Public “Beta” launches have become a preferred route of entry into the markets for new software products and web site based services. While beta testing of novel products is nothing new, typically such tests were done by experts within firm boundaries. What makes public beta testing so...

Weblogs or blogs have recently received a lot of attention, especially in the business community, with a number of firms encouraging their employees to publish blogs to reach out and connect to a wider audience. It is beginning to be recognized that employee blogs can cast a firm in either a...

The growing importance of online social networks makes it interesting to ask whether extant social capital can substitute for trust built through repeated interactions. It also provides fertile ground for researchers seeking to gain a deeper understanding of fundamental constructs of human...