This study evaluates the impact of varying group size and social presence on small-group communication. It compares key communication factors-faceto-face (FtF) without computer-mediated communication (CMC) support, FtF with CMC support, and virtual with CMC support-on two different small group sizes (3 and 6). Results indicate that smaller groups establish and maintain higher levels of communication quality, and FtF with CMC support groups have higher levels of communication quality than virtual with CMC support groups; however, no significant difference between traditional FtF groups and virtual groups with CMC support was found. Also, CMC minimized the impact of increased group size. Process losses that a larger FtF group might ordinarily experience can be reduced through the use of CMC. These results should help project managers plan for and deal with the difficulty of communication between project group members in virtual environments.

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The status and maturity of electronic commerce customer relationship management (ECCRM), an emerging subfield of management information systems (MIS), are investigated through an exhaustive literature review of 369 articles, from the first published article in 1984 through conference papers given in 2001 and 2002. The results indicate some trends that should be of interest and concern to researchers in this area and in MIS as a whole. First, exploratory surveys dominate the research literature, which in itself may be problematic. More troubling, most of the survey instruments were not validated, and the authors did not mention validation procedures. Second, there has been little theoretical development, and few empirical studies use hypothesis testing. Third, cumulative tradition has hardly emerged, with each study developing a new conceptual model, new constructs, and new instruments. On the positive side, ECCRM researchers have employed a wide range of methods and studied a broad range of topics. The subfield of ECCRM is young, but is growing rapidly, and professional activity in the MIS research community illustrates its importance. Specific recommendations for further development are provided.KEY WORDS AND PHRASES: Electronic commerce customer relationship management, epistemology in MIS research, introspective study, MIS journals and conferences.Since 1984 more than 300 papers concerning electronic commerce customer relationship management (ECCRM) have been published in the literature on information systems (IS) or by IS researchers in referent discipline publications. The rapid increase in the volume of research in this context over the past several years suggests that a new subdiscipline of management information systems (MIS ) is emerging. ECCRM is now and will continue to be an important subfield of MIS research, as well as of relevant reference disciplines such as marketing, computer science, library science, and psychology. As an emerging subfield, it is an object of interest and worthy of study in and of itself [15]. With this in mind, the present paper investigates the development and maturity of ECCRM to gain an understanding of its evolution and current status, and to provide insights as to directions for future research. The analysis paints a picture of the ECCRM subfield of MIS through an objective representation of the growing body of literature from multiple perspectives: published journal and conference articles, epistemology and research approach, authors and institutions, research areas, and keyword topics.

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Marketing concepts and definitions have remained relatively unchanged until recently. Electronic customer relationship management (eCRM) has forced marketing managers to reevaluate how, when and to what extent they interact with their customers. This paper is focused on the role of specific marketing concepts and how eCRM has enhanced or altered each concept. Every topic discussed is illustrated with current business examples. Several examples from the business trade press are used to illustrate the success an organization can achieve when using eCRM to enhance marketing skills.

Web accessibility continues to have important social, legal and economic implications for ecommerce. Over 50 million Americans have disabilities and so do around 600 million world-wide (www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-17.pdf; www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/busstat.htm). Disabilities include a vast range of issues: cognition, vision, motor skills, and hearing. The disabled comprise 19.3% of the U.S. population, more than any other minority group, including the next largest group---Hispanics (14.9%). This growing population commands significant discretionary funds. The U.S. Department of Labor estimates those with disabilities control $175 billion (www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/ek98/provide.htm) exceeding twice that of teens and 17 times that of tweens (8--12 year-olds), currently the most sought after demographic groups (www.census.gov/prod/2003pubs/c2kbr-17.pdf). This untapped, growing market exceeds most company's estimations. In this study, we extend a previous CACM paper that surveyed accessibility at a snapshot in time with historical and additional perspectives on accessibility of Fortune 100 (F100) Web sites. The initial study revealed that over 80% of the F100's websites were potentially inaccessible to people with visual disabilities. Companies have become more aware of accessibility in recent years, which leads one to wonder whether the predominance of inaccessible websites continues or if companies have actually begun to seriously address website accessibility. Researchers have called for accessibility reviews over time. Following these suggestions, in addition to the initial study sample this study adds three additional data sets for a total of four: 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2005. The F100 Web sites were chosen for the usual reasons this population is studied, but also because we expect the largest and most profitable companies to be the most likely to have the resources and personnel to ensure website accessibility. The unit of analysis was the top-level home page for each Web site. This is an optimistic approach as companies may put their best foot forward here and then fail to consider accessibility for lower level pages. Deeper level analyses are possible but beyond the scope of this study. All samples were analyzed with the Watchfire® Bobby™ 5.0 Web accessibility validation tool. The Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) guidelines were used to review all error types: Priority 1 (developers must satisfy), Priority 2 (developers should satisfy), and Priority 3 (developers may satisfy) (Table 1). WAI guidelines are a good starting point from which to evaluate Web accessibility and they are quickly becoming the global standard. WAI guidelines focus predominantly on problems encountered by blind users and therefore following only these guidelines will not always ensure accessibility for all disabled people. Given the breadth of existing disabilities it is difficult to evaluate all possible limitations to website accessibility. For this reason and to remain consistent with the previous study, this research concentrates on the WAI guidelines and thus issues that primarily impact visually impaired users. Automatically identified errors are important, yet many Web site accessibility problems must be checked manually by users or developers. For example, as the first criteria under Priority 1 suggests in Table 1, an accessible website should " provide alternative text for all images ." Automated checkers cannot determine if the alternative text provided is meaningful to the user. Similarly, blind users often encounter problems with unlabeled "forms" that would allow them to enter information that could be searched, such as an author or title to a book. Further, 'user checks' may be more important than automatically validated errors because they can hide more subtle, yet potentially more problematic issues. We ran an automated user check analysis to determine the types and numbers of user checks for all sample years (Table 2).