No abstract

Information systems (IS) research has focused extensively on the factors that foster

A n important area of information systems (IS) research has been the identification of the individual-level beliefs that enable technology acceptance such as the usefulness, reliability, and flexibility of a system. This study posits the existence of additional beliefs that inhibit usage intentions and thus foster technology rejection rather than acceptance. We theorize that these inhibitors are more than just the antipoles of enablers (e.g., the opposite of usefulness or reliability) and so are distinct constructs worthy of their own investigation. Inhibitors are proposed to have effects on usage intentions beyond that of enablers as well as effects on enablers themselves. We report on a series of empirical studies designed to test the existence and effects of inhibitors. A candidate set of six inhibitors is shown to be distinct from enablers. These inhibitors are subsequently tested in a field study of 387 individuals nested within 32 different websites. Effects at both individual and website unit levels of analysis are tested using multilevel modeling. We find that inhibitors have negative effects on usage intentions, as well as on enablers, and these effects vary contingent upon individual or website unit levels of analysis. The overall results support the existence and importance of inhibitors in explaining individual intent to use-or not use-technology.

W ith the continued growth of business-to-consumer (B2C) e-business, online vendors are providing an increasing array of services that support and enhance their core products or services. For example, Amazon.com does not just sell books; it also enhances that core product with automated product recommendations, "wish list" tracking, order status updates, customer reviews, and many other valuable supporting services. These supporting services are made possible exclusively through the design and deployment of information technology (IT) to provide website supporting services functionality (SSF). In this paper, we define and develop the concept of B2C SSF and investigate how IT can support core products or services. We theorize the role that SSF plays in an environment where individuals who visit B2C websites are not only customers but also technology users. Given the unique online environment that amalgamates vendor services with information systems (IS), our model integrates theories from both services marketing and technology acceptance to help explain the behavior of these customers/users. In doing so, we investigate the role of the extensively researched concept of service quality in relation to SSF. Although service quality provides guidance for how supporting services should be provided (e.g., responsively and reliably), it does not address what those services are (e.g., product recommendations). SSF addresses this deficiency, thus providing both theoretical and practical benefits through a focus on IT design and deployment. The results of a field study support that SSF is an important predictor of customer beliefs and behavior, beyond that predicted by service quality alone. SSF is an important concept to consider-theoretically and practically-in IT-mediated B2C service.

That recommendation agents (RAs) can substantially improve consumers' decision making is well understood. Far less understood is the influence of specific design attributes of the RA interface on decision making and other outcome measures. We investigate a novel design for an RA interface that enables it to interactively demonstrate trade-offs among product attribute values (i.e., trade-off-transparency feature) to improve consumers' perceived product diagnosticity and perceived enjoyment. We also examine the extent to which the trade-offs among product attribute values should be revealed to the user. Further, based on the stimulus-organism-response model, we develop a theoretical model that extends the effort-accuracy framework by proposing perceived enjoyment and perceived product diagnosticity as two antecedents for perceived decision quality and perceived decision effort, respectively. In an experimental study, we find that (1) the trade-off transparency feature significantly affects perceived enjoyment and perceived product diagnosticity; (2) perceived enjoyment and perceived product diagnosticity follow an inverted Ushaped curve as the level of trade-off transparency increases; (3) although users spend more time understanding attribute trade-offs with the trade-off-transparency feature, they are more efficient in selecting a product; (4) perceived enjoyment simultaneously leads to better perceived decision quality and lower perceived decision effort; and (5) perceived product diagnosticity leads to better perceived decision quality without compromising perceptions of decision effort. Theoretically, this study increases our understanding of how the design of an RA interface can improve consumers' product diagnosticity and enjoyment, and proposes two antecedents to improve perceived decision quality and reduce perceived decision effort. For design practitioners, our results indicate the importance of providing the trade-offtransparency design feature to potential consumers.