Building Effective Online Marketplaces with Institution-Based Trust
Information Systems Research
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More
The Long Tail: Why the Future of Business Is Selling Less of More
Size Really Matters---New Insights for Start-ups' Survival
Management Science
Examining customers' trust in online vendors and their dropout decisions: An empirical study
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
Modeling Internet firm survival using Bayesian dynamic models with time-varying coefficients
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
Information Technology and Management
Technical opinion: Why eBay lost to TaoBao in China: the Glocal advantage
Communications of the ACM - Rural engineering development
Do online reviews matter? - An empirical investigation of panel data
Decision Support Systems
Determinants of online merchant rating: Content analysis of consumer comments about Yahoo merchants
Decision Support Systems
International Journal of Electronic Commerce
The complex problem of monetizing virtual electronic social networks
Decision Support Systems
Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
Trust and TAM in online shopping: an integrated model
MIS Quarterly
The Boundaries of Trust and Risk: The Quadratic Moderating Role of Institutional Structures
Information Systems Research
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In the past, many studies on business survival have been conducted but very few have explained the survival of online stores operating in the ''long tail'' market. To address this paucity, this study proposes a theoretical model, hypothesizing that online social networks, structural assurance, and online word-of-mouth (WOM) affect online store survival. An empirical study on 5772 online stores in two industries was conducted to validate the model. For social network factors, socialization efforts in SNS (social network site) personal space and online discussion forums were not found to be related to store survival. Structural assurance, as operationalized by the status of abiding by the ''faithful description'' consumer rights safeguarding program, has a significant impact on store life span. Furthermore, positive WOM, manifested as consistent DSR (Detailed Seller Rating) evaluations, was found to contribute to store survival. However, another WOM indicator, average DSR ratings, was found to be negatively related to store survival. In general, these results confirm some of our earlier hypotheses, while revealing some discrepancies from the theoretical predictions. Theoretical and practical implications on store survival in online environments are also discussed.