Purpose -This study aims to adopt illusion of control and lateral consumer relationship in order to investigate their effects on price fairness in online auction and group buying context. These two variables have been known to have strong influences in fairness perception on consumers' decision-making processes and outcomes. Design/methodology/approach -The authors draw their conceptual foundations from previous studies, supplement this from the electronic commerce literature, and test the model through laboratory experiments.Findings -The study demonstrates that consumers' perception on illusion control in price determination and advantageous lateral consumer relationship significantly affect price fairness perception in both the online auction and group buying environments.Research limitations/implications -The findings are expected to provide researchers with useful insights to conduct future studies on uncovering the nomological networks associated with price fairness perception. Practical implications -The findings are expected to help managers develop better pricing strategies and design effective dynamic pricing mechanisms. Originality/value -The paper provides the first integrated perspective on the human decision processes in the dynamic pricing environment in electronic markets.

The aim of this study is to explain the impact of Web site characteristics on the relation between customer relationship management (CRM) and customer loyalty. Data collected from 170 Canadian IT organizations showed that Web site characteristics (which include the levels of the organizations' Internet presence and interactivity) have a significant impact on the link between CRM (in terms of partnerships, empowerment, relations with customers, and personalization), and customer loyalty. In other words, using the Internet to support CRM allows firms to increase their customer loyalty in the IT sector. However, the impact of Web site characteristics on the link between CRM, in terms of understanding customer expectations, customer prospecting, and interactive management, and customer loyalty has not been tested because the direct link between these three components of CRM and customer loyalty has not been significant in this study. The managerial and theoretical implications of these results are discussed.

This study utilized Expectancy Confirmation Theory (ECT) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) to examine satisfaction of students and instructors toward online learning tools and resources in online learning environments. The study findings indicate that student expectation was the most important factor that helped the instructors to design and provide appropriate and efficient technology tools and resources to enhance student learning. Further, the instructors were satisfied with the technology tools and resources that were provided, as these helped them to achieve their instructional expectations. These findings could help to stimulate reflections on ways to improve and design useful e-learning tools and resources that could enhance effective teaching and learning in online environments.

Electronic commerce on the Internet has been discussed in literature as an interorganizational information system that can provide a strategic advantage via customer loyalty to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). However, that is not always true, because many SMEs have difficulties achieving the benefits, as suggested by media and early research. This study is an empirical examination of the impact of the Internet's Web tools on the interorganizational relationships (IOR) between SMEs and their loyal customers. Data collected from 386 SMEs in North America (United States and Canada) and processed with Partial Least Square (PLS) show that the use of Web tools (i.e., the level of Web content and the level of security on the Internet) has a positive impact on the relation between cooperation and interdependence, and customer loyalty. However, the impact of the Internet's Web tools on the relation between trust and customer loyalty is different, because the use of nonsecure Web tools reduces the impact of trust on customer loyalty, and surprisingly, the use of secure Web tools doesn't increase or decrease the impact of trust on customer loyalty. The implications of the results of the study are discussed.

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