- Email: [email protected]
Shipper behavior to use EC services in liner shipping
ARTICLE IN PRESS Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Int. J. Production Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe
Shipper behavior to use EC services in liner shipping Wen-Kai K. Hsu a,, Show-Hui S. Huang b, Hong-Fwu Yu c a
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management, National Kaohsiung Marine University, 142, Hai Jhuan Rd, Nanzih District, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan, ROC b Department of International Business and Trade, Shu-Te University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC c Graduate Institute of Commerce, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC
a r t i c l e i n f o
abstract
Article history: Received 30 June 2008 Accepted 27 December 2008 Available online 14 May 2009
The purpose of this paper is to discuss shipper behavior to use electronic commerce (EC) services in liner shipping. Inquiry use intention and transaction use intention were employed to define shipper intention to use the EC services. Based on the internal and external perspectives of shippers, a causal model was constructed to investigate the determinants of the intentions. The internal factor is defined as shippers’ perceived usefulness (PU) of the EC services. The external factors include the EC promotions of shipping companies and the partnership between shippers and shipping companies. From eight major industries in Taiwan, 135 exporting companies were sampled to validate the model. The results indicate that the partnership is the most significant factor affecting the transaction use intention, while the PU of the shipper is the most significant determinant of inquiry use intention. EC promotions only significantly affect transaction use intention. These results may provide useful information for shipping companies seeking to promote their EC services. & 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: EC Shipper Forwarder Carrier Partnership
1. Introduction In search of enhanced competitiveness, many shipping companies have recently developed a ‘‘door to door’’ full service. This strategy may result in greater coverage and complexity in their service processes, leading to diminished service qualities. For shipping operations, one of the most common mistakes is typing errors in document processing, which may delay a bill of lading, resulting in increased costs (Mei and Dinwoodie, 2005). If shipping companies adopt electronic commerce (EC) to replace traditional document processing, mistakes may be reduced and performance improved. In the past, electronic data interchange (EDI) has been the primary technology for EC services between businesses
Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 7 3617141/3164; fax: +886 7 3647046. E-mail address: [email protected] (W.-K.K. Hsu).
0925-5273/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2008.12.024
(B2B). Although EDI can improve efficiency, enable prompt feedback, enhance accuracy, reduce paper work and save cost (Hansen and Hill, 1989; Johnson et al., 1992; Jeffrey, 1999), the high installation cost, complexity and the limited computer literacy of customers are barriers for implementation (Murphy and Daley, 1996). However, with the development of the World Wide Web (WWW), the installation cost of EC website has been radically reduced. Therefore, many shipping companies have begun to set up their own EC websites or join electronic markets (Strader and Shaw, 1997) to develop their EC services in recent years. However, construction of an EC website does not mean that the implementation of EC has been successful. That depends on whether customers (shippers) use the EC services. Thus, in addition to the EC website installation, promoting the use of the EC website by shippers is also an important issue for shipping companies installing EC systems. For the EC services in liner shipping, the main providers are shipping companies, which include carriers
ARTICLE IN PRESS W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
and forwarders. In the past, most studies have focused on carriers, such as the attributes of EC services of carriers (Ellinger et al., 2003; Lu et al., 2005) and shippers’ intention to use carriers’ Internet services (Lu and Chen, 2002; Lu et al., 2006). However, in practice, most shippers, especially the shippers of small–medium firms, transport their cargos through forwarders. Hence, in discussing the EC services for liner shipping, forwarders should be included. In Taiwan, the EC services in liner shipping are very popular. However, the use of EC services by shippers is still unpopular. Most shippers still use traditional modes of communication to communicate with forwarders or carriers, such as telephone and fax. A survey conducted in 2006 indicates that over 40% of shippers never use EC services in Taiwan (Wang, 2006). Hence, effective promotion of EC services requires investigation of the determinants of EC use from perspectives of users (shippers). The widely used Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) suggests several internal determinants of user adoption of a new IT, from the user’s viewpoint, which include perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use. Furthermore, to more robustly model user intention to use a new IT, in addition to exploring the internal perceptions of users, the external determinants of user intentions should also be considered (Thong, 1999). In practice, for the users of EC services, a price discount policy and a training plan from EC providers are two of the most popular strategies to promote EC services. From the viewpoint of users, those strategies can be classified as external determinants of users. In addition, the partnership between shippers and shipping companies may also be an external determinant. The relevant research indicates that customer support positively affects the internal (suppliers) and external (customers) integration of EDI (Ramamurthy et al., 1999). The degree of vertical coordination between customers and suppliers (Premkumar et al., 1997) is a significant determinant of an organization’s willingness to adopt EDI. In practice, customer support and vertical coordination may originate from a good partnership between customers (shippers) and suppliers (shipping companies). Nordin (2008) employed four case studies to link the relation between service sourcing decisions and competitive advantage and found that a good buyer–seller relationship has positive effect on customer bonds. Thus, the partnership may also be an external determinant. In the relevant literature, there are few studies to discuss EC services in liner shipping from the above external viewpoints. The purpose of this paper is to discuss shipper behavior to use EC services in liner shipping. In practice, inquiry and transaction are the most-used functions by shipper in liner shipping (Lu and Chen, 2002). Thus, the intentions using those two functions define shipper intention to use an EC services in this study. From the internal and external viewpoints of users, a causal model was then constructed to investigate the determinants of the intention to use. Finally, as an empirical analysis, exporting shippers in Taiwan will be surveyed to validate the research model.
57
2. Literature review 2.1. The EC services in liner shipping For the EC services in liner shipping, the main providers are shipping companies, which include carriers and forwarders. Most of the relevant research focuses on the former. For example, Wang (2000) defined the EC services of carriers using 20 items of static functions and 9 items of dynamic functions. Based on Jeffrey (1999), Lu et al. (2005) observed 24 service items on 11 websites services of regular carriers. Lu et al. (2006) investigated the adoption of internet services in linear shipping by shippers in Taiwan, finding that tracking is the most important service attribute of Internet services, followed by checking for customs clearance, vessel schedules, and electronic document services. However, in practice, most shippers transport their cargo through forwarders. Hence, to discuss the EC services of shipping, the forwarders should also be included. Using the statistics of the Keelung Harbor Bureau website in Taiwan in 2006, this paper investigated 572 with a total of 261 forwarders providing EC services, and the results listed in Table 1 indicate that for static functions, the company background, organization, service item, service consultation and bilingual service are the most popular, and for dynamic functions, the tracking, vessel schedules, shipping rates and online booking are the most common. It is worth noting that the electronic bill of lading, one of the primary EC services, is still not in common use for EC services of forwarders. 2.2. Internal determinants of users In the literature on user behavior in adopting a new information technology (IT), the Technology Acceptance Table 1 The EC services of ocean freight forwarders in Taiwan. Function
Frequency
Percentage (%)
Company background Service consultation Service item Company organization Bilingual service Tracing Shipping rate Online booking Vessel schedules Useful links News Employ opportunity Virtual reality Industry information Online supports Download service Shipping schedule Market information Container type Financial report Publications Freight cost table Electronic bill of landing Cruise introduction
252 241 238 224 200 199 175 154 142 65 52 41 33 31 28 25 19 19 8 6 6 3 3 2
96.55 92.34 91.19 85.82 76.63 76.25 67.05 59.00 54.41 24.90 19.92 15.71 12.64 11.88 10.73 9.58 7.28 7.28 3.07 2.30 2.30 1.15 1.15 0.77
ARTICLE IN PRESS 58
W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
Model (Davis, 1989) is one of the most wide-known theories. From the perception of users, TAM proposes two internal determinants of adoption, perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness, to determine user attitude and intention to use an IT. The results of the TAM indicate that the user intention is primarily affected by his/her attitude, and through the attitude, both the user PEOU and PU have an indirect effect on the intention. Besides, PU has also a direct effect on the intention, and PEOU has a direct effect on the PU. TAM emphasizes that, for the determinants of users’ acceptance to use an IT, PU is the major factor and PEOU is the minor factor. TAM has been widely applied in subsequent research. For example, Willams and Rao (1998) investigated the intention of American freight industry to adopt automatic equipment identification (AEI), and found that perception of the relative advantages (similar to PU) had a significant effect on the intention. Gunasekaran and Ngai (2008) discussed the adoption of e-procurement for both manufacturing and services, and concluded that one of the main reasons for not adopting e-procurement is a lack of awareness of the benefits of e-procurement. Lederer et al. (2000) investigated the behavior of an organization in adopting Internet services. Their results indicated that the stronger the PU is, the higher the intention of the organization to adopt the Internet services, and the effect of PU is more significant than that of PEOU. Cheng et al. (2002) examined the factors that influence the use of Internet in manufacturing and service industries. They found that near-term consequences (similar to PU) have a significant effect on the Internet usage for the service industry. Based on TAM, Olson and Boyer (2003) examined the use of Internet in a small organization from the individual user’s views and preferences. Their results showed that user PU has a positive effect on their use in Internet purchasing. Bienstock et al. (2008) incorporated TAM in logistic service quality of firms, and found that both the PEOU and PU have approximately equal effects on user intentions to use information technology tools. Lu et al. (2006) discussed factors affecting shipper use of internet services in liner shipping. They found that PEOU is the major factor affecting the intention of shippers to use internet services, and that PEOU also has a strong positive effect on PU.
