Research Projects

This page provides brief overviews of past research projects and papers produced by MSU faculty working in the area of ebusiness. We refer you to individual faculty pages on the department web site for more updated information.

• Physical and Virtual eCommerce
• ICTs and Business Clusters
• Networks of Industry: Standards and Information Technology for Interorganizational Coordination
• Wireless Applications for Security
• Trust and Security in eCommerce
• Wireless Applications in Healthcare
• Changing Consumer Behavior for i-Safety

PLACE: Physical Presence and Location Aspects of eCommerce Environments

This ongoing project explores such topics as the meaning of ecommerce for local merchants, and the dynamics of click and mortar business models. Much of this work has been funded by the Telematica Institute in the Netherlands. The principal investigator is Charles Steinfield. Recent papers include:

• Steinfield, C. Situated electronic commerce: Toward a view as complement rather than substitute for offline commerce. Urban Geography, 25 (4), 2004, p. 353-371.
• Steinfield, C. Rethinking the role of e-commerce in B2C and B2B transactions: Complementing location, personal interactions, and pre-exising relations. In Bohlin, E., Levin, S., Jung, N. and Yoon, C. H. (eds.) Global Economy and Digital Society, Amsterdam: Elsevier, 2004, p. 51-68.
• Steinfield, C. Geographic and socially embedded electronic transactions: Towards a situated view of business-to-consumer and business-to-business e-commerce. In Cooper, R. and Madden, G. (eds.), Frontiers of broadband, electronic and mobile commerce, Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag, 2004, p. 27-41. (pdf)
• Steinfield, C. The development of location based services in mobile commerce. In Preissl, B., Bouwman, H. and Steinfield, C. (eds.), Elife after the dot.com bust. Berlin: Springer, 2004, p. 177-197. (pdf)
• Steinfield, C. Does online and offline channel integration work in practice?. Presented to the workshop on e-commerce impacts revisited, DIW-Berlin, January 15-17, 2004. (pdf)
• Steinfield, C. Understanding Click and Mortar E-Commerce Approaches: A Conceptual Framework and Research Agenda. Journal of Interactive Advertising, vol. 2, no. 2, Spring 2002. (html)
• Steinfield, C., Adelaar, T. and Lai, Y. Integrating Brick and Mortar Locations with E-Commerce: Understanding Synergy Opportunities. In the Proceedings of the Hawai'i International Conference On System Sciences, January 7-10, 2002, Big Island, Hawaii. (pdf)
• Steinfield, C. Bouwman, H. and Adelaar, T. Combining physical and virtual channels: Opportunities, imperatives and challenges. Proceedings of the 14th Bled Electronic Commerce Conference, Bled, Slovenia, June 25-26, 2001. (pdf)
• Steinfield C., et al. Pillars of virtual enterprise: Leveraging physical assets in the new economy. info, vol 3, no. 3, June, 2001, p. 203-213. (pdf)
• Steinfield C. Dispelling common misperceptions about the effects of electronic commerce on market structure. Presented to Communication Frontiers in the New Millenium, the 35th Anniversary Conference, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, July 24-26, 2000. (html)
• Steinfield, C. and Whitten, P. Community level socio-economic impacts of electronic commerce. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, vol. 5(2), 1999. (html)
• Steinfield, C. and Klein, K. Local vs. Global Issues in Electronic Commerce. Electronic Markets, vol 9 (1/2), 45-50, 1999. (pdf)
• Steinfield, C., Mahler, A., & Bauer, J. Electronic Commerce and the Local Merchant: Opportunities for Synergy Between Physical and Web Presence. Electronic Markets, vol. 9, no. 1/2, April, 1999. (pdf)

The Role of ICTs in Local and Regional Business Clusters

This project explores how information and communication technologies are used to support local and regional business clusters. A workshop on this topic was held in 2003 in conjunction with the International Conference on Communities and Technologies, September 19-21, 2003, Amsterdam, The Netherlands. The principal investigators of this project are MSU Professors Charles Steinfield and Brian Pentland. Research collaborators include Varghese George of Rutgers University and Ada Hugger from Roskilde University in Denmark. Recent papers include:

