Electronic Commerce Research
https://doi.org/10.1007/s10660-022-09585-1
Abstract
This research contributes to the interdisciplinary area of marketing and informa-
tion systems by examining two dierent strategies to increasing e-book consump-
tion. Information technologies have changed the culture of book purchasing, which
provides an opportunity to examine the impact of print-book marketing strategies
on e-books. Information technologies facilitate value cocreation, part of service-
dominant logic. This research examined the inuence of both a technology- and
non-technology-based marketing strategy on consumers’ intention and decision to
download and/or purchase e-books from an e-book sales platform. 192 participants
completed browse-and-purchase tasks in two experimental conditions: with/with-
out a technology-based free e-book preview; with/without a non-technology-based
strategy of including a numbered time reference in an e-book title. The results in-
dicated that providing free previews of e-books signicantly improved participants’
purchase intentions and purchase behavior. This improvement was more marked
for free e-books than for priced e-books. The results also indicate that including
a time reference in an e-book title improves participants’ purchase intentions and
purchase behavior. This nding was more signicant for the leisure genre compared
with the how-to genre.
Keywords e-books · Information technology · Free preview · Time reference ·
Purchase intention · Experiment
© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
2022
Integrating Information Technology and Marketing to
increase e-Book consumption
Hsiu-LiLiao
1
· Su-HounLiu
1
Hsiu-Li Liao
wenlly0823@gmail.com
1
Information Management, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan, Taiwan, Republic of
China
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H.-L. Liao, S.-H. Liu
1 Introduction
The widespread adoption of mobile devices, such as smart phones and tablets, has led
to a shift in book purchases. The market over the past decade has seen a signicant
increase in e-book sales and a decline in print books—especially in North America
(Bounie et al., 2013; Hua et al., 2011; Jiang & Katsamakas, 2010; Lai & Chang,
2011; Mussinelli, 2011). Consumer behavior is inuenced by information technolo-
gies; consumer behavior also adapts to new information technologies. In the case
of e-books, the technology push from publishers and e-reader vendors merged with
the technology pull from consumers (Tian & Martin, 2011). Whereas a consumer’s
emotional attachment to print books (Waheed et al., 2015) could pose a barrier to
adopting e-reader technology, a consumer’s emotional attachment to e-books and
embedded rich media could result in a willingness to make sacrices for a technol-
ogy (Ratten, 2011). An emotional attachment to technology devices and a prefer-
ence for e-books (Srirahayu et al., 2021) is especially predominant in populations
who grew up with technology devices (e.g., the Gen Z population). The information
technology behind e-books, coupled with the marketing of e-books, prompts further
investigation into the impact of print-book marketing strategies on e-book purchases.
However, the integral association between e-readers and e-books—and their role in
the shift from print books to e-books—mandates an initial discussion of e-readers as
a foundation of the research reported in this paper.
The e-reader devices (e.g., Kindle, iPad, Sony Reader, Nook, and the Kobo Reader)
are inextricably tied to user experience. User experience studies (MacWilliam, 2013;
Richardson Jr. & Mahmood, 2012) examined e-readers (e.g., Kindle, iPad) in terms
of memory and storage, screen resolution, navigation and control, battery and power,
and any additional built-in features the devices provided. Consumer adoption of
e-reader technology is signicantly associated with how well the e-reader enables the
consumer to approximate the traditional paper-book experience but extend it through
media-rich techniques such as embedded hyperlinks, digital searches, bookmarking,
and annotating (Bounie et al., 2013; Lai & Chang, 2011; McNeish & Hazra, 2014).
Some e-book research (McNeish & Hazra, 2014; de Oliveira Mota and Miranda de
Oliveira Arruda Gomes, 2011; Jiramahapoka & Loh 2019) illustrated consumer per-
ception of overlap between e-book and e-reader (the device). One such factor was
“trialability” (de Oliveira Mota and Miranda de Oliveira Arruda Gomes, 2011) which
was the ability to try out e-reader features (using an e-book as the artifact). Another
overlapping concept was ownership related to ownership of e-books stored on person-
ally owned e-readers, resulting in resistance to e-book adoption (McNeish & Hazra,
2014). In the Chinese market, the most signicant e-reader adoption factors were the
convenience with which an e-reader could be carried and operated, social inuence
exerted by one’s peers, and individual perceptions of switching costs—with the rst
two having a positive inuence and switching costs having a negative, moderating
inuence (Chiang & Chen, 2014). Consumer adoption of e-reader technology is also
dependent, in part, on the availability of e-book content available via a given e-reader
(Torres et al., 2014). Consumers want device-independent e-books. E-book publish-
ers must consider e-reader technology features when transitioning from print books
to e-books. This research will address one such feature: the free e-book preview.