2.3. External determinants of users 2.3.1. EC promotions When an EC website is constructed, the main problem of suppliers becomes how to attract customers to use it. Thus, website marketing will be an important issue (Wang and Fesenmaier, 2006), in which promotion is one of the most common strategies. McDade et al. (2002) proposed that a new product with promotion, such as a price discount, would diffuse more strongly. Grover and Goslar (1993) indicated that when an organization implements an IT, the public image of suppliers and promotion of the IT would affect the adoption decision of the organization. In addition to price discount promotion, a training plan provided to users from IT suppliers may also be useful in promoting the IT. Premkumar et al. (1997) surveyed 181
American trailer companies adopting EDI and found that providing training for users in using the EDI would positively affect the internal and external integrations of EDI. Chwelos et al. (2001) found that the preparation of organizations to adopt an EDI has a significant effect on their intention to adopt the EDI, and that preparation may be evaluated from the standpoint of acceptance of organizational change and educational training. 2.3.2. Partnership Ellram and Hendrick (1995) defined a partnership as an ongoing relationship between two firms that involves a commitment over an extended time period, and a mutual sharing of the information, risk and rewards of the relationship. La Londe and Cooper (1989) defined partnership as the relationship between two entities in logistical channel. This relationship would entail that both entities share benefits and responsibilities over some agreed-upon time horizon. Narayandas and Rangan (2004) considered that for business, the focus had turned to establishment of long-term cooperation instead of one-to-one opposition. Gender et al. (1994) also indicated that, in this highly competitive environment, the supply chain pattern was gradually formed. If shippers realized the benefits of cooperation, they were willing to keep better relationship with carriers and warehouse holders. In practice, service quality is an important determinant of whether suppliers to maintain good relationship with their customers. Gentry (1996) noted that the buyer–supplier partnering relationship requires sustained service performance on the part of the carrier and early identification of problem areas by both parties. Due to the intangibility of the services provided, service quality is especially important in developing shipper–carrier partnering relationships (Lu, 2003). Lu (2003) indicated that through satisfactory perception of shippers, services of carriers have significant indirect effects on the relationship with their shippers. For service quality of forwarders, Murphy and Daley (1997) investigated 375 members of the Council of Logistics Management and determined that shippers look at 12 service attributes when choosing freight forwarders. Those attributes include professional competence, service reliability, ability to provide relevant information, server attitude, company reputation, reasonable charge, financial status, convenience, service variety, location, extra service and service scope. Lu (2000) investigated in Taiwanese maritime firms and proposed six dimensions of logistics services: value-added service, promotion, equipment, facilities, speed and reliability. Relevant studies about service attributes also include the studies of Matear and Gray (1993) and Lu (2003). Based on the relevant literature and practical viewpoint, this paper investigates the service quality of shipping companies (carriers and forwarders) from the perspective of the three aspects of server services, delivery competency and service coverage. 3. Methodology For the EC services in liner shipping, the main providers are carriers and forwarders. Since some forwarders have
ARTICLE IN PRESS W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
59
turned into international logistic companies, the forwarders discussed in this paper also include those companies.
H1. Perceived usefulness will have a positive effect on Inquiry use intention.
3.1. Research model
H2. Perceived usefulness will have a positive effect on Transaction use intention.
The research model of this paper is illustrated in Fig. 1. According to the EC service features in liner shipping, the inquiry use intention and transaction use intention were employed to define shipper intention to use the EC services. Based on the relevant literature, from the internal and external perspectives of shippers, a causal model was constructed to investigate the determinants of the intention. The internal factor is defined as shippers’ perceived usefulness of EC services. The external factors include two EC promotion dimensions (price discount and IT training) and partnerships between shippers and shipping companies. In addition, the partnership depends on the aforementioned three professional service qualities of shipping companies: server services, delivery competency and service coverage.
Grover and Goslar (1993) pointed out that when an organization implements an IT, it will interact with the IT provider. Therefore, the provider’s reputation and its promotion strategy will affect the organization’s intention to adopt the IT. In practice, for the promotion of an EC website, one of the most popular strategies is to give users a price discount to attract them to use the website (McDade et al., 2002). Furthermore, the relevant research also shows that providing necessary trainings in an IT would improve user intention to use the IT (Premkumar et al., 1997; Chwelos et al., 2001). Therefore, the following hypotheses are posited. H3. Price discount will have a positive effect on Inquiry use intention. H4. Price discount will have a positive effect on Transaction use intention.
3.2. Hypotheses The TAM proposed that PU has a direct effect on user intention to use a new IT, whereas PEOU is just an indirect determinant of the intention through the PU. This result was supported by numerous subsequent studies (e.g. Lederer et al., 2000; Olson and Boyer, 2003; Wixom and Todd, 2005).Thus, only the PU was employed to define the internal factor in this paper, and the following hypotheses are posited.
H5. IT training will have a positive effect on Inquiry use intention. H6. IT training will have a positive effect on Transaction use intention. The primary users of EC services are customers (shippers), implying that the customer support (Ramamurthy et al., 1999) and the degree of vertical coordination between customers and suppliers (Premkumar
Internal factor Perceived usefulness H1 EC promotions
H2
Price discount
EC use Intention
H3 H4
IT training
Inquiry use intention
H5 H6
Professional service qualities Server services Delivery competency
Transaction use intention
H7 H9 H10
H8 Partnership
H11
Service coverage
Fig. 1. The research model.
ARTICLE IN PRESS 60
W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
et al., 1997) are the critical success factors for an organization implementing EC services. For practical reasons, customer support and bonds may originate from a good partnership between a customer and a supplier (Nordin, 2008). Thus, we have the following hypotheses: H7. Partnership will have a positive effect on Inquiry use intention. H8. Partnership will have a positive effect on Transaction use intention. In practice, service qualities should be an important factor enabling service providers to maintain a good relationship with their customers. The relevant study shows that shipper satisfaction with the service qualities of carriers positively affects the partnership between shippers and carriers (Lu, 2003). Based on the relevant literature (Murphy and Daley, 1997; Lu, 2000) and practical standpoint, this paper investigates the professional service qualities of shipping companies from the perspective of three aspects: Server services, Delivery competency and Service coverage. Thus, we propose the following hypotheses: H9. Server services will have a positive effect on Partnership. H10. Delivery competency will have a positive effect on Partnership. H11. Service coverage will have a positive effect on Partnership. 3.3. Instruments Based on the model (see Fig. 1), a questionnaire including a demographic and 5 self-reported scales were designed to measure the research variables in the model. All of the scales are scored on a 6-point Likert scale that defines participant agreement with each statement. Higher scores represent greater agreement with each statement. Negative statements are reversed when scored. To validate the questionnaire, 8 senior managers from 1 carrier, 2 forwarders and 5 export and import trading companies were invited to revise the survey, and then 33 users from shippers of OOCL carrier and China International Freight Company in Taiwan were sampled to pretest it. After eliminating 6 statements for ambiguity, the final survey included 32 items for the 5 scales. 3.3.1. The demographics These items investigate the profile of the shipper, including the nature of its business, the main export cargo, turnover, the job title of the participant, and so on. All participants were asked to select a shipping company with an EC service whose EC services they had used before, and then use their experiences with this company to answer the following items. 3.3.2. Internal factors This scale was modified and adopted from the study of Lu et al. (2006). The statements are designed to measure
user perceptions of the usefulness of the EC services in liner shipping. This scale is scored on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very strongly disagree) to 6 (very strongly agree). Higher scores represent higher shipper perceived usefulness of the EC services. 3.3.3. EC promotions This scale was modified and adopted from the studies of Ramamurthy et al. (1999) and Chwelos et al. (2001). The statements are designed to measure user perceptions of two promotion dimensions: price discount and IT training. The former is defined as the users’ perceived importance for shipping companies providing a price discount to attract shippers to use their EC services. The latter is explained as the users’ perceived importance for shipping companies providing training to instruct shippers to use their EC services. This scale is scored as the one of internal factors. Higher scores represent higher shipper perceived importance of the promotions of the EC services. 3.3.4. Professional service qualities This scale was modified and adopted from the studies of Murphy and Daley (1997) and Lu (2003). The statements are designed to measure shipper satisfaction toward the professional service qualities of shipping companies, which include server services, delivery competency and service coverage. The server services is defined as the proficiency and attitudes of shipping company servers. The delivery competency is defined as the basic delivery services of shipping companies, such as punctuality, promptness, shipping rate and safety. The service coverage is defined as the extra services provided by shipping companies, such as a ‘‘door to door’’ service. This scale is scored on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very strongly unsatisfy or none) to 6 (very strongly satisfy). Higher scores represent shippers perceive more satisfaction with the professional service qualities of shipping companies. 3.3.5. Partnership This scale was modified and adopted from the study of Lu (2003). The statements are designed to measure the level of partnership between shippers and the shipping companies. The partnership is defined as the shipper’s intention to maintain a long-term cooperation with shipping companies. This scale is scored as the one of internal factors. Higher scores mean shippers have a higher intention to maintain the partnership. 3.3.6. The EC use intention This scale was modified and adopted from the studies of Lu and Chen (2002) and Lu et al. (2005). The statements are designed to measure shipper intention to use the EC services of shipping companies for inquiries and transactions This scale is scored on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (extremely unlikely to use) to 6 (extremely likely to use). Higher scores mean that shippers have a higher intention to use the EC services.
ARTICLE IN PRESS W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
3.4. Population and sample To validate the research model, shippers, including traders and manufacturers using liner shipping in Taiwan, were surveyed. Based on the List of leading firms with good export and import performance in 2006 by the Foreign Trade Development Association and the inquiry system of Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan, this study sampled top export firms using liner shipping based on the ratio of industrial catalogs. The questionnaires were then sent to the shipping, import, and export divisions of those firms. The sample size was 939 with two times of mailing. The initial mailing elicited 85 valid responses, and the second mailing added 50 valid responses. Thus, the total valid responses were 135, in which 57.04% from manufacturers, 40.74% from trading companies and 2.22% firms with both roles. Of the participants, 8.89% were presidents, 17.04% were managers, 12.59% were directors and 61.48% were clerks, sales representatives, and others. By category of export cargo, firms shipping electrical machinery and apparatus were the most numerous (25.93%), followed by metal products (17.78%) and rubber and plastic products (11.85%). All of the other categories are fewer than 10%. The other characteristics of the respondent profile are shown in Table 2.
61
corresponding scales with the sample data. The results of the EFA (Table 3) indicate that two factors, named price discount and IT training, are extracted from the scale of EC promotions; three dimensions, server services, delivery competency and service coverage, are extracted from the scale of professional service qualities; and two factors, inquiry use intention and transaction use intention, are extracted from the scale of EC use intention. The reminder of the two scales, with only one dimension extracted, respectively, converge to their respective constructs: perceived usefulness and partnership. Almost all of the factor loadings for each construct exceed 0.8, and all of the explained variances for each scale exceed over 70%. These results verify the convergent and construct validities of the measurements. Furthermore, we also tested the hypothesis H0: r ¼ 1 vs. H1: ro1 for each correlation coefficient of the inter-constructs to examine the discriminant validity of the measurements. The highest correlation coefficient among the inter-constructs was 0.652, and all of the H0 were rejected at the significant level of a ¼ 0.01. Thus, the discriminant validity of the measurements is also confirmed. Finally, the coefficients of Cronbach’s a for the constructs (Table 3), which are all over 78%, confirm the reliability of the measurements. The above results, in sum, indicate that the scales are valid and reliable in measuring their corresponding constructs.
