Rosetta Stone Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Rosetta Stone - Essay Example The Rosetta Stone contains a priestly decree in honour of Ptolemy V which was set up in a major temple. (Wilson, 2004, p. 31) It is said that European archaeology in Egypt began during the French expedition when French soldiers accidentally discovered the Rosetta Stone, however the greatest contribution to the stone was made by Jean-Francis Champollion who after twenty-three years of struggle and work out on studying hieroglyphs was able to uncover the secrets behind 'Rosetta stone' in 1822. Champollion was the one who is held responsible for opening the doors to modern Egyptology. According to Reid (2002) "The French expedition is solely responsible for finding Rosetta Stone as without their expedition there would have been no description of ancient Egypt. It is the stone who brought before us the decipherment of hieroglyphics, otherwise it would have been delayed and, until the decipherment, most pharaoh history would have remained missing. Therefore, the onus is on the stone who revealed modern Egypt and Egyptology". (Reid, 2002, p. 14) The French soldiers after discovering the Rosetta Stone while digging fortifications, left Egypt on the threshold of Anglo-French geopolitical rivalry. This situation fatally weakened the Mamluks (slave soldiers), thereby paving the way for Muhammad Ali. In this context the stone was responsible for a major change occurrence economically, politically and culturally through Muhammad Ali's reign. In archaeology, the French expedition and Muhammad Ali's reign ushered in a new era where the emphasis was given to decipher 'Rosetta Stone'. However the stone paved the way to the decipherment of hieroglyphics and the birth of modern Egyptology, and the Description advanced the documentation of pharaoh art, architecture, and topography. (Reid, 2002, p. 32) Most notably, the 1799 discovery of the Rosetta Stone, a trebly-inscribed stone fragment unearthed by his army during Napoleon's Egyptian campaigns, presented the general as the heroic person likely to unlock the mysteries of ancient Egypt by translating hieroglyphs. Linguistic Significance: Rosetta stone is actually the surviving fragment of granite is inscribed with the decree to guarantee lands and endowments to the temples of Egypt. What is carved on the stone is called the Ptolemaic decrees, written in praise of the then pharaoh. The written text on the Rosetta Stone revealed that the same text on the stone is written in three different languages: Greek (for the ruling administration of the day), Egyptian hieroglyphs (for the gods), and Egyptian Demotic (for a common man). The range of languages reflects the strata of Egyptian society at this time and the lines of communication. Even though the Rosetta Stone was handed over to the British as part of the spoils of the Napoleonic War, the texts had by then been copied and were later sent all over the world. The process of decipherment required several stages as each of the principles behind the script was discovered. With hindsight, it seems as if it were a step-by-step progression, but in fact often one person would have a good idea, but would continue to use other incorrect assumptions at the same time. So, the final triumph came from deciding which of the many permutations

Attitude and behavior towards internet shopping

Attitude and behavior towards internet shopping Studies on factors determining consumer attitude and behavior towards Internet shopping: Most of the studies conducted in the recent years in field of online shopping behavior and attitude have been focusing on the factors influencing the online shopping attitudes and behavior. But, different researchers have diverse opinions and focus, while studying the impact of these factors on the online consumer buying behavior and attitudes. For example, there is a segment of researchers who have tried to explain the consumer attitude and intentions for online shopping by taking theories like Theory of Reasoned Action, Technology acceptance model or Theory of Planned Behaviour as a basis and have tried to extend them further by adding more web specific factors to them(Cheung, Zhu, Kwong, Gloria, and Limayem, 2003), whereas there has been another segment who have derived relationships between various factors and customer satisfaction with reference to the Internet shopping experience in the form of dependent and independent variables. Further, there have been researchers who have f urther organized and compiled the previous researches done in this field so as to pave way for future researches. These researchers have also contributed in terms of designing structured frameworks for online consumer attitude, intention and buying behavior. Web experience The literature review done by Constantinides (2004) helps in identifying the web experience components and their role as the first step in shaping the online consumers behavior. He has added web experience as a controllable element in his model depicting factors that influence the online buying behavior. He has further explained web experience factor by classifying it in three sub-categories which are the building blocks of the web experience. These three sub-categories are Functionality factors (usability and Interactivity), Psychological factors (trust) and Content factors (aesthetics and Marketing Mix). The following figure as adopted from his article presents a brief description of the number of references in support of each of these factors: Source: Constantinides, E.