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ITP
24,2
134
Received 1 March 2010
Revised 31 August 2010
Accepted 7 September 2010
Information Technology & People
Vol. 24 No. 2, 2011
pp. 134-157
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0959-3845
DOI 10.1108/09593841111137331
Employee management and
service provision: a conceptual
framework
Yvette Blount
Macquarie University, Sydney, Australia
Abstract
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a way of thinking about the technical and social
subsystems in the context of e-commerce adoption.
Design/methodology/approach – An interpretive research approach was used to investigate the
employee management issues in service industries as they implemented B2C e-commerce. Two case
studies were selected, both retail banks in Australia. One case study was a major bank, the other a
smaller bank in a niche market.
Findings – Employees who interact with customers using B2C technologies require different levels
of skill and capability than those required in face-to-face interactions. This has implications for human
resource management processes such as job design, recruitment and retention, performance
management and training.
Research limitations/implications – The study was small in scale and therefore limited in scope.
Other service organisations and industries may have quite different information ecologies and
business strategies.
Practical implications – The coactive commerce system provides a concrete way for researchers
and practitioners to better align technology, customers and employees to achieve competitive
advantage.
Social implications – This research shows that it is important to understand B2C e-commerce
technologies in conjunction with business practices and in their broader context. It is important to
understand how a service organisation’s business strategy, technology strategy, business processes
and employee management work together to provide an appropriate level of service to customers and
achieve sustainable competitive advantage and strategic positioning. This is a complex set of factors.
Originality/value – The coactive commerce system extends the socio-technical framework to
provide a more explicit way to analyse both the social and technical subsystems in an organisation by
integrating the human resource management aspects into the theoretical mix in the electronic
commerce and information systems literature. This is important because the employee interaction
with the customer is the way the customer perceives the organisation.
Keywords Human resource management, Electronic commerce, Research, Case studies,
Information systems, Banking
Paper type Conceptual paper
1. The importance of the employee in achieving competitive advantage
How an organisation manages the employee, customer and information systems nexus
is important for achieving competitive advantage in service organisations. As new
information technologies and applications for business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic
commerce are introduced into the business environment, an understanding of the
connections between these three facets is essential for both researchers and
practitioners to be able to better utilise B2C electronic commerce technologies to
achieve business objectives, provide an adequate level of customer service while at the Employee
same time effectively manage employees. management
Organisational outcomes such as service quality, efficiency and customer
satisfaction have been underpinned by technological advancement. Many of these
technologies are largely facilitated by the internet and B2C e-commerce and have
changed (and continue to change) the way services are delivered and how customers
interact with service organisations (Froehle, 2006; Reinders et al., 2008). A key change 135
is that customers are expected to actively participate in the service delivery process
(Reinders et al., 2008; Xue et al., 2007). This has implications for the way customers
interact with the organisation, customer perceptions of service quality and how the
customer perceives their relationship with the organisation.
Organisations have struggled to understand how to better manage relationships
with customers (Hauser et al., 1996). Customer service has been a key area of
innovation and organisations focus considerable resources, including investment in
information technologies, on attempting to achieve a high level of customer satisfaction
(Plakoyiannaki et al., 2008; Bettencourt and Ulwick, 2008). Satisfied customers become
loyal customers (Axelsson, 2008). Customer loyalty is significant because customers’
loyal to a given seller may be worth up to 10 times as much as its average customer
(Anderson and Srinivasan, 2003) and customer loyalty leads to long term profitability
(Axelsson, 2008). The front-line employee has an important role in the service value
chain because these employees shape customer perceptions of service quality (Scotti
et al., 2009).
Front-line employees in the service sector have a critical role in how customers
experience the organisation because value is created when an employee interacts with
a customer (Fleming and Asplund, 2007). The ability of an organisation to provide
value to customers and engender their loyalty relies on how effectively this interaction
between employees and customers works (Plakoyiannaki et al., 2008; George, 1990).
Employee and customer experiences with technology must be managed together
effectively to drive effective organisational performance (Fleming and Asplund, 2007;
Fleming and Artis, 2010). The interactions between customers and employees in service
organisations are mediated by increasingly sophisticated technologies. Customers
interact with service organisations using a variety of service delivery channels.
Increasingly, many of these interactions are through self-service delivery channels
(Honebein and Cammarano, 2006; Xue et al., 2007; Reinders et al., 2008). The success of
B2C electronic commerce interactions relies on the level of usage by customers (Roberts
and Toleman, 2007) and the customer’s ability to utilise the technology. As an example,
Jupiter Research estimates that if a customer has a bad experience using self-service
technology they are unlikely to return (Honebein and Cammarano, 2006).
In other service delivery channels, employee-customer interactions are supported by
ubiquitous or anywhere, anytime technologies that support business transactions and
processes. U-commerce has been coined by some authors to describe “the use of
ubiquitous networks to support personalised and uninterrupted communications and
transactions between a firm and its various stakeholders to provide a level of value
over, above, and beyond traditional commerce” (Watson et al., 2002, p. 336). Examples
include mobile and wireless technologies that are increasingly used to interact with
customers in business-to-consumer (B2C) electronic business transactions (Junglas and
Watson, 2003).
ITP Customers are able to access information, using anywhere, anytime technologies,
24,2 that were previously scarce or at least difficult to access. Thus, customer expectations
of employees in service organisations have increased because customers have become
more knowledgeable about the products and services available to them. This
influences customer choices about their use of service delivery channel in a
multi-channel service delivery environment. The work setting and the strategic human
136 resource practices employed by service organisations directly affect customer
outcomes regardless of the service delivery channel used (Scotti et al., 2009).
The management of employees with appropriate human resource management
policies and practices is crucial to ensuring employees have the skills to effectively
respond to customer needs (Conduit and Mavondo, 2001; Ruekert, 1992). Service
strategies that involve the internet have generated different ways to deliver services to
customers resulting in changes to the way work is organised (Varlander and Julien,
2010). The employee-customer interaction depends on technology enabled business
processes and the effectiveness of these connections has clear implications for how an
organisation achieves sustained competitive advantage.
Employee management becomes of strategic importance to ensure that the
employee-customer-technology nexus works effectively and efficiently to achieve an
organisation’s objectives. This is more important in these uncertain economic times.
