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This paper analyzes the availability of electronic customer relationship management (E‐CRM) features on retail Web sites and their relationship to consumer satisfaction and site traffic. The top 100 specialty store, standard retail store, and Internet retailer Web sites were analyzed for the presence of 41 E‐CRM features. The availability of these features was then assessed for their relationship with consumer traffic to the site and customer satisfaction with the site. Internet retailers were significantly more likely to have E‐CRM attributes on their site. However only the chat feature, spare parts availability, gift certificate purchase, mailing address, search engine, links, and a company profile were associated with customer satisfaction. No E‐CRM feature was associated with customer traffic to a site. Standard retailers appear to be behind in implementing E‐CRM features in current operations. It is not clear that retailers understand what aspects of E‐CRM will be important in customer satisfaction.

Examines the issue of how variations in language used in advertising affect advertising preference with a sample of bilingual, Korean Americans. Uses past literature to hypothesise that the level of acculturation would moderate ethnic consumers’ preference for advertisements in English versus their native language. Extends previous research in the field of ethnic advertising by considering whether findings from studies conducted with Hispanic American consumers are applicable to Asian Americans. Shows that no significant differences were detected in bilingual Korean American preferences for advertisements in which the message was presented in English as compared with those that used Humgul (Korean language) to communicate with the audience. Concludes with suggestions for further research.

Evaluation of student performance in bibliographic instruction (B.I.) has been, and continues to be, an area of interest to B.I. practitioners. The last 15 years have seen a number of excellent analyses and reviews of evaluation techniques. Many recent articles focus on evaluation methods used within specific B.I. programs.

Business is moving online, not as a matter of choice, but as a matter of necessity. The use of the Internet as a channel for commerce and information presents an opportunity for business to use the Internet as a tool for customer relationship management (CRM)/(e‐CRM). Despite widespread agreement that CRM/e‐CRM has direct and/or indirect impact on customer satisfaction, sales, profit, and loyalty, the significance of e‐CRM and the various e‐CRM features in influencing customer satisfaction has not been well researched. This study attempted to uncover relationships between e‐CRM and customer satisfaction by determining the presence of e‐CRM features on retail Web sites for which we have customer satisfaction data, and determining if the amount of e‐CRM is related to customer satisfaction or which, if any, of the various features of e‐CRM are related to customer satisfaction. It was found that retailers differ in the presence of the 42 different e‐CRM features; that there is a positive relationship between the amount of e‐CRM on a Web site and customer satisfaction with the Web site; and that not all e‐CRM attributes are equal – some are related to satisfaction and some are not. There was no relationship between the level of e‐CRM on a retail Web site and sales and profit.

Banks and financial institutions depend upon telephone call centers to meet the needs of a changing and ever more demanding consumer for 24×7 access. Call centers serve as a source of service recovery, added value, market intelligence, and strategic advantage. Despite their ubiquity, there are no studies outlining the determinants of caller satisfaction in the banking call center. This study uses data available from the Purdue University Call Center Benchmark database to determine the critical relationships between call center metrics and caller satisfaction. None of the key factors found to be determinant of customer satisfaction in call centers in other industry groups was found to be significant in bank call centers. This raises questions about how call centers are managed and serves to highlight the very low customer satisfaction that customers have with their banking call center experience.

States that reference price has emerged as a central feature in consumer decisions. The goal of this study was to explore the contribution of mode of payment to the formulation of personal reference prices (what one believes to be a fair price for a product) and reservation prices (the highest price one is willing to pay for a product). Reference prices for the products were significantly influenced by mode of payment (check, cash, credit card). Those in the credit card condition formulated significantly higher reference and reservation prices than when other modes of payment were considered. That credit cards can raise reference prices leads to a better understanding of why consumers spend more with credit cards.

Academic librarians are frequently called upon to provide instruction in relatively unfamiliar disciplines. This article presents introductory information for librarians providing bibliographic instruction (BI) in the field of psychology. Its primary purpose is to identify key readings from the library science and psychology literature that provide a basis for informed delivery of psychology BI. These works are fully identified in the list of references at the end of this article. Because the primary purpose of discipline‐specific bibliographic instruction is to teach the skills necessary for retrieval of the products of scholarship in that discipline, we begin with a discussion of scholarly communication and documentation, which describes how scholars and researchers within psychology communicate research findings and theoretical developments in the discipline. The major emphasis of this article is on formal, group instruction rather than individualized instruction, although much of the information will be applicable to both types.

Direct marketing should be a more dominant form of retailing in the USA. However, it is not because so much friction occurs for consumers throughout the direct marketing channel that consumers view direct purchase as a last resort rather than the preferred method. Summarizes the three mistakes of direct marketing and outlines its six amazing opportunities. The opportunities and future of direct marketing are sharply etched by the correspondence of emerging consumer and technology trends with strengths of the direct marketing process and paradigm.

The paper aims to explore the structure of both normative and informational consumer conformity in an online virtual community. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a conceptual model of e‐formity in virtual communities.

Data were collected online from consumers who belonged to at least one virtual community. A total of 2,000 customers were drawn from a list of online consumer panels maintained by an online research company. Overall, 14.8 percent of those invited replied to the survey and were analyzed with structure equation modelling.

The results from the analysis indicate that both dimensions of conformity are distinct and have separate antecedents. Normative consumer conformity is influenced by internal consumer characteristics, whereas informational consumer conformity is related to external virtual community characteristics.

Although this paper found evidence for e‐formity, the full nature and scope of e‐formity must be held to the classic findings of experimental versions of conformity research. There are broad implications for e‐formity in consumer behaviour and retailing. Retailers or manufacturers must realize that virtual communities and consumers' e‐formity behaviour are a valuable source of helping or hurting the sale and promotion of their products.

At the very least, the influence of e‐formity suggests that it is crucial for them to monitor closely the purposeful and nonpurposeful influences these virtual communications may have.

Given the scarcity of literature in the online conformity research area, this paper shows conformity in virtual communities does not change its influences on consumers' behaviour. As in the studies of traditional communities, e‐formity has found influence on virtual communities within two aspects. Virtual communities not only have inherited the social functions of traditional communities, but also have differences in antecedents.

There has been, and will be, a spectacular growth in the number of call centers on both sides of the Atlantic. So far, however, empirical evidence is lacking as to the operational determinants of caller satisfaction in call centers, despite the multitude of call performance metrics registered in many call centers. Undertakes an empirical assessment of the relationship between caller satisfaction and a number of critical variables. The results are astonishing. Of all the critical operational determinants only “percentage of calls closed on first contact” and “average abandonment” have a significant, albeit weak, influence on caller satisfaction. Concludes, therefore, with a call for more research into reliable and valid predictors of caller satisfaction.