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Does a smile open all doors?
(2020)
Online photographs govern an individual’s choices across a variety of contexts. In sharing arrangements, facial appearance has been shown to affect the desire to collaborate, interest to explore a listing, and even willingness to pay for a stay. Because of the ubiquity of online images and their influence on social attitudes, it seems crucial to be able to control these aspects. The present study examines the effect of different photographic self-disclosures on the provider’s perceptions and willingness to accept a potential co-sharer. The findings from our experiment in the accommodation-sharing context suggest social attraction mediates the effect of photographic self-disclosures on willingness to host. Implications of the results for IS research and practitioners are discussed.
Sharing marketplaces emerged as the new Holy Grail of value creation by enabling exchanges between strangers. Identity reveal, encouraged by platforms, cuts both ways: While inducing pre-transaction confidence, it is suspected of backfiring on the information senders with its discriminative potential. This study employs a discrete choice experiment to explore the role of names as signifiers of discriminative peculiarities and the importance of accompanying cues in peer choices of a ridesharing offer. We quantify users' preferences for quality signals in monetary terms and evidence comparative disadvantage of Middle Eastern descent male names for drivers and co-travelers. It translates into a lower willingness to accept and pay for an offer. Market simulations confirm the robustness of the findings. Further, we discover that females are choosier and include more signifiers of involuntary personal attributes in their decision-making. Price discounts and positive information only partly compensate for the initial disadvantage, and identity concealment is perceived negatively.
Sharing marketplaces emerged as the new Holy Grail of value creation by enabling exchanges between strangers. Identity reveal, encouraged by platforms, cuts both ways: While inducing pre-transaction confidence, it is suspected of backfiring on the information senders with its discriminative potential. This study employs a discrete choice experiment to explore the role of names as signifiers of discriminative peculiarities and the importance of accompanying cues in peer choices of a ridesharing offer. We quantify users' preferences for quality signals in monetary terms and evidence comparative disadvantage of Middle Eastern descent male names for drivers and co-travelers. It translates into a lower willingness to accept and pay for an offer. Market simulations confirm the robustness of the findings. Further, we discover that females are choosier and include more signifiers of involuntary personal attributes in their decision-making. Price discounts and positive information only partly compensate for the initial disadvantage, and identity concealment is perceived negatively.
We used structural topic modeling to analyze over 800,000 German tweets about COVID-19 to answer the questions: What patterns emerge in tweets as a response to a health crisis? And how do topics discussed change over time? The study leans on the goals associated with the health information seeking (GAINS) model, discerning whether a post aims at tackling and eliminating the problem (i.e., problem-focused) or managing the emotions (i.e., emotion-focused); whether it strives to maximize positive outcomes (promotion focus) or to minimize negative outcomes (prevention focus). The findings indicate four clusters salient in public reactions: 1) “Understanding” (problem-promotion); 2) “Action planning” (problem-prevention); 3) “Hope” (emotion-promotion) and 4) “Reassurance” (emotion-prevention). Public communication is volatile over time, and a shift is evidenced from self-centered to community-centered topics within 4.5 weeks. Our study illustrates social media text mining's potential to quickly and efficiently extract public opinions and reactions. Monitoring fears and trending topics enable policymakers to rapidly respond to deviant behavior, like resistive attitudes toward containment measures or deteriorating physical health. Healthcare workers can use the insights to provide mental health services for battling anxiety or extensive loneliness from staying home.
During a crisis event, social media enables two-way communication and many-to-many information broadcasting, browsing others’ posts, publishing own content, and public commenting. These records can deliver valuable insights to approach problematic situations effectively. Our study explores how social media communication can be analyzed to understand the responses to health crises better. Results based on nearly 800 K tweets indicate that the coping and regulation foci framework holds good explanatory power, with four clusters salient in public reactions: 1) “Understanding” (problem-promotion); 2) “Action planning” (problem-prevention); 3) “Hope” (emotion-promotion) and 4) “Reassurance” (emotion-prevention). Second, the inter-temporal analysis shows high volatility of topic proportions and a shift from self-centered to community-centered topics during the course of the event. The insights are beneficial for research on crisis management and practicians who are interested in large-scale monitoring of their audience for well-informed decision-making.