3.5. The validation and reliability of the questionnaire 3.6. Data analysis To validate the measurements of the variables in the model, exploratory factory analysis (EFA), correlation analysis and Cronbach’s a were employed to identify the
In the research model shown as Fig. 1, there are 9 constructs, 6 exogenous variables and 3 endogenous
Table 2 The profile of the respondent companies. Characteristics
Frequency
Percentage (%)
Nature of business
Manufacturer Trading company Both of the above
77 55 3
57.04 40.74 2.22
Main export cargo
Electrical machinery and apparatus Metal products Rubber and plastic products Textile products Chemical products Optics precise apparatus Transportation equipments Others
35 24 16 11 3 3 4 39
25.93 17.78 11.85 8.15 2.22 2.22 2.96 28.89
Job title
President/vice president or above Manager/vice manager Director/vice director Clerk, sales representative and others
12 23 17 83
8.89 17.04 12.59 61.48
Level of turnover (NT$)
o100 million 100 million–300 million 301 million–600 million 4600 million
50 41 20 24
37.04 30.37 14.81 17.78
Number of employees
1–25 26–50 51–100 101–500 501–2001 above
52 27 16 12 14
38.52 20.00 11.85 8.89 10.37
Type of shipping company
Forwarder Carrier Unknown
78 51 6
57.78 37.78 4.44
ARTICLE IN PRESS 62
W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
Table 3 Validity and reliability of the measures. Factors
Internal factor
EC promotions
Professional service qualities
Partnership
EC use intention
Measures
Factor loading
Perceived usefulness EC can save the time of communication EC can reduce the error of documentation EC can improve work efficiency
0.912 0.812 0.919
Price discount Any of the website promotion always attracts my attention When I search on the EC website, I will pay attention to any of price discount message I will use EC booking if the shipping company provides a price discount IT training When I have problem in using the EC website, I hope the shipping company could assist me I hope the shipping company instructs me how to use the EC website actively I hope the shipping company could provide complete information of its EC service Server services The professional knowledge of servers The attitude of servers The consulting service of servers Handling customer complain and compensation The attitude to keep interaction and contact with customers Delivery competency The capability of delivery on time The number of scheduled shipping services The convenience of checking and picking-up process The shipping price rate The damaging record in shipping Service coverage The ‘‘door to door’’ service The number of shipping lines The diversity of services Keep a long-term partnership with the shipping company Consider the shipping service by the company as the first priority Have a close relation with the shipping company Introduce the shipping company to other colleagues Inquiry use intention Inquiry vessel schedules Inquiry container tracking Inquiry shipping information Transaction use intention Booking of space Electronic bill of landing Electronic document service
variables, which form 18 regression paths. The EFA factor scores of each dimension were used to measure the constructs in the above model. A path analysis using linear structure relations (LISREL) was then employed to analyze the causal relations among the constructs. To access the fitness of the model, the w2 test and several well-known indices were employed. Those indices include goodness of fit index (GFI), comparative fit index (CFI), normalized fit index (NFI), root mean square residual (RMSR) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). The GFI, CFI and NFI are suggested to be greater than 0.9 (Bentler, 1990). RMSR and RMSEA are recommended to be less than 0.10 and 0.08, respectively (Hair et al., 1998).
Cronbach’s
a
0.85
Explained variance (%)
77.88
0.830 0.846
0.77
0.814 74.82
0.835 0.862
0.80
0.840
0.817 0.846 0.896 0.843 0.856
0.90
0.813 0.799 0.813 0.871 0.791
0.83
0.861 0.884 0.846
0.88
0.910 0.920 0.888 0.911
0.92
0.886 0.892 0.917 0.900 0.910 0.850
70.60
85.84
0.87 80.16 0.83
4. Results 4.1. Assessment of the research model The initial result of LISREL analysis, termed ‘‘initial model’’, is presented in Table 4. The result of w2 test indicates the initial model is not rejected (w2ð25Þ ¼ 13:83, p ¼ 0.61140.05), and the other indices also show that the model has good fit. Therefore, the initial model is acceptable. Since two path coefficients among constructs are not significant at a ¼ 0.05, the LISREL was performed again with those paths eliminated. The resulting named modified model is also presented in Table 4. It indicates the w2 test is still not significant (w2ð27Þ ¼ 21:19,
ARTICLE IN PRESS W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
63
Table 4 Results of goodness of fit tests for the research models. Indices
w2
df
p
GFI
AGFI
RMSR
RMSEA
NFI
CFI
Suggested value Initial model Modified model
– 13.83 21.19
– 25 27
40.05 0.611 0.627
40.900 0.978 0.968
40.80 0.938 0.940
o0.10 0.044 0.056
o0.08 0.000 0.000
40.90 0.944 0.914
40.90 1.000 1.000
Internal factor Perceived usefulness
0.46**
EC promotions
EC use Intention
Price discount 0.33**
R2 = 0.23
0.13*
Inquiry use intention
IT training 0.14*
Professional service qualities
R2 = 0.51 Transaction use intention
0.15*
Server services 0.35** Delivery competency
0.34**
0.55** Partnership
0.37** Service coverage
Note: *p<.05, **p<0.01 Fig. 2. The results of path analysis. Note: *po0.05, **po0.01.
p ¼ 0.62740.05), and the other indices are within the suggested values. Therefore, the modified model is still a good fit. The estimates of the path coefficients are illustrated in Fig. 2. The model explains 23% (R2 ¼ 0.23) and 51% (R2 ¼ 0.51) of the variance of the inquiry use intention and transaction use intention, respectively.
intention. The other total effects among the constructs of the model are found in Table 5. In sum, the results indicate that, for the model depicted in Fig. 1, except for hypotheses H3 and H4, the other hypotheses are confirmed. 5. Discussions and implications
4.2. The structural model 5.1. The effect of perceived usefulness The results shown in Figs. 2 indicate that there are 9 significant paths. Since server services has a direct effect on partnership (b ¼ 0.35), and partnership has a direct effect on transaction use intention (b ¼ 0.55), by indirect effect, server services has a total effect of 0.19 (b ¼ 0.35 0.55) on transaction use intention. Likewise, server services has a total effect of 0.05 (b ¼ 0.35 0.15) on inquiry use
The results show that perceived usefulness (PU) has significant effects on both inquiry use intention (b ¼ 0.46**) and transaction use intention (b ¼ 0.13*), and the effect on the former is significantly stronger than on the latter. In fact, among all exogenous variables, PU is the most significant factor in shipper intention to use the
ARTICLE IN PRESS 64
W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
Table 5 Total effects of variables in the research model.
Perceived usefulness (PU) Price discount IT training Server services Delivery competency Service coverage Partnership
Partnership
Inquiry use
Transaction use
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.35 0.34 0.38 –
0.46 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.05 0.06 0.15
0.13 0.33 0.14 0.19 0.19 0.21 0.55
inquiry service of the EC services. Those results indicate that when shippers perceive using EC services to inquire or transact can improve their work efficiency, their intention to use the EC services will be increased. This result is consistent with the results of previous studies that perceived usefulness had significant effect on user intention to adopt Internet services for small organizations (Lederer et al., 2000; Olson and Boyer, 2003) and service industry (Bienstock et al., 2008). In general, for users of EC services, PU is a subjective perception of individual. Generally, this perception may be improved by education. Thus, educating users in the usefulness and benefits of an EC may be effective in motivating shippers to use the EC services. For carriers and forwarders, the salesman, who generally needs to visit shippers to obtain their business, may be the right person for such educational efforts. 5.2. The effects of professional service qualities and partnership As with perceived usefulness, the partnership also positively and significantly affects both the inquiry use intention (b ¼ 0.15*) and transaction use intention (b ¼ 0.55*), and the effect of the latter is significantly stronger than the former. This result supports the relevant studies that customer support (Ramamurthy et al., 1999) and vertical coordination between customers and suppliers (Premkumar et al., 1997) had significant effects on the implementation of EDI for organizations. In fact, among all determinants, partnership is the most significant factor in shipper intention to use the EC transaction service. This result implies that a shipper who has long-term cooperation with a shipping company may have a stronger willingness to use the EC services of the shipping company. In practice, EC service users usually need to provide some private information, contained in user profiles, to EC websites. Thus, security is one of the main obstacles to user intention to adopt an EC service. This obstacle is more marked for EC transaction services because users usually need to provide sensitive information to the EC website. If security problems arise, users may incur serious damage, even financial loss (Suh and Han, 2003). Thus, for shipping companies, persuading shippers to trust the EC service may be a practical route to increasing EC service use. In practice, maintaining a good partnership with shippers should enable shipping companies to gain shippers’ trust of their EC websites, and as a result, lead to
enhance shippers’ intention to use the EC services. Generally, due to long-term cooperation, shippers and shipping companies come to know each other well. Thus, the salesman of shipping companies may easily introduce their EC services to the shippers, and as a result improve shipper intention to use the EC services. Furthermore, the results also show that three aspects of professional service qualities: server services, delivery competency and service coverage, significantly impact the partnership (b ¼ 0.35**, b ¼ 0.34** and b ¼ 0.37**). This result indicates that to maintain a good partnership with shippers, shipping companies should provide good service qualities. The result also indicates that the effect of service coverage is even more significant than the other two effects. This result implies that shippers require more comprehensive and diverse services from shipping companies. Pope and Thomchick (1985) point out that for ocean freight forwarders, the comprehensiveness of services is not only a growing trend but also a critical issue in improving their competitiveness. Thus, the services of forwarders should move toward logistical services with vertical integration in the future. This may explain why, recently, most forwarders have begun to transform themselves into logistics firms. 5.3. The effect of EC promotions The results indicate that the price discount has a significant effect on the transaction use intention (b ¼ 0.33**). This result, basically, is consistent with prior research showing that a new product with promotions, such as a price discount, diffused more successfully (McDade et al., 2002), and that promotion from IT suppliers affected the adoption decisions of telecommunications technologies in organizations (Grover and Goslar, 1993). Generally, for EC services, a price discount is only available for transaction service. As mentioned above, security issues are an important barrier to the use of EC transaction service. In practice, the barrier may be more significant for a new user because it usually is not easy for a new user to trust an EC website. Generally, a promotion policy of discount price may be a feasible way to encourage new shippers to use the transaction service of EC. The results also indicate that the other promotion program, IT training, also significantly affects user intention to use the EC transaction service (b ¼ 0.14*). This result also supports the previous research that training positively affected organizations to adopt an EDI (Chwelos et al., 2001), and improved internal and external integration of EDI in transportation industry (Premkumar et al., 1997). In practice, compared to inquiry, the procedure to use an EC transaction service is usually much more complicated. Thus, a training to instruct shippers on how to use the EC transaction service may be necessary. 6. Conclusions For EC services in liner shipping, inquiry and transaction are the most primary services. These services can