(2004). Influencing the online consumers behavior: the web experience. Journal of Internet Research. Vol 14 No.2, pp. 114, figure 2. Literature review Li and Zhang (2002, p.508) have defined online buying behavior or Internet shopping/buying behavior as the process of purchasing products or services via the Internet; which according to Liang and Lai (2000), is similar to the traditional five steps process of consumer buying behavior (as cited by Li and Zhang, 2002). They have also defined online shopping attitude as the psychological state of the consumers in terms of Internet shopping (2002). Li and Zhang (2002) have analysed 35 empirical studies on online shopping attitudes and behavior conducted during the period of January 1998 to February 2002 and have finally identified 10 inter-related factors for which the reviewed studies have significant empirical evidences. These 10 factors have further been classified into five independent factors (viz. external environment, demographics, personal characteristics, vendor/service/product characteristics, and website quality) and five dependent factors (viz. attitude towards online shoppi ng, intention to shop online, decision making, online purchasing, and consumer satisfaction.) Another exhaustive literature review in this field has been by Cheung et al. (2003). They have examined a total of 351 articles in the area of online consumer behavior from 1994 to April 2002. They have attempted to link together the concepts of intention, adoption and continuance and form a base model- a Model of Intention, Adoption and Continuance (MIAC) for the development of an online consumer behavior framework. Further, the various factors as mentioned by various researchers in their study have been categorized under five major domain areas viz. individual/consumer characteristics, product/service characteristics, medium characteristics, and online merchant and intermediary characteristics. According to them, online purchase intention and adoption has been extensively studied and there are lots of empirical evidences available, but research on continuance or consumer online repurchase is in its infancy. The following figure describes the MIAC model as suggested by Cheung et al. Framework of online consumer behavior Source: Cheung, C.M.K., Zhu, L., Kwong, T., Chan, G.W.W. Limayem, M.(2003). Online Consumer Behavior: A Review and Agenda for Future Research. Proceedings of the 16th Bled eCommerce Conference, eTransformation. 194-218 A recent study conducted by Kuczmarski and James (April 2008) further contribute to the available body of literature by adding that consumers prefer online stores to actual stores due to potential reasons like convenience, cost and selection. Trust as a factor Studies also indicate that trust remains a crucial factor in e-commerce and in influencing the purchase decision of online shoppers. Consumers prefer to shop from trusted websites. Researches reveal that trust is a factor which also helps in forming long-term customer relationships (Dwyer, Schurr Oh, 1987; Gefen Straub, 2003; Kim, Xu Koh, 2004). Some researchers like Lee (2002), Liebermann and Stashevsky (2002), McKnight et al.(2002), Suh and Han(2002) and Liang and Lai(2002) have even argued that a new step has been added to the online buying process and that is the step of building trust or confidence (as cited by Constantinides, 2004). The available literature explains that trust facilitates e-commerce and online transactions, but at the same time the consumers lack of trust in online vendors continues to remain a hindrance in the growth of e-commerce. (Ba Pavlou, 2002; Gefen and Straub, 2003; Gefen, Karahanna Straub, 2003; Kim, Xu Koh, 2004; Lim, Sia, Lee Benbasat, 2006; P avlou Gefen, 2004). Gefen(2002) and Kim, Xu Koh (2004) have stated that a key challenge to e-commerce is that creating trust typically requires multiple interactions and superior service over a period of time(as cited by Lowry et al., 2008). Brand has also been established as one of the factors influencing the customer trust for a website (Bart, Shankar, Sultan Urban, 2005; Yoon, 2002). Ward and Lee(2000) conducted a research to examine whether consumers use brands as sources of information when shopping on Internet and they concluded that branding can facilitate consumers acceptance of e-commerce. Lowry, Vance, Moody, Beckman Read (2008) have studied the impact of branding alliances and web-site quality on the consumer trust of e-commerce websites. They explored the usage of branding alliances and website quality by the less familiar websites to enhance the consumer trust and suggested that branding and web-site quality can significantly increase the initial consumer trust in the e-commerce websites. Ballantine(2005) has studied the effects of interactivity and the amount of product information provided by an online shopping environment on consumer satisfaction. A web-based experiment was conducted where respondents were exposed to a simulated online retail store. Findings indicate that these two factors had a significant effect on the consumer satisfaction. Tangibility also remains an important factor in influencing the purchase process of Internet shoppers. Melian-Alzola and Padron-Robaina(2006) have analysed the role and importance of the tangible elements of purchase processes in business to consumer(B2C) e-commerce, and the impact on overall perceived quality and the customers attitudes. Their research concluded that that four attributes navigation, signposting, tools and explanation explain the tangible dimension in electronic commerce. They revealed that design was an important factor of overall perceived quality and the willingness to recommend the purchase experience to others. Security of transactions is another factor that remains as a matter of concern for e-commerce consumers. According to a study conducted by American Banker in 2007, one-third of Canadians refused to shop online due to fear of identity theft. Web assurance services help in building up the trust and confidence of such consumers. In an experimental study undertaken by Mauldin and Arunachalam (2002), the impact of web assurance services and retailer disclosures on purchase intent was studied. They have defined web assurance as the measures taken to reduce information risks and increase online purchasing by improving the reliability of certain information on the website. Their findings indicate that web assurance. In this research they considered TRUSTe, WebTrust and VISA web assurance services for the study. Their findings indicate that there were no significant differences in intent to purchase among the three assurance providers. Mauldin and Arunachalam have also studied the impact of product and retailer familiarity on the buying behavior of online consumers in the above mentioned study and they suggest that