Digital Business最新文献

Big data analytics received much attention in the last decade and is viewed as one of the next most important strategic resources for organizations. Yet, the role of employees' data literacy seems to be neglected in current literature. The aim of this study is twofold: (1) it develops data literacy as an organization competency by identifying its dimensions and measurement, and (2) it examines the relationship between data literacy and governmental performance (internal and external). Using data from a survey of 120 Dutch governmental agencies, the proposed model was tested using PLS-SEM. The results empirically support the suggested theoretical framework and corresponding measurement instrument. The results partially support the relationship of data literacy with performance as a significant effect of data literacy on internal performance. However, counter-intuitively, this significant effect is not found in relation to external performance.

Under the umbrella of Industry 4.0 (I4.0), manufacturing companies have implemented various digital solutions, improving productivity. Shop floor management (SFM) is the core management instrument in manufacturing and is a precondition for implementing new systems. In recent decades, visualization boards (VB) have played a significant role in facilitating SFM. Following the I4.0 agenda, tremendous investments in manufacturing technologies have been spent to enable data-driven decision-making to support SFM in monitoring and controlling manufacturing. However, it does not seem that the digital transition has reached the SFM practice yet. Currently, most manufacturers rely on analog VBs. One would think, that applying such an analog tool limits the opportunities to harvest the full potential of the digital investments to improve SFM conditions. This paper aims to shed light on this gap by contributing to the existing literature on digital SFM by adding to the discussion on how the role of analog VBs as an SFM instrument is changing due to the digital transition of manufacturing. The research follows a case study approach, including 16 cases that illustrate the use of current VBs to facilitate SFM in 16 international companies. The findings demonstrate an SFM model (The Danish SFM model) which indicates that VBs are indispensable tools to facilitate SFM. Given the functionalities of current digital VBs provide limitations, analog VBs still prove useful to the SFM practice. Despite practitioners are experiencing challenges within their digital transition of SFM VBs, the findings highlight eight reasons why a digital transition is warranted.

Recent studies indicate that online interactions generate significant effects on consumer behavior, such as customer loyalty and satisfaction, through shopping values, while there are only very few studies devoted to user stickiness. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to contribute to the existing literature by analyzing the effects of online interactions on user stickiness in a social commerce environment through the perspective of shopping values. This study measures online interactions through perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and social interactivity. Shopping values are evaluated by both utilitarian and hedonic values. Then a Stimulus (S)-Organism (O)-Response (R) model that relates online interaction, shopping values and user stickiness, is constructed to derive several research hypotheses. Based on 183 valid questionnaires the results reveal that perceived ease of use and social interactivity can positively affect utilitarian shopping values and user stickiness, while perceived usefulness and social interactivity positively affect hedonic shopping values and then influence user stickiness. Hence, online interactions play a crucial role in strengthening user stickiness in social commerce. Therefore, for social commerce platforms, managers need to continue improving their perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and social interactivity to attract and retain their users.

In today's fast-changing world, it is essential not only to be innovative but also to innovate efficiently. The latter can be measured through the multi-faceted construct of innovation efficiency. While researchers recently have started investigating factors and practices fostering innovation efficiency, the fact that radical and incremental innovations require different structures and approaches has not been considered yet. This study, therefore, merges the innovation efficiency literature with the ambidexterity literature and divides innovation efficiency into exploitative and explorative innovation activities. As competition is an essential variable affecting innovation, this study explores its influence on explorative as well as exploitative innovation processes in terms of efficiency. Whereas exploitative and explorative innovation activities come together within general innovation efficiency to positively influence turnover growth, separately they have no effect on it. Data Envelopment Analysis is applied to determine the innovation efficiency, and ordinary linear and Tobit regressions are used to uncover different modes of operation of exploitative and explorative innovation activities. The results indicate that price competition hampers exploitative innovation efficiency, whereas explorative innovation efficiency might improve through outside pressure of product and quality competition. The results provide academics with a new perspective on explorative and exploitative innovation management, contribute to further detangling drivers and factors behind innovation efficiency, and help practitioners to better understand drivers of efficiency for the respective innovation processes.

