Title: Revisiting the concept of person interactivity through social psychology and social telepresence theory

Authors: Nichaya Suntornpithug, Zelimir W. Todorovic, Daniel L. Sherrell

Addresses: Richard T. Doermer School of Business and Management, Indiana – Purdue University, Fort Wayne, 2101 E. Coliseum Blvd., Fort Wayne, Indiana, 46805-1499, USA. ' Richard T. Doermer School of Business and Management, Indiana – Purdue University, Fort Wayne, 2101 E. Coliseum Blvd., Fort Wayne, Indiana, 46805-1499, USA. ' Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, Fogelman College of Business and Economics, Fogelman Executive Center, University of Memphis, TN, USA

Abstract: This paper continues investigations into the meaning of person interactivity in online shopping. A survey was conducted to validate an initial scale of person interactivity obtained from two focus group studies and to ensure that the scale was separate and distinct from that used to measure social telepresence. The results show that person interactivity and social telepresence were two distinctive constructs. It also indicates that person interactivity involves not only a two-way interaction between buyer and seller, but also an interaction between buyer and buyer via online communication.

Keywords: person interactivity; social psychology; social telepresence; scale development; electronic services; buyer-seller interaction; buyer-buyer interaction; online shopping; e-commerce; electronic commerce.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEB.2010.030715

International Journal of Electronic Business, 2010 Vol.8 No.1, pp.31 - 50

Published online: 31 Dec 2009 *

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