Helping overcome distance, the use of videoconferencing tools has surged during the pandemic. To shed light on the consequences of videoconferencing at work, this study takes a granular look at the implications of the self-view feature for meeting outcomes. Building on self-awareness research and self-regulation theory, we argue that by heightening the state of self-awareness, self-view engagement depletes participants’ mental resources and thereby can undermine online meeting outcomes. Evaluation of our theoretical model on a sample of 179 employees reveals a nuanced picture. Self-view engagement while speaking and while listening is positively associated with self-awareness, which, in turn, is negatively associated with satisfaction with meeting process, perceived productivity, and meeting enjoyment. The criticality of the communication role is put forward: looking at self while listening to other attendees has a negative direct and indirect effect on meeting outcomes; however, looking at self while speaking produces equivocal effects.
With the surging reliance on videoconferencing tools, users may find themselves staring at their reflections for hours a day. We refer to this phenomenon as self-referential information (SRI) consumption and examine its consequences and the mechanism behind them. Building on self-awareness research and the strength model of self-control, we argue that SRI consumption heightens the state of self-awareness and thereby depletes participants’ mental resources, eventually undermining virtual meeting (VM) outcomes. Our findings from a European employee sample revealed contrary effects of SRI consumption across speaker vs listener roles. Engagement with self-view is positively associated with self-awareness, which, in turn, is negatively related to satisfaction with VM process, perceived productivity, and enjoyment. Looking at the self while listening to others exhibits adverse direct and indirect (via self-awareness) effects on VM outcomes. However, looking at the self when speaking exhibits positive direct effects on satisfaction with VM process and enjoyment.
Despite the phenomenal growth of Big Data Analytics in the last few years, little research is done to explicate the relationship between Big Data Analytics Capability (BDAC) and indirect strategic value derived from such digital capabilities. We attempt to address this gap by proposing a conceptual model of the BDAC - Innovation relationship using dynamic capability theory. The work expands on BDAC business value research and extends the nominal research done on BDAC – innovation. We focus on BDAC's relationship with different innovation objects, namely product, business process, and business model innovation, impacting all value chain activities. The insights gained will stimulate academic and practitioner interest in explicating strategic value generated from BDAC and serve as a framework for future research on the subject
One for all, all for one
(2022)
We propose a conceptual model of acceptance of contact tracing apps based on the privacy calculus perspective. Moving beyond the duality of personal benefits and privacy risks, we theorize that users hold social considerations (i.e., social benefits and risks) that underlie their acceptance decisions. To test our propositions, we chose the context of COVID-19 contact tracing apps and conducted a qualitative pre-study and longitudinal quantitative main study with 589 participants from Germany and Switzerland. Our findings confirm the prominence of individual privacy calculus in explaining intention to use and actual behavior. While privacy risks are a significant determinant of intention to use, social risks (operationalized as fear of mass surveillance) have a notably stronger impact. Our mediation analysis suggests that social risks represent the underlying mechanism behind the observed negative link between individual privacy risks and contact tracing apps' acceptance. Furthermore, we find a substantial intention–behavior gap.
One for all, all for one
(2022)
We propose a conceptual model of acceptance of contact tracing apps based on the privacy calculus perspective. Moving beyond the duality of personal benefits and privacy risks, we theorize that users hold social considerations (i.e., social benefits and risks) that underlie their acceptance decisions. To test our propositions, we chose the context of COVID-19 contact tracing apps and conducted a qualitative pre-study and longitudinal quantitative main study with 589 participants from Germany and Switzerland. Our findings confirm the prominence of individual privacy calculus in explaining intention to use and actual behavior. While privacy risks are a significant determinant of intention to use, social risks (operationalized as fear of mass surveillance) have a notably stronger impact. Our mediation analysis suggests that social risks represent the underlying mechanism behind the observed negative link between individual privacy risks and contact tracing apps' acceptance. Furthermore, we find a substantial intention–behavior gap.
Since the beginning of the recent global refugee crisis, researchers have been tackling many of its associated aspects, investigating how we can help to alleviate this crisis, in particular, using ICTs capabilities. In our research, we investigated the use of ICT solutions by refugees to foster the social inclusion process in the host community. To tackle this topic, we conducted thirteen interviews with Syrian refugees in Germany. Our findings reveal different ICT usages by refugees and how these contribute to feeling empowered. Moreover, we show the sources of empowerment for refugees that are gained by ICT use. Finally, we identified the two types of social inclusion benefits that were derived from empowerment sources. Our results provide practical implications to different stakeholders and decision-makers on how ICT usage can empower refugees, which can foster the social inclusion of refugees, and what should be considered to support them in their integration effort.