web assurance is insignificant when product familiarity is higher, or in other words, where product familiarity is lower, intent to purchase is higher with web assurance. Retailer familiarity is not fou nd to be significant in any of the conditions. Further, their study also reveals that retailer disclosures are sufficient to impact buying intention of online consumers; the web assurance services studied in the above study did not provide any additional assurance beyond the retailer disclosures. They have further emphasized that comfort with the Internet, general intent to buy online, and website design played significant role in influencing purchase intention. Although security is a major concern of online buyers, their study indicates that information risk generally did not significantly influence purchase intention, which explains why web assurance is generally not significant in their study. Bruce, Katherine and Murphy (2008) have further explored the prior studies on web assurance models to provide detailed explanation on current reporting requirements, differences among web assurance services and perceptions of consumers regarding these services. The study concludes that consumers give importance to web assurance services, but younger consumers place greater value on these services rather than older consumers. Technology Acceptance Model as a basis for research on Literature review In an attempt to design a structured framework for the effects of different factors on consumer attitude towards Internet shopping and their intentions to shop online, Monsuwe, Dellaert and Ruyter (2004) have reviewed the various researches conducted in the field. They have used Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as a base and suggested a framework based on previous research on consumer adoption of new technologies and services. The Technology Acceptance Model (Davis, 1989) has served as a basis for various researches conducted in the Information systems field. In order to support the selection of TAM as a basis for their research work, Monsuwe et.al, 2004 have cited Chen et al.(2002), Moon and Kim(2001) and Lederar et al.(2000) who suggest that although this model is specifically designed to understand the adoption of a new computer based technology in the job/workplace, it has also proven to be suitable as theoretical foundation for adoption of e-commerce as well. The Technology Ac ceptance Model (TAM) suggests the usefulness, ease of use and the later addition of enjoyment (Davis et al., 1992) as the determinants of consumers attitude towards adopting a new technology. This attitude, further, has a strong and positive effect on consumers intentions to actually use the new technology or system (Bobbitt and Dabholkar, 2001; Davis, 1993). While redefining the three constructs in context of online shopping Monsuwe et.al.(2004, p.107) have referred to usefulness as the consumers perceptions that using the Internet as a shopping medium enhances the outcome of their shopping experience. Similarly, they have redefined ease of use as the consumers perception that the process leading to online shopping will require minimum effort and will be easy. Further, according to them, the enjoyment construct refers to the fun and playfulness of the Internet shopping experience. While usefulness has a weak direct link to attitude, it shows a strong direct link towards intention t o shop online (Davis et al., 1989). It is also linked with ease of use to determine consumers attitude towards online shopping. Hence, ease of use has a direct as well as indirect effect on consumers intention to shop online. Using TAM as a basis for the study, the framework proposed by Monsuwe, Dellaert and Ruyter(2004) not only includes the functional/utilitarian and hedonic dimensions like ease of use, usefulness, and enjoyment which affect the consumers attitude and intention towards Internet shopping, but they have also included some of the exogenous factors recommended by various researchers in the framework such as consumer traits(Burke, 2002; Dhabolkar and Bagozzi, 2002; Brown et al., 2001; Eastin and LaRose, 2000), situational factors(Wolfinbarger and Gilly,2001; Avery, 1996), product characteristics(Grewal et al., 2002; Elliot and Fowell, 2000), previous online shopping experiences(Shim et al., 2001; Eastlick and Lotz, 1999) and trust in online shopping(Yoon, 2002; Lee and Turban, 2001) Monsuwe et.al. in their research, have mentioned about the various researches done in order to extend the TAM by suggesting additional factors. For example, Venkatesh (2000), who has proposed integrating factors like control, intrinsic motivation, and emotion into the existing Technology Acceptance Model which are considered to be strong determinants for ease of use construct of TAM. Dabholkar and Bagozzi (2002) have given an attitudinal model of technology based self-service by suggesting two exogenous factors like consumer traits and situational influences. Further, they have cited OCass and Fenech (2002) who have added seven key consumer characteristics namely opinion leadership, buying impulsiveness, satisfaction with websites, web shopping compatibility, shopping orientation, Internet self-efficacy, and web-security to the model. Further, they have substantiated their model by citing the classification given by Hirschman and Holbrook (1982) who have categorised Internet shoppers in two categories; one is of the problem solvers and other category is of those seeking for fun, fantasy, arousal, sensory stimulation, and enjoyment. Monsuwe et al. suggest that this classification also supports the basic three constructs of TAM which affect the consumers attitude towards Internet shopping as ease of use and usefulness reflect the utilitarian aspect and enjoyment is in sync with the hedonic aspect of the model. The above explanation given by Monsuwe et al. is similar to the categorization of the shopping orientations by Bellenger, Robertson and Greenberg(1977) as convenience versus recreational orientation (as cited by Kim, LaRose, 2004) Various researches have been conducted to identify the underlying dimensions for the basic constructs of the TAM model. These latent dimensions can be