June 15, 2013

E-COMMERCE’S FUTURE IS IN CREATING “SWIFT GUANXI,” OR PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RAPPORT



Despite the reputation of online marketplaces being distant and impersonal, through social technologies such as instant messaging, they can create the sense of personal and social relationships between buyers and sellers, termed “swift guanxi” in China, to facilitate loyalty, interactivity and repeat transactions, according to new research by Temple University Fox School of Business Professor Paul A. Pavlou.

Three researchers – in addition to Pavlou, Tilburg University’s Carol Xiaojuan Ou and Robert M. Davison of the City University of Hong Kong – studied data from TaoBao, China’s leading online marketplace, to examine the efficacy of using computer-mediated-communication (CMC) technology to build guanxi and turn impersonal one-time shoppers into loyal and committed long-term customers through personal rapport.