Etail research from B2C models to customer intimacy--part 2.(Editorial Preface)

This is the second of two special issues that focus on the end user of ecommerce processes and practices--the etail consumer--and the websites they visit. Despite the dot.com fallout, many etailers continue to thrive and new ones are still being born. New knowledge about the etailer-customer relationship is being discovered. We continue to learn about the factors that lead to success in this new frontier. The authors of articles in this special issue evaluate the relationship between consumers and the etailers they visit online in terms of searching for online information, trust between etailer and consumer, navigating the etail interface, and paying for online purchases.

Our lead paper provides a wonderful overview of the field. Khawaja, Hwang, and Yi utilize a meta-analytical methodology to assess the current thinking in online consumer behavior, and seek to establish an integrative framework. Given the recent etail fallout, the authors evaluate 42 separate studies in major IS journals in order to identify the key drivers of online consumer behavior and establish directions for future research. Their integrative framework proposes system quality, information quality, service quality, and vendor and channel characteristics as key factors that impact online consumer behavior. They also evaluate research constructs such as perceived usefulness and ease-of-use (from the Technology Acceptance Model) and trust.

Then, we have two papers that evaluate the consumer search process in greater detail. First, Hodkinson and Keil develop a model of consumer Web search behavior that combines previous consumer search theories with other behavioral variables. They identify navigational skills and personal Web skills as significant contributing factors. Finally, they propose ataxonomy of Web search actions, and present a call for future research. In another paper, Leug, Moore, and Warkentin evaluate consumer search in the context of situational involvement, as is typically the case with health care searches, as contrasted with online consumer search behavior exhibiting less search intensity. Their research findings suggest that the level of situational involvement impacts search behavior and the communication between patients and health care providers. In addition, in the long run, there is also a link between an individual's health and his or her ...