• Steinfield, C. Conceptualizing the role of collaborative e-commerce in geographically defined business clusters. Presented to the workshop on The Ambivalent Relationship Between IT and Social Capital, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, May 27-28, 2002, The Netherlands. (pdf)
• Steinfield, C. Explaining the underutilization of in business to business e-commerce in geographically defined business clusters: The role of social capital. In Huysman, M. and Wulf, V. (eds.), Social Capital and IT, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2004, p. 209-229.
• Steinfield, C. Geographic and socially embedded electronic transactions: Towards a situated view of business-to-consumer and business-to-business e-commerce. In Cooper, R. and Madden, G. (eds.), Frontiers of broadband, electronic and mobile commerce, Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag, 2004, p. 27-41. (pdf)
• Steinfield, C. and Scupola-Hugger, A. When Do SMEs Benefit from E-Commerce in an Industrial Cluster? Evidence from a Biotech Cluster," at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Symposium on Industrial Clustering, Taipei, March 8-9, 2005. (pdf)

Networks of Industry: Standards and Information Technology for Interorganizational Coordination

This project evolved from an NSF-funded study exploring how e-commerce was influencing the structure and operations of the home mortgage industry (Award Numbers: 0231584, 0233634, and 0323961). The grant PIs were Charles Steinfield of Michigan State University, M Lynne Markus of Bentley College, and Rolf Wigand of the University of Arkansas, Little Rock.

Currently, the Networks of Industry project involves a comparative empirical analysis of the development, adoption, implementation, and diffusion of vertical (or industry-wide) information system standards in different industries. We aim to contribute to knowledge about IT-enabled interorganizational collaboration, which has consequences for national productivity improvement. This work is motivated by the potential opportunities of Internet-based XML standards, which promises to lower the costs of interorganizational collaboration significantly. More detail and working papers are available directly on the Networks of Industry project site.

Applications of Wireless Networks for Security

This project involves research on how wireless-enabled, handheld multimedia devices can be used in public safety and security contexts. One experiment already conducted used Wi-Fi connections to multimedia PDAs to assist subjects posing as security personnel in a mall environment in locating and identifying research targets. Principal Investigators include MSU Professors Charles Steinfield, Pam Whitten, and Dan Kim. Graduate students working on this project include Zoo Hyun Chae, Peter Murray, Amar Shool, Christiana Sargent, and Doohwang Lee. One working paper is available:

• Steinfield, C., Whitten, P. and Kim, D. The effects of mobile video image delivery on a person identification task: A study of wireless multimedia PDA use in a security context. Presented to the International Communication Association, Communication and Technology Division, New Orleans, May 27-31, 2004. (pdf)
• Kim, D. and Steinfield, C. Consumers' Mobile Internet Service Satisfaction and their Continuance Intentions.” Proceedings of the 2004 Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS) (CD), New York, NY Aug. 5-8, 2004.

Trust and Security in Electronic Commerce

This work explores the theoretical foundations for the formation of trust in electronic commerce. Please contact Professor Dan Kim for more information or copies of papers.

• Kim, D., Steinfield, C., and Lai, Y. Revisiting the role of Web assurance seals on consumer trust. Proceedings of the Sixth International Conference on Electronic Commerce: Towards the New Services Landscape (CD), Delft, The Netherlands, October 25-27, 2004
• Dan J. Kim, Y. I. Song, S. B. Braynov, and H. R. Rao, "A Multi-dimensional Trust Formation Model in B-to-C E-Commerce: A conceptual Framework and Content Analyses of Academia/Practitioner Perspective" Decision Support Systems (conditionally accepted)
• Dan J. Kim, Manish Agrawal, B. Jayaraman and H. Raghav Rao, "A Comparison of Business-to-Business E-Service Solutions" Communications of the ACM (forthcoming)
• Dan J. Kim, Donald L. Ferrin, and H. Raghav Rao, "A Combined Model of Consumer Online Trust and Purchase, Re-Purchasing Intention", ICIS 2003, Seattle, WA, December 14-17, 2003. (nominated for best conference paper)
• Dan J. Kim, Donald L. Ferrin, and H. Raghav Rao, "A Study of the Effect of Consumer Trust on Consumer Expectations and Satisfaction: the Korean Experience", The Fifth International Conference on Electronic Commerce (ICEC 2003), Pittsburgh, PA, Sep. 30 – Oct. 3, 2003
• Dan J. Kim, K. Lee, D. Lee, Donald L. Ferrin, and H. R. Rao "Trust, Risk and Benefit in Electronic Commerce: What Are the Relationships?" 2003 Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Tampa, Florida, August 4-5, 2003
• Dan J. Kim, Donald L. Ferrin, and H. Raghav Rao, "Antecedents of Consumer Trust in B-to-C Electronic Commerce", 2003 Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Tampa, Florida, August 4-5, 2003
• J. W. Yoon, S. H. Hwang, Dan J. Kim, and J. S. Yoon, "A Balanced View for Customer Segmentation in CRM" 2003 Americas Conference on Information Systems (AMCIS), Tampa, Florida, August 4-5, 2003
• Youjin Lee and Dan J. Kim, "Mobil Commerce and Agent Theory", 2003 IADIS International Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, June 3-6, 2003
• N. Sivasailam, Dan J. Kim, and H. R. Rao, "What Companies Are(n't ) Doing about Web Site Assurance", May/June 2000, IEEE IT Professional