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Integrating Information Technology and Marketing to increase e-Book…
Hua et al., (2011) developed a mathematical model to predict when publishers
should sell paper books, e-books, or both. Compared with paper books, e-books are
typically free or less expensive and have content that is more compact and smaller in
volume than traditional books. They suggested that until users become accustomed
to the e-reader technologies—and e-reader technologies mature—publishers should
distribute titles both online and in paper format (Hua et al., 2011). The major publish-
ers in the U.S. and Europe (e.g., Penguin, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster) have
adopted this business model of dual publication modes (Greeneld, 2014). Publishers
in Japan typically release the print-based version rst and then the e-book version,
based on both expectations of cannibalization and distribution costs associated with
e-publishing (Asai, 2016). In related research, Jiang & Katsamakas (2010) tested
readership associated with advances in e-reader technologies and distribution-channel
ownership. They found that users accustomed to purchasing paper books through a
seller (e.g., Amazon) are likely to see a purchase of an e-book as an extension of their
accepted purchase behavior. This perception typies the transition in the publica-
tion industry, where both the product (print book versus e-book) and the distribution
channel (brick-and-mortar versus online) are trending towards digital. Interestingly,
the level at which a country produces e-readers does not transfer equivalently to that
country’s adoption of e-books. For instance, even though Taiwan produces a full
supply chain of e-reader components and the Taiwanese telecommunications indus-
try is aggressively pushing digital publishing and distribution, the actual consump-
tion of e-books in Taiwan is very small—indicating tremendous potential (Chiang &
Chen, 2014; Lai & Chang, 2011). Taiwan provides two primary categories of online
distribution channels: the traditional online bookstores and e-books download and
selling sites. Traditional online bookstores sell paper books as well as the digital ver-
sions of books, when available. The e-book download and selling sites provide digital
downloads to users. If users are interested in purchasing a paper version of a specic
e-book, they are required to make a print-on-demand request.
E-book sites have completely revolutionized how books are published by over-
coming the physical and nancial constraints of the traditional business model, which
entailed printing multiple copies of a book, distributing them to wholesalers, who
would then deliver them to retail outlets. The traditional model is expensive, requir-
ing a base investment in all books and speculative investment in books which might
be top sellers. Now almost anyone can author, publish, and sell their work. One out-
come of this open market is that the quality level in self-published work ranges from
dubious to top-seller. For example, a 2014 survey of top online publishers (Green-
eld, 2014) reports that self-published authors, taken as an aggregate group, pub-
lished 4% of the best sellers in 2014, including a No. 1 best seller. However, the ease
with which people can author and publish works also results in a ood of poor-quality
e-books. Therefore, research is needed to determine how consumers can use technol-
ogy to discern e-book value prior to making a purchase. This research helps address
that research need.
By focusing on marketing strategies, the current research builds upon the pre-
vious research streams focused on the publication, distribution, and consumption
of e-books. Previous studies on e-books have focused primarily on the usability of
e-books and the overall user experience (Choi et al., 2019; Jiramahapoka & Loh,
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H.-L. Liao, S.-H. Liu
2019; Jou et al., 2016; Torres et al., 2014; MacWilliam, 2013; Richardson Jr &
Mahmood, 2012; Kostick, 2011; de Oliveira Mota and Miranda de Oliveira Arruda
Gomes, 2011; Shrimplin et al., 2011; Landoni, 2006). Additional contributions from
e-book usability studies includes types of users (Shrimplin et al., 2011), what pub-
lishers can learn from web usability and user-experience experts (Choi et al., 2019;
Kostick, 2011) and the emotional factors associated with e-books and paper books
(MacWilliam, 2013). The previous research indicates continued growth in e-reader
and e-book sales with a more focused attention on providing a more engaged user
experience which duplicates and extends consumer’s user experiences with purchas-
ing and reading print-based books.
Previous research focused on the intention to use or purchase e-books was con-
ducted as independent information systems research or marketing research; how-
ever, to our knowledge no interdisciplinary research has been conducted to examine
whether e-book consumers exhibit some of the same consumption logic as consum-
ers who purchase paper books through traditional online bookstores. Two market-
ing strategies used with print books are to (a) provide consumers with the option of
previewing sections of a book before purchasing it and (b) provide time-reference
hints in a book title. The purpose of this interdisciplinary research is to examine how
well those two strategies increase the consumption of e-books. Results indicate that
both can lead to increased consumption, which should therefore escalate the overall
adoption of e-books.
