Electronic Services Failures - Management Information Systems - Assignment Example

Management Information Systems Question 1: Explain what the authors mean by Electronic Services Failures. (3 Marks) According to Tan, Benbasat and Cenfetelli (2016, p. 3), electronic service failure can be defined as a negative and undesired event that may occur when a consumer is performing a transaction on an e-commerce platform. It is further noted that an event that may occur in the course of an e-commerce transaction may be defined as an example of electronic service failure when it causes failure. Failure usually occurs when a specific website on which the online transaction is being carried out fails to offer the basic technological capabilities which are required to for the person who is carrying out the transaction to effectively achieve the desired result (Tan et al., 2016, p. 3). Three important things arise from this definition of electronic service failures. The first one is based on the nature of businesses in the current time and the manner in which they rely on web-based technologies. Laudon and Laudon (2016, p. 37) observe that electronic service is based on the current trend in which business organisations are increasingly using web-based technologies to carry out their core processes. The second issue is that electronic service failure may occur in several forms. It is noted that in general, failure events may occur in such a manner that a consumer is completely unable to complete a transaction online or that the consumer completes the transaction but experiences difficulties when doing so (Tan et al., 2016, p. 3). Chang and Chang (2011, p. 2) note that erosion of trust is one the things that define electronic service failure. Hence, an event that makes it difficult for customers to accomplish their objectives when carrying out online transactions erodes their trust. The third issue is that electronic service failures may occur as a result of the following three factors: informational, functional or systemic (Tan et al., 2016, p. 3). Question 2: Why are the authors suggesting building on the service quality to establish prevailing standards of service performance which in its absence leads to service failures page 5). (6 marks) The authors’ suggestion about building on the service quality to establish prevailing standards of service performance, which in its absence leads to service failures, is based on several reasons. First, it is argued that the concept of service quality within the subject of e-commerce is quite complex. In general, quality is used as a means by which business organisations attempt to differentiate their services from those of their rivals in any given industry (Tan et al., 2016, p. 5). Further, it has been observed that as much as business organisations seek to use information systems to achieve specific strategic objectives, establishing quality standards helps those businesses to achieve their strategic objectives (Laudon & Laudon, 2016, p. 44). Second, service quality is seen as a precursor of service performance (Tan et al., 2016, p. 5). This relationship between service quality and service performance means that the manner in which customers evaluate the extent to which an e-commerce experience helps them to achieve their specific objectives determines how the customers feel about whether or not the business organisation involved is a successful one. Essentially, it is observed that the extent to which customers are satisfied with online transactions is largely determined by the quality of the service that the consumers get from the specific websites that they use (Qin, 2010, p. 496). This relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction is one of the reasons why companies seek to achieve service quality regarding the services that they offer their customers using web-enabled platforms. Hence, it can be seen that since customer satisfaction is an important aspect for businesses that operate in the e-commerce industry, it can be used to help increase the overall performance of the business organisations in the industry. Similarly, by seeking to satisfy their customers fully, business organisations can successfully differentiate themselves from their rivals and achieve the strategic objectives that are associated with the adoption of management information systems in general. The third reason is related to how companies seek to achieve quality in their e-commerce activities. According to Tan et al. (2016, p. 5), there are so many issues that are considered by e-commerce companies as the key characteristics of service quality. For example, many companies consider the extent to which the e-commerce services that they provide for their customers remain available at all times as one of the most important measures of service quality (Tan et al. 2016, p. 5). Based on this perceived relationship between consistency and service quality, companies seek to ensure that their e-commerce services are highly accessible to the customers. Lastly, Tan et al. (2016) seek to differentiate among informational, functional and system aspects of service quality in e-commerce. It is noted that all these three dimensions of service quality are important within the context of the activities of e-commerce companies (Tan et al. 2016, p. 6). On one hand, the functional aspect of service quality in e-commerce is related to the extent to which the entire website of a company enables customers to complete online transactions successfully. Thus, the