Since the beginning of the recent global refugee crisis, researchers have been tackling many of its associated aspects, investigating how we can help to alleviate this crisis, in particular, using ICTs capabilities. In our research, we investigated the use of ICT solutions by refugees to foster the social inclusion process in the host community. To tackle this topic, we conducted thirteen interviews with Syrian refugees in Germany. Our findings reveal different ICT usages by refugees and how these contribute to feeling empowered. Moreover, we show the sources of empowerment for refugees that are gained by ICT use. Finally, we identified the two types of social inclusion benefits that were derived from empowerment sources. Our results provide practical implications to different stakeholders and decision-makers on how ICT usage can empower refugees, which can foster the social inclusion of refugees, and what should be considered to support them in their integration effort.
Both entrepreneurship and innovation play a key role for business growth and economic development and are conceptually highly intertwined. Both fields have received extensive attention that has resulted in a large number of publications. The aim of this work is to provide an overview on the coevolution of entrepreneurship and innovation over the last decades, with particular attention to recent research trends. To track the evolution at the intersection of both fields, we employ a bibliometric analysis, which allowed us to identify the key concepts, the backbone of research, and to provide a systematic classification of main research themes diagnosed including: 1) entrepreneurial innovation and digital transformation, 2) sustainable innovation and entrepreneurship, 3) product innovation and knowledge, 4) entrepreneurial orientation and leadership, and 5) regional entrepreneurship and innovation (innovative entrepreneurship and historical roots). The findings of this bibliometric review are reported in the form of a knowledge graph that represents the results obtained in terms of the knowledge base (key terms), knowledge domains, and knowledge evolution (themes and bursts), based on which themes for future research are suggested.
Advances in Web 2.0 technologies have led to the widespread assimilation of electronic commerce platforms as an innovative shopping method and an alternative to traditional shopping. However, due to pro-technology bias, scholars focus more on adopting technology, and slightly less attention has been given to the impact of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on customers’ intention to use social commerce. This study addresses the gap by examining the intention through exploring the effect of eWOM on males’ and females’ intentions and identifying the mediation of perceived crowding. To this end, we adopted a dual-stage multi-group structural equation modeling and artificial neural network (SEM-ANN) approach. We successfully extended the eWOM concept by integrating negative and positive factors and perceived crowding. The results reveal the causal and non-compensatory relationships between the constructs. The variables supported by the SEM analysis are adopted as the ANN model’s input neurons. According to the natural significance obtained from the ANN approach, males’ intentions to accept social commerce are related mainly to helping the company, followed by core functionalities. In contrast, females are highly influenced by technical aspects and mishandling. The ANN model predicts customers’ intentions to use social commerce with an accuracy of 97%. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of increasing customers’ intention toward social commerce channels among consumers based on our findings.
Higher eco-efficiency will not be enough to slow global warming caused by climate change. To keep global warming to 2 degrees, people also need to reduce their consumption. At present, however, many who would be able to do so seem unwilling to comply. Given the threats of a runaway climate change, urgent measures are needed to promote less personal consumption. This study, therefore, examines whether social marketing consume-less appeals can be used to encourage consumers to voluntarily abstain from consumption. As part of an online experiment with nearly 2000 randomly sampled users of an online platform for sustainable consumption, we tested the effectiveness of five different “consume-less” appeals based on traditional advertising formats (including emotional, informational, and social claims). The study shows that consume-less appeals are capable of limiting personal desire to buy. However, significant differences in the effectiveness of the appeal formats used in this study were observed. In addition, we found evidence of rebound effects, which leads us to critically evaluate the overall potential of social marketing to promote more resource-conserving lifestyles. While commercial consumer-free appeals have previously been studied (e.g., Patagonia’s “Don’t Buy This Jacked”), this study on the effectiveness of non-commercial consume-free appeals is novel and provides new insights.
Consume-less appeals in social marketing can help reduce the lavish consumption in wealthy countries, which poses a major threat to the climate. This study experimentally examines the effectiveness of three different types of consume-less appeals (informative, social normative, and emotional appeals) on participants’ actual spending levels during a real shopping trip compared to a control group (no appeal). In addition, the study tests whether these appeals evoke negative rebounds (in terms of post-purchase climate donation) or positive rebounds (in terms of accepting post-purchase material giveaways). A field experiment in a grocery store in Germany with 170 participants shows that social normative and the emotional appeals reduce actual shopping spending. Informative and social normative appeals increase donations, and emotional appeals reduce the items of taken giveaways. The findings further support certain indirect impacts of the consume-less appeals on rebounds in terms of spending levels.
Purpose
Because steadily growing consumption is not beneficial for nature and climate and is not the same as increasing well-being, an anti-consumerism movement has formed worldwide. The renouncement of dispensable consumption will, however, only establish itself as a significant lifestyle if consumers do not perceive reduced consumption as a personal sacrifice. Since prior research has not yielded a consistent understanding of the relationship between anti-consumption and personal well-being, this paper aims to examine three factors about which theory implies that they may moderate this relationship: decision-control empowerment, market-control empowerment and the value of materialism.
