Self-Service in the Internet Age

Dave Oliver, Celia Romm and Fay Sudweeks This book follows previous texts: Celia Romm and Fay Sudweeks (eds) (1998), Doing Business Electronically: A Global Perspective of Electronic Commerce, and Fay Sudweeks and Celia Romm (eds) (1999) Doing Business on the Internet: Opportunities and Pitfalls. Not only is this current book about doing something, but it also aims to present insights into how electronic commerce impacts upon the lives of everyday people; in other words, how electronic commerce is received, as well as how it is ‘done’. Accessing the Internet on a regular basis has become an established activity for many people. This activity gives academics and researchers the opportunity to observe and study the nature and effects of this engagement in society. The influence of the Internet in our social fabric also provides the incentive for organizations to implement a web presence. As expressed in the title Self-Service on the Internet: Expectations and Experiences, we aim to present the expectations or reasons for the availability of various services on the Internet, and social responses to these developments, i. e. the experiences. These are the two main dimensions to the chapters presented in this book. The major component in the title is self-service on the Internet. The term electronic commerce is too restrictive for our purpose as it tends towards commercial overtones, which do not especially concern us.

The Internet has emerged as a network which enables a vast range of interactions between businesses and government organizations and individuals. These interactions are classified as B2C (business to consumer), B2B (business to business) and C2C (consumer to consumer) creating ever growing forms of Internet connectedness.

This connectedness enables a vast range of self-service opportunities via the Internet. Self-Service in the Internet Age explores attitudes and behaviors to this new form of self-service provision. It focuses on how services are used and viewed by those who choose to use or not use them in a variety of contexts such as personal banking, shopping, travel, education, and health.