Browsing by Author "Hoehle, Hartmut"

Now showing 1 - 11 of 11
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    Being at the cutting edge of online shopping: Role of recommendations and discounts on privacy perceptions
    Venkatesh, Viswanath; Hoehle, Hartmut; Aloysius, John A.; Nikkhah, Hamid Reza (Pergamon-Elsevier, 2021-08-01)
    Despite the explosion of selling online, customers continue to have privacy concerns about online purchases. To alleviate such concerns, shopping sites seek to employ interventions to encourage users to buy more online. Two common interventions used to promote online sales are: (1) recommendations that help customers choose the right product either based on historic purchase correlations or recommendations suggested by the retailer; and (2) discounts that increase the value of products. Building on privacy calculus, we theorize about how and why key, representative combinations of recommendations and discounts influence the effects of inhibitors and enablers on online purchase intention. Our research design incorporated recommendations coming from different sources for the recommendation (retailer and other customers’ preferences) product relatedness (related products with historic purchases correlated to the focal product and unrelated products with no historic purchase correlation to the focal product) and two types of discounts (regular and bundle). Participants completed a browsing task in a controlled online shopping environment and completed a survey (n = 496). We found mixed results of moderating effects of recommendations and product relatedness on the effect of inhibitors and enablers on purchase intention. Although recommendations did not enhance the effects of inhibitors, they did enhance the effects of enablers on online purchase intention. We also found that product relatedness did not enhance the effect of privacy enablers on online purchase intentions. The results also showed that discounts enhance the effects of enablers, and that discounts can counteract the moderating effect of recommendations on the relationship between inhibitors and purchase intention under certain circumstances. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.
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    Customers' tolerance for validation in omnichannel retail stores: Enabling logistics and supply chain analytics
    Hoehle, Hartmut; Aloysius, John A.; Chan, Frank; Venkatesh, Viswanath (Emerald, 2018-01-01)
    Purpose: Mobile technologies are increasingly used as a data source to enable big data analytics that enable inventory control and logistics planning for omnichannel businesses. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the use of mobile technologies to facilitate customers’ shopping in physical retail stores and associated implementation challenges. Design/methodology/approach: First, the authors introduce three emerging mobile shopping checkout processes in the retail store. Second, the authors suggest that new validation procedures (i.e. exit inspections) necessary for implementation of mobile-technology-enabled checkout processes may disrupt traditional retail service processes. The authors propose a construct labeled “tolerance for validation” defined as customer reactions to checkout procedures. The authors define and discuss five dimensions – tolerance for: unfair process; changes in validation process; inconvenience; mistrust; and privacy intrusion. The authors develop a measurement scale for the proposed construct and conduct a study among 239 customers. Findings: The results show that customers have higher tolerance for validation under scenarios in which mobile technologies are used in the checkout processes, as compared to the traditional self-service scenario in which no mobile technology is used. In particular, the customers do not show a clear preference for specific mobile shopping scenarios. Originality/value: These findings contribute to our understanding of a challenge that omnichannel businesses may face as they leverage data from digital technologies to enhance collaborative planning, forecasting, and replenishment processes. The proposed construct and measurement scales can be used in future work on omnichannel retailing.
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    An espoused cultural perspective to understand continued intention to use mobile applications: a four-country study of mobile social media application usability
    Hoehle, Hartmut; Zhang, Xiaojun; Venkatesh, Viswanath (Taylor & Francis, 2015-05-01)
    As most mobile applications are tailored for worldwide consumption, it is a significant challenge to develop applications that satisfy individuals with various cultural backgrounds. To address this issue, we drew on a recently developed conceptualization and associated instrument of mobile application usability to develop a model examining the impact of mobile social media application usability on continued intention to use. Drawing on Hofstede's five cultural values, we incorporated espoused cultural values of masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, and long-term orientation into our model as moderators. To test the model, we collected data from 1,844 consumers in four countries - the U.S., Germany, China, and India - who use mobile social media applications on their smartphones. The results provided support for the role of espoused national cultural values in moderating the impact of mobile social media application usability on continued intention to use and the model, with espoused cultural values explaining significantly more variance in continued intention to use (i.e., 38%) than the main effects-only model (i.e., 19%). Interestingly, our results demonstrated that culture at the national level did not play a significant role in affecting the relationship between usability constructs and continued intention to use, thus underscoring the importance of espoused culture.
