Studying E-Commerce: Making Cyberspace a Better Place

NEWARK, Jan. 2--How businesses need to change to succeed in an electronic economy is the focus of research by Il Im, assistant professor of information systems at New Jersey Institute of Technology. With the goal of advancing technology to make cyberspace a better place for both businesses and consumers, Im has investigated how to provide more accurate product recommendations in cyberspace. As the research progresses, businesses will be able to pinpoint products that each customer wants, saving time and money for people in cyberspace.

Another study examined how feedback from previous buyers affected commerce at a consumer-to-consumer Internet auction site, finding that a consumer feedback system is emerging as a new trust-building mechanism in the Internet auction market. Im's results also demonstrated that potential buyers are more sensitive to negative feedback when they are considering inherently risky purchases of used or refurbished products. He also studied how customer complaints are handled by online businesses and how this affects the customer's evaluation of the company.

NJIT is a public, scientific and technological research university enrolling more than 8,800 students. The university offers bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees to students in 80 degree programs throughout its six colleges: Newark College of Engineering, New Jersey School of Architecture, College of Science and Liberal Arts, School of Management, Albert Dorman Honors College and College of Computing Sciences. The division of continuing professional education offers adults eLearning, off campus degrees and short courses. Expertise and research initiatives include architecture and building science, applied mathematics, biomedical engineering, environmental engineering and science, information technology, manufacturing, materials, microelectronics, multimedia, telecommunications, transportation and solar astrophysics. Yahoo! Internet Life magazine cites NJIT as a "perennially most wired" university.

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Sheryl Weinstein Robert Florida Public Relations  (973) 596-3433