This paper is organized as follows. Section 2 provides a background on service-
dominant logic and co-created value. Co-created value is a central tenet of service-
dominant logic and the basis of our technology-driven marketing strategy: providing
free e-book previews. Section 2 also includes the basis for our non-technology-driven
marketing strategy: using a time reference in an e-book title. Hypotheses for both
marketing strategies are included in Sect. 2. Section 3 describes our methodology of
establishing an e-book website, selecting and testing the experimental and control
e-books, and engaging the participants. Section 4 describes the results for each of the
two tested marketing strategies. We discuss those ndings in Sect. 5 and conclude
in Sect. 6 that e-book publishers would benet from providing free previews for
e-books and utilizing some type of numeric time indicator in an e-book title. We also
suggest areas for further research.
2 Service-dominant logic and co-created value
Service-dominant logic was rst introduced in 2004 (Vargo & Lusch, 2004) as a lens
through which to perceive social and economic exchanges. Intangibility, exchange
processes, and relationships are central to service-dominant logic, and value is
dened by and cocreated with the consumer rather than embedded in output. In con-
trast to a goods-dominant logic, where utilitarian value is embedded within a product,
a service-dominant logic is based on a relational perspective wherein consumers and
providers co-produce value (Vargo & Lusch, 2004). The providers, however, can only
propose the value; the consumer must determine what activities in the exchange are
valuable and participate in creating that value (Grönroos & Gummerus, 2014; Vargo
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Integrating Information Technology and Marketing to increase e-Book…
& Lusch, 2004). Customers’ satisfactory co-creation experiences over time lead to
value-in-use (Grönroos & Gummerus, 2014; Grönroos, 2008), a well-known market-
ing concept since the transition from goods-dominant to service-dominant marketing
logic. Value-in-use is a unique, contextual experience determined by each consumer
(Grönroos, 2008; Grönroos & Gummerus, 2014; Vargo & Lusch, 2004, 2008). That
is, consumers must nd value in the exchange experience, as well as in the service.
In service-dominant logic (Grönroos & Gummerus, 2014) the consumer—rather than
the service—is the focal point. The service is the use of resources to support a con-
sumer’s value-in-use during the exchange.
In service-dominant logic, the consumer is an operant resource acting on other
resources to co-create value. Both the consumer and the organization derive ben-
et from the co-created value. This perception of the consumer diers from tradi-
tional marketing where the consumer was perceived as an “operand resource” that
was analyzed and then targeted with promotional campaigns (Shaw et al., 2011). In
other words, from a goods-dominant perspective, consumers of e-books are merely
resources—manipulatable by marketers via text notications or online ads promot-
ing new e-book listings—for the purpose of a transactional exchange. However, in
service-dominant logic, information technology serves as both an operand and the
operant resource through the implementation of service platforms, which providers
and beneciaries use to co-create value (Lusch & Nambisan, 2015). For example,
information technology is used in the tourism industry to co-create value through
the online ability to book ights and arrange holidays. The consumer gains value
by saving time in the planning/arranging process; the organization gained value by
gaining information provided by the consumer’s online activities. The organization
can then use that information to adapt the online consumer experience and gain/retain
competitive advantage and increase consumer loyalty (Polo Peña et al., 2014; Shaw
et al., 2011).
Amazon’s Look Inside! feature is another example of technology resources used
to provide a value-in-use opportunity (Karpen et al., 2012). Consumers derive value
from the ability to preview selected content prior to purchasing a book. Specically
relevant to this research is the idea of using technology to provide consumers with the
ability to create value as part of a marketing exchange. One focus of this research is to
examine how technology resources (i.e., providing the ability to generate an e-book
preview) support a consumer’s ability to create value in the exchange, thereby lead-
ing to increased intention to consume e-books. We also explore a non-technology-
driven approach to help consumers discern value: providing a reference to time in the
e-book title. The next two sections describe these two research foci.
2.1 Use of e-Book previews
Price has long been associated with value: the higher the price, the greater the per-
ceived quality. In a price/quality assessment, consumers determine if the quality is
worth the price (Min et al., 2012; Lichtenstein et al., 1993). Value is personal and
is determined by the amount of economic outlay a person is willing to expend in
exchange for the perceived quality. For tangible goods (which are central to a goods-
dominant perspective), consumers can test drive, try on, or taste a product to deter-
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H.-L. Liao, S.-H. Liu
mine value prior to purchase. In a sense, consumers are sampling ownership prior to
purchasing.