The focus of this paper is to show how a conceptual framework, the coactive
commerce system, can inform both researchers and practitioners on how the
employee-customer-technology nexus can be understood so that a service organisation
can survive and achieve strategic competitive advantage using the retail banking
sector as an exemplar. This link is crucial for service organisations to understand so
that they can develop employee management policies and practices to achieve
sustained competitive advantage.
The paper is organised as follows: first, the issues in the literature relating to
sustained competitive advantage, service delivery and human resource management
provide the context of the research. Second, the paper discusses the research
methodology and the background of the two empirical case studies. Third, information
systems theoretical perspectives are developed to show how the coactive commerce
system builds on these concepts. Fourth, the coactive commerce system is explained.
The penultimate section discusses the findings in the case studies. In the final section
conclusions are drawn and potential research directions are provided.

2. Sustained competitive advantage, service delivery and human resource

management
The strategy and organisational design literature argues that technology and
organisational capabilities are important to achieving sustained competitive
advantage. Michael Porter’s (1980, 1985, 1990, 2001) extensive work on strategic
positioning uses the value chain to understand the role of technology in achieving
competitive advantage. The technology that managers choose to implement to achieve
their strategic objectives should support sustainable cost reductions or differentiation
in the market. Evaluation of technologies and how they can add economic value to an
organisation’s business model is important with all emergent technologies including
those that include the internet (Porter, 2001).
 There have been other frameworks proposed that have extended Porter’s work that Employee
can be applied to the technology or information systems component of the framework. management
Examples include Wiseman and MacMillan, Clarke and Porter and Millar (Wiseman
and MacMillan, 1984; Clarke, 2005; Porter and Millar, 1985). These frameworks and
others are useful for assessing an organisation’s competitive advantage but they are
market-orientated and this limits their ability to assist with understanding specifically
the implications from a strategic information systems perspective (Clarke, 2005). From 137
a strategic information systems management perspective, service organisations have
utilised the internet as the infrastructure to provide customers with multiple ways to
acquire services.
Porter believes that e-commerce is simply “an enabling technology – a powerful set
of tools that can be used wisely or unwisely, in almost any industry as part of almost
any strategy” (Porter, 2001, p. 62). However, the internet and web based applications
are much more than this because they have fundamentally changed the way that
customers interact with organisations (Rust and Miu, 2006; Bitner and Brown, 2008).
Service organisations utilise a number of service delivery channels to interact with
customers, a multichannel service delivery channel approach.
The retail banking sector is an example of service organisations that extensively
utilise a multichannel service delivery approach by using a combination of self-service
and face to face service delivery channels using technology and physical channels (Xue
et al., 2007). That is, services are increasingly offered to customers via the web,
including self-service delivery, in addition to more traditional service delivery
channels. This has created a challenge for managing and measuring service delivery
across all access points so that the customer receives a consistent experience across all
service delivery channels used (Massey et al., 2007). In the retail banking sector the
ability to provide a consistent level of customer service across all channels has been an
ongoing challenge (Khoury, 2008). The complexity is enhanced in the multichannel
service delivery model because the customers’ own actions in utilising self-service
delivery channels impact on service quality (Xue et al., 2007). The way services are
organised and delivered increasingly relies on active participation by customers in
both self-service and other service delivery channels.
Service organisations encourage customers to undertake service transactions by
utilising self-service technologies. Examples include information kiosks in hotels,
automated check-in facilities in airports and online banking (Reinders et al., 2008).
Automating transactions essentially removes the interaction between the customer
and the employee (Bitner et al., 2000). This provides a number of advantages for the
service organisation and the customer.
Self-service technologies provide service organisation with benefits such as cost
savings, increased productivity and can assist with creating a more homogeneous
service environment that is important for setting customer expectations. Cost per
transaction is lowered resulting in better profits for the organisation and lower prices
for customers (Fleming and Artis, 2010). In the USA, airlines estimate that they can
save $3.52 when a customer buys an online ticket and $2.70 if the customer conducts
self-check in. Banks and other service organisations can save up to $9.00 if customers
manage their own services and receive support using Web-based applications
(Honebein and Cammarano, 2006).
ITP Perceived value of the services offered has been a significant determinant in
24,2 customer satisfaction and loyalty in the online environment (Lin and Wang, 2006). In
the retail banking environment, customers have a high level of satisfaction with their
online banking experiences (Kam and Riquelme, 2007). Organisations have realised
that there is a link between customer satisfaction and customer retention. Although
this link is perceived to be of strategic importance, it is unclear as to how customer
138 satisfaction translates to repurchasing of products and services (Mittal and Kamakura,
2001).
Self service technologies have been shown to increase customer loyalty. Customers
who successfully engage with these technologies have found that their interactions
with an organisation can be more efficient, faster and afford a greater sense of control
(Honebein and Cammarano, 2006). As Honebein and Cammarano (2006) point out, once
customers have invested significant time in learning the organisation’s technologies,
the experiences become “sticky”. Customers are less likely to move to another
competitor because they would have to learn a competitor’s technologies and business
processes.
However, the success of self-service channels relies on the customer’s ability to
perform (Honebein and Cammarano, 2006). There is a risk that customer experiences
may be negative if the customer does not have the expertise to utilise the tools provided
by the organisation or understand the most appropriate service delivery channel to use
for their needs (Honebein and Cammarano, 2006; Fleming and Artis, 2010). Customers
may utilise self-service channels even when employee encounter service channels may
be more appropriate. This could lead to less opportunities to cross-sell the
organisations products and services and may weaken the bond between the customer
and the service organisation (Xue et al., 2007).
The assumption is that simple transaction-based tasks will be undertaken using the
internet and the face-to-face service interaction will deal with complex transactions
involving proximity and co-presence (Varlander and Julien, 2010). Customization of
service interactions has become an important way of differentiating service providers
to be able to provide better customer service (O’Loughlin et al., 2003; Varlander and
Julien, 2010). Changes in how customers utilise services, particularly as they pertain to
the internet necessitates a change to the way work is organised (Varlander and Julien,
2010). Front-line employees have a critical role to play in the service value chain
because the interaction with a customer will shape the customers perception of the
quality of service they receive (Scotti et al., 2009). The ability of employees to engage
with customers satisfactorily is important in obtaining customer loyalty.