further used to understand how these constructs get influenced by various exogenous factors. For example, Mathwick et al. (2001) have added two interesting latent dimensions to the usefulness construct Consumer Return on Investment(CROI), and service excellence. Monsuwe, Dellaert and Ruyter (2004) have defined CROI as a perceived return on cognitive, behavioural or financial investment made by the consumer. Whereas, service excellence evaluates the delivered promises against the performance. If both these dimensions are satisfied, then consumers will judge the Internet shopping performance positively (Mathwick et al., 2002) which adds to the perceived usefulness. Zeithamal et al. (2002) have stated that site characteristics such as search functions, download speed and navigation also acts as a determinant in shaping ease of use constru ct of the TAM model. But, Monsuwe et al. (2004, p.109) have a different opinion regarding this dimension. They have stated that these site characteristics merely influence the ease of use of a particular web site or online store, and not the Internet as a shopping medium in generalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ Online Shopping orientations Kim and LaRose (2004) have defined shopping orientation as a shoppers attitude toward shopping activity that may vary with the situation rather than an invariant personality trait of the shopper. They have cited the categorization given by Bellenger, Robertson and Greenberg (1977) which classifies shoppers on the basis of their shopping orientation into convenience versus recreation oriented. Kim and LaRose (2004) also posit that shoppers may possess multiple orientations depending upon the expected outcome of a shopping experience and may demonstrate a regulated/utilitarian or an unregulated/recreational shopping orientation depending upon the environmental stimuli. Their study also shows that these two shopping orientations are not mutually exclusive and interactive web features may draw shoppers with convenience orientation into unregulated buying. Li, Kuo and Rusell(2006) have also studied the impact of shopping orientations on online consumer behavior alongwith other factors like demographics, channel knowledge and perceived channel utilities. Primary data was collected by a research company using an online survey of 999 U.S. Internet users. They have classified Internet users as frequent, occasional and non-buyers. Findings indicated that frequent web buyers have a higher degree of perceived channel utility for the purpose of communication, distribution and accessibility. Similarly channel knowledge also has a positive effect on the Internet buying and it also has a reciprocal influence on the perceived channel utilities. Their study also indicates that frequent web buyers value convenience more than experience(touch and feel of the product) whereas those who are non-web buyers have a higher degree of experience orientation. Recreation and economy orientation are found to be similar for the three types of Internet buyers. Th e study of the demographic factors revealed that male are more frequent web buyers than women, better-educated consumers shop more frequently online and consumers with higher income are more likely to be in frequent web buyer category. Age was not significant as far as frequency of web buying was concerned. Note: Most of the researchers feel that the classical consumer behavioral theories used for can only act as a starting point for understanding the online consumer behavior. There is no structured framework for explaining the online consumer behavior; the studies are mostly fragmented. Researchers have suggested different factors and frameworks, but there is a lack of a cohesive theoretical base to the online consumer behavior. Ba, S.L., and Pavlou, P.A. Evidence of the effect of trust building technology in electronic markets: Price premiums and buyer behavior. MIS Quarterly, 26, 3 (2002), 243-268. Gefen, D., and Straub, D.W. Consumer trust in B2C e-commerce and the importance of social presence: experiments in e-products and e-services. Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, 32, 6 (2004), 407-424. Gefen, D.; Karahanna, E.; and Straub, D.W. Trust and TAM in online shopping: An integrated model. MIS Quarterly, 27, 1 (2003), 51-90. Kim, H.-W.; Xu, Y.; and Koh, J. A comparison of online trust building factors between potential customers and repeat customers. Journal of the AIS, 5, 10 (2004), 392-420. Lim, K.H.; Sia, C.L.; Lee, M.K.O.; and Benbasat, I. Do I trust you online, and if so, will I buy? An empirical study of two trust-building strategies. Journal of Management Information Systems, 23, 2 (Fall 2006), 233-266. Pavlou, P.A., and Fygenson, M. Understanding and predicting electronic commerce adoption: An extension of the theory of planned behavior. MIS Quarterly, 30, 1 (2006), 115-143. Dwyer, F.R.; Schurr, P.H.; and Oh, S. Developing buyer-seller relationships. Journal of Marketing, 51, 2 (1987), 11-27. Everard, A.P., and Galletta, D.F. How presentation flaws affect perceived site quality, trust, and intention to purchase from an online store. Journal of Management Information Systems, 22, 3 (Winter 2005-6), 56-95 Kuczmarski, James (2008, Apr). JOURNAL-IST: Freedom of Choice. Fast Company, Issue 124, 43-43, 1/2p Runyan, B., Smith, K.T., Smith, L. M.(2008, Mar). Implications of Web assurance services on e-commerce. Accounting Forum (Elsevier), Vol. 32 Issue 1, 46-61 Gefen, D. Customer loyalty in e-commerce. Journal of the AIS, 3, 1 (2002), 27-51. Bart, Y.; Shankar, V.; Sultan, F.; and Urban, G.L. Are the drivers and role of online trust the same for all Web sites and consumers? A large-scale exploratory empirical study. Journal of Marketing, 69, 4 (2005), 133-152. Yoon, S.-J. The antecedents and consequences of trust in online-purchase decisions. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 16, 2 (2002), 47-63. Lowry, P.B., Vance, A., Moody, G., Beckman, B. Read, A. (2008). Explaining and Predicting the Impact of Branding Alliances and Web Site Quality on Initial Consumer Trust of E-Commerce Web Sites. Journal of Management Information Systems / Spring 2008, Vol. 24, No. 4, pp. 199-224. American Banker(2007, 17 Dec), Vol. 172 Issue 241, p17-17, 1/9p Monsuwe, T.P., Dellaert, B.G.C. Ruyter, K.D.