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Smart city services (SCS) in contrast with other technology-based services, demand significant interaction and collaboration between the users and the service providers. This study examines the SCS delivery-channel characteristics and the users' personal (behavioral and demographic) characteristics that influence their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with the services, as well as their intention to adopt (i.e. continue using) the SCS-delivery channels.

A quantitative study using a structured questionnaire was conducted for this paper. The data-collection method was administered by emailing the survey to a list of 2,350 city/urban residents who are members of the two largest universities in the greater Dubai metropolis. A total of 600 completed responses (26 percent) were received back, while 580 useable responses (25 percent) were analyzed for this paper.

Our initial findings suggest that contrary to popular belief, it is not only SCS channel factors that influence user satisfaction and continuance intention. SCS users' personal characteristics (such as their user innovativeness and control-seeking behavior) are also pivotal in determining their satisfaction and intention to continue or not continue using the SCS-delivery channels.

The paper argues that both SCS channel factors and SCS users' personal characteristics jointly influence the users' experience of the services and therefore jointly determine their satisfaction with the service as well as their SCS usage continuance intention. The result of our research gives important insights into users' behaviors toward the emerging SCS channels in general, and it will be of great value to architects and designers of Smart City technologies around the world.

The paper argues that both SCS channel factors and SCS users' personal (behavioral and demographic) characteristics jointly influence the users' trials of the services, and therefore jointly determine their satisfaction with the service as well as their SCS usage continuance intention. The result of our research gives important insights into users' behavioral intentions toward the emerging SCS channels in general; and it will be of great value to architects and designers of Smart City technologies around the world.

This paper is one of the first few studies focused on investigating the antecedents of SCS usage behaviors in the Middle Eastern region.

Despite evidence largely confirming gender-based differences in service quality perceptions in healthcare, little research has considered patients’ expectations. This study aims to examine the gender-based differences in both the affective and cognitive components of customers’ service quality expectations.

Data were collected through random sampling from three outpatient hospitals in the UAE. Hypothesized relationships between the cognitive and affective components (moderated by gender) were tested by means of CFA and ANOVA.

The results indicate that the differences between male and female expectations of overall service quality as a singular construct were not statistically significant, except for the empathy dimension. However, when measured as affective and cognitive, the results confirm that significant differences do exist between male and female patients.

The research was limited to the UAE. However, identifying gender differences in patients’ expectations would enable healthcare providers to engage and manage patients’ expectations.

This paper provides theoretical and practical implications on how the male and female are different in the cognitive and affective components of service quality expectations.

The purpose of this paper is to propose that customer readiness and web-channel readiness for internet banking (IB) adoption are the twin universal determinants of retail customers’ attitudes and intention towards IB-adoption. The paper delineates IB-readiness as the state of preparedness, ability, and willingness to engage in IB, and the authors argue that both the potential banking customer and the financial institution's web-channel must be equally ready before IB-adoption can occur. This paper presents the results of the initial test of the IB-readiness model with a sample of retail banking customers in Scotland.

Nine customer-related and ten channel-related predictor-variables isolated from existing literature were tested for their effects on attitude and intention towards IB-adoption. Seven demographic mediators were also tested for their impacts on the effects of the predictor-variables on attitude and intention. A sample of 1,000 customers was surveyed. Multiple regression and logistic regression analyses were used to test the influence of the predictors and mediators.

Of the seven mediators, only three were significant. Also, only eight of the original 19 predictor-variables were significant, with the impact of mediation, in determining customer attitude and intention towards IB-adoption.

The results present some consumer behaviour and marketing communications implications for bank marketing. To convince potential customers to adopt and continue using IB, bank marketers must ensure that the eight predictors validated in this study are facilitated and sustained.

A valuable contribution of the paper to the global IB-adoption theory is an equal evaluation model of potential universal antecedents of IB-adoption – the “EQUAEVAL” – which can be further-tested in future cross-national research.