Free samples have been used in marketing since the 1960s to help consumers
determine value. A primary goal of providing free samples is to convince consumers
that a product is worth purchasing. Samples increase the likelihood of a purchase by
decreasing perceived risk associated with loss of time, ego, or money (Shaw et al.,
2011; Wallenberg, 2009). In a marketing eld study empirically testing buyer behav-
ior associated with free samples, Bawa & Shoemaker (2004) found that sales among
consumers who had tried the product already increased only slightly. However, con-
sumers who had never tried the product before accounted for nearly a 93% increase
in sales. This nding has signicant implications for e-book authors and publishers
attempting to increase adoption and consumption of e-books. Information systems
technology enables potential consumers to sample e-books before purchasing and/
or downloading.
However, the value-in-use service of providing e-book previews is controversial.
Amazon and Google both provide preview opportunities to increase book purchases.
The Author’s Guild sued Google on the basis that the extensive preview feature
depreciated the value of books and resulted in lost prots associated with users down-
loading signicant portions of books free of charge. In many cases, consumers could
preview the entire text, which then cannibalized sales (Bawa & Shoemaker, 2004).
As a result of the lawsuit, Google changed its preview policy to include publisher
permission (see http://books.google.com/googlebooks/about/index.html for the cur-
rent policy). To test whether previews increased or decreased online sales of print
books, Wallenberg (2009) compared use of Amazon’s Search Inside! feature with
print-book purchases. The study found no signicant eect (either increased sales
or cannibalization due to excessive free downloading) related to the previews. He
attributed non-signicant results to sample limitations. Our research contributes to
the eld by examining whether providing e-book previews inuences intention to
download and/or purchase priced and free e-books.
To our knowledge, no research exists which tests the eectiveness of consumers’
value creation (such as free previews) on intention to consume e-books. Previews
with priced e-books function equivalently as with print books: the price serves as an
eective index of the books’ quality. However, as indicated above, many e-books are
inexpensive or free. From a goods-based perspective, where consumers can sample a
product prior to purchasing it, one would assume that book previews for free e-books
would not provide value. Consumers could download the free e-book and so there-
fore would have no reason to read the preview. Paradoxically, three major e-book
download and selling sites in Taiwan (i.e., Pubu, Hami, and MagV) provide e-book
previews. In the absence of a price indicator for quality, we expect consumers will use
e-book previews to discern value. We suggest that the proliferation of self-publishing
authors producing literary works—some of which are of high quality—has resulted
in a transition from price to time as a predictor of value, when price is not a factor. We
therefore also suggest that e-book previews increase the likelihood that consumers
will download/purchase e-books by (a) decreasing perceived risk associated with loss
of time required to read the book and (b) providing the ability to discern the e-book
quality. The goal of previews with free e-books is to convince consumers that a book
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Integrating Information Technology and Marketing to increase e-Book…
is worth reading instead of worth purchasing. Therefore, we propose the following
hypotheses in this study:
H1: Providing free e-book previews signicantly improves participants’ purchase
intentions and purchase behavior.
H2: Providing free e-book previews signicantly improves participants’ purchase
intentions and purchase behavior, and this improvement is more marked for free
books than for priced books.
2.2 Use of time reference in title
This research also explored a non-technology-driven approach to help consumers
discern value: providing a reference to time in the e-book title. We extend the notion
that time could inuence intention to consume e-books by examining references to
time in e-book titles. Consumers gain value via the ability to discern the amount of
time necessary to read an e-book. For the leisure type of e-book, this value is espe-
cially useful when selecting e-books for commutes or ights. A reference to time in
an e-book title could also suggest content value. For example, one could infer from
a title such as The Creative Traveler’s Handbook: One-hour Sightseeing in Taitung
whether the e-book would be both (a) consumable within the time-constraints of
one’s travel and (b) valuable in planning for a trip to Taitung. Providing a time refer-
ence in an e-book title is therefore an example of a value-in-service that facilitates a
transactional exchange.
