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The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a theoretical framework explaining the adoption of online insurance claims characterised by infrequent interactions, inherent complexity and risk. It extends the technology acceptance model to include knowledge-related and trust-related beliefs.

The framework is tested with structural equation modelling using data from a survey of 292 customers who made online insurance claims. Findings are further explained through 30 telephone interviews conducted with online and offline claimants.

Previous research in financial services has shown trust to be equally or more important than perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use in forming attitudes towards adopting online insurance applications. The findings of this paper contradict this by showing, at best, a weak relationship between trusting attitude and intention to use the online service. Trust is somewhat meaningful; however, perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and technology attitude are substantially more important in an online insurance claims setting.

Contradictory results always beg further research to assure their robustness. Nevertheless, they can also point to a developing trend where trust in the internet channel, per se, is of diminishing importance. Internet and product knowledge are not as pertinent to forming intentions as usefulness and ease of use.

To encourage customers to adopt online applications for a trusted company, all emphasis should be on user friendliness and perceived usefulness of the online interface.

Compared to other channels, consumers are no longer naïve or distrustful of the online channel for interacting with a firm. If they perceive usefulness and ease of use, they will adopt the offered service.

This paper explores a type of organizing that can be found in tourist destinations that are administratively bound to a specific geographic area in the intersection of public and private context. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the organizing of activities within destinations and also to contribute theoretically and conceptually to how place dependency and public/private can be understood from an industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) network perspective.

The research approach has its origin in an ongoing multi-disciplinary and longitudinal case study.

By applying a network approach to the organizing of destinations, where interaction of relationships, resources, actors and activities play an essential role, a number of propositions have been put forth so as to provide for a better understanding of place-specific organizing, in the intersection between public and private interests.

The paper is conceptual and more empirical studies are needed to test the findings. One implication to consider in future empirical studies is the tensions between created and organic networks that exist in public and private place partnerships.

The paper provides insights into factors affecting destination management.

With an emphasis on a socio-political context, the opportunities and limitations that exist between public and private sectors are discussed.

The paper sheds light on a neglected aspect of a contemporary phenomenon where the IMP network approach could contribute to the understanding of destination marketing or management organization that are bound to a specific place in the intersection between the public and private context. The area of public-private organizing is a topic that may also add new aspects to the IMP community.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model for explaining insurance customers' intentions towards using the internet as a channel for communication and interaction with insurance companies by integrating Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and trust.

The paper seeks to conceptually develop an integrated framework for studying and measuring the perceptions of customers towards using the internet as a source of communication and interaction. The TAM model is taken as a point of departure where trust and trustworthiness, being essential in insurance relationships, have been included in the model. Trust is divided into perceived competence, perceived benevolence and perceived integrity, which in turn affect whether the customer will find the firm trustworthy or not. A second dimension that is developed in this paper is the disposition to trust, which is defined as a customer‐related factor. This disposition to trust is in turn affected by the customer's internet knowledge and product knowledge.

The paper contributes by developing the model for understanding and explaining factors that affect customers' attitudes and intentions towards on‐line interactions. By emphasizing internet‐, customer‐ and Ffrm‐related factors, it would arguably be possible to explain factors that affect trust, and trustworthiness, as well as the customer's attitudes towards the organization and the communication and distribution channel while also integrating the customer‐specific factors.

The model developed in this paper is conceptual and needs to be tested empirically.

The findings of this paper will serve as a basis for further research aiming at answering the research question on what factors affect customers' attitudes towards using the internet as an interface within the financial services sector. It also contributes to practices by identifying and defining factors that can affect trust in relationships as well as the choice of communication and distribution channels depending on customers' attitudes.

Recently, increased interest has been devoted to discuss theory development in relation to business-to-business (B2B) marketing. The purpose of this paper is to explore these thoughts through describing and analyzing research on the internationalization of firms from an Industrial Marketing and Purchasing (IMP) perspective. The authors ask: to what extent have these studies resulted in a theory of internationalization?

The paper is conceptual and frames research on the internationalization of firms by means of definitions, domains, relations of variables and predictions. It looks into research on internationalization based on an IMP-inspired network perspective to see to what extent research has resulted in theories of internationalization.

While there have been substantial efforts on theorizing related to IMP-based internationalization studies, the research has not yet resulted in theory.

In this paper one phenomenon was selected that has already been addressed in IMP research, namely, the internationalization of firms. Had the authors chosen another phenomenon previously studied in IMP the findings might had turned out differently.

The paper makes a contribution to understanding how ideas are developed, used and referenced in long-term research development for the specific phenomenon of internationalization. The paper contributes to the debate on theories within B2B research.