ARTICLE IN PRESS W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
reduce work loading of shipping company servers. Particularly, the latter can diminish the mistakes of document processing, which may save a high cost from financial loss. However, the utilization is still not popular, especially the EC transaction service. It depends on shippers’ acceptance toward the EC services. The purpose of this paper is to investigate shipper behavior to use EC services in liner shipping. From internal and external perspectives of shippers, a causal model was constructed to analyze the determinants of the user intentions. As an empirical study, 135 export shippers from 8 major industries in Taiwan were sampled to validate the model. The results indicate that for the shipper intention to use the EC inquiry services, the perceived usefulness of users toward EC services is the most significant determinant. However, both of the promotion programmers (price discount and IT training) could enhance shipper intention to use EC transaction service. In fact, the investigation of this paper also finds that except for a few carriers, most of the shipping companies did not provide any price discount to promote their EC services, especially the forwarders. Generally, compared to carriers, the financial scale of forwarders is smaller. Thus, it may not be feasible for forwarders to provide a price discount to motivate shippers to use their EC services. However, a training plan to instruct shipper to use the EC services, and an educational policy to improve shippers’ perceived usefulness toward the EC services may be more feasible for forwarders to promote their EC services. The salesmen, who always need to contact with shippers constantly, are good performers for these promotion missions. Thus, this paper suggests that a training plan and incentive system for salesmen can be considered to encourage them to accomplish the tasks. The findings also show that the partnership between shipping companies and shippers is the most significant determinant of shipper intention to use the EC transaction service. In addition, enhancing professional service qualities of shipping companies could effectively improve the partnership. The professional service qualities include server services, delivery competency and service coverage. For shipping companies, especially for forwarders, it is usually not easy to improve delivery competencies because it would increase their operating cost. Thus, to improve the other two service qualities, server services and service coverage, may be more feasible for shipping companies. For the former, as mentioned above, a training plan and incentive system for salesmen may be necessary. For the latter, a policy of logistical services with vertical integration can be considered. This paper suggests that shipping companies can cooperate with land transport carriers and warehouse holders to develop diversity services such as a ‘‘door to door’’ service. Besides, by allying with air freight forwarders to develop services of air–ocean inter-modal transportation for shippers may also be a good strategy for shipping companies. This paper also investigates the determinants of shipper intention to use EC services from internal and external perspectives of shippers. Based on TAM, this paper defines the internal factor as the PU of shippers toward EC services. However, the relevant literature
65
indicated that the PEOU may also be a significant factor affecting shippers to adopt EC services (Lu et al., 2006). Thus, future research may need to incorporate it into the model. Furthermore, it is a trend for forwarders to develop logistical services with vertical integration. Thus, the EC services between parties, such as land transport carriers and warehouse holders, may also be the point for further research. This paper employed a survey to measure the variables in the model with only 3–5 items for each construct. Even though the measurements were validated by some indices, a questionnaire with more items may still be required to enhance their validity. Moreover, the study was based on a sample of 135 respondents. Although several significant results were yielded, a larger sample may also be needed to validate the results for future research. EC service is a trend for liner shipping, especially for shipping companies to develop a logistical service of ‘‘door to door’’. The result of this paper could provide practical information for shipping managers to promote their EC services and, further, to improve their service qualities and competitiveness. Due to socio-cultural differences, the results of this study may not be applicable to other countries. However, the research model may offer a theoretical base for developing a new model to fit different cultures.
Acknowledgements The authors greatly appreciate Mr. Wang Zhi-Xiang for his assistance in data collection and the two anonymous reviewers for their very valuable comments on this paper. Besides, this paper was partly funded by National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC 95-2622-H-022-001-CC3). References Bentler, P.M., 1990. Comparative fit indices in structural models. Psychological Bulletin 107, 238–246. Bienstock, C.C., Royne, M.M., Sherrell, D., Stafford, T.F., 2008. An expanded model of logistics service quality: incorporating logistics information technology. International Journal of Production Economics 113, 205–222. Cheng, C.C., Cheung, W., Chang, M.K., 2002. The use of the internet in Hong Kong: manufacturing vs. service. International Journal of Production Economics 75, 33–45. Chwelos, P., Benbasat, I., Dexter, A., 2001. Research report: empirical test of an EDI adoption model. Information Systems Research 12, 304–321. Davis, F.D., 1989. User acceptance of computer technology: a comparison of two theoretical models. Management Science 35, 982–1003. Ellinger, A.E., Lynch, D.F., Andzulis, J.K., Smith, R.J., 2003. B-to-B E-commerce: a content analytical assessment of motor carrier websites. Journal of Business Logistics 24, 199–220. Ellram, L.M., Hendrick, T.E., 1995. Partnering characteristics: a dyadic perspective. Journal of Business Logistics 16, 41–64. Gender, J.T., Cooper, M.C., Noordewier, T., 1994. Understanding shippercarrier and shipper-warehouser relationships: partnerships revisited. Journal of Business Logistics 15, 121–143. Gentry, J., 1996. The role of carriers in buyer–supplier strategic partnerships: a supply chain management approach. Journal of Business Logistics 17, 35–55. Grover, V., Goslar, M., 1993. The initiation adoption and implementation of telecommunications technologies in US organization. Journal of Management Information System 10, 141–163.
ARTICLE IN PRESS 66
W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
Gunasekaran, A., Ngai, E.W.T., 2008. Adoption of e-procurement in Hong Kong: an empirical research. International Journal of Production Economics 113, 159–175. Hair, J.F., Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L., Black, W.C., 1998. Multivariate Data Analysis, fifth ed. Prentice-Hill, New Jersey. Hansen, J.V., Hill, N.C., 1989. Control and audit of electronic data interchange. MIS Quarterly 13, 402–413. Jeffrey, K., 1999. Electronic Commerce and Container Shipping. Cargo Systems, London. Johnson, D.A., Allen, B.J., Crum, M.R., 1992. The state of EDI usage in the motor carrier industry. Journal of Business Logistics 13, 43–68. La Londe, B.J., Cooper, M.C., 1989. Partnerships in providing customer service: a third-party perspective. Ill: Council of Logistics Management. Lederer, A.L., Maupin, D.J., Sena, M., Zhuang, Y., 2000. The technology acceptance model and the World Wide Web. Decision Support System 29, 269–282. Lu, C.S., 2000. Logistics services in Taiwanese maritime firms. Transportation Research—Part E Logistics and Transportation Review 36, 79–96. Lu, C.S., 2003. The impact of carrier service attributes on shipper–carrier partnering relationships: a shipper’s perspective. Transportation Research Part E 39, 399–415. Lu, C.S., Chen, L.Y., 2002. Factors affecting the use intention of container carriers’electronic commerce—from a shipper’s perspective. Transportation Planning Journal 31, 853–882. Lu, C.S., Lai, K.H., Cheng, T.C.E., 2005. An evaluation of web site services in liner shipping in Taiwan. Transportation 32, 293–318. Lu, C.S., Lai, K.H., Cheng, T.C.E., 2006. Adoption of internet service in liner shipping—an empirical study of shippers in Taiwan. Transport Reviews 26, 189–206. Matear, S., Gray, R., 1993. Factors influencing freight service choice for shippers and freight suppliers. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management 23, 25–35. McDade, S.R., Oliva, T.A., Pirsch, J., 2002. The organizational adoption of high-technology products ‘‘for use’’: effects of size, preference and radicalness of impact. Industrial Marketing Management 31, 441–456. Mei, Z., Dinwoodie, J., 2005. Electronic shipping documentation in China’s international supply chains. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 10, 198–205. Nordin, F., 2008. Linkages between service sourcing decisions and competitive advantage: a review, propositions, and illustrating cases. International Journal of Production Economics 114, 40.
Murphy, P.R., Daley, J.M., 1996. International freight forwarder perspectives on electronic data interchange and information. Journal of Business Logistics 17, 63–84. Murphy, P.R., Daley, J.M., 1997. Investigating selection criteria for international freight forwarders. Transportation Journal 37, 29–36. Narayandas, D., Rangan, V.K., 2004. Building and sustaining buyer–seller relationships in mature industrial markets. Journal of Marketing 68, 63–77. Olson, J.R., Boyer, K.K., 2003. Factors influencing the utilization of internet purchasing in small organizations. Journal of Operations Management 21, 225–245. Pope, D.J., Thomchick, E.A., 1985. US foreign freight forwarders and NVOCCs. Tranoportation Journal 24, 26–36. Premkumar, G., Ramamurthy, K., Crum, M., 1997. Determinants of EDI adoption in the transportation industry. European Journal of Information Systems 6, 107–121. Ramamurthy, K., Premkumar, G., Crum, M., 1999. Organization and interorganizational determinants of EDI diffusion and organizational performance: a causal model. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce 9, 253–285. Strader, T.J., Shaw, M.J., 1997. Characteristics of electronic markets. Decision Support Systems 21, 185–498. Suh, B., Han, I., 2003. The impact of customer trust and perception of security control on the acceptance of electronic commerce. International Journal of Electronic Commerce 7, 135–161. Thong, J.Y.L., 1999. An integrated model of information systems adoption in small business. Journal of Management Information Systems 15, 187–214. Wang, H.G., 2000. The application of EC for shipping company. Shipping and Trading Weekly, 66–70. Wang, Y., Fesenmaier, D.R., 2006. Identifying the success factors of webbased marketing strategy: an investigation of convention and visitors bureaus in the United States. Journal of Travel Research 44, 239–249. Wang, Z.X., 2006. An evaluation of shipper behavior to use electrical commence of ocean freight forwarders. Master Thesis, National Kaohsiung Marine University, Taiwan, ROC. Willams, L.R., Rao, K., 1998. Information technology adoption: using classical adoption models to predict AEI software implementation. Journal of Business Logistics 19, 5–16. Wixom, B.H., Todd, P.A., 2005. A theoretical integration of user satisfaction and technology acceptance. Information Systems Research 16, 85–102.
