On the relative impact of male and female sellers’ profile image and its facial expressions upon peer users’ behavior on Airbnb

This study aims to investigate the influence of a male and female sellers ́ profile image and its expressions on the choices made by the peer user within the context of peer-to-peer accommodation rental. We arranged a scenario in which participants evaluated their likelihood to rent an apartment on Airbnb. Results of the conjoint study (r = 0.967, p = 0.000) show that, relative to price and customer reviews, a seller ́s profile image and its facial expression has a strong impact on the likelihood to rent the apartment on Airbnb. Second, the male seller profile image and its facial expression had the strongest impact in both positive and negative directions. Finally, the absence of a seller’s profile image (head silhouette) had a relatively strong negative impact on the likelihood to rent. Sellers looking to sublet property on Airbnb should be aware that their profile image could potentially influence prospective tenants. The study is published in Procedia Computer Science.

Young People’s Views of Municipality Websites: Use, Attitudes, and Perception of Quality

This research investigated public sector websites in Norway by focusing on municipalities. Norway consists of 422 municipalities each of which has its own website. To help inform the increasing investments and use of technologies within eGovernment, this study focused on young people’s perceptions of municipality websites. Today’s young people constitute a key user group in the coming years. An online survey was conducted with undergraduate students in Norway. Findings suggest that young adults do not widely use municipality websites and that they visit primarily to search for specific information or use digital services. Results also suggest that young adults prefer digital interaction over face-to-face communication, and email and chat are their most favored ways to interact with the public sector. They consider paper-based communication undesirable. Participants ranked the quality of municipality websites as moderate to good but were not overwhelmingly positive. This study is published at International Conference on Electronic Government and the Information Systems Perspective.

The relationship between young consumers’ decision-making styles and propensity to shop clothing online with a smartphone

Consumer behavior in retail is changing due to the adoption of technologies such as the Internet and the smartphone. This study focused on studying the relationship between young consumers’ decision-making styles and their propensity to shop clothing online with a smartphone. The Consumer Styles Inventory (CSI) was used as base for a survey with young adult students. The results indicated that four out of eight CSI measurements, namely brand consciousness, fashion consciousness, impulsiveness and recreational shopping behavior, positively correlate with the respondents’ frequency to look at and/or buy clothing online with a smartphone. These findings are important for retailers that strive to increase economic earnings from mobile technology solutions. The study is published in Procedia Computer Science.

What’s the “Thing” in Internet of Things in Grocery Shopping? A Customer Approach

The Internet of Things (IoT) technology presents an opportunity for retail groceries to develop an infrastructure that makes physical things such as mobile phone, shopping basket, store shelves, digital display, and, even the product itself smart, allowing real-time interaction with customers both in the physical store and in the virtual store. The aim of this study was to expand understanding of how IoT can create value in the retail grocery choice situation. To investigate the impact of IoT-related information on consumer choice in a shopping situation, we arranged a conjoint experiment in which participants purchased fresh salmon in a grocery store. The results demonstrated that relative to static information about price, expiry date, quality, and offers given, the real-time information was the most salient stimulus when choosing fresh salmon. Moreover, quality ratings by other customers were the most salient stimuli among real-time information, followed by an offer based on a product in the shopping cart, real-time expiry date, and real-time price. The study is published in Procedia Computer Science.

Situational Factors Influencing Customers’ Credit Use Online: A Behavioral Economic Approach

This study investigated consumers ́credit use online from the perspective of intertemporal choice and focuses on the impact of personalized credit information when choosing a utilitarian versus hedonic product. In a simulated shopping experiment, participants from a Norwegian university college could either save money for the product and get it in the future or buy the product on credit and get it now. A between-group design was used with a randomized selection divided into two groups. The test group received personalized credit information while choosing the utilitarian and hedonic products. The control group did not have this information. Area Under Curve was calculated and used to make statistical operations. Results demonstrated that all participants discounted the saving alternative when the time delay increased, which, therefore, increased their willingness to buy on credit online. Participants ́ discounting of the saving alternative was near the hyperbolic model. Second, a significant difference between the utilitarian versus the hedonic products was found for all participants ́ willingness to buy on credit online. Finally, personalized information about credit debt had little influence on credit use, but some indications related to hedonic product calls for further research. This study is published in the Proceedings of the 51st Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences.