Trust: The Social Virtues and the Creation of Prosperity

Definition: To what extent does the study allow us to draw conclusions about a causal effect between two or more constructs? Issues: Selection, maturation, history, mortality, testing, regression towrd the mean, selection by maturation, treatment by mortality, treatment by testing, measured treatment variables Increase: Eliminate the threats, above all do experimental manipulations, random assignment, and counterbalancing.

Reliability and validity

Relationship marketing is the development and outbreak of the combined theory of the traditional marketing,and it is a new idea.It puts more emphasis on the long-term and satisfying relation between enterprises and customers.and its success relies on some conditions.Its application in China has its own characteristics.

On relationship marketing

Higher-order constructs, which facilitate modeling a construct on a more abstract higher-level dimension and its more concrete lower-order subdimensions, have become an increasingly visible trend i...

How to Specify, Estimate, and Validate Higher-Order Constructs in PLS-SEM:

G etting closer to customers is a top priority for CEOs, according to the IBM 2010 CEO Study.[1] Today’s businesses are vigorously building social media programs to do just this. But are customers as enthusiastic? Actually, most do not engage with companies via social media simply to feel connected. It turns out, customers are far more pragmatic. To successfully exploit the potential of social media, companies need to design experiences that deliver tangible value in return for customers’ time, attention, endorsement and data.

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From social media to social customer relationship management

Customer relationship management (CRM) is a continually evolving domain and now social media technologies have revolutionized the way businesses and consumers interact. Hence, the new dimension of social CRM focuses on customer engagement domain, and now social media technologies have revolutionised the way businesses and consumers interact. This paper focuses on social CRM and builds on a previous CRM model proposed by Jayachandran et al. (2005), adopting the resource-based view theory and the equity theory. This paper presents a new model for social CRM, including a new construct of customer engagement initiatives and adaptations of other constructs, to take cognisance of the impact of social media technologies on CRM. Data were collected from a population of marketing practitioners using an online survey technique and the model was tested using PLS-SEM. From a theoretical perspective, the study contributes to an understanding of the change in communications between the customer and the marketer, and fo...

CRM to social CRM: the integration of new technologies into customer relationship management

Customer relationship management is a continually evolving domain that has been particularly affected by social media, which have revolutionised the way businesses and consumers interact This pape

Modelling CRM in a social media age

Likeability plays an important role for firms that rely on their brands. However, few studies examine factors influencing customers’ perceptions of likeable firm brands. Adapting a Private Brand model, the current study proposes a model of brand likeability that integrates four key variables measuring customer characteristics, namely price consciousness, perceived quality, perceived risk and familiarity. Using an online survey to collect data, the study employs partial least square-based structural equation modelling for hypothesis testing. Findings reveal that when customers are more familiar with the well-liked brand, they have more confidence in evaluating the quality, reducing perceived risk and price consciousness. In addition, the study highlights an important antecedent to brand likeability perceptions: brand familiarity. Marketers are encouraged to manage brand likeability more systematically to improve customer–brand relationships, brand reputation and differentiate firms’ brand personality. Not ...

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An integrated model of firms’ brand likeability: antecedents and consequences

Traffic congestions are factor that has both direct costs and indirect effects on individual, economy, and the society Previous studies have identified several facets for traffic gridlocks This study goes a bit ahead to evaluate traffic congestions caused in Dhaka city especially in the region of the campus of the University of Dhaka The study uses pictorial perspective to evaluate the reasons for such gridlock which is followed by finding the reasons for such stagnancy within the university campus The study ends with some recommendations for improvements

Traffic Congestion: A Pictorial Evaluation of the Traffic Gridlock in the Campus of University of Dhaka

E-commerce is the process of buying and selling products and services on the internet. This type of transaction is such that customers are able to see the virtual appearance through images, technical information, and video clips of products/services, but cannot obtain the actual experience of face-to-face touch, smell, and visualization. Such virtual experience coupled with the absence of a seller may create a sense of unreliability and vulnerability in the minds of the customers. Moreover, due to the nature of the internet, users are being susceptible to online frauds arising out of the activities of unscrupulous third parties. All these affect the trust of customers in online transactions and thereby affect online purchase decisions. A number of studies have been conducted to identify the factors that affect trust in e- commerce. However, none of these studies have been able to provide a comprehensive list of the factors that affect trust. Moreover, some of the studies had problems relating to use of inappropriate sampling techniques and using student samples and hence, raising issues of representativeness and affecting generalizability of the findings. Some studies also had also problems relating to the statistical techniques being used to analyze the data. Considering these limitations, the present study is undertaken. This present study is complementary to previous studies and aims at answering the following questions: How do we measure trust in online transactions? What are the factors that affect trust in e- commerce? How do the factors affecting trust relate and inter-relate to each other? To answer these questions, a review of the existing literature on factors affecting trust is conducted. This enables to develop the theoretical framework of the study having a number of hypotheses culminating in the development of a model for trust in e- commerce. For the study, a normative survey technique was used. An online questionnaire made it possible to enumerate 789 respondents, responses of 703 were usable. The data collected was screened and pre-tested to see whether they qualify for multivariate data analysis. Once this was ensured, statistical techniques such as exploratory factor analysis using principal component analysis, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), and structural equation modelling (SEM) were applied to test the hypotheses. The findings of the study show that the factors directly affecting trust in e-commerce are market orientation, perceived security and technological trustworthiness, and relational benefit. Moreover, the findings show that user interface quality affects relational benefit. The two factors, 'importance of websites' reputation' and 'social presence' affect trust indirectly with perceived security and technological trustworthiness playing the mediating role. Another factor, 'perceived product and service information quality’ proved to have no relationship with relational benefit. The analysis of the results explaining the inter-relationships led to the confirmation of the model for trust in e-commerce. This model was further tested across samples with differing web experience, age, gender, and income. There were no significant differences in the parameter estimates of the relationships in the model. This indicates that the model is generalizable across different populations. In conclusion, the research has certain contributions to existing knowledge. These include - The development of a comprehensive model explaining the dependence and interdependence of the factors affecting trust in e-commerce. Understanding of trust in e-commerce as a multi-dimensional construct consisting of four dimensions― ability, benevolence, integrity, and predictability. Understanding the role of the direct and indirect influence of the factors affecting trust that led to reduction in risk perceptions. Additionally, the research contributes to certain managerial and business practices. Online businesses need to develop their websites to enable convenience in navigation by improving layout and design features of the websites. Moreover, to cater to the tastes and preferences of customers, e-commerce websites need to provide products and service desired suitable by customers. To attract customers, a sense of warmth and human touch need to be introduced in the websites. Coupled with this, there is the need to improve security features and privacy issues.

Musfiq Mannan Choudhury

Papers

CRM to social CRM: the integration of new technologies into customer relationship management

Modelling CRM in a social media age

An integrated model of firms’ brand likeability: antecedents and consequences

Traffic Congestion: A Pictorial Evaluation of the Traffic Gridlock in the Campus of University of Dhaka

A study of the significant factors affecting trust in electronic commerce