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This dissertation investigates the effects of an informational Web site on offline behavior, specifically with regard to customer buying behavior in a “traditional” store. This chapter serves to introduce the literature on informational Web sites (§1.2) and the multichannel environment (§1.3). It also highlights that this dissertation contributes to existing literature by providing insights into (1) the effects of informational Web sites, (2) the sequential process of search and purchase in multiple channels, (3) differences in the process across segments and product categories, (4) the effects of free-riding behavior, and (5) methodologies that can be used to measure these effects (§1.4). We provide a number of definitions in Section 1.5 that we use throughout this dissertation. In Section 1.6, we describe the empirical setting of this dissertation. The introductory chapter ends with an overall outline of the dissertation and an overview of the research issues to which it pertains (§1.7). |