On the other hand, including a reference to time in a how-to type of e-book title
could negatively inuence transactions by implying low content quality. Marketing
research on including numbers in product names (known as alphanumeric branding)
suggests that consumers use a “higher is better” decision heuristic when selecting
from among alternative products. Consumers tend to select products with larger num-
bers in the product name, even if other published facts about the product indicated
that an alternative product was of higher quality (Gunasti & Ross, 2010). Book titles
were not part of the marketing research, but the principle is applicable to books: con-
sumers will purchase books with higher numbers in the book title. However, since
time references in how-to books generally tend to use lower numbers, the alphanu-
meric brand research suggests that consumers will purchase less of these titles. For
example, Teach Yourself HTML5 in 2 h is likely to be interpreted as hype and reect
negatively on the perceived content quality, which could result in a loss of personal
time. Alternatively, One-hour Sightseeing in Taitung also uses low numbers, but does
not communicate hype. Therefore, although references in both leisure and how-to
types of e-books are important, references to time in e-book titles would be more
signicant for the leisure rather than how-to genre of e-books. Therefore, we propose
the following hypotheses in this study:
H3: Including a time reference in an e-book title will improve participants’ pur-
chase intentions and purchase behavior.
H4: Including a time reference in the e-book title will improve participants’ pur-
chase intentions and purchase behavior more signicantly for leisure type e-books
compared with how-to type e-books.
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H.-L. Liao, S.-H. Liu
3 Research Methodology
To test the above hypotheses, we created a miniature online bookstore, deposited
“membership points” into participant accounts, provided participants with an oppor-
tunity to browse and download or purchase e-books, and then collected data on their
intentions and activity. To ensure purity in data related to each set of hypotheses, we
ran the experiment in two phases, each with its corresponding experimental condition
and data-collection. Following are the details.
3.1 Participants
E-book customers aged 15 to 24 tend to demonstrate high acceptance levels of
e-books download and selling sites. Therefore, this study selected university students
as the participants for this experiment. We solicited participation by distributing post-
ers and yers throughout a university in Northern Taiwan. A total of 197 students par-
ticipated in the experiment. Each participant was a registered student at the university
and so had an account on the university’s e-book website. Five incomplete or invalid
questionnaires were removed, resulting in 192 valid responses. An equivalent num-
ber of males and females participated: 98 males (51.04%) and 94 females (48.96%).
3.2 e-Book website
The website for the experiment was developed by the bookstore of a Taiwanese uni-
versity which provides students a platform to select and purchase e-books. The web-
site functions were similar to one oered by a popular e-books download and selling
site: bookstore.emome.net. The e-book purchasing system was identical to common
Taiwanese e-books download and selling sites where members pay using member-
ship points. Each dollar was equivalent to one point. Each participant was required to
have at least 100 points in their account in order to participate. To help oset personal
costs to the student, we paid each participant 6 US dollars. Therefore, each partici-
pant had sucient membership points to purchase six e-books (at a cost of 10 points
per e-book) from the experimental website.
3.3 e-Books
To meet the objectives of the experiment, the e-books used for the experimental and
control conditions had to be similar in content. Therefore, the selected e-books were
published by the Information Service Industry Association of the R.O.C. The e-books
t two genres: leisure and how-to. The e-books in the leisure category were all related
to gourmet food and travel (e.g., “The Creative Traveler’s Handbook: One-hour
Sightseeing in Taitung”; “Skittles: Fun and Easy”). The e-books in the how-to cat-
egory were related to website management and e-commerce (e.g., “Making Money
is Really Easy”; “Social Neworking Website Marketing”). We selected 10 e-books
where the content was divided into 20 to 36 independent sections. So, for example,
one of the gourmet cookbooks was divided into 36 independent sections, with each
section focusing on one specic dish. Likewise, a travel book had 25 independent
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Integrating Information Technology and Marketing to increase e-Book…
sections, each one focused on a specic site in Taitung. For this experiment, we sepa-
rated each e-book into similar section groups to create 40 e-books. We then applied
one experimental condition (free preview, time reference) per e-book to two e-books
per genre. Each experimental and control e-book was able to stand on its own as an
independent e-book. The nal 40 e-books were evaluated by 20 target-population tes-
ters to ensure that the e-books to be used for the experimental and control conditions
were similar and that the topics and writing style were similar. Similar e-books were
then randomly distributed to the participants.
In the experiment, the 40 e-books were equally divided between four shelves, each
shelf containing 10 e-books. Each phase of the experiment contained two shelves
with e-books corresponding rst to the two e-book genres (leisure and how-to), and
then within each shelf the e-books further corresponded to the two experimental
conditions (free preview; time reference in title). The e-books were paired on each
bookshelf based on the experimental condition: for example, one gourmet cookbook
had a preview of the rst 15 pages; the other did not. The dependent variables in
both experimental conditions were purchase intentions and purchase behavior. To test
the hypotheses related to free previews, ve e-books on each genre shelf included a
free-preview service comprising the rst 15 pages of each book; another ve e-books
did not. To test the hypotheses related to including a reference to time in the e-book
title, ve e-books on each genre shelf included a reference to time in the e-book title;
another ve e-books did not.