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Int. J. Production Economics journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijpe
Shipper behavior to use EC services in liner shipping Wen-Kai K. Hsu a,, Show-Hui S. Huang b, Hong-Fwu Yu c a
Department of Shipping and Transportation Management, National Kaohsiung Marine University, 142, Hai Jhuan Rd, Nanzih District, Kaohsiung 811, Taiwan, ROC b Department of International Business and Trade, Shu-Te University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC c Graduate Institute of Commerce, National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, ROC
a r t i c l e i n f o
abstract
Article history: Received 30 June 2008 Accepted 27 December 2008 Available online 14 May 2009
The purpose of this paper is to discuss shipper behavior to use electronic commerce (EC) services in liner shipping. Inquiry use intention and transaction use intention were employed to define shipper intention to use the EC services. Based on the internal and external perspectives of shippers, a causal model was constructed to investigate the determinants of the intentions. The internal factor is defined as shippers’ perceived usefulness (PU) of the EC services. The external factors include the EC promotions of shipping companies and the partnership between shippers and shipping companies. From eight major industries in Taiwan, 135 exporting companies were sampled to validate the model. The results indicate that the partnership is the most significant factor affecting the transaction use intention, while the PU of the shipper is the most significant determinant of inquiry use intention. EC promotions only significantly affect transaction use intention. These results may provide useful information for shipping companies seeking to promote their EC services. & 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Keywords: EC Shipper Forwarder Carrier Partnership
1. Introduction In search of enhanced competitiveness, many shipping companies have recently developed a ‘‘door to door’’ full service. This strategy may result in greater coverage and complexity in their service processes, leading to diminished service qualities. For shipping operations, one of the most common mistakes is typing errors in document processing, which may delay a bill of lading, resulting in increased costs (Mei and Dinwoodie, 2005). If shipping companies adopt electronic commerce (EC) to replace traditional document processing, mistakes may be reduced and performance improved. In the past, electronic data interchange (EDI) has been the primary technology for EC services between businesses
Corresponding author. Tel.: +886 7 3617141/3164; fax: +886 7 3647046. E-mail address: [email protected] (W.-K.K. Hsu).
0925-5273/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ijpe.2008.12.024
(B2B). Although EDI can improve efficiency, enable prompt feedback, enhance accuracy, reduce paper work and save cost (Hansen and Hill, 1989; Johnson et al., 1992; Jeffrey, 1999), the high installation cost, complexity and the limited computer literacy of customers are barriers for implementation (Murphy and Daley, 1996). However, with the development of the World Wide Web (WWW), the installation cost of EC website has been radically reduced. Therefore, many shipping companies have begun to set up their own EC websites or join electronic markets (Strader and Shaw, 1997) to develop their EC services in recent years. However, construction of an EC website does not mean that the implementation of EC has been successful. That depends on whether customers (shippers) use the EC services. Thus, in addition to the EC website installation, promoting the use of the EC website by shippers is also an important issue for shipping companies installing EC systems. For the EC services in liner shipping, the main providers are shipping companies, which include carriers
ARTICLE IN PRESS W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
and forwarders. In the past, most studies have focused on carriers, such as the attributes of EC services of carriers (Ellinger et al., 2003; Lu et al., 2005) and shippers’ intention to use carriers’ Internet services (Lu and Chen, 2002; Lu et al., 2006). However, in practice, most shippers, especially the shippers of small–medium firms, transport their cargos through forwarders. Hence, in discussing the EC services for liner shipping, forwarders should be included. In Taiwan, the EC services in liner shipping are very popular. However, the use of EC services by shippers is still unpopular. Most shippers still use traditional modes of communication to communicate with forwarders or carriers, such as telephone and fax. A survey conducted in 2006 indicates that over 40% of shippers never use EC services in Taiwan (Wang, 2006). Hence, effective promotion of EC services requires investigation of the determinants of EC use from perspectives of users (shippers). The widely used Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) suggests several internal determinants of user adoption of a new IT, from the user’s viewpoint, which include perceived usefulness (PU) and perceived ease of use. Furthermore, to more robustly model user intention to use a new IT, in addition to exploring the internal perceptions of users, the external determinants of user intentions should also be considered (Thong, 1999). In practice, for the users of EC services, a price discount policy and a training plan from EC providers are two of the most popular strategies to promote EC services. From the viewpoint of users, those strategies can be classified as external determinants of users. In addition, the partnership between shippers and shipping companies may also be an external determinant. The relevant research indicates that customer support positively affects the internal (suppliers) and external (customers) integration of EDI (Ramamurthy et al., 1999). The degree of vertical coordination between customers and suppliers (Premkumar et al., 1997) is a significant determinant of an organization’s willingness to adopt EDI. In practice, customer support and vertical coordination may originate from a good partnership between customers (shippers) and suppliers (shipping companies). Nordin (2008) employed four case studies to link the relation between service sourcing decisions and competitive advantage and found that a good buyer–seller relationship has positive effect on customer bonds. Thus, the partnership may also be an external determinant. In the relevant literature, there are few studies to discuss EC services in liner shipping from the above external viewpoints. The purpose of this paper is to discuss shipper behavior to use EC services in liner shipping. In practice, inquiry and transaction are the most-used functions by shipper in liner shipping (Lu and Chen, 2002). Thus, the intentions using those two functions define shipper intention to use an EC services in this study. From the internal and external viewpoints of users, a causal model was then constructed to investigate the determinants of the intention to use. Finally, as an empirical analysis, exporting shippers in Taiwan will be surveyed to validate the research model.
57
2. Literature review 2.1. The EC services in liner shipping For the EC services in liner shipping, the main providers are shipping companies, which include carriers and forwarders. Most of the relevant research focuses on the former. For example, Wang (2000) defined the EC services of carriers using 20 items of static functions and 9 items of dynamic functions. Based on Jeffrey (1999), Lu et al. (2005) observed 24 service items on 11 websites services of regular carriers. Lu et al. (2006) investigated the adoption of internet services in linear shipping by shippers in Taiwan, finding that tracking is the most important service attribute of Internet services, followed by checking for customs clearance, vessel schedules, and electronic document services. However, in practice, most shippers transport their cargo through forwarders. Hence, to discuss the EC services of shipping, the forwarders should also be included. Using the statistics of the Keelung Harbor Bureau website in Taiwan in 2006, this paper investigated 572 with a total of 261 forwarders providing EC services, and the results listed in Table 1 indicate that for static functions, the company background, organization, service item, service consultation and bilingual service are the most popular, and for dynamic functions, the tracking, vessel schedules, shipping rates and online booking are the most common. It is worth noting that the electronic bill of lading, one of the primary EC services, is still not in common use for EC services of forwarders. 2.2. Internal determinants of users In the literature on user behavior in adopting a new information technology (IT), the Technology Acceptance Table 1 The EC services of ocean freight forwarders in Taiwan. Function
Frequency
Percentage (%)
Company background Service consultation Service item Company organization Bilingual service Tracing Shipping rate Online booking Vessel schedules Useful links News Employ opportunity Virtual reality Industry information Online supports Download service Shipping schedule Market information Container type Financial report Publications Freight cost table Electronic bill of landing Cruise introduction
252 241 238 224 200 199 175 154 142 65 52 41 33 31 28 25 19 19 8 6 6 3 3 2
96.55 92.34 91.19 85.82 76.63 76.25 67.05 59.00 54.41 24.90 19.92 15.71 12.64 11.88 10.73 9.58 7.28 7.28 3.07 2.30 2.30 1.15 1.15 0.77
ARTICLE IN PRESS 58
W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
Model (Davis, 1989) is one of the most wide-known theories. From the perception of users, TAM proposes two internal determinants of adoption, perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness, to determine user attitude and intention to use an IT. The results of the TAM indicate that the user intention is primarily affected by his/her attitude, and through the attitude, both the user PEOU and PU have an indirect effect on the intention. Besides, PU has also a direct effect on the intention, and PEOU has a direct effect on the PU. TAM emphasizes that, for the determinants of users’ acceptance to use an IT, PU is the major factor and PEOU is the minor factor. TAM has been widely applied in subsequent research. For example, Willams and Rao (1998) investigated the intention of American freight industry to adopt automatic equipment identification (AEI), and found that perception of the relative advantages (similar to PU) had a significant effect on the intention. Gunasekaran and Ngai (2008) discussed the adoption of e-procurement for both manufacturing and services, and concluded that one of the main reasons for not adopting e-procurement is a lack of awareness of the benefits of e-procurement. Lederer et al. (2000) investigated the behavior of an organization in adopting Internet services. Their results indicated that the stronger the PU is, the higher the intention of the organization to adopt the Internet services, and the effect of PU is more significant than that of PEOU. Cheng et al. (2002) examined the factors that influence the use of Internet in manufacturing and service industries. They found that near-term consequences (similar to PU) have a significant effect on the Internet usage for the service industry. Based on TAM, Olson and Boyer (2003) examined the use of Internet in a small organization from the individual user’s views and preferences. Their results showed that user PU has a positive effect on their use in Internet purchasing. Bienstock et al. (2008) incorporated TAM in logistic service quality of firms, and found that both the PEOU and PU have approximately equal effects on user intentions to use information technology tools. Lu et al. (2006) discussed factors affecting shipper use of internet services in liner shipping. They found that PEOU is the major factor affecting the intention of shippers to use internet services, and that PEOU also has a strong positive effect on PU.