Design/methodology/approach
The analysis is based on data from a large-scale, representative online survey (N = 1,398). Structural equation modelling with latent interaction effects is used to test how three moderators (decision-control empowerment, market-control empowerment and materialism) affect the relationship amongst four types of anti-consumption (e.g. voluntary simplicity) and three different well-being states (e.g. subjective well-being).
Findings
While both dimensions of empowerment almost always directly promote consumer well-being, significant moderation effects are present in only a few but meaningful cases. Although the materialism value tends to reduce consumers’ well-being, it improves the well-being effect of two anti-consumption styles.
Research limitations/implications
Using only one sample from a wealthy country is a limitation of the study. Researchers should replicate the findings in different nations and cultures.
Practical implications
Consumer affairs practitioners and commercial marketing for sustainably produced, high-quality and long-lasting goods can benefit greatly from these findings.
Social implications
This paper shows that sustainable marketing campaigns can more easily motivate consumers to voluntarily reduce their consumption for the benefit of society and the environment if a high level of market-control empowerment can be communicated to them.
Originality/value
This study provides differentiated new insights into the roles of consumer empowerment, i.e. both decision-control empowerment and market-control empowerment, and the value of materialism to frame specific relationships between different anti-consumption types and various well-being states.
This study investigates the effect of different anticonsumption constructs on consumer wellbeing. The study assumes that people will only lower their level of consumption if doing so does not also lower personal wellbeing. More precisely, this research investigates how specific subtypes of sustainable anticonsumption (e.g., voluntary simplicity, collaborative consumption, and debt-free living) relate to different states of consumer's wellbeing (e.g., financial, psychosocial, and subjective wellbeing). This work also examines whether consumer empowerment can improve personal wellbeing and strengthen the anticonsumption wellbeing relationship. The results show that voluntarily foregoing consumption does not reduce wellbeing and consumer empowerment plays a significant role in supporting sustainable pathways to consumer wellbeing. This study reasons that empowerment improves consumer sovereignty, but may be detrimental for consumers heavily concerned about debt-free living. The present investigation concludes by proposing implications for public and consumer policymakers wishing to promote appropriate sustainable (anticonsumption) pathways to consumer wellbeing.
Less is more!
(2021)
Enhancing consumer satisfaction and well-being is an important objective of companies, retailers and public policy makers. In the current debate on climate change, a consistent theme is that consumers in developed countries must learn to consume less. The present study (based on representative data sets from the US, N = 1,017, and Germany, N = 1030) addresses these issues by using a scenario-based experiment to analyze how satisfied voluntary simplifiers (people who voluntarily abstain from consumption) are with their purchase decisions in the case of a muesli brand. The research question is whether people who follow a sustainable, simple lifestyle are more satisfied with their daily consumption choices than people who have a more consumerist lifestyle. If so, it would be easier for many people to change their lifestyles and consume less. In addition, this scenario experiment manipulates consumer empowerment and decision complexity since both factors are supposed to influence purchase satisfaction. The results are consistent across both countries and indicate that voluntary simplifiers experience a higher level of purchasing satisfaction than non-simplifiers, whereby empowerment and decision complexity play different roles.
To date, sex and gender differences play only a minor role in medical research and practice, thereby putting individuals’ health at risk. Gender-specific medicine, or the practice of taking these differences into account when conducting research and treating patients so far is being discussed primarily by experts. With people increasingly using social media such as Twitter for sharing and searching for health-related information online, Twitter can potentially educate about gender-specific medicine. However, little is known about the information circulation and the structure of interactions on the Twitter network discussing this topic. Results of a network analysis show that the network exhibits a community-structure, with information exchange being limited and concentrated in silos. This indicates that there is untapped potential for acquiring new information by users through interacting with individuals outside their community. Public health officials may benefit from this insight and tailor online campaigns to enhance awareness on gender-specific medicine.
Online businesses are increasingly relying on targeted advertisements as a revenue stream, which might lead to privacy concerns and hinder product adoption. Therefore, it is crucial for online companies to understand which types of targeted advertisements consumers will accept. In recent years, users have been increasingly targeted by political advertisements, which has caused adverse reactions in media and society. Nonetheless, few studies experimentally investigate user privacy concerns and their role in acceptance decisions in response to targeted political advertisements. To fill this gap, we explore the magnitude of privacy concerns towards targeted political ads compared to “traditional” targeting in the product context. Surprisingly, we find no notable differences in privacy concerns between these data use purposes. In the next step, user preferences over ad types are elicited with the help of a discrete choice experiment in the mobile app adoption context. Our findings suggest that while targeted political advertising is somewhat less desirable than targeted product advertising, the odds of choosing an app are statistically insignificant between two data use purposes. Together, these results contribute to a better understanding of users’ privacy concerns and preferences in the context of targeted political advertising online.
