Investigating the adoption of electronic customer service by Australian businesses

Managing Service Quality: An International Journal

Volumn 13, Issue 6, 2003, Pages 492-503

  Thi Hong Chau Nguyen, Don ^a   Murphy, Jamie ^b   Olaru, Doina ^c  

^a UNILEVER RESEARCH   (United Kingdom)

^b UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA   (Australia)

^c CSIRO   (Australia)

Author keywords

Australia; Customer service management; Electronic mail; Innovation; Worldwide web

Indexed keywords

EID: 84986108402     PISSN: 09604529     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/09604520310506559     Document Type: Article

References (73)

1. Abrahamson, E. (1991), “Managerial fads and fashions: the diffusion and rejection of innovation”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 16 No. 3, pp. 586-612.
2. Abrahamson, E. and Rosenkopf, L. (1993), “Institutional and competitive bandwagons: using mathematical modelling as a tool to explore innovation diffusion”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 18 No. 3, pp. 487-517.
3. Adler, I. (2001), “Customer (lip) service”, Business Mexico, Vol. 11 No. 4, p. 17.
4. Anton, J. (2000), “Customer connections”, Electric Perspectives, Vol. 25 No. 4, pp. 14-21.
5. Baptista, R. (1999), “The diffusion of process innovations: a selective review”, International Journal of the Economics of Business, Vol. 6 No. 1, pp. 107-29.
6. Barnes, J.G. and Cumby, J.A. (2002), “Establishing customer relationships on the Internet requires more than technology”, Australasian Marketing Journal, Vol. 10 No. 1, pp. 36-46.
7. Barwise, P., Elberse, A. and Hammond, K. (2003), “Marketing and the Internet: a research review”, London Business School, available at: http://forum.london.edu/lbsfacpubs.nsf/researchCentre/362E8F2C304B261F80256B05003A1532/$File/MATIVersion1.pdf (accessed 14 January 2003).
8. Bauer, H.H., Grether, M. and Leach, M. (2002), “Customer relations through the Internet”, Journal of Relationship Marketing, Vol. 1 No. 2, pp. 39-56.
9. BBC News (2002), “Elderly take up surfing”, available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1977000/1977823.stm (accessed 14 May 2002).
10. Berry, L.L. (1983), “Relationship marketing”, in Ed. Berry, L.L., Ed. Shostack, G.L. and Ed. Upah, G. (Eds), Emerging Perspectives on Services Marketing, American Marketing Association, Chicago, IL, pp. 25-28.
11. Bertagnoli, L. (2001), “Getting satisfaction”, Marketing News, Vol. 35 No. 10, p. 11.
12. Bowman, D. (2001), “Customers value treatment, not tangibles”, Marketing News, Vol. 35 No. 15, p. 24.
13. Bruening, M. (2001), “Make the most out of CS's front lines”, Marketing News, Vol. 35 No. 10, p. 12.
14. Christopher, M., Payne, A. and Ballantyne, D. (1991), Relationship Marketing, Butterworth Heinemann, Oxford.
15. Cox, J. and Dale, B.G. (2001), “Service quality and e-commerce: an exploratory analysis”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 121-31.
16. Damanpour, F. (1991), “Organizational innovation: a meta-analysis of determinants and moderators: impact of organizational factors”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 34 No. 3, pp. 555-90.
17. Dickson, M.D. and Gentry, J.W. (1983), “Characteristics of adopters and non-adopters of home computers”, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 10 No. 2, pp. 225-35.
18. Fichman, R.G. (2000), “The diffusion and assimilation of information technology innovations. Framing the domains of IT management”, in Ed. Zmud, R. (Ed.), Projecting the Future through the Past, Pinnaflex Publishing, Cincinatti, OH, pp. 105-28.
19. Fichman, R.G. and Kemerer, C.F. (1999), “The illusory diffusion of innovation: an examination of assimilation gaps”, Information Systems Research, Vol. 10 No. 3, pp. 255-75.
20. Fidler, R. (1997), Mediamorphosis: Understanding New Media. Journalism and Communication for a New Century, Pine Forge Press, Boston, MA.
21. Grönroos, C. (2000), “The NetOffer model: a case example from the virtual marketspace”, Management Decision, Vol. 38 No. 4, pp. 243-52.
22. Guffey, M.E. (1997), Business Communication: Process and Product, 2nd ed., South-Western College Publishing, Cincinnati, OH.
