Are trust and risk important in consumers' electronic commerce purchasing decisions? What are the antecedents of trust and risk in this context? How do trust and risk affect an Internet consumer's purchasing decision? To answer these questions, we i) develop a theoretical framework describing the trust-based decision-making process a consumer uses when making a purchase from a given site, ii) t...

This paper presents a common modelling structure for (i) the implementation of operational policies by individual purchasing managers of risk-sharing agreements among supply-chain partners, and (ii) the integration of brick and click purchasing policies in a B2B. The problem of price uncertainty created within these two environments is modelled as a stochastic repetitive-sales problem, applicab...

Several opinion polls have found that many consumers resist making purchases via the Internet because of their concerns about the privacy of the personal information they provide to Internet merchants. Using the theory of planned behavior as its basis, this study investigated the relationships among beliefs about Internet privacy and trustworthiness, along with beliefs about perceived behaviora...

Although eco-labels were introduced with the intention of encouraging eco-friendly purchasing behavior by consumers, they have had little effect on consumers' purchasing decisions, and therefore a significant gap exists between eco-label awareness and actual purchasing behavior. The aim of this study was to analyze consumer preference, in terms of public and private values, for two types of Kor...

Prior research in the field of electronic commerce argued that virtual experience (VE) could facilitate consumer’s product learning by mitigating the constraints that resulted from the lack of direct experience in an online environment. However, little is known with respect to the effect of VE on consumer’s purchasing behaviour. This paper investigates two roles that VE plays in consumer’s purc...

Purchasing health care is at the core of the reforms of the UK NHS and yet there is little research evidence on which the policy is based. Research in this area is hampered by a lack of clarity over the aims of purchasing and the pace of change within the NHS. Purchasing developments such as general practice fund-holding are proceeding without a large scale evaluation of their impact. At a nati...

Purchasing portfolio models have received great attention during the last two decades. The simplicity of application and the focus on power-dependence balancing has been appreciated by practitioners and academics alike. In this paper we argue that the starting point in 'given' products in addition to a dyadic perspective on purchasing management may be counteractive when purchasing efficiency i...

The principal aim of this paper is to estimate a stochastic frontier cost function and an inefficiency effects model in the analysis of the primary health-care services purchased by the public authority and supplied by 180 providers in 1996 in Catalonia. The evidence from our sample does not support the premise that contracting out has helped improve purchasing cost efficiency in primary care. ...

Background Purchasing refers to the process by which pooled funds are paid to providers in order to deliver a set of health care interventions. Very little is known about purchasing arrangements in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), and certainly not in Kenya. This study aimed to critically analyse purchasing arrangements in Kenya, using the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) as a c...

The public sector — including federal, state, and local agencies — purchases at least 10% of all energy-using products in the US. The federal government alone is the largest buyer in the world for many products. Channeling this enormous buying power toward energy-efficient products can stimulate market transformation throughout the economy. Government initiatives in the U.S. also offer a promis...