Living in a world of plenty?
(2020)
Inequality in the distribution of economic wealth within populations has been rising steadily over the past century, having reached unprecedented highs in many Western societies. However, this development is not reflected in people’s perceptions of wealth inequality, as the public tends to underestimate it. Research suggests that inequality estimates are derived from personal reference groups, which, as we propose, are expanded by social network site (SNS) use. As content on SNSs frequently revolves around events of consumption, signaling enhanced overall population wealth, this study tests the hypothesis that SNS use distorts inequality perceptions downward, i.e., increases the perception of societal equality. Responses of 534 survey participants in the United States confirm that SNS use negatively predicts perceived inequality. The relationship is stronger the more SNS users perceive the content they encounter online as real, supporting the assumption that observing other people’s behavior online lowers estimates of nationwide wealth inequality. These findings provide novel insights on inequality misperceptions by suggesting individuals’ SNS use as a new predictor of perceived wealth inequality.
The rapid emergence of online targeted political advertising has raised concerns over data privacy and what the government's response should be. This paper tested and confirmed the hypothesis that public attitudes toward stricter regulation of online targeted political advertising are partially motivated by partisan self-interest. We conducted an experiment using an online survey of 1549 Americans who identify as either Democrats or Republicans. Our findings show that Democrats and Republicans believe that online targeted political advertising benefits the opposing party. This belief is based on their conviction that their political opponents are more likely to be mobilized by online targeted political advertising than are supporters of their own party. We exogenously manipulated partisan self-interest considerations of a random subset of participants by truthfully informing them that, in the past, online targeted political advertising has benefited Republicans. Our findings show that Republicans informed about this had less favorable attitudes toward regulation than did their uninformed co-partisans. This suggests that Republicans' attitudes regarding stricter regulation are based not solely on concerns about privacy violations, but also, in part, are caused by beliefs about partisan advantage. The results imply that people are willing to accept violations of their privacy if their preferred party benefits from the use of online targeted political advertising.
Introduction
(2021)
Industry 4.0
(2020)
Industry 4.0 has had a strong influence on the debate on the digitalization of industrial processes, despite being criticized for lacking a proper definition. However, Industry 4.0 might offer a huge chance to align the goals of a sustainable development with the ongoing digital transformation in industrial development. The main contribution of this paper is therefore twofold. We provide a de-facto definition of the concept "Industry 4.0" from a sociotechnical perspective based on its most often cited key features, as well as a thorough review of how far the concept of sustainability is incorporated in it.
The current German start-up subsidy for unemployed individuals underwent a major reform in 2011 that altered key parameters of the program, leading to ambiguous ex ante predictions on the post-reform effectiveness of the program, making a new evaluation necessary. In our descriptive analysis, we find that participants after the reform differ significantly from pre-reform participants in terms of important characteristics and subsequent labor market performance. Our causal analysis reveals positive and sizable treatment effects on the treated regarding employment and income that are larger effects than what was estimated for the pre-reform program. Potential reasons for this are discussed.
Digital software platforms such as iOS or Android evolve quickly. Through regular updates, their set of built-in (core) features increases. While innovation allows strengthening platforms amidst competition, it can hurt contributors when introducing core features that are already provided by third-party developers (Platform Coring).
This book addresses the underexplored phenomenon of Platform Coring and provides strategical guidance for platform owners and third-party contributors. Platform owners are well-advised to carefully consider the benefits and risks for their platform ecosystem.
The book contributes by highlighting avenues to employ Platform Coring for the competitive advantage of the platform and ecosystem simultaneously.
Future ERP Systems
(2021)
This paper presents a research agenda on the current generation of ERP systems which was developed based on a literature review on current problems of ERP systems. The problems are presented following the ERP life cycle. In the next step, the identified problems are mapped on a reference architecture model of ERP systems that is an extension of the three-tier architecture model that is widely used in practice. The research agenda is structured according to the reference architecture model and addresses the problems identified regarding data, infrastructure, adaptation, processes, and user interface layer.