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    Exploiting big data for customer and retailer benefits: A study of emerging mobile checkout scenarios
    Aloysius, John A.; Hoehle, Hartmut; Venkatesh, Viswanath (Emerald, 2016-01-01)
    Purpose – Mobile checkout in the retail store has the promise to be a rich source of big data. It is also a means to increase the rate at which big data flows into an organization as well as the potential to integrate product recommendations and promotions in real time. However, despite efforts by retailers to implement this retail innovation, adoption by customers has been slow. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – Based on interviews and focus groups with leading retailers, technology providers, and service providers, the authors identified several emerging in-store mobile scenarios; and based on customer focus groups, the authors identified potential drivers and inhibitors of use. Findings – A first departure from the traditional customer checkout process flow is that a mobile checkout involves two processes: scanning and payment, and that checkout scenarios with respect to each of these processes varied across two dimensions: first, location – whether they were fixed by location or mobile; and second, autonomy – whether they were assisted by store employees or unassisted. The authors found no evidence that individuals found mobile scanning to be either enjoyable or to have utilitarian benefit. The authors also did not find greater privacy concerns with mobile payments scenarios. The authors did, however, in the post hoc analysis find that mobile unassisted scanning was preferred to mobile assisted scanning. The authors also found that mobile unassisted scanning with fixed unassisted checkout was a preferred service mode, while there was evidence that mobile assisted scanning with mobile assisted payment was the least preferred checkout mode. Finally, the authors found that individual differences including computer self-efficacy, personal innovativeness, and technology anxiety were strong predictors of adoption of mobile scanning and payment scenarios. Originality/value – The work helps the authors understand the emerging mobile checkout scenarios in the retail environment and customer reactions to these scenarios.
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    Impact of Customer Compensation Strategies on Outcomes and the Mediating Role of Justice Perceptions: A Longitudinal Study of Target's Data Breach
    Hoehle, Hartmut; Venkatesh, Viswanath; Brown, Susan A.; Tepper, Bennett J.; Kude, Thomas (Society for Information Management, 2022-03-01)
    Data breaches are a major threat to organizations from both financial and customer relations perspectives. We developed a nomological network linking post-breach compensation strategies to key outcomes, namely continued shopping intentions, positive word-of-mouth, and online complaining, with the effects being mediated by customers’ justice perceptions. We conducted a longitudinal field study investigating Target’s data breach in 2013 that affected more than 110 million customers. We examined customers’ expectations toward compensation immediately after the breach was confirmed (survey 1) and their experiences after reparations were made (survey 2). Evidence from polynomial regression and response surface analyses of data collected from 388 affected customers showed that customers’ justice perceptions were influenced by the actual compensation provided as well as the type and extent of compensation an organization could and should have provided (i.e., customers’ compensation expectations). Interestingly, both positive and negative expectation disconfirmation led to less favorable justice perceptions compared to when expectations were met. Justice perceptions were, in turn, associated with key outcomes. We discuss implications for research on data security, information systems, and justice theory.
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    Leveraging Microsoft's mobile usability guidelines: Conceptualizing and developing scales for mobile application usability
    Hoehle, Hartmut; Aljafari, Ruba; Venkatesh, Viswanath (Academic Press-Elsevier, 2016-05-01)
    This research conceptualizes mobile application usability and develops and validates an instrument to measure the same. Mobile application usability has attracted widespread attention in the field of human-computer interaction because well-designed applications can enhance user experiences. To conceptualize mobile application usability, we analyzed Microsoft's mobile usability guidelines and defined 10 constructs representing mobile application usability. Next, we conducted a pilot study followed by a quantitative assessment of the content validity of the scales. We then sequentially applied exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis to two samples (n=404; n=501) consisting of German consumers using mobile social media applications on their smartphones. To evaluate the confirmatory factor model, we followed a step-by-step process assessing unidimensionality, discriminant validity and reliability. To assess the nomological validity of our instrument, we examined the impact of mobile application usability on two outcomes: continued intention to use and brand loyalty. The results confirmed that mobile application usability was a good predictor of both outcomes. The constructs and scales associated with mobile application usability validated in this paper can be used to guide future research in human-computer interaction and aid in the effective design of mobile applications.
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    Mobile Application Usability: Conceptualization and Instrument Development
    Hoehle, Hartmut; Venkatesh, Viswanath (Society for Information Management, 2015-06-01)
    This paper presents a mobile application usability conceptualization and survey instrument following the 10- step procedure recommended by MacKenzie et al. (2011). Specifically, we adapted Apple's user experience guidelines to develop our conceptualization of mobile application usability that we then developed into 19 firstorder constructs that formed 6 second-order constructs. To achieve our objective, we collected four datasets: content validity (n = 318), pretest (n = 440), validation (n = 408), and cross-validation (n = 412). The nomological validity of this instrument was established by examining its impact on two outcomes: continued intention to use and mobile application loyalty. We found that the constructs that represented our mobile application usability conceptualization were good predictors of both outcomes and compared favorably to an existing instrument based on Microsoft's usability guidelines. In addition to being an exemplar of the recent procedure of MacKenzie et al. to validate an instrument, this work provides a rich conceptualization of an instrument for mobile application usability that can serve as a springboard for future work to understand the impacts of mobile application usability and can be used as a guide to design effective mobile applications.