3.4 Procedures
At the beginning of the experiment, all participants were asked to watch a 10-minute
introductory video describing their tasks and explaining how to operate the online
e-book system. Following the introductory video, the participants were presented
with the e-book sales platform, where they could enter the eStore to browse through
and select e-books.
For Experiment 1, 192 subjects read 8 kinds of e-books: free How-to type e-books
with free preview service, priced How-to type e-books with free preview service,
free leisure type e-books with free preview service, priced lesiure type e-books with
free preview service, free How-to type e-books without free preview service, priced
How-to type e-books without free preview service, free leisure type e-books without
free preview service, and priced lesiure type e-books without free preview service.
We provided 5 e-books per type. Once participants indicated that they were through
browsing for e-books, the experimental system randomly selected 20 e-books with
the experimental condition and 20 e-books without for Experiment 1: free e-book
preview. Participants were then asked to complete a short survey indicating their pur-
chase intentions. Upon completion of the survey, participants were asked to purchase
three e-books for download (for priced e-books, users were required to pay by using
the points available in their member account).
Participants were then directed back to the e-book sales platform to again browse
through and select e-books as part of Experiment 2: time reference in title. Like
Experiment 1, 192 subjects read 4 kinds of e-books, including how-to type e-books
with time included in the title, leisure type e-books with time included in the title,
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H.-L. Liao, S.-H. Liu
how-to type e-books without time included in the title, and leisure type e-books
without time included in the title. We provided 5 e-books of each type. Again, once
participants indicated that they were through browsing for e-books, the experimen-
tal system randomly selected 20 e-books with the experimental condition and 20
e-books without. Participants again completed a survey and were asked to purchase
three e-books.
4 Research results
Section 4.1 and 4.2 describe data results associated with (a) providing free e-book
previews and (b) providing time references in the e-book titles, respectively. For each
experimental condition, we rst examined the overall inuence of the independent
variable on both the participant’s intention to download and/or purchase and then the
participant’s actual download/purchase. We then rened the data analysis for each
experimental condition to examine the inuence of the independent variable associ-
ated with two types of e-books: free/priced and how-to/leisure, respectively.
4.1 Experiment 1: free e-book preview
The constructs of reliability and validity of the instrument were evaluated. For free
and priced books, the factor reliability of participants’ purchase intentions as repre-
sented by Cronbach’s α were from 0.894 to 0.916, exceeding 0.8. Reliability from
the sample showed a reasonable level of reliability (α > 0.70) (Cronbach, 1970). Fac-
tor analysis was also measured to conrm adequately the construct validity of the
scales. Construct validity was examined using the principal components method with
varimax rotation. Bagozzi & Yi (1988) suggested that factor loadings for each item
should be over 0.6 to be valid. The factor loadings for all items were all larger than
0.8 from 0.897 to 0.951 (exceeding 0.6), indicating that the individual items also had
discriminant validity.
A paired-samples t-test (Table 1) indicated that providing a free preview exerted a
positive, signicant eect on purchase intentions (p = 0.000 < 0.01). The actual down-
load/purchase behavior results were similar to those obtained for purchase intentions.
Participants were asked to download (and purchase, if the e-book was priced) three
e-books. Figure 1 illustrates the download/purchase of e-books that included a free
preview. Almost 71% of the participants selected two or more e-books for which a
free preview was oered. The results support H1 and indicate that providing free
e-book previews signicantly improves participants’ purchase intentions and pur-
chase behavior.
Table 1 The eect of e-books with/without a free preview on participants’ purchase intentions
Construct Free preview service Sample size Mean SD SEM
t value p value
Purchase intention Yes 768 3.537 3.918 0.283 7.532 0.000
***
No 768 3.158 3.900 0.281
Note: *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1
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Integrating Information Technology and Marketing to increase e-Book…
We further analyzed the “free preview” data to investigate the eect of a free
preview on the participants’ purchase intentions and purchase behavior for two
e-book types (free and priced). The results illustrated in Table 2 indicate that when
the e-books were free, providing a free preview exerted a positive and signicant
eect on the participants purchase intentions (p = 0.000). Conversely, providing a
free preview for priced e-books had no eect on the participants’ purchase intentions
(p = 0.928).