The digital transformation sets new requirements to all classes of enterprise systems in companies. ERP systems in particular, which represent the dominant class of enterprise systems, are struggling to meet the new requirements at all levels of the architecture. Therefore, there is an urgent need to reconsider the overall architecture of the systems and address the root of the related issues. Given that many restrictions ERP pose on their adaptability are related to the standardization of data, the database layer of ERP systems is addressed. Since database serve as the foundation for data storage and retrieval, they limit the flexibility of enterprise systems and the chance to adapt to new requirements accordingly. So far, relational databases are widely used. Using a systematic literature approach, recent requirements for ERP systems were identified. Prominent database approaches were assessed against the 23 requirements identified. The results reveal the strengths and weaknesses of recent database approaches. To this end, the results highlight the demand to combine multiple database approaches to fulfill recent business requirements. From a conceptual point of view, this paper supports the idea of federated databases which are interoperable to fulfill future requirements and support business operation. This research forms the basis for renewal of the current generation of ERP systems and proposes to ERP vendors to use different database concepts in the future.
Track and Treat
(2018)
E-Mail tracking mechanisms gather information on individual recipients’ reading behavior. Previous studies show that e-mail newsletters commonly include tracking elements. However, prior work does not examine the degree to which e-mail senders actually employ gathered user information. The paper closes this research gap by means of an experimental study to clarify the use of tracking-based infor- mation. To that end, twelve mail accounts are created, each of which subscribes to a pre-defined set of newsletters from companies based in Germany, the UK, and the USA. Systematically varying e-mail reading patterns across accounts, each account simulates a different type of user with individual read- ing behavior. Assuming senders to track e-mail reading habits, we expect changes in mailer behavior. The analysis confirms the prominence of tracking in that over 92% of the newsletter e-mails contain tracking images. For 13 out of 44 senders an adjustment of communication policy in response to user reading behavior is observed. Observed effects include sending newsletters at different times, adapting advertised products to match the users’ IT environment, increased or decreased mailing frequency, and mobile-specific adjustments. Regarding legal issues, not all companies that adapt the mail-sending behavior state the usage of such mechanisms in their privacy policy.
E-Mail Tracking
(2016)
E-mail advertisement, as one instrument in the marketing mix, allows companies to collect fine-grained behavioural data about individual users’ e-mail reading habits realised through sophisticated tracking mechanisms. Such tracking can be harmful for user privacy and security. This problem is especially severe since e-mail tracking techniques gather data without user consent. Striving to increase privacy and security in e-mail communication, the paper makes three contributions. First, a large database of newsletter e-mails is developed. This data facilitates investigating the prevalence of e- mail tracking among 300 global enterprises from Germany, the United Kingdom and the United States. Second, countermeasures are developed for automatically identifying and blocking e-mail tracking mechanisms without impeding the user experience. The approach consists of identifying important tracking descriptors and creating a neural network-based detection model. Last, the effectiveness of the proposed approach is established by means of empirical experimentation. The results suggest a classification accuracy of 99.99%.
Coring on Digital Platforms
(2017)
Today’s mobile devices are part of powerful business ecosystems, which usually involve digital platforms. To better understand the complex phenomenon of coring and related dynamics, this paper presents a case study comparing iMessage as part of Apple’s iOS and WhatsApp. Specifically, it investigates activities regarding platform coring, as the integration of several functionalities provided by third-party applications in the platform core. The paper makes three contributions. First, a systematization of coring activities is developed. Coring modes are differentiated by the amount of coring and application maintenance. Second, the case study revealed that the phenomenon of platform coring is present on digital platforms for mobile devices. Third, the fundamentals of coring are discussed as a first step towards theoretical development. Even though coring constitutes a potential threat for third-party developers regarding their functional differentiation, an idea of what a beneficial partnership incorporating coring activities could look like is developed here.
Today’s mobile devices are part of powerful business ecosystems, which usually involve digital platforms. To better understand the complex phenomenon of coring and related dynamics, this paper presents a case study comparing iMessage as part of Apple’s iOS and WhatsApp. Specifically, it investigates activities regarding platform coring, as the integration of several functionalities provided by third-party applications in the platform core. The paper makes three contributions. First, a systematization of coring activities is developed. Coring modes are differentiated by the amount of coring and application maintenance. Second, the case study revealed that the phenomenon of platform coring is present on digital platforms for mobile devices. Third, the fundamentals of coring are discussed as a first step towards theoretical development. Even though coring constitutes a potential threat for third-party developers regarding their functional differentiation, an idea of what a beneficial partnership incorporating coring activities could look like is developed here.