The human resource management policies and culture need to be aligned to support
this type of valuable worker (McAfee and Brynjolfsson, 2008). Employers invest in
employees so they can build the skills and capacity they need to meet competitive
requirements. Employees are also investors. Individual employees expect some return
from the organisation, not only in the form of remuneration but also in career growth
and development (Wang, 2002; Geroy and Venneberg, 2003). The challenge for
managers is to be able to effectively engage employees to be able to utilise the
information systems available to achieve customer satisfaction. The best way to
achieve this is still a matter of debate ( Jackson and Schuler, 1999; Cascio, 1991).
If the statistics in the USA that indicate only 29 percent of employees are energised
and committed at work, 54 percent are neutral and the remainder disengaged, there
must be a considerable impact on productivity (Fleming and Asplund, 2007), Employee
particularly if these statistics are replicated across other OECD countries. In the management
Australian context, a Gallup Poll undertaken in September 2008, found that 79 percent
were either not engaged or actively disengaged in their work (Smith, 2009). This is
alarming because if employees are not engaged with their work and are not motivated
to achieve the organisation’s goals, they will not be motivated to engage effectively
with customers. Managers need to find ways to effectively motivate and engage 139
employees using human resource management policies and practices.
Human resource management (HRM) in the context of this research consists of the
key practices that relate to long-standing ideas on how to manage people in
organisations. There are a number of processes that are relevant. They are job design,
recruitment and selection, training and development, performance management,
retention and employee engagement (Storey, 1995; Guest, 1997). Employee engagement
is essential to achieving competitive advantage through utilisation of information
systems and effective interactions with customers.
Employee attitudes and behaviours must align with an organisation’s strategic
objectives for HRM processes to be successful (Purcell et al., 2003; Hailey et al., 2005). It
is not enough to attract and retain skilled and capable employees in well-designed jobs
in which they can use their skills and experience. The effectiveness of employees,
particularly those who are highly skilled, will be limited, unless they can be engaged
with the organisation’s goals and motivated to perform (Hunter and Lafkas, 2003).
Understanding the interaction between customers and employees in a service
transaction provides insights into how these interactions link to an organisation’s
strategic position.
The nature of how service organisations deliver their services to customers have
changed and the role of front-line service employees need to align with organisational
and customer expectations. The service encounter is highly complex and multi-faceted
(Laing and McKee, 2001). The following section provides a way of thinking about the
complexity of interactions between employees and customers in service organisations.
This conceptual framework is enhanced by including work from more recent services
management literature that suggests that service organisations need to consider
contact intensity between employees and customers at both the organisational and the
service encounter level (Scotti et al., 2009). Gutek (1995) developed a conceptual
framework that shows three main types of interaction between a customer and a
service organisation:
(1) The first are encounter interactions. Encounter transactions are a single, short
and routine. Interactions between the customer and the organisation are
standardised and constitute a mass production way of delivering services
(Gutek, 1996). Interactions can occur with any number of interchangeable
service providers. Examples include ordering a meal at McDonalds or ordering
online airline tickets (Gutek, 1995, 1996). A significant number of customers
choose to use self-service technologies to interact with service organisations.
The service organisation needs to understand why customers choose particular
service delivery channels and design their business processes to cater for these
choices. Self-service technologies may not require any interaction between
employees and customers (Reinders et al., 2008). Technology based self service
has been used in some service organisations as a replacement for traditional
ITP face-to-face interactions. Customers have been forced to use these technologies
24,2 by, for example, making full service interaction unattractive by charging
customers a fee to use these services (Reinders et al., 2008).
(2) The second type of interaction is called a relationship. This is where a customer
and employee have a number of interactions and they get to know each other
both as role occupants and individuals. They develop a history of shared
140 interaction where they expect and anticipate future interactions. In this type of
interaction the knowledge and expertise is embedded in the employee (Gutek,
1996). The customer relies on the employee to provide them with knowledge
they lack. It is argued that human interaction is a critical factor in service
quality and competitive success (Varlander and Julien, 2010). These interactions
could also be referred to as high-contact service encounters (Scotti et al., 2009)
which to a large extent rely on the skills of the service employee (Varlander and
Julien, 2010). Examples include law and medicine. Individuals in these types of
jobs develop their careers within their particular area of expertise. This is
integrated with their reputation which is based on their qualifications and
experience (Gutek, 1995). These types of employees are likely to be highly
educated and unlikely to suit a command and control management style
because they will utilise highly developed skills such as problem solving and
customer service (Gutek, 1995). These types of service workers are important in
shaping service quality and customer satisfaction. Employee and customer
perceptions of service quality are developed in conjunction with each other
through shared experiences. In many cases, customers are co-creators of their
own outcomes (Scotti et al., 2009).
(3) The third type of encounter is the pseudo-relationship. This is where an
organisation attempts to mimic a relationship type interaction. For example an
employee may address a customer by name during an interaction to develop a
sense of a relationship, when it is in fact an encounter. An example is when one
checks into a hotel and the employee on the reservation desk uses your name.
Organisations need to find ways to use the benefits of encounters, for example
reducing uncertainty and costs, and appearing to treat each customer as though
they were unique in a very short encounter. These are also referred to as low
contact interactions where customers have only very limited interaction with an
employee (Scotti et al., 2009). The adoption of internet banking for example, has
required retail banks to re-engineer business processes in call centres, increase
capacity and improve employee skill sets (Xue et al., 2007).

Customers interact in multiple ways using multiple service delivery channels ranging
from direct physical interactions to indirect contact using technology (Zomerdijk and
de Vries, 2007). Customers are co-producers of service delivery and will choose a
service delivery channel depending on a number of factors. These factors include time,
control, effort, dependence, efficiency and human contact (Xue et al., 2007). Encounter
interactions using self service technologies need to be integrated with other aspects of
service delivery and organisational design (Xue et al., 2007) because customers do not
just utilise one method of interaction.
It is not necessary, nor is it desirable, for each interaction between a customer and
employee to be a relationship. In some instances an encounter type interaction will be
the most appropriate way to interact. A customer may just need to know that the Employee
service provided will be of a consistent quality. A relationship type interaction for management
every transaction is clearly inefficient and costly for both the customer and the
organisation.
The balance of these three types of interactions and the nature of the service
provision mix relate to how jobs should be designed, how employees should be
recruited and selected, what is the most appropriate training and development 141
approach, how best to measure performance, how to retain staff and how to motivate
and engage employees to achieve the organisation’s strategic goals.

