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Although the body of literature pertaining to the study of micro, context-specific behavior on the Web is growing, there lacks a global, macro analysis as to the behavioral dimensions of Web users' online activities. In an attempt to fill in the gap, this study proposes a three-dimensional, cubic typology for the characterization of Web users' online information behavior. We discuss a set of hypotheses concerning the relationships among these dimensions as well as those between these dimensions and related behavioral aspects. Online panel data consisting of month-long clickstreams of 2,022 Web users obtained from InsightXplore, Taiwan are made available for the empirical validation of the hypotheses. We found that a Web user's width (i.e., number of categories of Web sites explored), length (i.e., number of sites visited per category), and depth (i.e., number of pages downloaded per site) of online information behavior are highly correlated. Furthermore, these three dimensions of the behavioral "cube" are positively associated with speed of navigation, but negatively associated with the Web users' explicit online information search propensity and the degree of relatedness among the sites they visited.

PurposeThis study investigates the role of source familiarity in moderating the effect of service adaptive behavior (SAB) on customer satisfaction. Applying the accessibility–diagnosticity framework and situated cognition theory as the theoretical basis, this research hypothesizes that when customers are familiar with the source that provides the service (i.e. brand familiarity for Study 1 and personal familiarity for Study 2), customer satisfaction responses to SAB would be more moderate than when customers are not familiar with the source. Two studies were conducted to test the hypotheses.Design/methodology/approachTwo experiments manipulating SAB and the brand name familiarity (Study 1) and personal familiarity with the service staff (Study 2) as the source familiarity were conducted. Customer satisfaction as a function of source familiarity was measured to test the hypothesis that source familiarity moderates the relationship between SAB and customer satisfaction.FindingsCompared to unfamiliar sources, familiar sources generated a more moderate response in customer satisfaction as a function of SAB. High familiarity with the brand and service staff induced top-down, memory-based processing that overrides external stimuli as the basis of satisfaction judgment; bottom-up, stimulus-based processing relying on SAB for judgment kicked in only when the source familiarity is low.Practical implicationsFrom a practical point of view, this study indicates the importance of SAB, especially for brands with low awareness, and alludes to the comparative importance of relationship building in service delivery processes.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the literature by validating the role of contextual factors in influencing the impact of SAB on customer satisfaction.

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