Examination of Infomediary Roles in B2C E-Commerce

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Prashant Palvia, Joe Rosenthal Excellence Professor and Director of the McDowell Research Center for Global IT Management (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/

Abstract: This article provides a parsimonious research model that assists in the study of infomediary roles in B2C E-Commerce, their level of integration and sophistication, and their impact on infomediary performance and customers’ satisfaction. After an extensive literature review, discovery, facilitation, and support roles were identified as the main roles that infomediaries perform in the B2C e-commerce arena. Based on a sample of 150 infomediaries from three industries namely automobile, retail, and travel, four hypotheses related to the research model were tested. Results suggest that infomediaries with high integration and sophistication level are found in the retail industry. In addition, not all infomediary roles exhibit the same level of integration and sophistication across the three selected industries.

Additional Information

Publication
Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, VOL 8, NO 4, 2007
Language: English
Date: 2007
Keywords
Infomediary Roles, B2C, e-commerce, infomediary performance, customer satisfaction

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