Sawyer Business School

Faculty Research SeminarApril 23, 2009

“15 minutes of fame” -Warhol

Arnold Kamis & Jonathan FrankISOM Department

SBS Faculty Research Seminar, April 23, 2009

Self-Customization vs. Social Shopping:

User Interaction Designfor Gen-Y Hedonic Online Purchases

Richness of Social Shopping

Web stores can feel "sterile and isolating” – Apple Corp

Online Shopping Expectations?

Online Shopping Research Questions

Online Shopping Long Tail

• Pareto Principle 80/20 rule• Brynjolfsson (2003, 2006)• Anderson (2004)• Elberse (2008)

Web 2.0 Crowd Control

Long Tailed Self-Customization

Long Tailed Stores Online

Long Tailed Social Networks

Social Bookmarking -- Skimbit

“Trusted expert” -- ThisNext

ThisorThat

Co-browsing -- DimDim

Simplified Conceptual Model

Perceived Effective-

ness

Information Seeker Trait

Intent to Purchase

Perceived Ease of Use

Perceived Enjoyment

+

+

+

++

+

+

+

+

(TPB)(TAM)

(Flow)

(TAM)

(Marketing)

Research Design

Controlled experimentTwo travel web sites: StudentCity

and ExpediaCobrowsing with LiveLookStudent Subjects from classes in

Spring 2008 – Summer I 2008N=182

Experimental Hedonic Tasksfor Solo or Paired Online Shoppers

Packaged Customized

Overall

Perceived Effective-

ness

Information Seeker Trait

Intent to Purchase

Perceived Ease of Use

Perceived Enjoyment

0.220

0.403

0.097

-0.087

57.6%

61.2%

16.3% 50.6%

0.212

0.267

0.608

0.306

0.738

0.091

0.532

0.132

-0.182

R2 = 52.7%

R2 = 65.2%

R2 = 28.3% R2 = 26.8%

-0.089

0.472

0.731

0.124

0.729

Simplest Combination: solo & packaged

Perceived Effective-

ness

Information Seeker

Intent to Purchase

Perceived Ease of Use

Perceived Enjoyment

(4.30, 1.64)

0.194

0.553

0.115

0.016

R2 = 69.1%

R2 = 68.6%

R2 = 30.6% R2 = 77.5%

0.342

0.036

0.655

0.563

0.759

social & packaged

Perceived Effective-

ness

Information Seeker

Intent to Purchase

Perceived Ease of Use

Perceived Enjoyment

(4.34, 1.68)

0.299

0.444

0.165

0.020

R2 = 70.9%

R2 = 63.9%

R2 = 19.7% R2 = 52.6%

0.159

0.563

0.576

0.033

0.713

solo & customizable

Perceived Effective-

ness

Information Seeker

Intent to Purchase

Perceived Ease of

Use

Perceived Enjoyment

(4.84, 1.76)

Perceived Effective-

ness

Information Seeker

Intent to Purchase

Perceived Ease of Use

Perceived Enjoyment

0.186

0.182

-0.007

-0.337

32.9%

36.7%

3.3% 57.2%

0.385

0.117

0.380

0.434

0.607

social & customizable

(5.02, 1.32)

Zoomerang Excellent company for panels of online users Still analyzing new dataset (n=606) from Field

ExperimentUnited States: $5.50 / subject Going Global

o China: $18 / subject!o Russia: $20 / subject!o India: $27 / subject!o Brazil: $32 / subject!

Conclusions The social dimension and the customizability

dimension explain to a significant extent intent to purchase online travelThe two dimensions influence the Gen-Y subject(s)

differently.We can support and influence both dimensions with

careful design of the user interface and the social process.

We expect these dimensions to vary by culture. There are additional variables we have yet to

identify.Any suggestions?

What’s next?