3. Method
An interpretive research approach was used to investigate the employee management
issues relating how information systems, more specifically how business to consumer
(B2C) e-commerce was implemented in service organisations. The research aims were
to firstly understand the issues in managing B2C ecommerce technologies and
employees, especially in the service sector. A second key aim was to propose a
conceptual framework using the concept of “coactive commerce system” to understand
these issues. The third aim was to provide insights into the elements of effective
strategies for managing technology and people by using the coactive commerce system
perspective. This paper addresses the second aim, to propose a conceptual framework
for understanding these issues. The empirical research question addressed in this
paper is how can the “coactive commerce system” framework contribute to
understanding the effective management of e-commerce technologies and people?
The research used a multiple case study method to explore B2C e-commerce. Using
a case study method is appropriate for broadening knowledge in a particular area
(Stake, 2000; Yin, 2009). Case studies are considered to be particularly relevant for IS
research because of the focus on operational and strategic rather than technical issues.
The link between B2C electronic commerce, customer interaction and human
resource management is not clearly evident, therefore a case study approach to
investigate the issues was the most appropriate method to obtain the rich, detailed data
to answer the research question. It was important to investigate the elements of
employees, customers and information in a specific service delivery context.
Two case studies were selected because multiple case studies are more compelling
and the research is more robust (Benbasat et al., 1987; Yin, 2003). The largest single
gain for general significance of findings is when the number of case studies increases
from one to two (Hakim, 2000) therefore two case studies were considered as sufficient
to investigate the link between employees, customer and technology. Using multiple
case studies provided a way to compare and contrast two diverse retail banks to
ascertain if they faced the same or different issues.
Two quite different organisations were selected, one large and one small. This
provided the opportunity to investigate different business contexts and customer
profiles. The first, Lawson Central, was one of the major banks in Australia and was
selected because it was one of the first to implement B2C electronic commerce
technologies. The second, Australian Union Bank, was selected because it appeared to
have a business strategy that was different from its competitors.
The interviews were conducted with bank employees between February 2002 and
March 2003. The interviewees were selected by job title. There was an initial set of
ITP interviews in the smaller bank which was followed by a similar investigation in the
24,2 larger bank. There was a second round of interviews in the smaller bank, one year after
the first set of interviews. There were a total of 24 in-depth interviews. See Table I for
the break-down of roles of interviewees in both banks.
All interviews were audio-taped and transcribed. Once the transcripts were
completed, the data were entered into a conceptual matrix. This was used to structure
142 the data so that it could be analysed in a comprehensive way. The next step was to
condense the interview extracts into briefer statements to extract the essence of the
interview (Kvale, 1996).
The data was analysed using the meaning condensation approach (Kvale, 1996).
This required interrogating the data for central themes and linking this back to the
coactive commerce system conceptual framework (explained in the next section). This
process involves a reduction of large interview texts into briefer and more concise
formulations (Kvale, 1996).
Using Kvale’s (1996) framework, the process was modified using ideas from Miles
and Huberman (1994). In particular, the ideas about developing matrices and drawing
conclusions (Miles and Huberman, 1994) were used.
The data consisted of these interviews as well as documentation such as annual
reports, strategies, policies and practices adopted when introducing B2C e-commerce in
both organisations. This provided rich descriptions of what was occurring in these
organisations with which to develop the coactive commerce conceptual framework.
This provided multiple sources of evidence to assist with validated findings and
developing a chain of evidence considered to be particularly important for qualitative
research (Darke et al., 1998). This provided the rich data descriptions with which to use
the conceptual framework outlined in the next section.

4. Theoretical perspectives
A conceptual framework, the coactive commerce system (CCS), provides a way of
thinking about the complexities involved in the integration of business strategy,
technologies, customers and employees. The CCS helps us make sense of the differing
levels of customer service, how technology mediates customer service and what this
means for employee skills and capabilities. In many situations, a customer may
interact with an organisation without any interaction with an employee. In the banking
context this may be using an ATM machine or using e-banking to pay bills. In other
situations, a customer may need a low level of interaction with an employee. An
example here is a call centre interaction where the employee provides a highly scripted
response. In other circumstances it may be appropriate for a customer to interact with a
highly skilled, knowledgeable employee. This would be the case if the advice sought
was highly specific to your individual circumstances, for example, advice on an
investment portfolio.
The CCS extends the socio-technical framework which has been widely accepted in
information systems research (Mumford and Beekman, 1994; Walsham, 2000; Trauth,
2001). The socio-technical view stresses the joint optimisation of the technical and
social subsystems rather than the optimisation of the technical subsystem and the
adaption of the social system around it (Cherns, 1976). The socio-technical perspective
recognises that technology changes the relationship between the social and technical
subsystems in organisations (Montano and Dillon, 2005). The socio-technical
Small bank (AUB) First round
1. General manager, operations
2. HR/ER consultant
3. Manager, total program management/ project
office manager (group interview)
4. Helpdesk operator/ service management
analyst (group interview)
5. Manager operations support/ analyst
programmer/ business analyst (group
interview)
6. Customer service officer/branch supervisor/
branch manager (group interview)
7. Chief manager, information technology
8. Internet manager (manager of look and feel of 8. Enterprise portal and intranet, eChannels
web site)
9. Financial advisor
10. Manager eBanking development
n ¼ 10
Roles of interviewees in
Lawson Central and AUB
Table I.
Large bank (Lawson Central) Small bank (AUB) Second round
1. Head of strategy and acting chief technology 1. Branch supervisor (previously branch
officer (CTO) customer service officer)
2. Project manager, align (consultant) 2. HR/ER consultant
3. General manager, people and performance 3. General manager, operations
4. Head of customer experience 4. Manager eBanking development
5. Branch manager/team leader/CSR1 and CSR 2 5. Manager, total program management/ project
(customer service positions – group interview) office manager (group interview)
6. Group executive, people and performance 6. Internet manager (manager of look and feel of
web site)
7. CEO, Bank of Y and group executive people
and performance
n¼8 n¼6
management
Employee
143
ITP framework for the purposes of this research was not specific enough. The need for
24,2 more explicit detail was provided by the information ecology concept.
The information ecology concept focuses on the relationships between information
technology, the people who use it and how they use it (Nardi and O’Day, 1999).
Information ecology moves away from technology as the focus and moves towards the
use of technologies in a more specific context. An information ecology is a totality that
144 takes into account the relationships and interrelationshiops between technologies,
customers and employees. It moves away from technology as the focus, which is the
basis of many IS theories, to the way technologies are used in a specific context. It
includes many interdependent social and cultural systems that impact on how
information is created, distributed and used (Detlor, 2001; Nardi and O’Day, 1999). An
important aspect about an ecology is that when any one aspect of the system changes,
it effects can be felt throughout the whole system (Nardi and O’Day, 1999; Bekkers and
Homburg, 2005).