2.3. External determinants of users 2.3.1. EC promotions When an EC website is constructed, the main problem of suppliers becomes how to attract customers to use it. Thus, website marketing will be an important issue (Wang and Fesenmaier, 2006), in which promotion is one of the most common strategies. McDade et al. (2002) proposed that a new product with promotion, such as a price discount, would diffuse more strongly. Grover and Goslar (1993) indicated that when an organization implements an IT, the public image of suppliers and promotion of the IT would affect the adoption decision of the organization. In addition to price discount promotion, a training plan provided to users from IT suppliers may also be useful in promoting the IT. Premkumar et al. (1997) surveyed 181
American trailer companies adopting EDI and found that providing training for users in using the EDI would positively affect the internal and external integrations of EDI. Chwelos et al. (2001) found that the preparation of organizations to adopt an EDI has a significant effect on their intention to adopt the EDI, and that preparation may be evaluated from the standpoint of acceptance of organizational change and educational training. 2.3.2. Partnership Ellram and Hendrick (1995) defined a partnership as an ongoing relationship between two firms that involves a commitment over an extended time period, and a mutual sharing of the information, risk and rewards of the relationship. La Londe and Cooper (1989) defined partnership as the relationship between two entities in logistical channel. This relationship would entail that both entities share benefits and responsibilities over some agreed-upon time horizon. Narayandas and Rangan (2004) considered that for business, the focus had turned to establishment of long-term cooperation instead of one-to-one opposition. Gender et al. (1994) also indicated that, in this highly competitive environment, the supply chain pattern was gradually formed. If shippers realized the benefits of cooperation, they were willing to keep better relationship with carriers and warehouse holders. In practice, service quality is an important determinant of whether suppliers to maintain good relationship with their customers. Gentry (1996) noted that the buyer–supplier partnering relationship requires sustained service performance on the part of the carrier and early identification of problem areas by both parties. Due to the intangibility of the services provided, service quality is especially important in developing shipper–carrier partnering relationships (Lu, 2003). Lu (2003) indicated that through satisfactory perception of shippers, services of carriers have significant indirect effects on the relationship with their shippers. For service quality of forwarders, Murphy and Daley (1997) investigated 375 members of the Council of Logistics Management and determined that shippers look at 12 service attributes when choosing freight forwarders. Those attributes include professional competence, service reliability, ability to provide relevant information, server attitude, company reputation, reasonable charge, financial status, convenience, service variety, location, extra service and service scope. Lu (2000) investigated in Taiwanese maritime firms and proposed six dimensions of logistics services: value-added service, promotion, equipment, facilities, speed and reliability. Relevant studies about service attributes also include the studies of Matear and Gray (1993) and Lu (2003). Based on the relevant literature and practical viewpoint, this paper investigates the service quality of shipping companies (carriers and forwarders) from the perspective of the three aspects of server services, delivery competency and service coverage. 3. Methodology For the EC services in liner shipping, the main providers are carriers and forwarders. Since some forwarders have
ARTICLE IN PRESS W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
59
turned into international logistic companies, the forwarders discussed in this paper also include those companies.
H1. Perceived usefulness will have a positive effect on Inquiry use intention.
3.1. Research model
H2. Perceived usefulness will have a positive effect on Transaction use intention.
The research model of this paper is illustrated in Fig. 1. According to the EC service features in liner shipping, the inquiry use intention and transaction use intention were employed to define shipper intention to use the EC services. Based on the relevant literature, from the internal and external perspectives of shippers, a causal model was constructed to investigate the determinants of the intention. The internal factor is defined as shippers’ perceived usefulness of EC services. The external factors include two EC promotion dimensions (price discount and IT training) and partnerships between shippers and shipping companies. In addition, the partnership depends on the aforementioned three professional service qualities of shipping companies: server services, delivery competency and service coverage.
Grover and Goslar (1993) pointed out that when an organization implements an IT, it will interact with the IT provider. Therefore, the provider’s reputation and its promotion strategy will affect the organization’s intention to adopt the IT. In practice, for the promotion of an EC website, one of the most popular strategies is to give users a price discount to attract them to use the website (McDade et al., 2002). Furthermore, the relevant research also shows that providing necessary trainings in an IT would improve user intention to use the IT (Premkumar et al., 1997; Chwelos et al., 2001). Therefore, the following hypotheses are posited. H3. Price discount will have a positive effect on Inquiry use intention. H4. Price discount will have a positive effect on Transaction use intention.
3.2. Hypotheses The TAM proposed that PU has a direct effect on user intention to use a new IT, whereas PEOU is just an indirect determinant of the intention through the PU. This result was supported by numerous subsequent studies (e.g. Lederer et al., 2000; Olson and Boyer, 2003; Wixom and Todd, 2005).Thus, only the PU was employed to define the internal factor in this paper, and the following hypotheses are posited.
H5. IT training will have a positive effect on Inquiry use intention. H6. IT training will have a positive effect on Transaction use intention. The primary users of EC services are customers (shippers), implying that the customer support (Ramamurthy et al., 1999) and the degree of vertical coordination between customers and suppliers (Premkumar
Internal factor Perceived usefulness H1 EC promotions
H2
Price discount
EC use Intention
H3 H4
IT training
Inquiry use intention
H5 H6
Professional service qualities Server services Delivery competency
Transaction use intention
H7 H9 H10
H8 Partnership
H11
Service coverage
Fig. 1. The research model.
ARTICLE IN PRESS 60
W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
et al., 1997) are the critical success factors for an organization implementing EC services. For practical reasons, customer support and bonds may originate from a good partnership between a customer and a supplier (Nordin, 2008). Thus, we have the following hypotheses: H7. Partnership will have a positive effect on Inquiry use intention. H8. Partnership will have a positive effect on Transaction use intention. In practice, service qualities should be an important factor enabling service providers to maintain a good relationship with their customers. The relevant study shows that shipper satisfaction with the service qualities of carriers positively affects the partnership between shippers and carriers (Lu, 2003). Based on the relevant literature (Murphy and Daley, 1997; Lu, 2000) and practical standpoint, this paper investigates the professional service qualities of shipping companies from the perspective of three aspects: Server services, Delivery competency and Service coverage. Thus, we propose the following hypotheses: H9. Server services will have a positive effect on Partnership. H10. Delivery competency will have a positive effect on Partnership. H11. Service coverage will have a positive effect on Partnership. 3.3. Instruments Based on the model (see Fig. 1), a questionnaire including a demographic and 5 self-reported scales were designed to measure the research variables in the model. All of the scales are scored on a 6-point Likert scale that defines participant agreement with each statement. Higher scores represent greater agreement with each statement. Negative statements are reversed when scored. To validate the questionnaire, 8 senior managers from 1 carrier, 2 forwarders and 5 export and import trading companies were invited to revise the survey, and then 33 users from shippers of OOCL carrier and China International Freight Company in Taiwan were sampled to pretest it. After eliminating 6 statements for ambiguity, the final survey included 32 items for the 5 scales. 3.3.1. The demographics These items investigate the profile of the shipper, including the nature of its business, the main export cargo, turnover, the job title of the participant, and so on. All participants were asked to select a shipping company with an EC service whose EC services they had used before, and then use their experiences with this company to answer the following items. 3.3.2. Internal factors This scale was modified and adopted from the study of Lu et al. (2006). The statements are designed to measure
user perceptions of the usefulness of the EC services in liner shipping. This scale is scored on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very strongly disagree) to 6 (very strongly agree). Higher scores represent higher shipper perceived usefulness of the EC services. 3.3.3. EC promotions This scale was modified and adopted from the studies of Ramamurthy et al. (1999) and Chwelos et al. (2001). The statements are designed to measure user perceptions of two promotion dimensions: price discount and IT training. The former is defined as the users’ perceived importance for shipping companies providing a price discount to attract shippers to use their EC services. The latter is explained as the users’ perceived importance for shipping companies providing training to instruct shippers to use their EC services. This scale is scored as the one of internal factors. Higher scores represent higher shipper perceived importance of the promotions of the EC services. 3.3.4. Professional service qualities This scale was modified and adopted from the studies of Murphy and Daley (1997) and Lu (2003). The statements are designed to measure shipper satisfaction toward the professional service qualities of shipping companies, which include server services, delivery competency and service coverage. The server services is defined as the proficiency and attitudes of shipping company servers. The delivery competency is defined as the basic delivery services of shipping companies, such as punctuality, promptness, shipping rate and safety. The service coverage is defined as the extra services provided by shipping companies, such as a ‘‘door to door’’ service. This scale is scored on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (very strongly unsatisfy or none) to 6 (very strongly satisfy). Higher scores represent shippers perceive more satisfaction with the professional service qualities of shipping companies. 3.3.5. Partnership This scale was modified and adopted from the study of Lu (2003). The statements are designed to measure the level of partnership between shippers and the shipping companies. The partnership is defined as the shipper’s intention to maintain a long-term cooperation with shipping companies. This scale is scored as the one of internal factors. Higher scores mean shippers have a higher intention to maintain the partnership. 3.3.6. The EC use intention This scale was modified and adopted from the studies of Lu and Chen (2002) and Lu et al. (2005). The statements are designed to measure shipper intention to use the EC services of shipping companies for inquiries and transactions This scale is scored on a 6-point Likert scale ranging from 1 (extremely unlikely to use) to 6 (extremely likely to use). Higher scores mean that shippers have a higher intention to use the EC services.
ARTICLE IN PRESS W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
3.4. Population and sample To validate the research model, shippers, including traders and manufacturers using liner shipping in Taiwan, were surveyed. Based on the List of leading firms with good export and import performance in 2006 by the Foreign Trade Development Association and the inquiry system of Ministry of Economic Affairs in Taiwan, this study sampled top export firms using liner shipping based on the ratio of industrial catalogs. The questionnaires were then sent to the shipping, import, and export divisions of those firms. The sample size was 939 with two times of mailing. The initial mailing elicited 85 valid responses, and the second mailing added 50 valid responses. Thus, the total valid responses were 135, in which 57.04% from manufacturers, 40.74% from trading companies and 2.22% firms with both roles. Of the participants, 8.89% were presidents, 17.04% were managers, 12.59% were directors and 61.48% were clerks, sales representatives, and others. By category of export cargo, firms shipping electrical machinery and apparatus were the most numerous (25.93%), followed by metal products (17.78%) and rubber and plastic products (11.85%). All of the other categories are fewer than 10%. The other characteristics of the respondent profile are shown in Table 2.
61
corresponding scales with the sample data. The results of the EFA (Table 3) indicate that two factors, named price discount and IT training, are extracted from the scale of EC promotions; three dimensions, server services, delivery competency and service coverage, are extracted from the scale of professional service qualities; and two factors, inquiry use intention and transaction use intention, are extracted from the scale of EC use intention. The reminder of the two scales, with only one dimension extracted, respectively, converge to their respective constructs: perceived usefulness and partnership. Almost all of the factor loadings for each construct exceed 0.8, and all of the explained variances for each scale exceed over 70%. These results verify the convergent and construct validities of the measurements. Furthermore, we also tested the hypothesis H0: r ¼ 1 vs. H1: ro1 for each correlation coefficient of the inter-constructs to examine the discriminant validity of the measurements. The highest correlation coefficient among the inter-constructs was 0.652, and all of the H0 were rejected at the significant level of a ¼ 0.01. Thus, the discriminant validity of the measurements is also confirmed. Finally, the coefficients of Cronbach’s a for the constructs (Table 3), which are all over 78%, confirm the reliability of the measurements. The above results, in sum, indicate that the scales are valid and reliable in measuring their corresponding constructs.