Employing Wireless Mobile Solutions in Healthcare

This project is funded by 2.5 year, $1.2 million grant from the United State Department of Commerce, National Telecommunications and Information Administration/Technology Opportunities Program. Michigan State University, in partnership with three rural nursing homes and a rural teaching nursing home, will embed telehealth within the current structural and organizational constraints inherent in nursing home facilities. A wireless network will be built that will link three rural nursing home facilities in Michigan with a teaching nursing home facility. Pam Whitten is the principal investigator on this project, which commenced October of 2003.

Changing Consumer Behavior for i-Safety

How can we encourage Internet users to take better care of their computers, keeping them safe from worms, viruses, spam, browser hijackers and other online evils? That is what MSU researchers Robert LaRose (Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies and Media), Nora Rifon (Department of Advertising), and Richard Enbody (Computer Science) want to find out. Their three-year project is funded by a $400,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. It extends online privacy research to develop a theoretical model of online safety behavior, evaluates and tests that model in the context of current security interventions, and develops and tests a consumer online safety tool. The term i-Safety connotes information safety and also the role that all individuals play in preserving it.

Recent virus and worm attacks that spread through “holes” in popular consumer software emphasize the role the online public must play in preserving the safety and integrity of the Internet. To protect the network commons, more users must engage in safe online behavior by such actions as controlling their private information, updating software security patches, downloading protective software, and filtering their email. While network security remains an abstract notion to the general public, online consumers can understand the issue in terms of their personal privacy behavior, actions that result in the undesired disclosure of information and unwanted intrusions on their personal cyberspace.

The research extends and validates a model of the psychological and social factors that motivate Internet users to act safely online, with the ultimate goal of creating effective interventions that will encourage safe online behavior. That includes avoidance of behavior that poses risks to consumers’ privacy as well as to the security of the network they all share and adoption of protective measures that will assure individual privacy while protecting all Internet users. The model synthesizes theories of human behavior and theories of consumer information processing. Specifically, it examines the relationships among safety involvement, knowledge of online safety hazards, the expected outcomes of safe and unsafe online behavior, self-efficacy beliefs in one’s abilities to avoid risk and to take preventive actions, and social norms about online behavior, the performance of both risky and preventive behavior, and the formation of safe online habits.

Phase 1 will extend and validate a theoretical model of online safety behavior through a national panel survey of 1000 Internet users using structural equation modeling techniques. In Phase 2 panel members will be recontacted to participate in experimental studies of the effects of online safety interventions on consumer information processing and safety behavior. An online safety auditing application will be developed to measure effectiveness. In Phase 3 the safety auditing application will be expanded into a personalized safety assessment tool that will facilitate personalized online safety instruction, and the effectiveness of the application will be evaluated.

Phase 1 will supply policy makers with the first reliable and publicly available, national-level data about the safety status of online consumers in the U.S. The research will guide the development of new network security tools that require user actions to implement, evaluate the effectiveness of current approaches to encouraging safe online behavior, and provide the online public with a tool with which to manage and control their own risks while maximizing the collective security of the Internet. The i-Safety model will be used by future developers of online safety protection tools and public information campaigns to create and test effective interventions.