Like any other ecology, an information ecology is always in a state of flux (Nardi
and O’Day, 1999). As the technology system changes, so does the social system. The
technical and social subsystems evolve together. This adjustment continues without
ever finding a completely perfect fit between the technology and the people involved
(Bekkers and Homburg, 2005; Nardi and O’Day, 1999). It has a dynamic balance and
there is never a perfect fit. The system is continually changing and evolving in an
attempt to achieve equilibrium.
The information ecology concept is a useful concept that is consistent with the
socio-technical perspectives of technology. To be able to analyse how the employee,
customer and technology nexus works, the information ecology metaphor can be
further extended to conceptualise these interactions. This concept is the coactive
commerce system (CCS).

5. Coactive commerce systems

The three-way interaction between employees, customers and technology can be
understood in a specific context by using the coactive commerce system (CCS). The
customer and employee need to be able to know the uses and limitations of anywhere,
anytime technologies for the interaction with the service organisation to be successful.
The word coaction[1] means joint action or any interaction among organisms in a
community. It is more than just thinking about the way that customers interact with
technology. The customer must have the skills and capabilities to use the technology
and know when it is appropriate to use it. The employees need to know the most
suitable response to a customer’s needs by understanding the uses of technologies. The
whole system needs to be designed and managed to facilitate the various uses and
accommodate users.
The term commerce[2] commonly means the exchange of goods and services.
Commerce also means an intellectual exchange or social interaction. Information
technologies facilitate different ways of exchanging goods and services. B2C
e-commerce has changed the ways employees and customers interact in a commerce
transaction.
The concept of the coactive commerce system (CCS) stresses the employee, customer
and technology interactions. Customers will typically interact with an organisation
using multiple service delivery channels. The choice of service delivery channel will be
shaped by the perception the customer has about the effectiveness of the service Employee
delivery channel chosen. It will depend on how effectively the customer can use the management
technology to achieve the desired level of service.
The employee and customer need to act in combination, in a coactive way, to
undertake a transaction. For example, if a customer has a general enquiry about a
product or service, the most efficient way to interact with an organisation is via a call
centre or the company web site. If the enquiry is more specific, it may be appropriate 145
for the customer to talk to a knowledgeable employee in a face-to-face situation so an
individual’s circumstances can be taken into account.
The coactive commerce system works effectively when it delivers a service that
uses the right information in the most cost-effective and efficient service delivery
channel and in a way that is acceptable to both customers and employees.
The coactive commerce system has three levels that show the fluidity of movement
between the technology only interactions, the technology-assisted interactions that are
brief and routine and those interactions that are protracted and complex but also rely
on technology. The customer has to move between these levels depending on the
service required.
Figure 1 shows the three levels of interaction between employees, customers and
technology. The levels are interrelated in that for some transactions there will be a need
to use more than one service delivery channel.
The first level is the “self-service online” in which the transactions are undertaken
almost entirely by the customer. The transactions are routine, simple and large in
number. Transactions are standardised and automated.
The second level is an “arm’s-length” interaction. These interactions rely heavily on
technology. For example, a customer may wish to access specific details about the
products and services required. These interactions need some further assistance from a

Figure 1.
Service channels in a B2C
coactive commerce system
ITP call centre, web site or physical branch and will be much lower in volume to the
24,2 self-service online level. The interactions between employees and customers are
personal, brief and routine.
The third level is designated as the extended interaction level. This constitutes a
small minority of customer interactions with employees in an organisation. These
interactions are repeated and detailed exchanges about matters that are typically
146 complex or problematic.

6. Discussion
The coactive commerce system was applied in each of the case studies. There were
marked differences in the way that customer adapted to the electronic service delivery
channels provided by each organisation. Lawson Central (the large bank) was a
well-established bank with a wide area of influence. When the research was
undertaken, Lawson Central had over 23,000 employees throughout the world,
operated through over 1,300 points of representation and had over seven and a half
million customers. In contrast, AUB (the small bank), became a bank from a building
society in the mid 1990s, had around 2,000 employees, 250 points of representation in
all the states and territories in Australia and had 850,000 customers.
Lawson Central (the large bank) initially focused almost exclusively on the
self-service component of the coactive commerce system. It relied on its ability to be
able to provide sophisticated technological solutions to interact with customers.
Lawson Central, like many banks at the time, had used the new technologies to move
customers into the self-service online part of the coactive commerce system to make
transactions as efficient and as cost effective as possible. One senior manage
acknowledge that:
For staff e-commerce was initially sold as doing them out of jobs. So the customers going out
of branches into e-commerce was going the save the world from tellers.
Retention of customers was a key strategy. Lawson Central saw its main strategy as
retaining the customers it already had by increasing the amount of business it could do
with each customer rather than attract new customers. This was in part because
attracting new customers is more expensive than retaining current customers and
partly because Lawson Central was already a big player in the industry to it had
limited ability to attract new customers. A senior manager noted that:
The challenge isn’t so much about attracting a whole lot of new customers, it’s actually about
doing more with the existing customer set and if you don’t address the service issue what you
do is you get business in and you churn it out the other end and that’s a vicious cost cycle.
The Australian and NZ markets are only a finite size so if you want to grow – there’s more to
the rhetoric than saying we want to provide customer service – well, you know it’s actually
essential. It’s not an optional thing that you can say we can keep selling things.
The ability to retain customers requires loyal customers. Lawson Central recognised
that loyal customers are likely to buy more products and services from the
organisation. A senior manager saw this strategy as keeping customers loyal and
staying with Lawson Central for future transactions:
We’ve tried to focus on customer retention and what we call customer penetration. It’s about
share of wallet so you’ve got a relationship but you have two or three products with us that
 you – you actually stay with us throughout your life cycle because the value is – you might Employee
start with a transaction account, you might have a personal loan to buy a car and then a home
loan and you might do some superannuation and its actually the value of all that life cycle management
that’s important. It’s not selling a credit card.
Customers moved online so well that they were no longer coming into the branch at all.