3.5. The validation and reliability of the questionnaire 3.6. Data analysis To validate the measurements of the variables in the model, exploratory factory analysis (EFA), correlation analysis and Cronbach’s a were employed to identify the
In the research model shown as Fig. 1, there are 9 constructs, 6 exogenous variables and 3 endogenous
Table 2 The profile of the respondent companies. Characteristics
Frequency
Percentage (%)
Nature of business
Manufacturer Trading company Both of the above
77 55 3
57.04 40.74 2.22
Main export cargo
Electrical machinery and apparatus Metal products Rubber and plastic products Textile products Chemical products Optics precise apparatus Transportation equipments Others
35 24 16 11 3 3 4 39
25.93 17.78 11.85 8.15 2.22 2.22 2.96 28.89
Job title
President/vice president or above Manager/vice manager Director/vice director Clerk, sales representative and others
12 23 17 83
8.89 17.04 12.59 61.48
Level of turnover (NT$)
o100 million 100 million–300 million 301 million–600 million 4600 million
50 41 20 24
37.04 30.37 14.81 17.78
Number of employees
1–25 26–50 51–100 101–500 501–2001 above
52 27 16 12 14
38.52 20.00 11.85 8.89 10.37
Type of shipping company
Forwarder Carrier Unknown
78 51 6
57.78 37.78 4.44
ARTICLE IN PRESS 62
W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
Table 3 Validity and reliability of the measures. Factors
Internal factor
EC promotions
Professional service qualities
Partnership
EC use intention
Measures
Factor loading
Perceived usefulness EC can save the time of communication EC can reduce the error of documentation EC can improve work efficiency
0.912 0.812 0.919
Price discount Any of the website promotion always attracts my attention When I search on the EC website, I will pay attention to any of price discount message I will use EC booking if the shipping company provides a price discount IT training When I have problem in using the EC website, I hope the shipping company could assist me I hope the shipping company instructs me how to use the EC website actively I hope the shipping company could provide complete information of its EC service Server services The professional knowledge of servers The attitude of servers The consulting service of servers Handling customer complain and compensation The attitude to keep interaction and contact with customers Delivery competency The capability of delivery on time The number of scheduled shipping services The convenience of checking and picking-up process The shipping price rate The damaging record in shipping Service coverage The ‘‘door to door’’ service The number of shipping lines The diversity of services Keep a long-term partnership with the shipping company Consider the shipping service by the company as the first priority Have a close relation with the shipping company Introduce the shipping company to other colleagues Inquiry use intention Inquiry vessel schedules Inquiry container tracking Inquiry shipping information Transaction use intention Booking of space Electronic bill of landing Electronic document service
variables, which form 18 regression paths. The EFA factor scores of each dimension were used to measure the constructs in the above model. A path analysis using linear structure relations (LISREL) was then employed to analyze the causal relations among the constructs. To access the fitness of the model, the w2 test and several well-known indices were employed. Those indices include goodness of fit index (GFI), comparative fit index (CFI), normalized fit index (NFI), root mean square residual (RMSR) and root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA). The GFI, CFI and NFI are suggested to be greater than 0.9 (Bentler, 1990). RMSR and RMSEA are recommended to be less than 0.10 and 0.08, respectively (Hair et al., 1998).
Cronbach’s
a
0.85
Explained variance (%)
77.88
0.830 0.846
0.77
0.814 74.82
0.835 0.862
0.80
0.840
0.817 0.846 0.896 0.843 0.856
0.90
0.813 0.799 0.813 0.871 0.791
0.83
0.861 0.884 0.846
0.88
0.910 0.920 0.888 0.911
0.92
0.886 0.892 0.917 0.900 0.910 0.850
70.60
85.84
0.87 80.16 0.83
4. Results 4.1. Assessment of the research model The initial result of LISREL analysis, termed ‘‘initial model’’, is presented in Table 4. The result of w2 test indicates the initial model is not rejected (w2ð25Þ ¼ 13:83, p ¼ 0.61140.05), and the other indices also show that the model has good fit. Therefore, the initial model is acceptable. Since two path coefficients among constructs are not significant at a ¼ 0.05, the LISREL was performed again with those paths eliminated. The resulting named modified model is also presented in Table 4. It indicates the w2 test is still not significant (w2ð27Þ ¼ 21:19,
ARTICLE IN PRESS W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
63
Table 4 Results of goodness of fit tests for the research models. Indices
w2
df
p
GFI
AGFI
RMSR
RMSEA
NFI
CFI
Suggested value Initial model Modified model
– 13.83 21.19
– 25 27
40.05 0.611 0.627
40.900 0.978 0.968
40.80 0.938 0.940
o0.10 0.044 0.056
o0.08 0.000 0.000
40.90 0.944 0.914
40.90 1.000 1.000
Internal factor Perceived usefulness
0.46**
EC promotions
EC use Intention
Price discount 0.33**
R2 = 0.23
0.13*
Inquiry use intention
IT training 0.14*
Professional service qualities
R2 = 0.51 Transaction use intention
0.15*
Server services 0.35** Delivery competency
0.34**
0.55** Partnership
0.37** Service coverage
Note: *p<.05, **p<0.01 Fig. 2. The results of path analysis. Note: *po0.05, **po0.01.
p ¼ 0.62740.05), and the other indices are within the suggested values. Therefore, the modified model is still a good fit. The estimates of the path coefficients are illustrated in Fig. 2. The model explains 23% (R2 ¼ 0.23) and 51% (R2 ¼ 0.51) of the variance of the inquiry use intention and transaction use intention, respectively.
intention. The other total effects among the constructs of the model are found in Table 5. In sum, the results indicate that, for the model depicted in Fig. 1, except for hypotheses H3 and H4, the other hypotheses are confirmed. 5. Discussions and implications
4.2. The structural model 5.1. The effect of perceived usefulness The results shown in Figs. 2 indicate that there are 9 significant paths. Since server services has a direct effect on partnership (b ¼ 0.35), and partnership has a direct effect on transaction use intention (b ¼ 0.55), by indirect effect, server services has a total effect of 0.19 (b ¼ 0.35 0.55) on transaction use intention. Likewise, server services has a total effect of 0.05 (b ¼ 0.35 0.15) on inquiry use
The results show that perceived usefulness (PU) has significant effects on both inquiry use intention (b ¼ 0.46**) and transaction use intention (b ¼ 0.13*), and the effect on the former is significantly stronger than on the latter. In fact, among all exogenous variables, PU is the most significant factor in shipper intention to use the
ARTICLE IN PRESS 64
W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
Table 5 Total effects of variables in the research model.
Perceived usefulness (PU) Price discount IT training Server services Delivery competency Service coverage Partnership
Partnership
Inquiry use
Transaction use
0.00 0.00 0.00 0.35 0.34 0.38 –
0.46 0.00 0.00 0.05 0.05 0.06 0.15
0.13 0.33 0.14 0.19 0.19 0.21 0.55
inquiry service of the EC services. Those results indicate that when shippers perceive using EC services to inquire or transact can improve their work efficiency, their intention to use the EC services will be increased. This result is consistent with the results of previous studies that perceived usefulness had significant effect on user intention to adopt Internet services for small organizations (Lederer et al., 2000; Olson and Boyer, 2003) and service industry (Bienstock et al., 2008). In general, for users of EC services, PU is a subjective perception of individual. Generally, this perception may be improved by education. Thus, educating users in the usefulness and benefits of an EC may be effective in motivating shippers to use the EC services. For carriers and forwarders, the salesman, who generally needs to visit shippers to obtain their business, may be the right person for such educational efforts. 5.2. The effects of professional service qualities and partnership As with perceived usefulness, the partnership also positively and significantly affects both the inquiry use intention (b ¼ 0.15*) and transaction use intention (b ¼ 0.55*), and the effect of the latter is significantly stronger than the former. This result supports the relevant studies that customer support (Ramamurthy et al., 1999) and vertical coordination between customers and suppliers (Premkumar et al., 1997) had significant effects on the implementation of EDI for organizations. In fact, among all determinants, partnership is the most significant factor in shipper intention to use the EC transaction service. This result implies that a shipper who has long-term cooperation with a shipping company may have a stronger willingness to use the EC services of the shipping company. In practice, EC service users usually need to provide some private information, contained in user profiles, to EC websites. Thus, security is one of the main obstacles to user intention to adopt an EC service. This obstacle is more marked for EC transaction services because users usually need to provide sensitive information to the EC website. If security problems arise, users may incur serious damage, even financial loss (Suh and Han, 2003). Thus, for shipping companies, persuading shippers to trust the EC service may be a practical route to increasing EC service use. In practice, maintaining a good partnership with shippers should enable shipping companies to gain shippers’ trust of their EC websites, and as a result, lead to
enhance shippers’ intention to use the EC services. Generally, due to long-term cooperation, shippers and shipping companies come to know each other well. Thus, the salesman of shipping companies may easily introduce their EC services to the shippers, and as a result improve shipper intention to use the EC services. Furthermore, the results also show that three aspects of professional service qualities: server services, delivery competency and service coverage, significantly impact the partnership (b ¼ 0.35**, b ¼ 0.34** and b ¼ 0.37**). This result indicates that to maintain a good partnership with shippers, shipping companies should provide good service qualities. The result also indicates that the effect of service coverage is even more significant than the other two effects. This result implies that shippers require more comprehensive and diverse services from shipping companies. Pope and Thomchick (1985) point out that for ocean freight forwarders, the comprehensiveness of services is not only a growing trend but also a critical issue in improving their competitiveness. Thus, the services of forwarders should move toward logistical services with vertical integration in the future. This may explain why, recently, most forwarders have begun to transform themselves into logistics firms. 5.3. The effect of EC promotions The results indicate that the price discount has a significant effect on the transaction use intention (b ¼ 0.33**). This result, basically, is consistent with prior research showing that a new product with promotions, such as a price discount, diffused more successfully (McDade et al., 2002), and that promotion from IT suppliers affected the adoption decisions of telecommunications technologies in organizations (Grover and Goslar, 1993). Generally, for EC services, a price discount is only available for transaction service. As mentioned above, security issues are an important barrier to the use of EC transaction service. In practice, the barrier may be more significant for a new user because it usually is not easy for a new user to trust an EC website. Generally, a promotion policy of discount price may be a feasible way to encourage new shippers to use the transaction service of EC. The results also indicate that the other promotion program, IT training, also significantly affects user intention to use the EC transaction service (b ¼ 0.14*). This result also supports the previous research that training positively affected organizations to adopt an EDI (Chwelos et al., 2001), and improved internal and external integration of EDI in transportation industry (Premkumar et al., 1997). In practice, compared to inquiry, the procedure to use an EC transaction service is usually much more complicated. Thus, a training to instruct shippers on how to use the EC transaction service may be necessary. 6. Conclusions For EC services in liner shipping, inquiry and transaction are the most primary services. These services can
