Editorial: Broadband Internet and Electronic Commerce

Journal of Information Technology ISSN 0268-3962 print/ISSN 1466-4437 online © 2003 The Association for Information Technology Trust http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals DOI: 10.1080/0268396032000173929 Increasingly broadband will be everywhere – in the home, small businesses, schools and public spaces. Mobile broadband will provide a means for moving seamlessly between the office, home and beyond, potentially blurring organizational and community boundaries and likely contributing to ongoing changes in both individual and public behaviours. The continued rollout of broadband infrastructure and growing levels of access to this infrastructure is making possible new forms of e-commerce and mobile commerce. But how will the potential for dramatic changes in daily life, the workplace and learning be realized? There is an extraordinary level of interest in broadband technologies from industry, government and potential users. Many governments are committed to extending broadband networks as a national priority (BAG, 2003; National Broadband Task Force, 2001; Office of the e-Envoy, 2001; Task Force on Broadband Communications, 2002). This high level of interest is explained by the understanding that broadband is seen by these nations as integral to achieving their electronic commerce goals and bringing social and economic benefits to their citizens (ITU, 2003; OECD, 2002). While there is much attention on broadband deployment, pricing and access in the policy domain, there is little research, particularly in the IS discipline that looks more deeply into the uses and roles of broadband and mobile infrastructures. While there have been studies on policies and deployment at the national level, business and consumer perspectives are noticeably absent. For example, how can broadband be adopted by residential customers and SMEs at a faster pace, what impact does broadband have on individuals’ daily lives (work, entertainment, education, healthcare etc.) and will the enhanced connectivity through broadband increase e-commerce transactions? These are only a few of the questions we need to address. This special issue on broadband Internet and electronic commerce was initiated to respond to these questions. There are four papers, which vary in research method, research subject, unit of analysis and geographical focus (Table 1). Interestingly, and understandably, all four papers come from the world’s most advanced broadband markets. South Korea is the leading country in broadband deployment with more than 70% of the households connected through broadband; Canada is second, while the United States has one of the largest subscriber bases. In terms of the unit of analysis, two of the papers focus on individuals, while the other two have a wider focus – one examines communities and the final paper presents analysis at the national level. The two papers focusing on individuals use experimental and survey research methods; the other two use interviews and focus groups. While all four papers are based on empirical work, two papers further extend their findings to make a provocative argument (Middleton) and to apply the stakeholder analysis (Choudrie, Papazafeiropoulou and Lee). The first paper, by Middleton, challenges a commonly held view that a killer application should be found in order to spur widespread adoption of broadband. Based on an early broadband project (the Netcom Trial in Canada) and recent studies on consumer broadband usage, Middleton argues that access to broadband itself, and the enhanced connectivity it offers, are valuable for users. Thus, there is no need for so-called killer applications, such as video-on-demand. Enhanced connectivity will lead to shifts in the dynamics of broadband development in a way that more users become content creators and distributors. Therefore, broadband researchers and stakeholders need to explore the implications of these changes, rather than hold on to the unfounded search for a killer application. The second paper, by Adelaar, Chang, Lancendorfer, Lee and Morimoto, presents a counter-intuitive result regarding broadband impact on user’s buying behaviours. They report on an experiment where three different media formats of web pages (text of the lyrics only, still images from a music video and the music video, all three with a song played simultaneously) were compared in relation Editorial: Broadband Internet and Electronic Commerce