Internet shopping from the perspective of the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) by conducting a 2 ϫ ϫ 2 factorial laboratory experiment. Based on data collected from 160 respondents, the results indicate that display of third-party seals and product information quality positively affects consumers' trust toward an e-tailer through assurance perception and result demonstrability, respectively. Besides, one's product involvement and trait anxiety play moderating roles. As predicted in ELM, consumers with high involvement and low anxiety build their trust via central route exclusively, whereas consumers with low involvement or high anxiety build their trust via peripheral route exclusively. The results suggest that customizing the persuasive arguments for different consumers is a critical strategy for initial on-line trust building.

Determining the best way to utilize on-line media for advertising purposes is a critical question. This research, based on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), incorporates consumer goal-directedness and involvement as moderators infl uencing when a particular advertising strategy (i.e., variation strategy vs. appeal strategy) will be appropriate for Web advertisements. The results of a laboratory experiment supported the use of ELM in the Web environment and showed how advertising strategies should be designed and implemented in accordance with consumer goal-directedness and involvement to achieve Web advertising effectiveness. The results demonstrated the uniqueness of the Web media and the importance of goal-directedness and consumer involvement in the Web advertising context.

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idolatry, music piracy, social identity theory, theory of planned behavior,

The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of interpersonal influence on personal software piracy, also known as softlifting. A laboratory experiment with 54 subjects was conducted, in which each subject was told to participate in a software quality evaluation exercise. However, a ploy was carried out to measure the subjects' intention in software piracy under different levels of group pressure and financial gains. The results are interesting. On the intention of softlifting, both group pressure and financial gains are significant determinants. The interaction of group pressure and financial gains is also significant: when group pressure is toward pirating software, financial gains is not a relevant factor; whereas when group pressure is toward purchasing, financial gains becomes a dominant factor in softlifting intention. A further survey (with 216 college students from two public universities in Taiwan) designed to investigate the relationship between consumer susceptibility to interpersonal influence (Bearden et al., 1989) and softlifting intention/behavior. A path analysis demonstrated that normative influence was related to softlifting intention, yet information influence effect was marginal. The effect of normative influence on softlifting behavior was mainly mediated by softlifting intention. Implications are also discussed.