TLFeBOOK
Contemporary
Research in
E-Marketing
Volume 2
Sandeep Krishnamurthy
University of Washington, USA
Hershey • London • Melbourne • Singapore
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Chapter II. An Examination of Consumer Behavior on eBay
Motors 40
Mark P. Sena, Xavier University, USA
Gerald Braun, Xavier University, USA
Chapter III. Job Search at Naukri.com: Case Study of a Successful
Dot-Com Venture in India 58
Sanjeev Swami, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India
Chapter IV. User-Centered Design and Marketing: Online Customer
Value 88
Thomas W. Porter, University of North Carolina Wilmington, USA
Chapter V. A Synthesis and Analysis of Behavioral and Policy Issues
in Electronic Marketing Communications 106
Merrill Warkentin, Mississippi State University, USA
Robert S. Moore, Mississippi State University, USA
Melissa Moore, Mississippi State University, USA
Chapter VI. Providing Value to Customers in E-Commerce
Environments: The Customer’s Perspective 119
Shailey Minocha, The Open University, UK
Liisa H. Dawson,

The Open University, UK
Ann Blandford,

University College London Interaction Centre, UK
Nicola Millard, British Telecommunications PLC, UK
Chapter VII. Key Success Requirements for Online Brand
Management 147
Subir Bandyopadhyay, Indiana University Northwest, USA
Rosemary Serjak, University of Ottawa, Canada
Chapter VIII. The Evolution of the Theory and Practice of Marketing

It is a pleasure to announce the second volume in the Contemporary Research
in E-Marketing series. Volume 1 in this series was released in 2004 and has
been very well received. This volume builds on the intellectual capital of Vol-
ume 1 by a compilation of interdisciplinary papers on the topic of e-marketing.
The Internet and the Web continue to evolve at a rapid pace. Examples of
innovative applications of these technologies in the domain of marketing abound.
E-marketing has become standard practice all over the world. This volume
offers an exciting set of papers that use different perspectives, theories, and
research methodologies to enrich the burgeoning e-marketing literature.
The first paper by Sanjeev Swami and Ram Krishna, “Evaluation of Web Sites
on Information and Entertainment Properties: The Role of Involvement,” pro-
vides an excellent empirical examination of consumer involvement on how Web
sites are evaluated. Web sites receive a continuum of visitors in terms of moti-
vation. Some care deeply about the topic of the site and others are not so
engaged. Swami and Krishna provide us with empirical data on the impact of
involvement on online consumer behavior. Their results show that the consumer’s
information and entertainment profiles significantly affect utilitarian and he-
donic evaluations of involvement. They also find positive and significant rela-
tionships between the evaluations of involvement and affect toward the Web
site.
Most people think that products sold on eBay tend to be low-value, low-price
products that one would encounter in a yard sale. It would perhaps be very
surprising to many readers to learn that eBay Motors is the largest part of the
company with an annual sales of $7.5 billion. The second paper by Mark Sena
and Gerald Braun, “An Examination of Consumer Behavior on eBay Motors,”
studies transactions in this product category. The findings of their study suggest
vii
that within selected data ranges, such factors as seller feedback ratings, num-
ber of pictures in item description, and seller type (dealer vs. individual) may
affect the percentage of retail value that sellers are able to earn in eBay Mo-

with a new way to understand online service quality and maximize the total
consumer experience (TCE). Their framework of online service quality (E-
SEQUAL) promises to have a major impact on the practice of e-marketing.
This article also represents a truly remarkable collaboration with members of
academia and industry.
Online brands help us make sense of the abundance of information online. En-
countering a familiar brand online is akin to meeting a friend in an alien environ-
ment. Yet managing brands online provide unique challenges. In the chapter by
Subir Bandyopadhyay and Rosemary Serjak, “Key Success Requirements for
viii
Online Brand Management,” we learn about what the brand manager can do to
manage brands online and integrate them with physical brands for a successful
consumer experience.
Daniela Andreini’s chapter, “The Evolution of the Theory and Practice of Mar-
keting in Light of Information Technology,” is a theoretical examination of the
place of e-marketing in the marketing theory literature. This Italian author pro-
vides an exhaustive analysis of the different theoretical perspectives of e-mar-
keting and then integrates it with the known theoretical frameworks in market-
ing.
The next chapter comes to us from Spain. The work of José Manuel Ortega
Egea and Manuel Recio Menéndez, “The Internet and Global Markets,” is a
theoretical overview of how the Internet is affecting global markets.
Online marketing research may well be the killer application that e-marketers
have been waiting for. Online focus groups provide us with unique advantages.
The biggest stated disadvantage may be that we lose body language and hence,
an understanding of how things are said and not just what is said. The next
chapter by Peyton Mason, Boyd Davis, and Deborah Bosley, “Stance Analysis:
Social Cues and Attitudes in Online Interaction,” introduces us to the notion of
stance and describes how we could measure this construct using multivariate
techniques, using an ongoing example taken from an online financial focus group.

