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Comparing the Quality of Customer Service in 3D Virtual Worlds to Web-Based Service

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E-Life: Web-Enabled Convergence of Commerce, Work, and Social Life (WEB 2011)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing ((LNBIP,volume 108))

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Abstract

In the Internet era, web-based services have become a convenient alternative to physical customer service interactions. However, lack of face-to-face interaction makes web service communication inefficient. The 3D virtual worlds provide a new platform that offers customer service, where users can communicate “face to face” via their representative avatars. We propose a conceptual model to compare the quality of customer service and users’ satisfaction in 3D virtual worlds to that of web-based services. Theories of computer display technology, communication, and psychology are applied to address how a 3D virtual world impacts users’ sense of presence, and their perception of customer service quality. We design an experiment in Second Life and set up a mock-up website to collect data in a post-study questionnaire. Structural equation model is adopted as the main methodology to conduct the multiple group analysis.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. 2100 Hillside Road, Storrs, CT, 06269, USA

    Sulin Ba, Dan Ke, Jan Stallaert & Zhongju Zhang

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  1. Sulin Ba
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  2. Dan Ke
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  3. Jan Stallaert
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  4. Zhongju Zhang
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, IL, USA

    Michael J. Shaw

  2. The University of Maryland, Baltimore County, MD, USA

    Dongsong Zhang

  3. HKSAR, City University of Hong Kong, China

    Wei T. Yue

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© 2012 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Ba, S., Ke, D., Stallaert, J., Zhang, Z. (2012). Comparing the Quality of Customer Service in 3D Virtual Worlds to Web-Based Service. In: Shaw, M.J., Zhang, D., Yue, W.T. (eds) E-Life: Web-Enabled Convergence of Commerce, Work, and Social Life. WEB 2011. Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, vol 108. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29873-8_22

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-29873-8_22

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-29872-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-29873-8

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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