Information Technology and Marketing

Research Area Information

The line is based on previous studies carried out by the Group’s researchers on the adoption and acceptance of these technologies by both companies and consumers. At present, the studies focus on those ICT tools that facilitate the participation of customers such as the company, so that they create value for them. In particular, we refer to social networks and social commerce.

One of the fields of application of this research is linked to one of the most developed lines of research in marketing today, the adoption of a service approach in commercial relations and the impact of technology on service. A number of theoretical logics have recently emerged that reflect this shift in focus (e.g. Vargo and Lusch’s dominant service logic or Grönroos’ service logic). They all focus on the customer’s active role in value creation, in so-called value co-creation. Thus, in this line, the processes of experiential value creation for the client are analyzed from their participation in the creation of their own offer and experience and the interactions that happen during this process. The consumer’s participation in value creation processes generates incremental positive attitudes in their satisfaction or in their perception of the quality of the product or service. These aspects are especially relevant in interactive environments due to the emergence of new technological applications, as well as the growing importance of the social web on consumer behavior, both individually and in its social context. Therefore, we want to analyze how ICT can facilitate the participation of customers and how such participation results in the creation of value for both the company and the customer.

A fundamental element for this participation is the design of the Web, not only to differentiate itself from the competition, but also to arouse the attention of the user and make them feel comfortable in it, so much so that they feel attracted by the Web, to the point of positively changing their behaviour. Faced with this situation, the Flow Theory (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975) proposes that there are certain characteristics which, when experienced holistically, make it easier for the individual to reach an optimum state of experience or state of flow. In it, the user can be so absorbed in the activity that he is barely aware of the passage of time or of his own consciousness, enjoying every minute. Hence this theory is of great interest in research related to e-commerce (Novak, Hoffman and Yung, 2000; Koufaris, 2002; Hoffman and Novak, 2009), however, has not been contrasted in these users, so the aim of this research is to analyze the effect of the state of flow in the intention to buy and loyalty in s-commerce environments.