tection of Online Privacy,” compares the self-regulation approach epitomized
by the United States with the comprehensive omnibus legislative approach
mandated by the European Union.
This collection of articles is expected to add to an already-considerable litera-
ture and to enhance our understanding of this intrinsically interdisciplinary and
global phenomenon.
Sandeep Krishnamurthy
University of Washington, Bothell, USA
x
Evaluation of Web Sites on Information and Entertainment Properties 1
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permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.
Chapter I
Evaluation of Web Sites
on Information
and Entertainment
Properties:
The Role of Involvement
Sanjeev Swami, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India
Ram Krishna, Tata Consultancy Services, India
Abstract
This paper addresses the role of consumer involvement in Web site evaluation.
We investigate the factors that lead the consumer to be involved with one
site more than another. Based on previous research, we use the psychological
constructs, information-seeking tendency, and focused attention
(Baumgartner & Steenkamp, 1996; Novak, Hoffman, & Yung, 2000) to
define the “information profile” of a consumer; and sensation-seeking
tendency and mood variability to define the “entertainment profile” of the
consumer (Eliashberg & Sawhney, 1994). The information and entertainment
factors are hypothesized to affect consumers’ utilitarian (need, value) and

U.S. companies using digital marketing will spend $63 billion on it annually by
2005; and that online retailing in Europe will grow to 152 billion Euros in 2006
(Forrester Research, 2001; Forrester Research BV, 2001). However, amidst all
the excitement about the Internet, the importance of the most significant entity
behind all this attention—the consumer—must be recognized. This is important
since the consequences of the lack of in-depth understanding of the consumer
could be devastating as manifested in many dot-com failures (Mahajan, Srinivasan,
& Wind, 2002; Varianini & Vaturi, 2000).
In general, online consumers are younger, more educated, and more affluent than
the general population (Hanson, 2000). Consumers visit the Web for entertain-
ment (e.g., multiuser games, online discussions or chat rooms, music, videos),
buying goods or services (e.g., online banking, online shopping, financial ser-
vices, electronic catalogs, reverse auction), searching for information (e.g.,
reading news, searching online databases), communication (e.g., e-mail, chat),
Evaluation of Web Sites on Information and Entertainment Properties 3
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permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.
and education and training (e.g., interactive education, online training) (Hanson,
2000; Kolakata & Whinston, 2000; Korgaonkar & Wolin, 1999; Krishnamurthy,
2002; Nielsen, 1999a). However, a concern appears to be the fact that 80% of
individuals do not revisit Web sites (Nvision, 1999).
This suggests that winning the online consumer requires a deeper analysis and
understanding of his/her behavior and developing an appropriate marketing
strategy. The first step in this direction should be converting casual first-time
visitors into loyal users who are inclined to revisit the site. This recommends
development of “sticky,” or involving Web sites, which encourage repeat-visit
behavior by the consumer.
Previous researchers and practitioners agree that the need to develop a
comprehensive understanding of consumer behavior and creating a compelling
online environment are essential for future growth of the Internet and e-