ARTICLE IN PRESS W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
reduce work loading of shipping company servers. Particularly, the latter can diminish the mistakes of document processing, which may save a high cost from financial loss. However, the utilization is still not popular, especially the EC transaction service. It depends on shippers’ acceptance toward the EC services. The purpose of this paper is to investigate shipper behavior to use EC services in liner shipping. From internal and external perspectives of shippers, a causal model was constructed to analyze the determinants of the user intentions. As an empirical study, 135 export shippers from 8 major industries in Taiwan were sampled to validate the model. The results indicate that for the shipper intention to use the EC inquiry services, the perceived usefulness of users toward EC services is the most significant determinant. However, both of the promotion programmers (price discount and IT training) could enhance shipper intention to use EC transaction service. In fact, the investigation of this paper also finds that except for a few carriers, most of the shipping companies did not provide any price discount to promote their EC services, especially the forwarders. Generally, compared to carriers, the financial scale of forwarders is smaller. Thus, it may not be feasible for forwarders to provide a price discount to motivate shippers to use their EC services. However, a training plan to instruct shipper to use the EC services, and an educational policy to improve shippers’ perceived usefulness toward the EC services may be more feasible for forwarders to promote their EC services. The salesmen, who always need to contact with shippers constantly, are good performers for these promotion missions. Thus, this paper suggests that a training plan and incentive system for salesmen can be considered to encourage them to accomplish the tasks. The findings also show that the partnership between shipping companies and shippers is the most significant determinant of shipper intention to use the EC transaction service. In addition, enhancing professional service qualities of shipping companies could effectively improve the partnership. The professional service qualities include server services, delivery competency and service coverage. For shipping companies, especially for forwarders, it is usually not easy to improve delivery competencies because it would increase their operating cost. Thus, to improve the other two service qualities, server services and service coverage, may be more feasible for shipping companies. For the former, as mentioned above, a training plan and incentive system for salesmen may be necessary. For the latter, a policy of logistical services with vertical integration can be considered. This paper suggests that shipping companies can cooperate with land transport carriers and warehouse holders to develop diversity services such as a ‘‘door to door’’ service. Besides, by allying with air freight forwarders to develop services of air–ocean inter-modal transportation for shippers may also be a good strategy for shipping companies. This paper also investigates the determinants of shipper intention to use EC services from internal and external perspectives of shippers. Based on TAM, this paper defines the internal factor as the PU of shippers toward EC services. However, the relevant literature
65
indicated that the PEOU may also be a significant factor affecting shippers to adopt EC services (Lu et al., 2006). Thus, future research may need to incorporate it into the model. Furthermore, it is a trend for forwarders to develop logistical services with vertical integration. Thus, the EC services between parties, such as land transport carriers and warehouse holders, may also be the point for further research. This paper employed a survey to measure the variables in the model with only 3–5 items for each construct. Even though the measurements were validated by some indices, a questionnaire with more items may still be required to enhance their validity. Moreover, the study was based on a sample of 135 respondents. Although several significant results were yielded, a larger sample may also be needed to validate the results for future research. EC service is a trend for liner shipping, especially for shipping companies to develop a logistical service of ‘‘door to door’’. The result of this paper could provide practical information for shipping managers to promote their EC services and, further, to improve their service qualities and competitiveness. Due to socio-cultural differences, the results of this study may not be applicable to other countries. However, the research model may offer a theoretical base for developing a new model to fit different cultures.
Acknowledgements The authors greatly appreciate Mr. Wang Zhi-Xiang for his assistance in data collection and the two anonymous reviewers for their very valuable comments on this paper. Besides, this paper was partly funded by National Science Council of Taiwan (NSC 95-2622-H-022-001-CC3). References Bentler, P.M., 1990. Comparative fit indices in structural models. Psychological Bulletin 107, 238–246. Bienstock, C.C., Royne, M.M., Sherrell, D., Stafford, T.F., 2008. An expanded model of logistics service quality: incorporating logistics information technology. International Journal of Production Economics 113, 205–222. Cheng, C.C., Cheung, W., Chang, M.K., 2002. The use of the internet in Hong Kong: manufacturing vs. service. International Journal of Production Economics 75, 33–45. Chwelos, P., Benbasat, I., Dexter, A., 2001. Research report: empirical test of an EDI adoption model. Information Systems Research 12, 304–321. Davis, F.D., 1989. User acceptance of computer technology: a comparison of two theoretical models. Management Science 35, 982–1003. Ellinger, A.E., Lynch, D.F., Andzulis, J.K., Smith, R.J., 2003. B-to-B E-commerce: a content analytical assessment of motor carrier websites. Journal of Business Logistics 24, 199–220. Ellram, L.M., Hendrick, T.E., 1995. Partnering characteristics: a dyadic perspective. Journal of Business Logistics 16, 41–64. Gender, J.T., Cooper, M.C., Noordewier, T., 1994. Understanding shippercarrier and shipper-warehouser relationships: partnerships revisited. Journal of Business Logistics 15, 121–143. Gentry, J., 1996. The role of carriers in buyer–supplier strategic partnerships: a supply chain management approach. Journal of Business Logistics 17, 35–55. Grover, V., Goslar, M., 1993. The initiation adoption and implementation of telecommunications technologies in US organization. Journal of Management Information System 10, 141–163.
ARTICLE IN PRESS 66
W.-K.K. Hsu et al. / Int. J. Production Economics 122 (2009) 56–66
Gunasekaran, A., Ngai, E.W.T., 2008. Adoption of e-procurement in Hong Kong: an empirical research. International Journal of Production Economics 113, 159–175. Hair, J.F., Anderson, R.E., Tatham, R.L., Black, W.C., 1998. Multivariate Data Analysis, fifth ed. Prentice-Hill, New Jersey. Hansen, J.V., Hill, N.C., 1989. Control and audit of electronic data interchange. MIS Quarterly 13, 402–413. Jeffrey, K., 1999. Electronic Commerce and Container Shipping. Cargo Systems, London. Johnson, D.A., Allen, B.J., Crum, M.R., 1992. The state of EDI usage in the motor carrier industry. Journal of Business Logistics 13, 43–68. La Londe, B.J., Cooper, M.C., 1989. Partnerships in providing customer service: a third-party perspective. Ill: Council of Logistics Management. Lederer, A.L., Maupin, D.J., Sena, M., Zhuang, Y., 2000. The technology acceptance model and the World Wide Web. Decision Support System 29, 269–282. Lu, C.S., 2000. Logistics services in Taiwanese maritime firms. Transportation Research—Part E Logistics and Transportation Review 36, 79–96. Lu, C.S., 2003. The impact of carrier service attributes on shipper–carrier partnering relationships: a shipper’s perspective. Transportation Research Part E 39, 399–415. Lu, C.S., Chen, L.Y., 2002. Factors affecting the use intention of container carriers’electronic commerce—from a shipper’s perspective. Transportation Planning Journal 31, 853–882. Lu, C.S., Lai, K.H., Cheng, T.C.E., 2005. An evaluation of web site services in liner shipping in Taiwan. Transportation 32, 293–318. Lu, C.S., Lai, K.H., Cheng, T.C.E., 2006. Adoption of internet service in liner shipping—an empirical study of shippers in Taiwan. Transport Reviews 26, 189–206. Matear, S., Gray, R., 1993. Factors influencing freight service choice for shippers and freight suppliers. International Journal of Physical Distribution and Logistics Management 23, 25–35. McDade, S.R., Oliva, T.A., Pirsch, J., 2002. The organizational adoption of high-technology products ‘‘for use’’: effects of size, preference and radicalness of impact. Industrial Marketing Management 31, 441–456. Mei, Z., Dinwoodie, J., 2005. Electronic shipping documentation in China’s international supply chains. Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 10, 198–205. Nordin, F., 2008. Linkages between service sourcing decisions and competitive advantage: a review, propositions, and illustrating cases. International Journal of Production Economics 114, 40.
Murphy, P.R., Daley, J.M., 1996. International freight forwarder perspectives on electronic data interchange and information. Journal of Business Logistics 17, 63–84. Murphy, P.R., Daley, J.M., 1997. Investigating selection criteria for international freight forwarders. Transportation Journal 37, 29–36. Narayandas, D., Rangan, V.K., 2004. Building and sustaining buyer–seller relationships in mature industrial markets. Journal of Marketing 68, 63–77. Olson, J.R., Boyer, K.K., 2003. Factors influencing the utilization of internet purchasing in small organizations. Journal of Operations Management 21, 225–245. Pope, D.J., Thomchick, E.A., 1985. US foreign freight forwarders and NVOCCs. Tranoportation Journal 24, 26–36. Premkumar, G., Ramamurthy, K., Crum, M., 1997. Determinants of EDI adoption in the transportation industry. European Journal of Information Systems 6, 107–121. Ramamurthy, K., Premkumar, G., Crum, M., 1999. Organization and interorganizational determinants of EDI diffusion and organizational performance: a causal model. Journal of Organizational Computing and Electronic Commerce 9, 253–285. Strader, T.J., Shaw, M.J., 1997. Characteristics of electronic markets. Decision Support Systems 21, 185–498. Suh, B., Han, I., 2003. The impact of customer trust and perception of security control on the acceptance of electronic commerce. International Journal of Electronic Commerce 7, 135–161. Thong, J.Y.L., 1999. An integrated model of information systems adoption in small business. Journal of Management Information Systems 15, 187–214. Wang, H.G., 2000. The application of EC for shipping company. Shipping and Trading Weekly, 66–70. Wang, Y., Fesenmaier, D.R., 2006. Identifying the success factors of webbased marketing strategy: an investigation of convention and visitors bureaus in the United States. Journal of Travel Research 44, 239–249. Wang, Z.X., 2006. An evaluation of shipper behavior to use electrical commence of ocean freight forwarders. Master Thesis, National Kaohsiung Marine University, Taiwan, ROC. Willams, L.R., Rao, K., 1998. Information technology adoption: using classical adoption models to predict AEI software implementation. Journal of Business Logistics 19, 5–16. Wixom, B.H., Todd, P.A., 2005. A theoretical integration of user satisfaction and technology acceptance. Information Systems Research 16, 85–102.