The download/purchase behavior results were similar to those obtained for pur-
chase intentions. Figure 2 illustrates the download/purchase of both free and priced
e-books that included a free preview. Whereas the data indicate that some participants
chose not to download any ebooks with a free preview and some explored the feature
by downloading or purchasing a single ebook, the most interesting data—and the
focus of this research—was in multiple purchases. While 82.81% (N = 159) of the
participants downloaded two or more free e-books that contained a free preview,
only 58.33% (N = 112) purchased two or more priced e-books with a free preview.
These results indicate that when e-books are free, providing a free preview improves
the purchase behavior more remarkably compared with such a service for priced
e-books. The results support H2: providing free e-book previews improves the pur-
chase intentions and purchase behavior among participants, and this improvement is
more marked for free books than for priced books.
Table 2 The eect of a free preview on participants’ purchase intentions
Construct Free preview service Sample size Mean SD SEM
t value p value
Free Yes 192 3.709 1.586 0.114 6.256 0.000
***
No 192 3.198 1.611 0.116
Priced Yes 192 3.193 1.742 0.126 0.091 0.928
No 192 3.185 1.638 0.638
Note: *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1
Fig. 1 The quantity of e-books (with free previews) downloaded/purchased
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H.-L. Liao, S.-H. Liu
4.2 Experiment 2: time reference in title
For the second experimental condition, the participants were again directed to down-
load (and purchase, for priced books) three e-books. This time, however, our focus
was on the incorporation of a time reference in the e-book title. A reliability analysis
of participants’ purchase intentions for the two e-book types resulted in a reliability
between 0.899 and 0.912, greater than 0.8. Reliability from the sample showed a
reasonable level of reliability (α > 0.70) (Cronbach, 1970). Factor analysis was also
measured to conrm adequately the construct validity of the scales. Factor loadings
for each item should be over 0.6 to be valid (Bagozzi & Yi, 1988). The factor load-
ings for all items were larger than 0.9 (from 0.905 to 0.942, exceeding 0.6), thereby
indicating that the individual items also had discriminant validity. The correlation
coecient between the items and the dimensions were all greater than 0.9, indicating
favorable questionnaire reliability.
A paired-samples t-test (Table 3) indicated that including a time reference in the
title exerted a signicant eect on purchase intentions (p = 0.001 < 0.01). The actual
download/purchase behavior results were again similar to those obtained for purchase
intentions. Figure 3 illustrates the download/purchase of e-books that included a time
reference in their titles. When asked to download and/or purchase three e-books,
66% of the participants selected two or more e-books that included a time reference
Table 3 The eect of including a time reference in the title on participants’ purchase intentions
Construct Time included in the title Sample size Mean SD SEM
t value p value
Purchase intention Yes 384 3.280 2.443 0.176 3.446 0.001
***
No 384 3.071 2.294 0.166
Note: *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1
Fig. 2 The quantity of e-books (with a free preview service) downloaded/purchased
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Integrating Information Technology and Marketing to increase e-Book…
in their titles. The results support H3 and indicate that including a time reference in
the e-book title signicantly improves both the participants’ purchase intentions and
their purchase behavior.
We then further analyzed the “time reference” data to investigate the eect of a
time reference in the e-book title on participants’ purchase intentions and purchase
behavior for the two dierent e-book types (how-to and leisure). The results illus-
trated in Table 4 indicate that a time reference in the title of a how-to e-book exerted
a small but signicant eect on the participants purchase intentions (p = 0.087 < 0.1).
The eect of a time reference in leisure e-book titles was comparatively more signi-
cant (p = 0.001 < 0.01).
The download/purchase behavior results were similar to those obtained for pur-
chase intentions for e-books that included a time reference in their titles. Figure 4
illustrates the download/purchase of both how-to and leisure types of e-books. 72%
of the participants selected two or more leisure e-books; 60% of the participants
selected how-to type books. The results support H4: including a time reference in
e-book titles improved purchase intentions and purchase behavior among partici-
pants, and this improvement was more marked (although minimally) for leisure type
e-books than for how-to type e-books.
Table 4 The eect of including a time reference in a book title on participants’ purchase intentions for
how-to and leisure type e-books
Purchase Intention
Construct
Time
included in
the title
Sample
size
Mean SD SEM
t value p value
How-to type
e-books
Yes 192 3.228 1.541 0.111 1.716 0.087
*
No 192 3.094 1.492 0.108
Leisure type
e-books
Yes 192 3.331 1.655 0.119 3.402 0.001
***
No 192 3.047 1.615 0.117
Note: *** p < 0.01, ** p < 0.05, * p < 0.1
Fig. 3 The quantity of e-books (that included a time reference in their titles) purchased
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H.-L. Liao, S.-H. Liu
5 Discussion
Creating a memorable consumer experience is a key goal of service-dominant logic.