Those customers who did come into the branch tended to be those from the least
profitable groups: regulars such as small business people who needed to withdraw 147
cash and cash cheques, welfare recipients, immigrants with little English, or the elderly
who found it difficult to come to terms with the new technology. There is only so much
cross-selling possible for customers with limited means and as branch staff did not
have direct access to the majority of their customers they were unable to cross-sell
products and services. Branch staff reported that:
I think the bank thought they would save a lot of money doing it this way and they have. But
unfortunately now we don’t have the opportunity now to make more money from
cross-selling other services and products and that’s where the bank has realised “Whoa! No
more migrating for starters.” That came out 12 months ago at least where they sort of – they
didn’t sort of say no more migrating – but they – slow down. Let’s explore [what the
customer needs are] before you actually send them all out.
Lawson Central found that although a number of customers used the B2C e-commerce
service delivery channels, there were a significant number that wanted to use the
face-to-face services in the branches. Lawson Central seemed to have been taken aback
by this discovery as it originally assumed that B2C e-commerce would to a large extent
negate this need for face-to-face interaction.
Branch employees reported that customers were more informed by the media and
the internet on financial products and services. They also thought that as a result
customers were less loyal. This was a change from the past where customers and their
families tended to stay with the same bank for life. Customers were more likely to use
their knowledge to try and obtain a better deal on a product or service. An interviewee
who worked in the branch believed that the internet was responsible for this lack of
customer loyalty:
There are a lot more resources for them [customers]. Obviously, they have migrated so well
[to electronic service delivery channels such as eBanking], that they have picked up a lot of
information along the way. Now their eyes are basically open. They know what the banks can
offer. They also shop around a lot more now. I think there is a lot more advertising out there
which makes people more aware, newspapers and television. Whereas our parents would
have been loyal to one bank and that’s it.
All of the interviewees understood the current strategic direction for the bank was
about enhancing the “customer experience”. Lawson Central believed that the
relationship between the customer and the employees of the bank was key to achieving
its business objectives in the future, rather than a focus just on operational efficiency.
There was considerable emphasis at the end of the 1990s on looking at e-commerce
technologies as a way to reduce costs. A member of the executive remembers having to
downgrade their expectations of what the internet technology could do:
I think we have modified both our expectations of it [internet technologies] and what we can
do with it and now very much see it as just another distribution channel, another way of
doing business with our customers.
ITP Employees in branches were asked to persuade customers to use electronic service
24,2 delivery channels. The fact that these same employees thought it likely that they would
lose their jobs if customers actually took their advice was not well considered. One
senior manager acknowledged that:
For staff e-commerce was initially sold as doing them out of jobs. So the customers going out
of branches into e-commerce was going to save the world from tellers.
148
Technology mediated interactions require a different set of skills and capabilities than
face-to-face interactions. Lawson Central changed its emphasis from banking and
selling skills to customer service and problem solving skills. In addition, employees’
jobs that involved face-to-face interaction with customers required a more personal
response. Lawson Central used a “bundle” of human resource management practices to
support its employees and develop a different set of capabilities. Over time, Lawson
Central had changed the way it trained its employees from product and sales training
to the use of techniques such as communication maps to engage employees. Lawson
Central was developing a staff portal to provide employees with the support they
needed to effectively interact with customers. One member of the executive team
explained the challenge was to:
Keep lifting our offering to staff so they’re as skilled, if not more skilled, than the customer
they are dealing with in the e-commerce space. That’s why we’ve been putting a lot of time
and money into the [staff] portal to try and improve the offering to staff.
The jobs of branch employees had changed significantly. The core skills had changed
from banking skills to emphasis on customer service skills. Employees had to be
trained and knowledgeable enough to be able to deal with the diversity of the
customers including the ageing population which sometimes has different banking
needs. Lawson Central was planning to reintroduce the role of branch manager, so that
customers would feel they could get to know their local manager and, in turn, that their
local manager would know them.
Lawson Central management was very aware of how the jobs were changing in the
customer-facing positions, particularly in branches. Customers expect that employees
will be able to answer their queries or solve their problems. Jobs such as tellers were
considered in the past as unskilled. Today the teller’s job is to engage with customers.
This requires high-level communication and problem-solving skills. A manager
explained the changes as:
When you [a customer] come in to talk to someone, you want to talk to someone who adds
value. We always thought of the tellers jobs as relatively unskilled jobs. And I just don’t think
that’s so now. And as everyone’s competing for the customer space harder, each of those
interactions becomes a moment of truth. And unless you’ve got people skilled, capable,
thinking about customers with enough confidence to be able to ask questions of people with
enough capacity to take the information and generate a response for a customer, then those
moments of truth don’t work for customers and they’ll take their business somewhere else.
Branch employees were encouraged to spend time with customers in the new branch.
This level of interaction was important to develop a connection with the bank.
Employees in these roles no longer had to deal with multiple small transactions and the
focus was on larger, more complex transactions.
 In contrast, AUB (the smaller bank), provided online services but did not seek to move Employee
customers out of branches. A major part of AUB’s strategy was to continue to open management
branches even as its competitors, in particular the major banks, were rationalising and
closing branches. This was documented in annual reports as a key strategy (AUB annual
reports, 2000 to 2006). Interviewees believed it was important, a way of differentiating
AUB from its competitors. A significant number of the branches were relatively new.
Many of the branches were in main streets as well as shopping malls so they were clearly 149
visible to the customer. These were high-profile areas in communities. This was in
contrast to many of AUB’s competitors who had chosen either to relocate to cheaper
premises in the same community or to withdraw from the community altogether.
The strategy of opening branches was an expensive one. Branches in high-profile
areas are costly to buy or lease. They are also expensive to fit out. The most costly
component is labour costs which includes employing and managing the people in
branches. A senior manager saw this as a key competitive difference:
We are growing very fast and our footprint is a lot smaller than the majors. What they’re
doing [the major banks] is they’re reducing the number of branches which is where you are
heavily people [orientated]. We are opening them.
Opening branches was seen as being particularly important in attracting new customers
to the bank. A branch presence where customers could see a physical representation of
the bank was considered a central part of AUB’s overall strategy. AUB believed that its
physical presence would provide customers with easy access to face-to-face interactions
with the bank and therefore a way to develop customer loyalty. Customers performed
basic transactions such as deposits and withdrawals in the branches. Customers also
undertook more complex transactions such as purchasing insurance and other financial
products. Interviewees agreed that AUB had a strategy of focusing on branches and
expanding its branch presence. A branch manager agreed that the bank had a clear
strategy to open branches into the future in order to attract new customers.