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permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.
role of involvement on the visitor evaluation of a Web site, not as a general
customer experience in online environments, as treated in the previous works.
The critics of flow research also appear to favor managerial usefulness of
measuring consumer involvement while he/she is at a site over a general
conceptualization of flow in online environment. For example, Dholakia and
Bagozzi (2001) have “acknowledged the complexity and multidimensionality of
the flow construct (e.g., Novak et al., 2000). This complexity potentially
undermines the managerial usefulness of the construct. For example, given that
a consumer experiences flow during a particular session, it is not clear how this
knowledge could be used by individual marketers, since the experience may be
created as part of the overall session, rather than a particular Web site. A
company may take all the trouble to create a compelling Web site for an online
consumer, only to have him/her visit a badly designed, slow Web site next, and
not experience any of the postulated positive flow consequences. Rather than
inducing flow, marketers may find it more productive to optimize the consumer’s
experience while he/she is at their Web site” (p. 168). Accordingly, in this paper,
our analysis begins after the Web user has decided to visit the site. The user may
access the site as a result of a predefined search, based on a list of favorite sites,
or finds it accidentally. We want to investigate which factors lead the consumer
to be involved with one Web site than another.
4
The investigation of involvement is important because the insights generated
would help the development, design, and evaluation of involving Web sites, a
major objective of Web marketers. Moreover, the involvement-based model
could aid in further understanding of the general flow (Novak et al., 2000) in
digital environments (DEs).
5
Flow can be seen as cumulative of sequence of

We classify the relevant previous studies into the following three broad compo-
nents of our conceptual framework.
Figure 1. Conceptual framework for involvement-based evaluation of Web
sites

AffectUtilitarian Evaluation
of Involvement
1.

Need
2.

Value
Hedonic Evaluation
of Involvement
1. Interest
2. Appeal
Individual Information
Profile/Type
1. Information Seeking

Tendency
2. Individual Specific
Focused Attention
Site Information Profile
1. Informativeness
2. Organization of

the flow on the Web as a cognitive state experienced during online navigation that
is determined by (1) high levels of skill and control, (2) high levels of challenge
and arousal, and (3) focused attention. Flow induces complete involvement of the
actor with his activity (Mannell, Zuzanek, & Larson, 1988).
Because of the association between the notion of flow and involvement, some
underlying constructs of the present study, such as focused attention or informa-
tion-seeking tendency, are similar to those used in flow-based conceptualizations
by Hoffman and Novak (1996a) and Novak et al. (2000). The first factor that is
considered important from the involvement perspective is the “information
profile” of a user. The relevance of a user’s information profile has been
supported extensively in extant literature (Baumgartner & Steenkamp, 1996;
D’Ambra & Rice, 2001; Eighmey, 1997; Korgaonkar & Wolin, 1999). Consum-
ers use the Web for self-education and information needs. Users have been
found to agree strongly with their usage of the Web for acquiring useful
information quickly, easily, and in an inexpensive manner (Korgaonkar & Wolin,
1999). The factors used in defining the information profile of a Web user are as
follows:
Information Seeking Tendency
7
: A consumer’s information-seeking tendency
controls his/her behavior toward search for the latest information. If a
person is of high information-seeking tendency, he/she tries to update his/
her knowledge from various sources. A person with high information-
seeking tendency would be eager to immediately check a new piece of
information (Baumgartner & Steenkamp, 1996; Novak et al., 2000).
Focused Attention: Focused attention refers to a “centering of attention on a
limited stimulus field” (Csikszentmihalyi, 1977, p. 40). Webster, Trevino,
and Ryan (1993) note that the computer functions as a limited stimulus field.
A person with high focused attention concentrates more during a visit to a
Web site, is able to extract more information, and is deeply engrossed.

