The authors develop a conceptual model that links Web site and consumer characteristics, online trust, and behavioral intent. They estimate this model on data from 6831 consumers across 25 sites from eight Web site categories, using structural equation analysis with a priori and post hoc segmentation. The results show that the influences of the determinants of online trust are different across site categories and consumers. Privacy and order fulfillment are the most influential determinants of trust for sites in which both information risk and involvement are high, such as travel sites. Navigation is strongest for information-intensive sites, such as sports, portal, and community sites. Brand strength is critical for high-involvement categories, such as automobile and financial services sites. Online trust partially mediates the relationships between Web site and consumer characteristics and behavioral intent, and this mediation is strongest (weakest) for sites oriented toward infrequently (frequently) purchased, high-involvement items, such as computers (financial services).

Recently, a "lead user" concept has been proposed for new product development in fields subject to rapid change (von Hippel, 1986). In this paper we integrate market research within this lead user -methodology and report a test of it in the rapidly evolving field of computer-aided systems for the design of printed circuit boards (PC-CAD). In the test, lead users were successfully identified and proved to have unique and useful data regarding both new product needs and solutions responsive to those needs. New product concepts generated on the basis of lead user data were found to be strongly preferred by a representative sample of PC-CAD users. We discuss strengths and weaknesses of this first empirical test of the lead user methodology, and suggest directions for future research.

An empirical analysis indicates that the order of entry of a brand into a consumer product category is inversely related to its market share. Market share is modeled as a log linear function of order of entry, time between entries, advertising, and positioning effectiveness. The coefficients of the entry, advertising, and positioning variables are significant in a regression analysis on an initial sample of 82 brands across 24 categories. These findings are confirmed by predictions on 47 not previously analyzed brands in 12 categories. Managerial implications for pioneers and later entrants are identified.marketing, competition, new products

Online trust is important in both business-to-business and business-to-consumer e-business. Consumers and businesses, feeling the pressure of economic downturn and terrorism, increasingly look to buy from and do business with organizations with the most trusted Web sites and electronic networks. Companies' perception of online trust has steadily evolved from being a construct involving security and privacy issues on the Internet to a multidimensional, complex construct that includes reliability/credibility, emotional comfort and quality for multiple stakeholders such as employees, suppliers, distributors and regulators, in addition to customers. Further, trust online spans the end-to-end aspects of e-business rather than being just based on the electronic storefront. Based on a review of selected studies, we propose a stakeholder theory of trust, articulate a broad conceptual framework of online trust including its underlying elements, antecedents, and consequences, and propose some promising future research avenues in online trust. This paper will help information systems professionals better understand the online trust perspectives of multiple stakeholders, the antecedents and consequences, thereby enabling them to build more trustworthy Web sites. q

Online trust is growing in importance as a topic of study and its influence on Internet marketing strategies is increasing. “Online trust includes consumer perceptions of how the site would deliver on expectations, how believable the site's information is, and how much confidence the site commands.” (Bart, Yakov, Venkatesh Shankar, Fareena Sultan, and Glen L. Urban [2005], “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), 133–152). In this article, we review advances in online trust research based on an overarching framework, outlining the key insights learned so far. These insights include: online trust extends beyond privacy and security, is closely connected to website design, its formation is an ongoing process, and is heterogeneous across individuals and products. We propose several ideas for future research relating to multiple aspects of online research, such as the longitudinal component, multichannel element, global aspect, personalization and cross-disciplinary nature.