Portal de Periódicos da CAPES

Editorial: eServices

2006; Wiley; Volume: 16; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1365-2575.2006.00215.x

1365-2575

Tom Stafford, Patrick Y.K. Chau,

Social Sciences and Policies

eServices are important to understand not only because they represent the newest paradigm for the delivery of digital products and software functionality, but also because the exact nature of eServices has not yet been fully described. Scholars and managers, alike, will benefit from greater understanding of the capabilities, uses and features of the eServices business paradigm, and this special issue brings us one step closer to that goal. We have examined Chapter 1 of the internet; it was about eCommerce. Chapter 2 is under way, and we are investigating the functionality of new modes of service and product delivery. The upcoming Chapter 3 will be about full-scale client-server application functionality delivered by internet connectivity (Stafford & Saunders, 2003). Indeed, the ‘app-on-tap’ model of software functionality is increasingly visible and popular, ranging from online preparation of income tax returns to software delivery and maintenance. Who among us has not been keen on keeping our Windows Update processes current, in order to provide our desktop computers with the fullest and most reliable protection from ever-increasing attacks of malware, online? Who among us does not have at least one software application that relies extensive on client-server functionality to provide increased flexibility and power? These examples are readily categorized under the emerging paradigm of eServices, yet there are newer and more imaginative client-server applications arising daily, taking advantage of ever-increasing internet bandwidth and steadily growing consumer demand for easy-to-use functionality. The research in this special issue of Information Systems Journal includes a look at interesting new issues in the eServices arena. The use of electronic channels to deliver customer service has become a popular area for inquiry, and several articles in this issue consider this concept. Featherman, Valacich and Wells investigate potential consumer-perceived risks involved with accepting electronic alternatives to traditional service channels, and consider whether converting services such as payment systems to electronic channels of provision impact consumer perceptions of risk and authenticity. Levenburg and Klein examine online customer service as a way for small- to medium-sized enterprises to provide responsive and competitive customer service offerings, leveraging the economies and responsiveness that electronic channels provide, but which much larger competitors might not feel as economically motivated to adopt. eServices as a general field of inquiry can include considerations of both delivered service and delivery mode. As Wang, Lin and Luarn explain, eServices are a class of marketable products that are ideally situated for the mobile commerce field. Mobile devices, being smaller and more limited than their desktop counterparts, often are more useful for service-based offerings that comprise information and access to information then they are for making more standard goods-related eCommerce purchases (Stafford & Gillenson, 2003). As to the actual product sold in eServices provision, Ryan and Valverde examine customer motivations and customer behaviour related to eServices purchase and utilization. In their investigation, considerations of speed and functionality are investigated in counterpoint to traditional services offerings and traditional channels. The key issue investigated revolves around the delivery venue (web sites) and the likely responses to waiting time for services provision. A variety of eServices perspectives are provided in this special issue, and we hope that the concepts investigated and findings presented prove insightful and provocative as researchers interested in this new venue for customer service and marketing delivery expand their theoretical perspectives to include new modes and new issues related to the emerging eServices paradigm of business.