Perceptions of online swine auction websites: A qualitative study

The increasing use of Internet technologies has led to changes in how business is done. E-commerce is one area of growth that allows businesses to reach beyond any physical boundaries to find a larger group of consumers. One specific area of e-commerce is online auctions, which allow participants to bid on goods or services regardless of geographic location. Within agriculture, online auctions have grown in popularity, including those within the swine industry. Online swine auctions have existed for a decade and are becoming essential to the success of the modern swine industry. Drawing upon the theory of planned behavior and the diffusion of innovations theory, the purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of online swine auction websites. The researcher gathered this data through in-depth phone interviews with 11 individuals who are familiar with online swine auctions. The results indicated that the main purpose in utilizing online swine auctions is the accessibility of purchasing swine without being geographically bound to Texas. The participants’ expressed positive and negative feelings toward certain aspects of the online swine auctions. The main recommendation for practitioners is to build trust with customers and reduce costs associated with individuals using online swine auction websites. Future research with online swine auctions should use quantitative methods to seek insight from a larger sample of respondents. With this study, only 11 participants were interviewed, and of those, only one had sold pigs through online swine auctions. Having a larger sample size will provide an ever greater understanding of how this new technology is being adopted and used in agriculture.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

Masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Agricultural Communications

Grantor

Texas Tech University

Year dc:date.issued

2014

Author dc:creator

• Curry, Whitney A.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Meyers, Courtney

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Doerfert, David
• Burris, Scott

• E-commerce
• Agriculture
• Online auctions
• Online swine auctions

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/2346/58849

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:ttu-ir.tdl.org:2346/58849