In the tourism industry, consumers derive pleasure from activities related to plan-
ning and arranging holidays (Shaw et al., 2011). Reading e-book previews could be
considered a pleasurable activity–much like browsing through books in a bookstore.
Our research demonstrated a signicant increase in download/purchase behaviors
associated with use of a free preview service for free e-books. Given the plethora of
free e-books, a free preview is an essential and cost-eective way for authors and
publishers to increase distribution.
Providing a free preview for free e-books is a service that could increase distribu-
tion (Choi et al., 2019). With the plethora of e-books of varying quality available for
download, e-book publishers need a competitive mechanism for increasing down-
loads and purchases. Our data clearly indicates that a free preview is such a mecha-
nism—especially for free e-books. We anticipate increased consumer expectation for
free e-book previews for both free and priced e-books. Given that the consumer’s
experience is with e-books in general, services provided for free e-books will likely
be expected with priced e-books. We therefore recommend that authors and publish-
ers implement this simple information technology solution to increase e-book con-
sumption for both free and priced e-books.
Reciprocal value is a key factor aligned with service-dominant logic. In the case
of e-book consumption, consumers derive value from interacting with e-books prior
to downloading and/or purchasing them. Authors and publishers could derive value
by tracking which features consumers use prior to downloading an e-book and then
integrate those features into future e-books (assuming the consumer’s e-reader sup-
ports such features). Features could include a previews and key-word searches, at a
minimum. The level of consumer participation is dependent upon the availability of
Fig. 4 The number of e-books (including a time reference in the title) purchased by the participants
1 3
Integrating Information Technology and Marketing to increase e-Book…
relevant resources (Chathoth et al., 2013). Therefore, organizations should ensure
that the resources they provide match the level of expected consumer participation in
co-creation activities.
Another way to increase e-book consumption is to include, if possible, a numbered
time reference in the e-book title. The data demonstrated very clearly a consumer
preference for numbered time references in e-book titles. Unlike the Gunasti & Ross
(2010) research, we compared numbers versus no numbers. The time references all
used low numbers. An interesting research idea for the future is to evaluate purchase
behaviors associated with the use of high-low numbers (e.g., One-hour Sightseeing
in Taitung versus 100 Things to do in Taitung).
Another interesting nding from this research was that consumers purchased
almost as many how-to e-books with time-references in their titles as they did lei-
sure e-books. Although our hypothesis that consumers would download/purchase
more leisure than how-to books was supported, the results suggest a shift in attitude
toward the use of lower time-reference numbers in how-to e-books. That is, either
authors are doing a better job of constraining book content to what can be realistically
accomplished in a lower time frame, or consumers are becoming more savvy about
seeing through the time-reference hype and making an estimate of required time
commitment based on their own level of expertise, or both. In either case, including
a time reference in the e-book title led to increased consumption, so we recommend
utilizing this simple but eective, non-technological approach to increasing e-book
consumption.
6 Conclusions
This research identied a strong trend toward increased e-book publication and con-
sumption. The preponderance of individual publishers removes the quality assurance
check provided by publishers, resulting in a wide spectrum of quality in e-books.
Furthermore, many e-books are free, thereby removing price as a quality indicator.
This research demonstrated that an information technology approach of providing a
free e-book preview provides consumers with the ability to ascertain quality prior to
download/purchase—especially in the absence of a price indicator. Additionally, this
research indicated that a simple, non-technological strategy of including a numbered
time reference in the e-book title led to increased e-book consumption. We recom-
mend authors and publishers consider both strategies to increase e-book consumption.
Several key factors inuence consumer participation in co-creation activities,
including their expertise with the technology and activity, the amount of discretion-
ary time to participate, their desired level of involvement with the co-creation activ-
ity, and their desired level of control, and perceived economic benet (Shaw et al.,
2011). The current research focused on the economic benets associated with utiliz-
ing a free preview to discern e-book value or using a time-reference to determine time
investment. Future research could focus on other factors of the co-creation experi-
ence and increase the categories to examine the e-book consumption model.
Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.
1 3
H.-L. Liao, S.-H. Liu
org/10.1007/s10660-022-09585-1.
Acknowledgements Hsiu-Li Liao and Su-Houn Liu would like to acknowledge the Start-Up Fund pro-
vided by the Ministry of Science and Technology (NSC 100-2410-H-033-003-). We would like to thank
Prof. Jean A. Pratt’s helps and revises making the work stronger and clearer.
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