manner in which a website functions is an important determinant of how customers are likely to assess its quality aspects and, in return, this determines the overall performance of the site. On the other hand, the system aspect of quality in e-commerce is related to the technical capability of the website to allow and support all the activities that are carried out by customers on the site. Lastly the informational aspect of service quality in e-commerce is related to the value of the information that is contained on websites to the customers. From what the authors argue, it can be deduced that service quality is a precedent of performance and, by extension, a way of preventing electronic service failures. Question 3: Describe the reasons for the authors to explore information, functional, and systems failures in-depth in their study (page 6). (6 Marks) There are several reasons as to why the authors explore information, functional and systems failure in-depth in their study. The first one is that all these three aspects are entirely distinct and that the authors seek to examine them in-depth to develop precise definitions and detailed descriptions of these aspects. For instance, the authors seek to define what is meant by information failure in relation to e-commerce. They find that information failure occurs as a result of the information provided on e-commerce websites failing to help consumers who use those websites to achieve their specific objectives (Tan et al., 2016, p. 6). In this regard, information failure is said to occur in different forms, the most commons one being that the information that is provided on a given website may be irrelevant or that the information may not be accurate. In either case, the existence of irrelevant or inaccurate information on a website poses the potential of inhibiting the extent to which customers achieve their objectives, and this contributes to electronic services failure. The authors define functional failure in e-commerce as a situation in which the specific functionalities that are built into an e-commerce website fail to support the customers to achieve their intended objectives of using the site (Tan et al., 2016, p. 7). It is argued that functional failure may occur in the form of needs recognition failure, alternative evaluation failure and alternative identification failure (Tan et al., 2016, p. 7). What is implied by this description is that functional failure, which is a significant contributor of overall electronic system failure, may occur as a result of different factors. First is that the manner in which the entire system functions may fail to help the customers to identify their specific needs of using the specific e-commerce website. Secondly, functional failure occurs when the manner in which a website works does not help the customers who are using it to identify alternative products and services. Thirdly, functional failure takes place in the form of a website failing to help the customers to make meaningful comparisons of the different options of the products and services that they seek to buy. Furthermore, the failure of the website to help the customers successfully acquire the product or service that they are buying online is also an important dimension of functional failure in e-commerce. System failures in e-commerce are defined as the disruptions and difficulties that customers encounter as a result of failures of the functionalities and service aspects of the website on which they are trying to carry out an e-commerce transaction (Tan et al., 2016, p. 8). Therefore, system failures may occur in different ways. For example, customers may experience delays in the process of concluding their transactions on the website. Similarly, the website may be completely inaccessible to clients at specific times. Further, the website may be insecure, meaning that the clients who use it run the risk of losing their confidential information in the process of carrying out e-commerce transactions (Tan et al., 2016, p. 8). Thus, by examining the different types of failures that may occur within the context of e-commerce activities, the authors are able to clearly define what the types of failures are, how they occur and the characteristics that define them. The second reason as to why the authors explore information, functional and system failures in e-commerce in detail is related to the current state of academic research on the subject. It is noted that the focus of many studies that have been conducted on the subject of e-commerce is on service quality and overall success of the practice (Tan et al., 2016, p. 2). However, the authors argue that failure in e-commerce is an equally important issue, given its potential effect on customers, business organisations and the entire e-commerce industry (Tan et al., 2016, p. 3). Therefore, by exploring functional, information and system failures in e-commerce, the authors seek to provide information that will fill the gap that currently exists. References Chang, W.L., & Chang, H.C. (2011). A dynamic system of e-commerce failure, recovery and trust. Retrieved from http://www.pacis-net.org/file/2011/PACIS2011-029.pdf Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2016). Management information systems. Sydney: Pearson. Qin, Z. (2010). Introduction to e-commerce. Hamburg: Springer. Tan, C.W., Benbasat, I., & Cenfetelli, R., T. (2016). An exploratory study of the formation and impact of electronic service failure. MIS Quarterly, 40(1), 1-29. Read More