Electronic commerce has transformed the work processes and the way organizations disseminate information to their consumers and business partners. Evidence of new forms of information tools via the WWW increasingly indicate that B2C e-commerce models require real time data that enable consumers to make more informative decisions. Patients are demanding more of and from care providers, payers an...

Mitigating consumer health risks and reducing food wastage has stimulated research into mechanisms for improving consumers’ food safety knowledge and food management practice. Many studies report success, but differences in methodology and in the type and range of foods and consumers involved has made comparison and transferability of results challenging. While most studies advocate for the imp...

As a new e-commerce paradigm, social commerce has resulted from consumers relying on the online recommendations of friends and acquaintances. To clarify Chinese consumers’ social commerce intentions, we conducted an empirical study based on a uses and gratifications approach. The results indicate that perceived gratification from entertainment was found to be the strongest predictor of Chinese ...

BACKGROUND The Internet provides a platform to access health information and support self-management by consumers with chronic health conditions. Despite recognized barriers to accessing Web-based health information, there is a lack of research quantitatively exploring whether consumers report difficulty finding desired health information on the Internet and whether these consumers would like a...

The premise that competition will improve health care assumes that consumers will choose plans that best fit their needs and resources. However, many consumers are frustrated with currently available plan comparison information. We describe results from 22 focus groups in which Medicare beneficiaries, Medicaid enrollees, and privately insured consumers assessed the usefulness of indicators base...

In an attempt to gain a better position in haggling, consumers often seek a seller's pricing information (e.g., whether the posted price is negotiable, the discount and transaction prices) before going to that seller. Although traditionally difficult to obtain, such information is becoming increasingly available due to consumer price posting (CPP), whereby consumers post and share their purchas...

Background For the purpose of understanding the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA’s) concerns regarding online promotion of prescription drugs advertised directly to consumers, this study examines notices of violations (NOVs) and warning letters issued by the FDA to pharmaceutical manufacturers.   Methods The FDA’s warning letters and NOVs, which were issued to pharmaceutical companies over a...

By lowering the costs of gathering and sharing information and offering new ways to learn about products before purchase, the Internet reduces traditional distinctions between search and experience goods. At the same time, differences in the type of information sought for search and experience goods can precipitate differences in the process through which consumers gather information and make d...

INTRODUCTION Health literacy is linked to better health outcomes and underpins effective self-management, yet over one-and-a-half million New Zealanders are known to have poor health literacy skills. An ability to access and understand health information is an important component of health literacy. Little is known, however, about New Zealand consumers' health information needs. This qualitativ...

Social cognition is a collection of readings from the fourvolume set of Blackwell Handbooks of Social Psychology which examines the mental representations of social world and the people process social information. It provides relevant case studies and theory on social cognition that is both comprehensive and current and cross-cuts the levels of analysis from intrapersonal to intergroup. The boo...