Sensation Seeking Tendency: This is referred to as an individual’s need for
varied, novel, and complex sensation and experiences, and his/her willing-
ness to actively seek out such experiences (Zuckerman, 1979). Individuals
who desire a greater degree of emotional stimulation are in general
expected to enjoy more stimulating activities, engage in more variety
seeking, and are more willing to try and adopt new products (Raju, 1980).
Mood Variability or Moodiness Parameter: Individuals vary in the frequency
with which they tend to undergo mood changes. An individual’s mood may
change during the experience. The duration of a mood may be small or large
(Zuckerman, 1979) depending on the moodiness of the individual as
determined by his/her susceptibility to undergo mood transitions.
8
8 Swami and Krishna
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permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.
Involvement-Based Evaluation of Web Sites:
Utilitarian and Hedonic Dimensions
Beginning with the seminal paper by Zaichkowsky (1985), several researchers
have discussed research issues related to the involvement construct (Bearden &
Netemeyer, 1992; Costley, 1988; Day, Stafford, & Camacho, 1995). Zaichkowsky
(1985) defines involvement as “a person’s perceived relevance of the object
based on inherent needs, values, and interests” (p. 342). The Personal Involve-
ment Inventory (PII) developed in the 1985 paper was mainly validated with
respect to various product categories. However, in a later work, Zaichkowsky
(1994) extended the validation of the involvement construct to advertisements.
This work also suggests that the involvement construct may be broken into two
subscales representing a cognitive and affective grouping.
Other researchers have also focused on two major dimensions of product
relevance. The first dimension is the traditional notion of utilitarian performance,
whereby the product is seen as performing a useful function, while the second

person would revisit the site more frequently and/or would spend more time on
the site during a session. Similarly, a person with higher focused attention would
concentrate more during a visit to a Web site, and would be able to extract more
information than a person with low focused attention, and therefore, would find
the Web site more needed and valuable. This discussion is summarized in the
hypotheses below:
Hypothesis 1(A). The higher the information-seeking tendency of a Web site
user, the higher will be his/her utilitarian evaluation of involvement (i.e.,
need and value of information sought) toward the Web site.
Hypothesis 1(B). The higher the focused attention of a Web site user, the
higher will be his/her utilitarian evaluation of involvement (i.e., need and
value of information sought) toward the Web site.
Similarly, since every Web site might offer some level of emotional stimulation,
it is expected that a person with high sensation-seeking tendency would find a
Web site more interesting and appealing than a person with low sensation-
seeking tendency (e.g., Hammond et al., 1998). Similarly, individuals with higher
moodiness would be more likely to switch to good mood if they find the Web site
interesting and appealing. Moods have been defined as mild, pervasive, and
generalized affective states rather than intense emotions (Isen, 1984). Subjects
in positive moods have been shown to perceive and evaluate stimuli more
favorably than in other moods. This is usually attributed to three processes: (1)
peripheral effects, (2) decreased elaboration, and (3) biased evaluation (Batra
& Stayman, 1990). For the impact of positive moods to be effective, the individual
difference variable of moodiness becomes important. This refers to the suscep-
tibility to undergo mood transitions during a hedonic consumption experience.
Underwood and Froming (1980) conceptualized this variable on the dimensions
of (1) the average level of an individual’s mood on the happy–sad continuum, (2)
the intensity with which a person reacts to any mood experience, and (3) the
frequency of mood transitions.
The moodiness variable is also related to theories of human temperament (Buss

organized information, clarity, interface design, ease of access, simplicity, speed,
style, interactive aids, and overall neatness (Eighmey, 1997; Harvard Manage-
ment Communication Letter, 2000; Haubl & Trifts, 2000; Hoque & Lohse, 1999;
Nielsen, 1996, 1999b; Reddy & Iyer, 2002). Similarly, Zeithaml, Parasuraman,
and Malhotra (2000, 2002) introduced the concept of e-service quality (eSQ) in
the context of shopping on the Internet and define it as the extent to which a Web
site facilitates efficient and effective shopping, purchasing, and delivery of
service. They propose some criteria, such as information availability and content,
ease of use, privacy/security, graphic style, and fulfillment/reliability, that
Evaluation of Web Sites on Information and Entertainment Properties 11
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permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.
consumers might use in evaluating eSQ. In a related work, Loiacono, Watson,
and Goodhue (2002) established a scale called WEBQUAL with underlying
dimensions such as information quality, interaction, trust, response time, intu-
itiveness, visual and emotional appeals, innovation, flow, integrated communica-
tion, business processes, and customer service.
A related stream of research is concerned with consumers’ rating of Web sites.
For example, sites such as BizRate.com or SurveySite.com provide customer
ratings of many online stores in diverse product categories. BizRate.com’s
online research panel of over 400,000 online buyers, who rate Web sites on 10
quality dimensions, such as Web site performance (e.g., layout, links, pictures,
images, speed) or product information (e.g., quantity, quality, relevance)
(Reibstein, 2001).
Based on the above literature streams, we propose that a Web site comprises of
elements that can be classified into two broad classes: information and entertain-
ment. Using a range of values on the information and entertainment spectrums,
we could generate “profile” of a Web site. For example, a Web site with “high-
low” profile would provide much information, but not too much entertainment
(e.g., Web sites related to computer languages or stock market). Similarly, a web