(2004). What drives consumers to shop online? A literature review. International Journal of Service Industry Management.Vol.15 No.1, pp.102-121 Ward,M.R. Lee, M. J.(2000). Internet shopping, consumer search and product branding. Journal of Product and Brand Management, Vol.9 No.1, pp.6-20 Ballantine, P.W.(2005). Effects of interactivity and product information on consumer satisfaction in an online retail setting. International Journal of Retail Distribution Management, Vol.33 No.1, pp.461-471 Melià ¡n-Alzola, L. Padrà ³n-Robaina, V. (2006). Tangibility as a quality factor in electronic commerce B2C. Managing Service Quality. Vol.16 No.3,pp.320-338 Li,N. Zhang, P.(2002). Consumer Online shopping attitudes and behaviour: An assessment of research. Proceedings of the Eighth Americas Conference on Information Systems. 508-517 Constantinides, E.(2004). Influencing the online consumers behavior: the web experience. Internet Research. Vol 14 No.2, pp. 111-126 Cheung, C.M.K., Zhu, L., Kwong, T., Chan, G.W.W. Limayem, M.(2003). Online Consumer Behavior: A Review and Agenda for Future Research. Proceedings of the 16th Bled eCommerce Conference, eTransformation. 194-218 Li, H., Kuo, C. Rusell, M.G.(2006, Jun). The Impact of Perceived Channel Utilities, Shopping Orientations, and Demographics on the Consumers Online Buying Behaviour. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication. 5(2). Retrieved July, 1, 2009, from http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/fulltext/120837782/HTMLSTART Mauldin, E. Arunachalam, V. (2002). An Experimental Examination of Alternative Forms of Web Assurance for Business-to-Consumer e-Commerce. Journal of Information Systems. 16. 33-54 Abstract: Customers in an Internet shopping environment actually play dual roles. One is the role as a customer in a shopping place, and the other is the role as a user of information technology. In both cases, the level of satisfaction is of great concern. In this vein, a way of measuring the satisfaction level that takes both roles into account is needed. However, in past research indexes for consumer satisfaction and indexes for user information satisfaction have been developed separately in the fields of marketing and management information systems. Because of this lack of interaction between the two streams of research, an index for electronic commerce consumers that has its base in the dual roles has not been developed and tested. In this research, an instrument for measuring electronic commerce consumer satisfaction was proposed and validated using a sample of over 400 customers. The relationship between the index and consumers purchasing intention was also examined. Title: Development of electronic commerce user-consumer satisfaction index (ECUSI) for Internet shopping Author(s): Namjae Cho, Sanghyuk Park Journal: Industrial Management Data Systems Year: 2001 Volume: 101 Issue: 8 Page: 400 406 ISSN: 0263-5577 DOI: 10.1108/EUM0000000006170 Publisher: MCB UP Ltd Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the effects of consumers shopping orientation on their satisfaction level with the product search and purchase behavior using multi-channels. Design/methodology/approach A total of 181 students in a large US mid-western university provided usable responses to the survey. Exploratory factor analysis and multiple regression analyses were employed to examine the research questions. Findings The results showed that more than three quarters of the respondents shopped via the internet and catalogs, and about 95 percent shopped at non-local retailers. About 60 percent reported that they never shopped from TV shopping channels. Confident/fashion-conscious shopping orientation and catalog/internet shopping orientation were found to be key predictors of customer satisfaction level with information search via multi-channels. Both confident/fashion-conscious consumers and mall shopping-oriented shoppers were more satisfied with store-based retail channels for apparel purchases, whereas non-local store-oriented shoppers and catalog/internet-oriented shoppers were more satisfied with non-store-based retail channels for their apparel purchases. Research limitations/implications The sample of this study was biased by gender and age. For the apparel retail industry, this paper offers practical knowledge about the relationships between shopping orientation and consumer search and purchase behavior in a multi-channel retailing context. Originality/value No study has utilized the shopping orientation framework to explain consumer behavior in a multi-channel environment. This study provides understanding of consumer product information search behavior on four dimensions (price, promotion, style/trends, and merchandise availability) via multi-channels. Title: The effects of shopping orientations on consumers satisfaction with product search and purchases in a multi-channel environment Author(s): Hyun-Hwa Lee, Jihyun Kim Journal: Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management Year: 2008 Volume: 12 Issue: 2 Page: 193 216 ISSN: 1361-2026 DOI: 10.1108/13612020810874881 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited Article Information: Title: Attitude toward internet web sites, online information search, and channel choices for purchasing Author(s): Yoo-Kyoung Seock, Marjorie Norton Journal: Journal of Fashion Marketing and Management Year: 2007 Volume: 11 Issue: 4 Page: 571 586 ISSN: 1361-2026 DOI: 10.1108/13612020710824616 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited Document Access: Existing customers: Please login above. You do not have rights to view the article Purchase this document: Price payable: GBP  £13.00 plus handling charge of GBP  £1.50 and VAT where applicable. Purchase Request this document: Print or e-mail a document request to your librarian. Request Reprints permissions: Request Abstract: Purpose This study aims to examine the influence of attitudes toward particular clothing web sites, specifically favorite ones, on information search at those web sites and on the choice to purchase items from those web sites and