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Security has been a critical matter in the development of electronic services. The purpose of this research is to develop a new model to help e-service practitioners and researchers in the evaluation of e-service security and its effect on quality and intention to use e-services.

According to the literature, 13 security dimensions are extracted. Then, exploratory factor analysis is applied to reduce the number of security dimensions. This step is implemented based on end-users’ perception. Afterward, a hierarchical structure of e-service security is established to calculate the weights of security dimensions applying analytical hierarchy process method by contribution of e-service experts and providers. Finally, structural equation modeling using LISREL is applied to test the proposed theoretical model.

Results indicates that confidentiality, integrity, privacy, authentication, non-repudiation and availability are antecedents of consumers’ perceived security in e-service. Considering the high significance of perceived security, it is concluded that enhanced feelings of security will result in improved perception of quality. Furthermore, it is found that users will intend to use e-service if they feel that the quality of e-service is high.

Few studies have been done on users’ adoption behaviors of e-services and even those few have not investigated users’ security perception as a major factor affecting users’ intention to use e-services. Considering the increasing concerns of users about the security of their personal information and how it affects their adoption behaviors, there is a need to conduct more studies on the factors involved in this procedure. In this study, the concept of security from both perspective of objective security and subjective security is evaluated.

This chapter expands on responding to the need made explicit in Chapter 1, Volume 23A. Business executives need deep knowledge on how developing nations are now (2015–2020) going global via the internet. The number of new users of e-services worldwide will double during 2015–2108 (moving from 2 billion users mostly living in the developed nations to an additional 2 billion users mostly living in developing nations). This radical embrace of new e-service technologies will substantially improve the quality of lives for most residents globally. A profound happening occurring now! The two main chapters in this volume responds to this need for deep knowledge of how such adoptions occur. The second main chapter in this volume provides a comprehensive conceptualization of digital divide and its impact on e-government system success in Indonesia. The third main chapter in this volume describes the personal and world blocks that occur and must be overcome by consumers seeking to use e-services in Indonesian airlines’ services. This chapter facilitates one to learn how these first-time consumers experience failure and finally achieve success in these E-service adoption processes. The two chapters really are must readings for business executives recognizing the need for new deep knowledge about e-service adoption processes in developing nations.

This paper aims to explore the feasible mining and proper selection of QoS‐aware services for a P2P‐based business process enactment framework, and enhance the relevant workflow prototype. Design/methodology/approach – Through observing and analysing unpredictable dynamic changes that commonly exist in e‐service workflow, a set of QoS specifications and monitoring mechanisms in a P2P workflow framework is proposed. These specifications are an evolving extension of services' description with semantic web facilitators for P2P‐based e‐services.

It has been demonstrated that the QoS‐OWL approach can be effectively used to describe and exploit e‐services, particularly in a decentralised environment. QoS‐OWL is also able to provide the deliberation of geographic information for e‐services, and facilitates the peers' effective cooperation and automates business processes. It is recommended that the approach be adopted in the dynamic online information system environment to increase efficiency and reduce costs in running e‐services.

The QoS attributes discussed in this paper are relatively typical for benchmarking purposes, so the extension of the QoS metrics specifications and related protocols need to be discussed in future work.

The authors propose an approach to dynamically selecting appropriate service‐oriented peers in a P2P network, where the composition of e‐services in a business process can be enhanced significantly. The approach is based on ontology and QoS perspectives, and the descriptions of services have rich semantic features in an attempt to make the service selection more intelligent and reliable. Therefore the proposal offers e‐service providers innovative initiatives to re‐engineer their business services.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and validate a multidimensional hierarchical scale for measuring “e-service quality variation.”

Based on the psychometric scale-development approach, qualitative and quantitative methods were employed to develop the e-SERVAR scale. A multidimensional hierarchical factor structure of e-SERVAR is proposed, along with a set of preliminary items derived from literature and the qualitative study. Furthermore, the Yahoo website in Taiwan was chosen to be the target e-service website for data collection to develop the e-SERVAR scale. A series of statistical methods (i.e. item-to-total correlations, exploratory factor analyses, CFAs and structural equation modeling) were adopted to verify construct reliability and validity as well as nomological validity of the scale.

A 41-item e-SERVAR scale based on the structure of a hierarchical factor model was developed that contains three primary dimensions (i.e. information, system and fulfillment) and nine subdimensions (information accuracy, information quantity, information timeliness, information usefulness, system reliability, system security, merchandise quality, merchandise delivery timeliness and merchandise security).

The results of this study help managers identify sources of quality variability and design efficacious strategies to reduce such variability in order to improve the overall e-service quality.

Prior research of e-service quality has paid less attention to the role of e-service quality variability. Discussion of e-service quality variability was mainly conceptual in nature. This research presents the e-SERVAR scale as a measurement tool that provides a new avenue for researchers to study how to improve e-service quality by measuring service variability.

The paper aims to examine ways to reduce privacy risk and its effects so that adoption of e‐services can be enhanced.

Consumers that form a viable target market for an e‐service are presented with the task of experiencing the e‐service and expressing their attitudes and intentions toward it. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the responses.

The paper finds that consumer beliefs that the e‐service will be easy to use and that the e‐service provider is credible and capable reduce privacy risk and its effects, thus enhancing adoption likelihood.

The focus on a financial services product (online bill paying) suggests that similar research should be conducted with other high‐risk e‐services (such as those dealing with healthcare) and lower‐risk e‐services (such as subscription services and social networks).