AUB management realised that they were unable to compete with the major banks
on a cost basis as they did not have the same economies of scale. Nor could AUB
compete on products, features or prices as these could be easily replicated by
competitors, a fact that it recognised. This was articulated by interviewees and
documented in AUB’s annual reports as a key challenge. Instead, a major tenet of the
overall business strategy at AUB was to capture the “hearts and minds” of customers.
The way AUB sought to do this was to develop a personal connection with its
customers. At the same time, AUB was also considering ways to replicate face-to-face
service in the online environment. Customers were told that they were welcome to use
the service delivery channels including the branch without incurring additional costs.
An employee in the marketing area commented that:
I imagine our strategy is still the branch face-to-face banking. That’s what we’ve built
ourselves on. But probably even take it the next step, the bank’s strategy is to allow
customers to deal with us how the customer wants. So we will never stop opening branches
Unlike most of the large banks, AUB provided the individual phone numbers of
branches in the phone book so that customers could ring the branch rather than a
central call centre number (which is what the major banks did). This was to provide
customers with a way to access their individual bank branch. It was another way of
providing a personal level of service.
ITP AUB were able to capitalise on the shift to eServices by competitors by keeping the
24,2 face-to-face strategy. The strategy of increasing its physical branch presence while
developing electronic service delivery channels was recognised as a difficult strategic
mix. All of the interviewees had a view about the bank’s strategic direction and it was
also mentioned in the annual reports (all AUB annual reports from 2000 to 2006). The
AUB 2006 annual report stated that:
150 For our future we are committed to further strengthening the connections we have with our
customers and communities. Both depend on the ability of our staff to deliver the AUB way of
banking.
In the first round of interviews all of the interviewees were very proud of the fact that
AUB did not penalise customers who used over-the-counter rather than electronic
service delivery channels. Every interviewee mentioned it and it was a central element
of their working identity with AUB. As all the interviewees discussed this point of
difference, it shows that employees felt confident of the organisation’s strategic
direction. They believed that they were working for a bank that had different values
than other banks. The employee commitment to AUB and engagement with customers
was very high. All of the interviewees explicitly mentioned supporting AUB’s
approach in dealing with customers. A typical comment relating to this issue was by
an employee who had been with AUB for a number of years:
The bank has said “Okay we are going to give you the options – but we are not going to
penalise you.” Whereas the other banks are saying if you want to come in personally – yes,
you can but you have to pay for it. At least we are not doing that.
The provision of choice of service delivery channels without additional charges was
perceived by employees as a key differentiator from AUB’s competitors. An
interviewee who worked in a branch remarked that:
We try to differentiate ourselves; I know that at some of the other banks you get someone
walking the queue – trying to get people to change their habits – we don’t.
Despite this very strong employee commitment to AUB’s policy of not charging
customers to use more expensive service delivery channels, AUB changed its fee policy
by the time the second round of interviews was undertaken. AUB had decided to
introduce fees for customers using the more costly service delivery channels such as
the tellers in the branch. This was a clear change in strategy. Many employees were
unhappy about this policy change and expressed it in different ways. One manager
downplayed the change and argued that it wasn’t a change to the bank’s strategy,
rather:
I’d say it’s a change of tactic, not necessarily a change of strategy.
Clearly though, this change was much more fundamental than just a change in tactics.
Due to competitive pressures, AUB was unable to maintain its earlier commitment to
customers not to charge them for undertaking transactions using more expensive
service delivery channels.
As AUB was keen to be seen as a friendly, responsive bank that customers would be
happy to continue to interact with in the future, the focus was on searching for ways to
make the online or non face-to-face service delivery channels as desirable an experience
as walking into a branch. AUB’s approach to customer service was to make the Employee
interaction as personal as possible. One manager described the objective as: management
Trying to match the experience they [customers] get in our branches which they highly
regard – our point of difference from other banks is our customer service and the challenge
for us is to try and give that same level of customer service in the Online Banking or Phone
Banking or when they contact the call centre.
151
The take-up rate for eBanking according to AUB (from both annual reports and
interviewees) seemed to be on par with other banks, including the major banks. Phone
banking and eBanking services were provided albeit in a low-key way as the focus was
still on the interpersonal service provided by face-to-face interaction with customers in
a branch setting.
AUB was convinced that for it to continue its success and sustain its competitive
position, it needed to replicate the branch experience in its non face-to-face service
delivery channels. This position changed over time as AUB found that it could not in
fact replicate the branch experience online.
AUB had not integrated its web interfaces with its back office applications. A
customer who applied for a loan online was processed in exactly the same way as if a
customer had walked into a branch. That is, the loan application had to be printed out
by a call centre employee and re-keyed into the Loan Application System. This was a
major inconsistency: on the one hand, AUB was attempting to meet its competition by
providing online applications, while on the other hand, it did not as yet have the
resources to integrate its front-end web applications to its back-end applications. This
is an ineffective use of technology because AUB’s customers almost certainly expected
(and required) a quick response to their loan application. This is particularly the case
when competitors have fully integrated and automated web and back-office functions
to provide customers with a response within seconds, not five days as was the case
with AUB.
The challenge as described by interviewees was to have a technology and B2C
e-commerce strategy that would provide customers with a level of personal interaction.
Regardless of the service delivery channel used, a customer interacting with AUB
should have a customer service experience superior to other banks. A manager
articulated the challenge as:
We are finding that a lot of customers are not walking into a branch anymore and so what is
the differentiation with banking with AUB and banking with anyone else if you are not
actually getting that customer service experience in the branches anymore – that’s a huge
challenge to try and replicate in a machine like way with either a phone or an internet
experience.
The human resource practices used at AUB (they could not be called strategies) were
not clearly aligned to the organisation’s strategic objectives although this was
changing to some extent during the research period. A high level of employee
engagement and customer satisfaction already existed; there was no sense of urgency
to consider more strategically aligned HR policies. The catalyst for thinking about
these issues was the growth of the organisation. The next sections analyse the way
AUB used the functions of HRM to achieve organisational goals and how this links to
its B2C e-commerce use.