from non-internet channels after finding the items at the web sites. Design/methodology/approach Using survey data from 414 US college students who had online shopping experience and favorite clothing web sites that they especially like to visit, hypothesized relationships among attitude toward internet web sites, online information search and channel choices for purchasing were tested using path analysis. Findings Results showed that participants attitudes toward their favorite clothing web sites had a direct, positive effect on their intentions to search for information at those web sites as well as intentions to purchase clothing items from those web sites after finding the items there. Additionally, operating through information-search intentions at the web sites, participants attitudes toward those web sites had an indirect, positive effect on their intentions to purchase clothing items from non-internet channels after finding the items at the web sites. Research limitations/implications Results cannot be generalized to the larger population of young consumers and to other consumer groups. Future research should include other population groups. Practical implications This research provides insights into how college students attitudes toward internet web sites affect their information search at the web sites and their channel choices for purchasing. Our results suggest potential benefits of multi-channel retailing for online clothing retailers targeting US college students and the importance of building effective web sites to elicit those consumers positive attitudes toward the web sites. Originality/value This study is the first to investigate young adult online shoppers attitude towards internet web sites and their information search and channel choices for purchasing. Keywords: Consumer behaviour, Information retrieval, Internet shopping, Purchasing, United States of America Article Type: Research paper Article URL: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/13612020710824616 Article Information: Title: Do determinants of online shopping differ for personal shoppers and professional shoppers? Author(s): Amit Bhatnagar Journal: EuroMed Journal of Business Year: 2007 Volume: 2 Issue: 1 Page: 87 102 ISSN: 1450-2194 DOI: 10.1108/14502190710749974 Publisher: Emerald Group Publishing Limited Document Access: Existing customers: Please login above. You do not have rights to view the article Purchase this document: Price payable: GBP  £13.00 plus handling charge of GBP  £1.50 and VAT where applicable. Pu

what to do about education Essay -- essays research papers

What to do about Funding in Public Schools The public school system in America has long has been an issue of discussion amongst people everywhere. The school system is something we deal with in every state and city in America. It is one system in our country that is in need of great evaluation when it comes to the issue of funding. There are funding gaps that are so large from school to school when it comes to the issue of funding that we have some schools that are barley in suitable living conditions, have the oldest materials and are very understaffed to schools that have the best of everything in every aspect to include the teachers. Is this the type of unbalanced system you want your kids in? People often complain that we need to do something about, give more funding here or there, but the problem surrounding school funding is that we often distribute funding in the wrong way. Well I say it is time we as a whole step up and do something about it; I say we move to a voucher system to develop some competition within public education. If we do not act on making our schools more equally funded we will put ourselves in a downward spiral until only a few schools are able to provide an adequate education to our youth, I mean come on our nations children already lag behind in many standardized test when compared to other countries. We need to seize our chance to improve on this now because if we let it slide I can guarantee you the problem will only worsen and the public education in our country will only fail. We need to setup a system based more on competition so we can get the schools to want to give our youth a good education. Now many people may oppose to the idea of making schools â€Å"compete† for students with the voucher system. They would say that this may be too expensive or it would take away the idea of public schooling and not make it free in the sense that we think of school as free. Many would say it would be turning the public school system into a â€Å"business.† While I do agree that it would turn the public school system into a business I do not agree that it would take away from our schools being public in the most literal sense of the word. But it would give people a good way to have a little power in the public system because it would allow parents to decide where they would send their children, not the state. It would also add some incentive for ... ... given a better education simply because his or her parents make more money. That does not make a child smarter, rather more privileged. And I thought schools did not cater to the students. Well that is what the system seems to be doing at this point.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I feel the subject of school funding is one that is in need of serious evaluation. And I feel that the voucher system is the best way we can tackle the subject. Now instead of just talking about making reforms we can go ahead with it and actually do something about it. Our schools need to better prepare out students for their lives. The only foreseeable way to do this would be to impose the voucher system. Without it there will be no competition among schools and there will be no more advancement than there currently is. If we have competition this will encourage improvement among our children, it will make them come up with new ideas and push to really make themselves the best students they can be. In closing I must say that all children are different, so we need to treat them all different and appeal to how each of them learns. If we do not do that then we are keeping ourselves in that downward spiral.