Enterprise systems have long played an important role in businesses of various sizes. With the increasing complexity of today’s business relationships, specialized application systems are being used more and more. Moreover, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence are becoming accessible for enterprise systems. This raises the question of the future role of enterprise systems. This minitrack covers novel ideas that contribute to and shape the future role of enterprise systems with five contributions.
Enterprise systems have long played an important role in businesses of various sizes. With the increasing complexity of today’s business relationships, pecialized application systems are being used more and more. Moreover, emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence are becoming accessible for enterprise systems. This raises the question of the future role of enterprise systems. This minitrack covers novel ideas that contribute to and shape the future role of enterprise systems with five contributions.
While Information Systems (IS) Research on the individual and workgroup level of analysis is omnipresent, research on the enterprise-level IS is less frequent. Even though research on Enterprise Systems and their management is established in academic associations and conference programs, enterprise-level phenomena are underrepresented. This minitrack provides a forum to integrate existing research streams that traditionally needed to be attached to other topics (such as IS management or IS governance). The minitrack received broad attention. The three selected papers address different facets of the future role of enterprise-wide IS including aspects such as carbonization, ecosystem integration, and technology-organization fit.
The idea of the continuous improvement process (CIP) helps companies to continuously improve their operation and thereby contributes to their competitiveness. Through digi tization, new potentials emerge to solve known CIP issues. This contribution specifically addresses the individual motivation of employees to contribute to the CIP. Typically, related initiatives lack contributions over time. The use of gamification is a promising way to achieve continuous participation by addressing the individual needs of participants. While the use of extrinsic motivation elements is common in practice, the idea of this approach is to specifically address intrinsic motivations which serve as a long-term motivator. This article contributes to a gam-ification concept for the continuous improvement process. The main results include an adapted CIP, a gamification concept, and a market mechanism. Furthermore, the concept is implemented and demonstrated as a prototype in an online platform.
Government as a Platform?
(2022)
Digital platforms, by their design, allow the coordination of multiple entities to achieve a common goal. In the public sector, different understandings of the platform concept prevail. To guide the development and further re-search a coherent understanding is required. To address this gap, we identify the constitutive elements of platforms in the public sector. Moreover, their potential to coordinate partially autonomous entities as typical for federal organized states is highlighted. This study contributes through a uniform understanding of public service platforms by providing a framework with constitutive elements, that may guide future analysis. Apart from chance regarding coordination, platforms are well suited to support contextual eGovernment targets. Among them is service personalization. Highly individualized service offerings support targets such as No Stop government. To this end, the paper extends the framework for service personalization in the public sector and exemplifies related aspects using a reference case.
Government as a platform?
(2021)
Digital platforms, by their design, allow the coordination of multiple entities to achieve a common goal. Motivated by the success of platforms in the private sector, they increasingly receive attention in the public sector. However, different understandings of the platform concept prevail. To guide the development and further research a coherent understanding is required. To address this gap, we identify the constitutive elements of platforms in the public sector. Moreover, their potential to coordinate partially autonomous entities as typical for federal organized states is highlighted.
This study contributes through a uniform understanding of public service platforms. Despite constitutive elements, the proposed framework for platforms in the public sector may guide future analysis. The analysis framework is applied to platforms of federal states in the European Union.
Software platforms allow for the extension of features by third-party contributors. Thereby, platform innovation is an important aspects of platforms attractiveness for users and complementors. While previous research focused the introduction of new features, the aspect of feature removal and discontinued features on software platforms has been disregarded. To explore the phenomenon and motivations for feature removal on software platforms, a review of recent literature is provided. To illustrate the existence of and motivations for feature removal, a case study of the browser platform Mozilla Firefox is presented. The results reveal feature removal to regularly occur on browser platforms for user- and developer-related features. Frequent reasons for feature removal involve unused features, security concerns, and bugs. Related motivations for feature removal are discussed from the platform owner's perspective. Implications for complementors and users are highlighted.
Software platforms regularly introduce new features to remain competitive. While platform innovation is considered to be a critical success factor, adding certain features could hurt the ecosystem. If platform owners provide functionality that was previously provided by a contributor, the owners enter complementary product spaces. Complementary market entry frequently occurs on software platforms and is a major concern for third-party developers.
Divergent findings on the impact of complementary market entry call for the consideration of additional factors. As prior research neglected the third-party perspective, this contribution aims to address this gap. We explore the use of measures to prevent complementary market entry using a survey approach on browser platforms. The research model is tested with 655 responses among developer from Mozilla Firefox and Google Chrome. To explain countermeasures employment, developer’s attitude and perceived likelihood are important. The results reveal that developers employ countermeasures if complementary market entry is assessed negatively and perceived as likely for their extension. Differences among browser platforms concerning complementary market entry are identified. Product spaces of extensions being available on multiple platforms are less likely to be entered and more heavily protected. Implications for research and stakeholders, i.e. platform owners and contributors are discussed.