the experience, and the stimulation sought by the individual. The enjoyment level
is higher when the emotional content of the Web site matches the individual’s
sensation-seeking tendency and is lower when there is discrepancy between the
emotional content of the Web site and the individual’s desire to seek (or avoid)
emotional stimulation (Eliashberg & Sawhney, 1994). Therefore, a person with
higher sensation-seeking tendency would find a Web site with high entertainment
properties more interesting and appealing than a Web site with low entertainment
properties (Underwood & Froming, 1980). Thus,
Hypothesis 5(A). The better the entertainment properties, and their
organization, of a Web site, the greater the positive impact of the sensation-
seeking tendency of a Web site user on his/her hedonic evaluation of
involvement of the Web site.
Hypothesis 5(B). The better the entertainment properties and their
organization of a Web site, the greater the positive impact of the mood
variability of a Web site user on his/her hedonic evaluation of involvement
of the Web site.
If a person visits a Web site with high information/entertainment properties, it is
expected that the utilitarian/hedonic component of involvement will lead to more
positive affective experiences than if he/she visits a Web site with low informa-
tion/entertainment properties (Mano & Oliver, 1993).
Hypothesis 6(A). The better the informativeness and organization of a Web
site, the greater the positive impact of the utilitarian evaluation of a user on
his/her affect toward the Web site.
Hypothesis 6(B). The better the entertainment properties and their
organization of a Web site, the greater the positive impact of the hedonic
evaluation of a user on his/her affect toward the Web site.
Evaluation of Web Sites on Information and Entertainment Properties 13
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Research Design

The five-item informativeness scale is similar to Chen and Wells’s (1999). The
informativeness of a Web site is defined by elements such as informativeness,
intelligent contents, knowledge, resourcefulness, and currency. This factor
14 Swami and Krishna
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permission of Idea Group Inc. is prohibited.
builds upon the informative/relevant scales that have emerged in previous studies
of print advertisements and television commercials. The seven-item organiza-
tion of information element scale was adapted from two sources. Three items
(e.g., “Interacting with the Web site is slow and tedious”) are taken from Novak
et al. (2000) and four items (e.g., “I find this Web site not messy to use”) from
Chen and Wells (1999) depending on their suitability to the Web environment.
The five-item entertainment scale was constructed using five items from Chen
and Wells (1999). The entertainment properties of a Web site are defined by
adjectives such as fun, exciting, cool, and imaginative. These terms are similar
to raters’ evaluations of television commercials, such as “merry,” “amusing”
(Wells, Leavitt, & McConville, 1971), “lots of fun to watch,” “clever and quite
entertaining” (Schilinger, 1979), and “fast, held attention, and interesting”
(Moldovan, 1984). Organization of entertainment element scale (Reibstein,
2001) consists of three items (e.g., “This Web site has animation elements”).
Utilitarian evaluation of involvement construct (Mano & Oliver, 1993)
comprises of two separate scales. The first scale need is composed of six items
(e.g., “vital,” “needed,” “essential,” “fundamental,” “beneficial,” and “useful”).
The second scale value is composed of seven items (e.g., “important,” “means
a lot to me,” “relevance,” “valuable,” “matters to me,” “of concern to me,” and
“significant”). Similarly, hedonic evaluation of involvement construct (Mano
& Oliver, 1993) also comprises of two separate scales. The first scale interest
is composed of three items (e.g., “exciting,” “interesting,” and “fascinating”).
The second scale appeal is composed of two items (e.g., “appealing,” and
“desirable”). The affect (positive/negative) scale is similar to Novak et al.’s