Mobile Shoppers

The entire digital marketing world is quickly converging on mobile as a favorite shopping partner. Thanks to the increasing purchases and usage of smartphones, approximately 50% of adults aged 18-64 in the U. S. are mobile shopping. With all of these technologically advanced phones in pockets and purses, the way people shop is changing. Mobile shopping is not one activity – Mobile-shopping behaviors include using one's phone to facilitate any part of the shopping experience — from comparing products, evaluating prices, and selecting where to buy, to sharing product photos, tweeting price details, and actually completing the transaction.The mobile shopping experience can also include activities post-purchase, such as returning or servicing a product. Arc Worldwide conducted a nationwide quantitative survey of 1,800 mobile-phone owners, followed by qualitative research using webcams, Flip video cameras, and shop-alongs as shoppers utilized their phones in the shopping exp erience. Two key findings cast a light on who is mobile shopping and how, and what it means for the future. Lights shall inherit the future -Mobile shoppers fall into two groups.Heavy mobile shoppers comprise about 20% of all mobile shoppers and drive 80% of the activity volume. Light mobile shoppers comprise the rest. Heavies love their phones, using them to share photos, download music, and check the news. They also love any form of shopping, whether it be at home, on a computer, or in the store. It's not surprising that they really enjoy the nexus — indexing 10 times higher than lights in mobile shopping. Heavy mobile shoppers know and use mobile as a specialized tool for shopping.Light mobile shoppers have a much narrower outlook toward mobile with regard to shopping. They see it primarily as an inferior portable computer, and therefore primarily use it in the car and on the go. Sixty-two percent of light mobile shoppers told us it was just easier to go online from a comp uter vs. shopping on their phone. While heavies have driven the growth of mobile shopping thus far, our research indicates that future growth will come from a small group of lights with the greatest potential to become heavies. We call them high potential mobile shoppers.They love their mobile phones and shopping in the way heavies do, but haven't yet converted their shopping activities onto their phones. Smartphone shopping apps are helping consumers buy more online, and they’re getting people better deals on the street. Two new data points from online auctioneer eBay and price comparison app Scanbuy help drive that home, and more importantly, suggest where things are ultimately headed: Deal-hungry users are increasingly going to put pressure on retailers, both online and offline, to change prices in real time to satisfy these more savvy buyers.Ex. EBay said Wednesday that global mobile sales brought in almost $2 billion in 2010, up from $600 million in 2009. In the U. S. , eBay mobile sales grew almost 175 percent, generating nearly $850 million in gross merchandise value in 2010. What this confirms is that consumers are wielding their smartphones as shopping tools, arming themselves with data that’s informing their choices. In some cases, it’s pushing people to buy online. In other cases, they’re searching for better deals nearby.But as users get more access to pricing data wherever they are at all times, it’s going to force retailers to have to react more in real time with their pricing. If users can see there are deals to be found elsewhere, retailers are going to have learn how to respond quickly with counter offers. This is good news for consumers, who can leverage this data more for in-store discounts and bargaining. Flash an online price of a product at a Best Buy employee, and see if the price can be matched or beaten. It’s going to put more pressure on retailers to monitor these pricing schemes and devise qu ick strategies.It’s not enough to just offer check-in coupons and offers; they’re going to have to be aware of the competing offers available to consumers as they hunt for bargains. 1. Extend online brand reputation to mobile with seller ratings – Having a great online reputation is essential to driving online conversions, per Google. With seller ratings on mobile, brands and retailers can extend their online reputation from desktop to mobile devices and leverage the power of the mobile platform to drive conversions on the Web. The seller ratings extension lets mobile searchers to see merchants who are highly recommended by other shoppers.By showcasing relevant and useful rating information for a business, the extension can help differentiate that brand from its competition and guide potential customers to purchase from its site. In recent studies, campaigns with mobile seller ratings saw a 7. 5 percent increase in click through rates when compared to campaigns without this extension. Seller ratings are aggregated from merchant review sites all around the Web and the extension will only show when a merchant’s online store has a rating of four or more stars and at least 30 reviews. . Take customers directly to the desired conversion path with mobile ad site links – Ad site links enable direct navigation to specific pages of a Web site. Since navigating on the mobile Web can still be difficult, site links for mobile can be especially useful in taking customers directly to the desired conversion path on a site, per Google. For example, with site links brands can quickly guide customers to the best selling products on their site or to an online store locator.Mobile users find this format particularly helpful and on average campaigns with mobile site links see a 30 percent increase in click through rates when compared to campaigns without site links. Right now a maximum of two site links can appear on mobile devices with ads displ aying two links across one line or stacked vertically on two lines. One-line site links can show with the click-to-call phone extension and will display one link to the Web site alongside the brand’s phone number. One-line site links can also show with the seller ratings extension and will display the company’s online store rating as well as two links to its Web site.The quality of a brand’s ad will determine which variation of mobile ad site links will show. Two-line site links typically show for higher quality ads. 3. Drive customers in-store with offer ads – Running an in-store promotion? Brands can get the word out and incentivize customers to visit their store by placing a coupon right into their AdWords ads. Mobile ads with offers enable advertisers to include special deals in their mobile search ads, allowing users to store coupons via email or SMS.Ads also display the brand’s phone number or business location on a Google Map for Mobile so t hat customers have everything they need to go to the store, redeem the offer and make a purchase. 4. Click-to-call ads for easier contact – Ensure that customers can easily connect with customer service by including a business phone number in mobile search ads. Since users who make a call are showing interest in a brand’s product or service, they are more likely to make a purchase. With a call costing the same as a click to an ad, this is a very cost-effective ad format for driving quality leads and conversions for a business.