In addition to addressing consumers' privacy risk directly, e‐service providers can also reduce privacy risk and its effects by enhancing corporate credibility and perceived ease of use of the service. Increased assessments of privacy risk perceptions and efforts to reduce those perceptions will likely yield higher usage rates for e‐services.

The use of the technology acceptance model from information systems research, combined with a multi‐faceted conceptualization of privacy risk, moves the examination of privacy risk to a higher level, particularly in light of the examination of the additional factors of perceived ease of use and corporate credibility.

The purpose of this study is to develop and validate a model to analyze the inter‐relationship between information transparency and the protection of digital privacy of customers, from the perspective of e‐services providers.

A total of 320 questionnaires were sent out to all e‐banking service providers in the Guangdong province in China in 2004 and 150 useable questionnaires were collected. The response rate was 46.9 percent.

The paper identifies three types of digital privacy: information, communication and individual privacy. The findings show that e‐service marketers who adopt a more open information transparency policy are more likely to pay attention to customers' information and communication privacy, but less to their individual privacy.

E‐services providers need to be very careful about the necessity to be transparent in information sharing, but at the same time, have to be well aware of the need of the protection of individual privacy of their customers. Unfortunately, at times they may be too aggressive in adopting an open information transparency policy that may upset their customers by intruding into their individual privacy.

The paper contributes to a more comprehensive conceptualization of digital privacy not only by identifying three generic types of privacy (information, communication and individual), but also by looking into the relationship between information transparency and these three generic types of privacy. This study shows that, unlike the first two types of privacy, individual privacy of customers is given less concern by most e‐service providers.

The purpose of this paper is to model the consequences of achieving better service quality in e‐services.

The conceptual model is developed though a survey of literature on e‐services and allied domains and validated through a survey of users of job‐portals in India.

The conceptual model finds significant support based on the empirical study. It is seen that the four components of e‐service quality: efficiency, fulfilment, system availability, privacy, are linked to trust and satisfaction.

The study underscores the need to focus on service quality in the context of e‐services. The positive linkages should motivate practitioners to invest more to achieve greater service quality.

By focusing on the consequences of e‐service quality, the study contributes to the growing stream of e‐service quality literature. This is also one of the few studies to look at other categories of e‐services apart from e‐tailing.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a hybrid semantic recommendation system to provide personalized government to business (G2B) e‐services, in particular, business partner recommendation e‐services for Australian small to medium enterprises (SMEs).

The study first proposes a product semantic relevance model. It then develops a hybrid semantic recommendation approach which combines item‐based collaborative filtering (CF) similarity and item‐based semantic similarity techniques. This hybrid approach is implemented into an intelligent business‐partner‐locator recommendation‐system prototype called BizSeeker.

The hybrid semantic recommendation approach can help overcome the limitations of existing recommendation techniques. The recommendation system prototype, BizSeeker, can recommend relevant business partners to individual business users (e.g. exporters), which therefore will reduce the time, cost and risk of businesses involved in entering local and international markets.

The study would be of great value in e‐government personalization research. It would facilitate the transformation of the current G2B e‐services into a new stage wherein the e‐government agencies offer personalized e‐services to business users. The study would help government policy decision‐makers to increase the adoption of e‐government services.

Providing personalized e‐services by e‐government can be seen as an evolution of the intentions‐based approach and will be one of the next directions of government e‐services. This paper develops a new recommender approach and systems to improve personalization of government e‐services.

This study aims to explore under which institutional and organizational conditions the national e-government reform efforts of EU member states lead to very high availability of e-services.

Following e-government literature of information systems and public administration research, this study applies an analytical framework encompassing characteristics of the national politico-administrative system (state structure, government capacity, managerial innovation orientation and civil service system) to understand why a common policy framework does not lead to convergence but great variety in the degree of e-service availability. A comparative case study approach using fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) is applied to systematically compare e-service availability in the former 28 EU member states.

Three configurations of sufficient conditions are identified: government capacity in conjunction with either bureaucratic human resource practices, centralized state structure or managerial innovation orientation. Three country clusters are derived: effective bureaucrats, effective centralists and effective managers.

The results demonstrate the importance of administrative effectiveness for the digital transformation. Rather than mimicking best practices, countries are advised to learn from better performing countries that are most similar in terms of institutional and organizational characteristics of the politico-administrative system.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically test a research model of consumer consequences of e‐service quality (e‐SQ) perceptions of general web site users.

The dimensions of e‐SQ are extracted and validated through exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. The uni‐dimensional model of e‐SQ, consisting of web site attributes of ease of access, flexibility, and reliability, is then tested by structural equation modelling using AMOS 4.0 for its linkages with e‐satisfaction (e‐SAT), perceived value, and e‐loyalty‐linked behavioral intentions, i.e. repurchase and recommendation intentions.

It was found that e‐SQ is a direct antecedent of perceived value, perceived value in turn significantly affects e‐loyalty‐related consumer intentions of repurchase and positive recommendations. e‐SAT is a direct antecedent of positive recommendation intentions. However, e‐SQ was not found to have any consequential relationship with e‐SAT or direct links with behavioral intentions of e‐loyalty.

The proposed model is empirically validated with self‐selected participants and therefore the results need to be further supported through replication with varied consumer and cultural contexts.

The model of e‐SQ and its consequences would help practitioners frame marketing strategies for web sites of e‐services, which are content rich in India, to enhance consumer loyalty and other favorable behavioral intentions.

The multi‐variate comprehensive model of e‐SQ and its consequences has not been tested earlier in the e‐services context. The research extends the modelling of service quality and its consequences into the e‐services context.