Modern browsers are digital software platforms, as they allow third parties to extend functionality by providing extensions. In a highly competitive environment, differentiation through provided functionality is a key factor for browser platforms. As the development of browsers progress, new functions are constantly being released. Browsers could thus enter complementary markets by adding functionality previously provided by third-party extensions, which is referred to as ‘platform coring’. Previous studies have missed the perspective of the parties involved. To address this gap, we conducted interviews with third-party and core developers in the security and privacy domain from Firefox and Chrome. This study provides three contributions. First, insights into stakeholder-specific issues concerning coring. Second, measures to prevent coring. Third, strategical guidance for developers and owners. Third-party vendors experienced and core developers confirmed that coring occurs on browser platforms. While developers with extrinsic motivations assess coring negatively, developers with intrinsic motivations perceive coring positively.
Modern web browsers are digital software platforms, as they allow third-parties to extend functionality by providing extensions. Given the intense competition, differentiation through provided functionality is a key factor for browser platforms. As browsers progress, they constantly release new features. Browsers might thereby enter complementary markets if they add functionality formerly provided by third-party extensions, which is referred to as ‘platform coring’. Previous studies missed the perspective of the involved parties. To address this gap, we conduct interviews with third-party and core developers in the security and privacy domain from Firefox and Chrome. In essence, the study provides three contributions. First, insights into stakeholder-specific issues concerning coring. Second, measures to prevent coring. Third, strategical guidance for developers and owners. Third-parties experienced and core developers acknowledged coring to occur on browser platforms. While developers with extrinsic motivations assess coring negatively, developers with intrinsic motivations perceive coring positively.
While Information Systems Research exists at the individual and workgroup levels, research on IS at the enterprise level is less common. The potential synergies between the study of enterprise systems (ES) and related fields have been underexplored and often treated as separate entities. The ongoing challenge is to seamlessly integrate technological advances and align business processes across organizations. While systems integration within an organization is common, changes occur when industry and ecosystem perspectives come into play. The four selected papers address different facets of the future role of enterprise ecosystems, including implementation challenges, ecosystem boundaries, and B2B platform specifics.
Missing out on life
(2020)
Mobile devices have become an integral part of everyday life due to
their portability. As literature shows, technology use is not only beneficial but also has dark sides, such as addiction. Parents face the need to balance perceived benefits and risks of children’s exposure to mobile technologies. However, no study has uncovered what kind of benefits and concerns parents consider when implementing technology-related rules. We built on qualitative responses of 300
parents of children aged two to thirteen to explore concerns about, and perceived benefits of children’s smartphone and tablet usage, as well as the rules parents have developed regarding technology use. Findings point to concerns regarding children’s development, as well as benefits for both children and parents, and ultimately to new insights about mobile technology mediation. These results provide practical guidance for parents, physicians and mobile industry
stakeholders, trying to ensure that children are acting responsibly with mobile technology.
This article explores the structural diversity of intraministerial organization over time. Based on organization theory, it proposes a generic typology for intraministerial units applicable to any hierarchically structured government organization. We empirically investigate the critical case of the German federal bureaucracy. By classifying its subunits, we analyze the longitudinal development of structural differentiation and its correspondence to denominational variety. The data stem from a novel international dataset, covering all ministries between 1980 and 2015. We find that intraministerial structure differentiates over time, across and within ministries. A stable core of traditional Weberian structure is complemented by structurally innovative intraministerial units. We conclude that the German federal bureaucracy is more diverse than suggested in previous literature. Our findings indicate that less Weberian bureaucracies are at least as structurally diverse and that more reform-driven bureaucracies will have experienced at least as many changes in structural diversity.
Technological developments such as Cloud Computing, the Internet of Things, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence continue to drive the digital transformation of business and society. With the advent of platform-based ecosystems and their potential to address complex challenges, there is a trend towards greater interconnectedness between different stakeholders to co-create services based on the provision and use of data. While previous research on digital transformation mainly focused on digital transformation within organizations, it is of growing importance to understand the implications for digital transformation on different layers (e.g., interorganizational cooperation and platform ecosystems). In particular, the conceptualization and implications of public data spaces and related ecosystems provide promising research opportunities. This special issue contains five papers on the topic of digital transformation and, with the editorial, further contributes by providing an initial conceptualization of public data spaces' potential to foster innovative progress and digital transformation from a management perspective.