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    Technology Adoption Decisions in the Household: A Seven-Model Comparison
    Brown, Susan A.; Venkatesh, Viswanath; Hoehle, Hartmut (Wiley, 2015-09-01)
    We identified 7 theoretical models that have been used to explain technology adoption and use. We then examined the boundary conditions of these models of technology adoption when applied to the household context using longitudinal empirical data from households regarding their purchase and use decisions related to household technologies. We conducted 2 studies and collected 1,247 responses from U.S. households for the first study and 2,064 responses from U.S. households for the second study. Those households that had adopted household technologies were surveyed regarding their use behavior. Potential adopters (i.e., those who had currently not adopted) were surveyed regarding their purchase intentions. This allowed us to identify the most influential factors affecting a household's decision to adopt and use technologies. The results show that the model of adoption of technology in the household provided the richest explanation and explained best why households purchase and use technologies.
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    A usability evaluation of the Obamacare website
    Venkatesh, Viswanath; Hoehle, Hartmut; Aljafari, Ruba (Elsevier, 2014-10-01)
    The healthcare.gov website, popularly called the Obamacare website, was off to a rough start. Although infrastructure issues received a great deal of media attention, the site has had its fair share of interface design problems. Drawing on the usability guidelines on the government site of usability.gov, we developed a survey instrument that comprised 16 dimensions to form overall usability. Based on a survey of 374 citizens, we found that usability strongly predicted citizen satisfaction with the website and intention to use the website. Six out of the 16 dimensions of usability emerged as significant in driving overall usability perceptions. In addition to key theoretical implications for e-government and usability research, our work offers practical implications for the healthcare.gov website and e-government web applications in general.
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    A usability study of the Obamacare website: Evaluation and recommendations
    Venkatesh, Viswanath; Hoehle, Hartmut; Aljafari, Ruba (Elsevier, 2017-04-01)
    We conducted a usability study of the healthcare.gov website, popularly known as the Obamacare website, using the guidelines available on usability.gov, which were published by the Department of Health and Human Services. The study was conducted among 374 citizens. We found that the interface design, which we conceptualized as 16 dimensions, was rated rather low. Specifically, five dimensions of usability emerged as key to the prediction of overall usability of the website: hardware and software, home page, screen, scrolling and paging, and user experience. We also found that citizen satisfaction and intention to use the website were rated poorly. Based on a break down by gender, age and voting behavior (for Obama or not), we found several interesting patterns of differences. Ultimately, even if the infrastructure issues that have received a bulk of the media attention are miraculously resolved, our findings suggest that the site will be found wanting. The article offers specific illustrative examples of usability problems with the website and specific recommendations drawn from usability.gov. In addition to the practical implications for Obamacare, the article offers significant implications for researchers who seek to evaluate the usability of websites in general and healthcare websites in particular.
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    User compensation as a data breach recovery action: a methodological replication and investigation of generalizability based on the Home Depot breach
    Hoehle, Hartmut; Wei, Jia; Schuetz, Sebastian; Venkatesh, Viswanath (Emerald, 2021-02-26)
    Purpose: In the aftermath of data breaches, many firms offer compensation to affected customers to recover from damaged customer sentiments. To understand the effectiveness of such compensation offerings, Goode et al. (2017) examined the effects of compensation offered by Sony following the PlayStation Network breach in 2011. Although Goode et al. (2017) present key insights on data breach compensation, it is unclear whether their findings generalize beyond the context of subscription-based gaming platforms whose customers are young and experience substantial switching costs. To address this issue, we conducted a methodological replication in a retail context with low switching costs. Design/methodology/approach: In our replication, we examine the effects of compensation offered by Home Depot in the aftermath of its data breach in 2014. Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer in the US and presents a substantially different context. Data were collected from 901 participants using surveys. Findings: Our results were consistent with the original study. We found that in retail breaches, effective compensation needs to meet customers' expectations because overcompensation or undercompensation leads to negative outcomes, such as decreased repurchase intention. Originality/value: Our study provides insights into the effectiveness of compensation in the retail context and confirms the findings of Goode et al. (2017).