23. Hair, J.F., Anderson, R. Jr, Tatham, R. and Black, W. (1998), Multivariate Data Analysis, 5th ed., Prentice-Hall International, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
24. Hanson, W. (2000), Principles of Internet Marketing, South-Western College Publishing, Cincinnati, OH.
25. Heuchan, J., Murphy, J., Neale, L. and Liu, F. (2001), “An investigation of Australian organisations' online customer service”, Australian and New Zealand Marketing Academy (ANZMAC) Conference Proceedings, Massey University, Auckland, pp. 1-8.
26. Hofstede, G. (1980), Culture's Consequences: International Differences in Work-Related Values, Sage, Beverly Hills, CA.
27. Jovin, E. and Lach, J. (1999), “Online with the operator”, American Demographic, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 36-39.
28. Karimi, J.R., Somers, T.M. and Gupta, Y.P. (2001), “Impact of information technology management practices on customer service”, Journal of Management Information Systems, Vol. 17 No. 4, pp. 125-58.
29. Kimberly, J.R. and Evanisko, M.J. (1981), “Organizational innovation: the influence of individual, organizational, and contextual factors on hospital adoption of technological and administrative innovations”, Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 24 No. 4, pp. 689-713.
30. Kitchen, P.J. and Shultz, D.E. (1999), “A multi-country comparison of the drive for IMC”, Journal of Advertising Research, Vol. 39 No. 1, pp. 21-37.
31. McKenna, R. (1991), Relationship Marketing, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, New York, NY.
32. Mansfield, E. (1968), Industrial Research and Technological Innovation, Norton and Company, New York, NY.
33. Marinova, A., Murphy, J. and Massey, B. (2002), “Permission e-mail marketing as a means of targeted promotion”, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 61-69.
34. May, P. (2000), The Business of Ecommerce: From Corporate Strategy to Technology, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
35. Meuter, M.L., Ostrom, A.L., Roundtree, R.I. and Bitner, M.J. (2000), “Self-service technologies: understanding customer satisfaction with technology-based service encounters”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 64, July, pp. 50-64.
36. Mills, J.E., Clay, J. and Mortensen, M. (2000), “You've got trouble! Managing e-mail liability”, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 41 No. 5, pp. 64-71.
37. Moch, M.K. and Morse, E.V. (1977), “Size, centralization and organizational adoption of innovations”, American Sociological Review, Vol. 42 No. 5, pp. 716-25.
38. Murphy, J. and Tan, I. (2003), “Journey to nowhere? E-mail customer service by travel agents in Singapore”, Tourism Management, Vol. 24 No. 5, pp. 543-50.
39. Murphy, J., Olaru, D., Schegg, R. and Frey, S. (2003), “Jumping on the bandwagon: relationships between Web site features and eService”, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 43 No. 1, pp. 71-87.
40. Nappi, R.J. (2001), “Recognizing downstream value”, Industrial Distribution, Vol. 90 No. 7, p. 84.
41. Newell, F. (2000), Loyalty.com: Customer Relationship Management in the New Era of Internet Marketing, McGraw Hill Professional Book, New York, NY.
42. Noteboom, B. (1994), “Innovation and diffusion in small firms: theory and evidence”, Small Business Economics, Vol. 6 No. 5, pp. 327-47.
43. O'Neil, H.M., Pouder, R.W. and Buchholtz, A.K. (1998), “Patterns in the diffusion of strategies across organizations: Insights from the innovation diffusion literature”, Academy of Management Review, Vol. 23 No. 1, pp. 98-114.
44. Pastore, M. (2002), “Internet key to communication among youth,” CyberAtlas, available at: http://cyberatlas.internet.com/big_picture/demographics/article/0,5901_961881,00.html (accessed 18 August 2002).
45. Prabhaker, P. (2001), “Integrated marketing-manufacturing strategies”, Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, Vol. 16 No. 2, pp. 113-28.
46. Ramsey, G. (2001), “The e-mail marketing report, executive summary”, eMarketer Inc., available at: www.the-dma.org/library/whitepapers/e-mail_Marketing_Exec_Sum_BD.pdf (accessed 14 May 2002).
47. Rogers, E.M. (1995), Diffusion of Innovations, 4th ed., The Free Press, New York, NY.
48. Rust, R.T. and Lemon, K.N. (2001), “E-service and the consumer”, International Journal of Electronic Commerce, Vol. 5 No. 3, pp. 85-101.