Impacts Of Poverty On Student’s Achievement Essay

Poverty is an issue faced by more children in our nation. Children face problems related to poverty during their schooling. The price that children pay out of poverty is incredibly high than anyone can imagine. Each year, schools admit large numbers of children with needs brought about by poverty which is an issue that the school is usually not prepared to deal with. Poverty is a risk factor in the process of student’s education. This paper examines the impacts of poverty on teaching and learning which determines the student’s academic achievement. The concept of being at risk This term refers to students who are faced by life’s social circumstances such as poverty that puts them at risk of underachieving in school. There are many risk factors which increases the chances of a student to failure. However poverty is regarded a major risk factor due to its compound effect. Some of the factors that are related to poverty and put a student at greater risk of failing include, very young parents, unemployment, low educational level parents, substance abuse, exposure to inadequate or improper educational experiences, dangerous neighborhood, mobility, abuse and neglect as well as homelessness. (Gromard, 2003) These factors affect the physical status of the children as in dressing, the type of food they eat, their personal effects are usually of low quality or cheap. The physical disparities in among the students cause a wide gap between the poor students and their peers from middle or upper class families. Sometimes the isolation of this group of students is automatic in that they themselves assume that others do not want to associate with them. Teachers may also contribute in perceiving students in accordance to their social classes. This is however a rare case because teachers are professionals. Nevertheless, there are some instances that the teacher may talk about an issue in the process of teaching and unintentionally touch the students from poverty stricken families. For example in studying population, the teacher may teach about demographics of poverty which is inevitable. This students may change their attitude towards the teacher and hence the subject. (Knapps, Shields, & Clementina, 2001) High mobility is a symptom associated with poverty in connection to other surrounding factors. Students who come from poor families may live in daily or monthly rent houses. This is makes them to move day in day out as their parents look for jobs or runs away from problems like abusive spouses, financial responsibilities or criminal records. This kind of situation may also put the poor family homeless. The conditions they live in affect their education achievement. This result from the emotional impact that moving impacts on children. The children also are forced to join new schools occasionally where they may find it very difficult to adapt. When this factor combines with other issues related to poverty, overwhelming effects on the students’ social, emotional and cognitive development are experienced. Students from poor families attend school irregularly. Transfers to new schools are a routine which brings about difficulty in socialization with new friends in the new school. This may make the student to become either withdrawn or hostile due to their experiences in their past attempts to make friends. The student may therefore develop an attitude of ‘why bother’ with regard to both social and academic aspect schooling as they will after all be moving soon. Due to the various reasons of moving, which are often abrupt, the student come to the new school without records from their previous school which makes it difficult for the school to track the records. As a result, teachers lack the slightest idea of what the student have or haven’t leant. It is a big challenge for the school to place the new students in a class and provide them with the additional services they may require. Even when the school succeeds in placing the new students in class and providing these services, these students will likely move within the school year. It is also difficult for teachers to teach these kinds of students something valuable as they rarely concentrate. Children from poor families become aware of the social economic classes that exist in the society at a very tender age. They grow being aware of their own class and that of their peers which make them to develop a class related attitude as early as in their elementary schooling years. This attitude id carried on throughout their lives in school. Inferiority complex or aggressiveness may be the end result of this effect of poverty in the student’s life. However teachers can help children build up caring and sensitivity towards various cultures including social classes. Lessons and activities in the school should be designed on how children perceive the world and themselves during the different stages of development. For example at the age of eleven, children can comfortably reflect on the causes and solutions to poverty. Achievement gap Achievement gap is the difference in academic achievement between children from various groups or classes in relation to ethnic, income or race. The achievement of students is generally lower than that of middle and upper classes. However at lower levels, children of poverty achieve more than their peers from well to do families. Children from low income families have more in their minds than quizzes, homework or extracurricular activities. As pointed out earlier in this work some may have spent their nights in the streets due to homelessness, at camps or compounds of their friends or relatives. Therefore they are often engaged in thinking about where they will spend that night as well as caring about their parents who go through hardships trying to look for a living for the family. This affects their concentration in class and other school activities hence affect their performance academically as well as socially. (Brown, 2000) The reason for variation in achievement of students is determined by the social environment the students come from and the education that they receive in school. Poverty influences the quality of student’s learning behaviors, their past experiences with education, home environment and sometimes the teacher’s attitude which greatly affect the individual student performance. Students from poor or low income families are generally worried too much about themselves. They usually feel out of place when interacting with children in other social classes. They may feel that the society is unfair by placing them in poverty. The students may decline from participating in class activities and this affects their learning in school. As proposed by Salvin 2001, schools impact on students’ academic achievements are powerful and the success of all the students regardless of their social economic class depend on the teachers’ perception of these students as at promise rather than at risk and at the same time preparing them to get to their full potentials in life. A good education that is focused is usually the only means of breaking the vicious cycle of poverty for the poor children. These children require an education founded in high standards with high expectation for all. The curriculum should be aligned to ensure that a meticulous and assessment go hand in hand with the standards. The curriculum should avoid a decrease in opportunities for the students from the poor background. What usually takes place in the classroom has influence on the achievement of the students and hence teachers should be careful when passing information to students. (Plumber, 2004) The teacher should avoid at all costs any activity that may discriminate students from poor backgrounds. The content of education should be of value and cultural relevant. Teachers should be aware that the instructional and classroom management methods do not necessarily work well for poor students. The teachers can help in closing the achievement gap.