This paper reports decision-making experiments designed to assess to what extent trade in virtual environments can reduce the trust deficit commonly associated with traditional e-commerce compared with ÔphysicalÕ trade. Our approach is based on previous findings that trust is related to the...

The standard chicken game is a popular model of certain important real scenarios but does not allow for the escalation behaviour these are typically associated with. This is problematic if the critical, final decisions in these scenarios are sensitive to previous escalation. We introduce and...

A Monte Carlo simulation study is carried out to examine the effects on study results of subjects completing a survey more than once. Three strategies subjects might use to do this - which is known as farming - are studied. Findings show that farming influences results and can cause both...

The Comfort from Companion Animals Scale was translated into Japanese and a survey conducted of virtual pet users in the UK and in Japan. Data were used to test the notion that Japanese users have a stronger bond of affection with virtual pets than users in the West. Our findings support this...

Initial adoption of technology is examined. Initial adoption refers to the point at which the decision to adopt a technology is made, before the user has formed perceptions of - for instance - how easy it is to use or how useful it is. Adoption behaviour is explained in terms of information...

A blog, or weblog, is an online diary whose writer is known as a blogger. Many bloggers choose to publish anonymously. This paper examines whether a blog by an anonymous blogger will be perceived as being any more or less credible than one by an identifiable blogger. Two studies were conducted...

In direct response to a call made by Benbasat and Barki (2007), this paper re-examines a core construct in IS adoption studies, perceived usefulness. The construct is critiqued and a proposal made for re-defining it as an attribute of what is termed a user-system pair. This is distinct from...

In contrast to current literature which mainly identifies relationships between particular economic behaviours and specific attitudes suggestive of those behaviours, we explore the potential of general human values for explaining economic behaviour. In particular, we investigate whether...

This article surveys the experimental economics approach to the study of religion. The field has a place in the context of the scientific study of religion generally and the social psychology of religion in particular, but employs distinct economic methods which promise new and different...