ITP AUB was in the process of making jobs more formalised. For example branch
employees were expected to cross-sell products and services for the first time and this
24,2 was stipulated in branch targets. The bank had changed the teller position from a role
focusing purely on transactions to one with a significant sales component, a change
that the major banks had made a number of years previously. To make employees
focus more on cross-selling the bank’s products and services, tellers had to start
152 achieving targets set by referring customers to financial planners. The teller’s job had
evolved into a sales job. A bank teller commented that:
We are constantly being pressured to get customers to go and see a financial planner instead
of taking out a term deposit because, obviously, it’s a little bit better for the bank. So I’ve
noticed there is probably a huge change there since I first started. We only used to have
financial planners down here [indicating Head Office], but now every branch has a financial
planner at some stage during the week. We have to get two-and-a-half referrals a week which
is the target set.
These were branch level targets, rather than the individual employee targets used by
some other banks. Individual targets used by other banks were reported to be stressful
for those interviewees who had worked in those organisations in the past. Branch level
targets were perceived as less threatening. This is however another example of AUB
changing its strategy to become more like other banks. As a branch employee stated:
That’s probably a little bit more of a push like the majors as well. I know a lot of tellers have
come across to the AUB for the simple fact that they were pressured too much with the
A-bank and B-bank [major banks] to do that type of cold selling. It’s not as bad obviously but
we get a lot of old X-bank [a major bank] tellers and that where they just couldn’t handle
being constantly pressured into doing targets every day.
The perception of interviewees working in the branches was that their jobs were
becoming more like those in other banks. A branch manager who previously worked
for a major bank described the changes in his job at AUB.
AUB is changing its managers’ focus at the moment. Once upon a time it was just to sit in the
office and do everything, personal loans, credit cards. Now the focus is to push that type of
thing to our supervisors and [customer service officers] and the manager to start getting out
and start doing business development and sort of door knocking and that sort of stuff and try
to concentrate mainly on larger consumer deals and small business, probably not unlike how
the majors operate.
An interviewee involved in the eBanking project considered that the interaction with
customers would change significantly over the coming years. There would be more
focus on dealing with customers using technology.
The call centre employees were at the forefront of these changes, using technology
to interact with customers using the phone and e-mail. Call centre employees took calls,
entered loan applications into the loan application system and answered e-mails
personally. Their calls were not timed and monitored. There was also a significant
amount of training offered including extensive on the job training. The AUB call centre
was operated in-house (rather than outsourced) and customers could contact the bank
via e-mail or telephone outside of branch hours, including weekends. The call centre
did not operate 24 hours a day but was available seven days a week.
Employees will not always be able to interact with customers using face-to-face
channels and this will change the dynamic of the relationship with customers.
Employees noted that they will have to deal with customers more using technology Employee
such as e-mail. management
The results show that there needs to be a different way of thinking about how
employees are managed in different contexts. In order for organisations to achieve
competitive advantage, they need to be able to effectively manage the technology,
customer and employee management nexus. There is no one best way to implement
anywhere, anytime technologies because service organisations have different strategic 153
objectives and organisational capabilities. The flexibility of the coactive commerce
framework assists managers in thinking about employee management issues and how
to align these with customer service provision when implementing anywhere, anytime
technologies.
Managers can use the coactive commerce system framework to better align the
anywhere, anytime technologies with customer service provision by utilising human
resource management practices to achieve an optimal outcome. There is a balance
between achieving business process efficiencies, customer loyalty and employee
engagement as business conditions, customer expectations and technology changes.
The coactive commerce system provides a way of integrating the human resource
management aspects into the information systems literature. It contributes by
providing a way to assess the implications of anywhere, anytime technologies and the
appropriate level of customer service and the implications to employee management.
The research was undertaken in the retail banking sector in the Australian context.
Every organisation is different and so each coactive commerce system will be different
in the way it operates. Other contexts such as those in other service industries or other
countries may affect the technology, customer, employee nexus. Therefore to further
develop the framework, it would be useful to test it in different contexts and cultures.
This would further inform and develop the coactive commerce framework so that it
could be used to help service organisations achieve their strategic objectives and
achieve competitive advantage.

7. Conclusions and future research

The coactive commerce system framework provides a way of thinking about the
technology-mediated context of employee-customer interaction. It shows the context in
which employees and customers interact with technology. This is particularly
important for service organisations as they grapple with the balance between
achieving efficiencies in their business processes and achieving customer loyalty to the
organisation. Neither of the organisations in the two case studies had this balance quite
right. Both organisations were attempting to refocus their approaches.
The coactive commerce system conceptual framework provides a concrete way for
both researchers and managers to better align the three components of technology,
customers and employees to achieve competitive advantage. The coactive commerce
system conceptual model of the B2C e-commerce service environment shows how all of
the elements interrelate. The system includes the management of technology, the
customer and the main focus of this research, the employees. The capabilities of
employees in the coactive commerce system are crucial if a service organisation is to
achieve competitive advantage. The coactive commerce conceptual model allows an
organisation to chart its service provision in relation to customers. It can assist in the
assessment of the implications to employee management. This will alert management
ITP to possible misalignments between the technology, customer and employee
24,2 management strategies.
The coactive commerce system framework provides a tangible way to understand
the importance of employee management in conjunction with customer service and
B2C e-commerce technologies. Service organisations that focus on employee
management issues without losing sight of the customer, or the technology that
154 underpins their relationship with the customer, will be better equipped to achieve their
strategic objectives and sustain competitive advantage.
This raises some interesting and relevant areas for future research. One potential
area is exploring service organisations using the coactive commerce system
framework to establish how different cultures and ways of managing employees
affect the implementation of e-commerce technologies. It may be that in these contexts
the coactive commerce system would be quite different.
It would also be interesting to continue this research to establish trends in service
organisations by undertaking longitudinal research. What would AUB’s and Lawson
Central’s coactive commerce systems look like now, and how do these banks currently
approach employee management? This would provide useful insights for both
researchers and practitioners.
The coactive commerce system framework provides a tangible way to understand
the importance of employee management in conjunction with customer service and
B2C e-commerce technologies. Service organisations that focus on employee
management issues without losing sight of the customer, or the technology that
underpins their relationship with the customer, will be better equipped to achieve their
strategic objectives and sustain competitive advantage.

Notes
1. Coaction (n.d.). Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) available at: Dictionary.com web site:
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/coaction (accessed 16 March 2009).
2. Commerce (n.d.) The American Heritagew Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition,
available at: Dictionary.com web site: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/commerce
(accessed 16 March 2009).

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Corresponding author
Yvette Blount can be contacted at: Yvette.blount@mq.edu.au

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