49. Saul, M. and Taibl, A. (1999), “Managing multimedia interactions demands attention to routing”, Call Center Solutions, Vol. 17 No. 8, pp. 88-94.
50. Scott, G. (2001), “Accountability for service excellence”, Journal of Healthcare Management, Vol. 46 No. 3, pp. 152-5.
51. Seligman, M. (2000), “Wired for service”, New Zealand Management, Vol. 47 No. 4, pp. 44-46.
52. Sieber, P. (2002), “Einsatz und Nutzung des Internet in kleinen und mittleren Unternehmen in der Schweiz 2000: Bern, Dr. Pascal Sieber & Partners AG”, available at: www.pascal-sieber.ch/Files/kmuinfo-2000.pdf (accessed 14 May 2002).
53. Sillince, J.A., MacDonald, S., Lefang, B. and Frost, B. (1998), “E-mail adoption, diffusion, use and impact within small firms: a survey of UK companies”, International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 18 No. 4, pp. 231-42.
54. Singh, M. (2002), “E-services and their role in B2C e-commerce”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 12 No. 6, pp. 434-46.
55. Sinha, G. (1999), “E-mail: crucial to the customer support mix”, Call Center Solutions, Vol. 17 No. 8, pp. 96-101.
56. Smith, C. (2001), “Customer service – Part VI: face to face with customers”, Professional Builder, Vol. 66 No. 6, pp. 95-100.
57. Soutar, G., Allen, R. and Long, F. (2000), “Does the pace of e-commerce adoption reflect considered strategy or revolutionary fervor? Indications from Western Australia and Western Europe”, paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Global Business and Economic Development, Beijing.
58. Srinivasan, R., Lilien, G.L. and Rangaswamy, A. (2002), “Technological opportunism and radical technology adoption: an application to e-business”, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 66 No. 3, pp. 47-60.
59. Stevens, G.R. and McElhill, J. (2000), “A qualitative study and model of the use of e-mail in organizations”, Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, Vol. 10 No. 4, pp. 271-83.
60. Stone, M., Woodcock, N. and Wilson, M. (1996), “Managing the change from marketing planning to customer relationship management”, Long Range Planning, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 675-83.
61. Strauss, J. and Hill, D.J. (2001), “Consumer complaints by e-mail: an exploratory investigation of corporate responses and customer reactions”, Journal of Interactive Marketing, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 63-73.
62. Szymanski, D.M. and Henard, D.H. (2001), “Customer satisfaction: a meta-analysis of the empirical evidence”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 29 No. 1, pp. 16-35.
63. United Nations (2001), “Electronic commerce and tourism for developing countries”, paper presented at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, New York, NY, Geneva, Chapter 3 in E-Commerce and Development Report 2001.
64. Van de Ven, A.H. (1986), “Central problems in the management of innovations”, Management Science, Vol. 32 No. 5, pp. 590-607.
65. Voss, C. (2000), “Developing an eService strategy”, Business Strategy Review, Vol. 11 No. 1, pp. 21-33.
66. Walden, I. (1997), “E-mail: the legal issues”, Accountancy, Vol. 120 No. 1250, p. 119.
67. Wang, F., Head, M. and Archer, N. (2000), “A relationship-building model for the Web retail marketplace”, Internet Research: Electronic Networking Applications and Policy, Vol. 10 No. 5, pp. 374-84.
68. Wolfe, R.A. (1994), “Organizational innovation: review, critique and suggested research directions”, Journal of Management Studies, Vol. 31 No. 3, pp. 405-31.
69. Yang, Z., Peterson, R.T. and Huang, L. (2001), “Taking the pulse of Internet pharmacies”, Marketing Health Services, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 4-10.
70. Zeithaml, V.A. (2002), “Service excellence in electronic channels”, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 12 No. 3, pp. 135-8.
71. Zeithaml, V.A. and Bitner, M.J. (2000), Services Marketing: Integrating Customer Focus across The Firm, 2nd ed., McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
72. Zemke, R. and Connellan, T. (2001), e-service, Amacom, New York, NY.
73. Zmud, R.W. and Apple, L.E. (1992), “Measuring technology incorporation/infusion”, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 9, June, pp. 148-55.