The purpose of this study is to provide a preliminary investigation of the effectiveness of Internet marketers'various attempts to develop consumer trust through Web signals. The work is an exploration of the context-specific nature of trust in e-commerce. An online experiment compares three potential signals of trust in an Internet retail firm: (1) a third-party certification (i.e., a “trustmark”), (2) an objective-source rating (i.e., a review from Consumer Reports magazine), and (3) an implication of investment in advertising (i.e., a television advertisement to air during the Super Bowl). The trustmark had the greatest effect on perceived trustworthiness, influencing respondents' beliefs about security and privacy, general beliefs about firm trustworthiness, and willingness to provide personal information. The relationship between Internet experience and trust was in the form of an inverted U.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to shift the research focus from singular investigations of strategic orientations (i.e. learning, technology, market, customer, and competitor) to a broadened exploration of how various combinations of orientations link to firm performance. Further, the paper reveals the mediating role of marketing capability between strategic orientations and firm performance. Design/methodology/approach -Mail and e-mail surveys were received from 198 Korean executives among the nation's Top 500 firms (across various industries). Generally, multiple regression analyses were conducted to test the various hypotheses. Findings -Data confirm that each strategic orientation has distinct paths through marketing capability (single or multiple, and mediating) that significantly impact firm performance. Practical implications -Fostering marketing capability, including marketing planning and implementation ability, will have a direct positive impact on firm performance. In addition, companies should understand how differently their cultural resources and orientations affect firm performance. Originality/value -This paper is the first to argue that a deployment mechanism, marketing capability, is needed between strategic orientations and business performance. The paper further contributes by extending geographic generalizability to Asian countries (since the majority of extant research on organizational orientations and capabilities comes from western countries).

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We explored time spent playing and other video gamer behavior in relation to the psychological constructs of self-concept clarity and flow. Survey data were collected from a paper-and-pencil survey of a student sample from a university in northwestern United States. We found that compared with gamers with high self-concept clarity, gamers with low self-concept clarity spent more time playing video games. Furthermore, flow was positively associated with time spent playing. Gamers who spent more time playing reported more flow experiences. This research contributes to understanding of the relationship between gamer psychologies and gaming behavior amongst college students.

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