Despite a decade since the inception of B2C e-commerce, the uncertainty of the online environment still makes many consumers reluctant to engage in online exchange relationships. Even if uncertainty has been widely touted as the primary barrier to online transactions, the literature has viewed uncertainty as a "background" mediator with insufficient conceptualization and measurement. To better understand the nature of uncertainty and mitigate its potentially harmful effects on B2C e-commerce adoption (especially for important purchases), this study draws upon and extends the principal-agent perspective to identify and propose a set of four antecedents of perceived uncertainty in online buyer seller relationship superceived information asymmetry, fears of seller opportunism, information privacy concerns, and information security concerns which are drawn from the agency problems of adverse selection (hidden information) and moral hazard (hidden action).

To mitigate uncertainty in online exchange relationships, this study builds upon the principal agent perspective to propose a set of four uncertainty mitigating factor-trust, website informativeness, product diagnosticity, and social presence-that facilitate online exchange relationships by overcoming the agency problems of hidden information and hidden action through the logic of signals and incentives.

The proposed structural model is empirically tested with longitudinal data from 521 consumers for two products (prescription drugs and books) that differ on their level of purchase involvement. The results support our model, delineating the process by which buyers engage in online exchange relationships by mitigating uncertainty. Interestingly, the proposed model is validated for two distinct targets, a specific website and a class of websites.

Implications for understanding and facilitating online exchange relationships for different types of purchases, mitigating uncertainty perceptions, and extending the principal-agent perspective are discussed.

https://mail.tku.edu.tw/myday/teaching/992/sec/s/992sec_t5_paper_20100415_understanding and mitigating uncertainty in online exchange relationships.pdf

Understanding and mitigating uncertainty in online exchange relationships: a principal- agent perspective

/pdf/a-break-in-the-clouds-towards-a-cloud-definition-svovsw1r5a.pdf

A Break in the Clouds: Towards a Cloud Definition

Based on the expectancy disconfirmation theory, this study proposes a decomposed technology acceptance model in the context of an e-learning service. In the proposed model, the perceived performance component is decomposed into perceived quality and perceived usability. A sample of 172 respondents took part in this study. The results suggest that users' continuance intention is determined by satisfaction, which in turn is jointly determined by perceived usefulness, information quality, confirmation, service quality, system quality, perceived ease of use and cognitive absorption.

/pdf/understanding-e-learning-continuance-intention-an-extension-33szhub1o6.pdf

Understanding e-learning continuance intention: An extension of the Technology Acceptance Model

Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences

Understanding information technology acceptance by individual professionals: toward an integrative view

The impact of cognitive absorption on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use in on-line learning: an extension of the technology acceptance model

Many firms have adopted outsourcing in recent years as a means of governing their information technology (IT) operations. While outsourcing is associated with significant benefits, it can also be a risky endeavour. This paper proposes a scenario-based conceptualization of the IT outsourcing risk, wherein risk is defined as a quadruplet comprising a scenario, the likelihood of that scenario, its consequences and the risk mitigation mechanisms that can attenuate or help avoid the occurrence of a scenario. This definition draws on and extends a risk assessment framework that is widely used in engineering. The proposed conceptualization of risk is then applied to the specific context of IT outsourcing using previous research on IT outsourcing as well as transaction cost and agency theory as a point of departure.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1080%2F0268396032000130214.pdf

The Information Technology Outsourcing Risk: A Transaction Cost and Agency Theory-Based Perspective

Outsourcing information technology (IT) operations has been recognized to have important potential benefits, including cost reduction, improved quality of service, and access to technological expertise. Researchers and practitioners also recognize that, in some circumstances, IT outsourcing entails risk, and that it sometimes leads to undesirable consequences that are the opposite of the expected benefits. The main purpose of this study was to validate measures of the risk factors associated with outsourcing IT operations. Insights from transaction costs theory suggest that there exist three major sources of risk factors for IT outsourcing: the transaction, the client and the supplier. From these insights, preliminary measures of IT outsourcing risk factors were developed and data from a survey of 132 IT executives were analyzed with partial least squares to assess their reliability and validity. The results confirm that these factors are useful indicators for assessing IT outsourcing risks.

Validating measures of information technology outsourcing risk factors

Executives around the globe are investigating the benefits that cloud computing can deliver above and beyond cost savings. What is its contribution to competiveness - through improved agility, expanded business networks, and enhanced decision-making? At the same time, the organizational factors inhibiting or supporting cloud computing adoption are poorly understood. This paper builds on Tornatzky et al.'s Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) frame-work to investigate the factors influencing cloud computing adoption. Another objective pursued is to conceptualize and understand how IT governance processes and structures moderate those factors. Our augmented TOE framework is developed in a set of hypotheses that are tested in a quantitative study of 24 global enterprises across various industries. Our results indeed indicate that the technology and organization context affect implementation decisions. A discussion and identification of next research steps round off the paper.

/pdf/cloudrise-exploring-cloud-computing-adoption-and-governance-423e3be3rw.pdf

Bouchaib Bahli

Papers

The impact of cognitive absorption on perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use in on-line learning: an extension of the technology acceptance model

The Information Technology Outsourcing Risk: A Transaction Cost and Agency Theory-Based Perspective

Validating measures of information technology outsourcing risk factors

Cloudrise: Exploring Cloud Computing Adoption and Governance with the TOE Framework

Investigation on a novel sustainable model for waste management in megacities: A case study in tehran municipality