The traditional pipeline-based approach to operating business is currently challenged by the platform-based approach. The research on digital platforms and platform business is well established and includes multiple different design frameworks for building platform business but they seem to lack the dynamic nature of platform design. We explore the birth of digital transaction platforms as a dynamic process to demonstrate the dynamic complexity of designing platform-based businesses. The paper presents a multiple case study focusing on the birth phases of four resource constrained start-ups. Based on literature study and theme interviews, we apply systems mapping to analyse the early growth of four digital platform ecosystems. Our findings indicate that the growth of platform-based business is a result of various self-reinforcing and balancing feedback loops, which create dynamic behaviour of the system. In the early phases of platforms lifecycle, start-ups struggle to offset the dominating feedback structures that limit the growth. These feedback structures vary based on business environment and platform design choices made by the platform company. The research contributes to academic discussion on digital business by providing empirical and theoretical insights into growth dynamics of business based on digital platforms.

Key stakeholders across different industries with competing visions, motivations and technology bets are investing significant financial resources in developing the building blocks of the metaverse. The purpose of this opinion piece aimed primarily at practitioners is to explore the key question: What is needed to make the metaverse real? What are the key uncertainties that must be resolved? We are motivated by shedding light on whether the metaverse is just a new marketing buzzword or a new transformative trend. We have identified six areas with key uncertainties, which require agreement and solutions from industry players – the space, the interface, the IT infrastructure, the monetary infrastructure, the digital ID and the energy. These uncertainties will be resolved in a series of cooperative and competitive games among the key stakeholders who will need to work on being aligned on a set of standards. The practical implication is that the metaverse cannot be ignored, but there are non-trivial challenges that need to be resolved first. Our paper provides a framework for practitioners to think through these issues in a more systematic fashion.

This research explores the effects of personalization in email marketing. Although personalization is expected to positively impact customer experiences through behavioural responses, its effects on consumers' actual behaviour have not been extensively addressed, providing retailers limited guidance on how to develop personalized communication strategies. Two experimental studies were designed to test the effectiveness of personalization. Results show positive effects of personalized messages on retailers' performance while also highlighting instances of reactance. The originality of this paper lies in identifying possible causes of the contrasting effects of personalization on consumer behaviour by investigating them alongside various customers' online shopping decision making phases. It also provides managerial implications by suggesting guidelines on how to implement effective personalization in email marketing.

The Internet of things (IoT) representing the online exchange of data from real devices is a major revolution that is transforming the whole of society. IoT has penetrated in the health field by facilitating healthcare exchanger for users and professionals. This article aims to examine several factors reinforcing user engagement. A theoretical framework was developed and includes the perceived autonomy, the desire for self-development, and the user trust to predict IoT user engagement in the medical context. The partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) approach was conducted with a sample of 109 French users. The findings highlight the relationship between trust and engagement in the use of the IoT device to improve health behavior. This research is part of a long-term IoT customer/designer relationship based on interaction and trust. It can enable IoT providers, medical professionals, and marketers to optimize patient communication to target potential users more accurately and reduce user abandonment of devices.

Studies on social media use and effectiveness in large firms abound in the literature. However, social media usage for relationship marketing in small and medium enterprises is under-researched. This research examined how social media affordances influence SMEs' relationships with their customers. The Technology Affordance theory was utilized as the theoretical framework. Furthermore, a case study was used as the research design. The study's participants were SME owners/managers operating in Ghana. The thematic analysis technique was used to analyze data. The study identified three affordances of social media in the context of relationship marketing in SMEs: brand visibility, sharing, and relationship. These social media affordances result in customer acquisition. The findings and their implications have been discussed in the paper.

The so-called “Fourth Industrial revolution”, also termed as “Industry 4.0” in the wider literature, is associated with several cutting-edge technologies. Indicative examples in this category are advanced applications like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data Analytics (BDA), Cloud Computing and Internet of Things (IoT), which are already influencing the maritime industry. It is indicative of the fact that there are several construction projects of autonomous ships, such as the Yara Birkeland and the Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship (ASDS), which are heavily reliant on technologies associated with the Industry 4.0 concept. The maritime transport industry is already transitioning into a new operations paradigm, often termed as “shipping in the era of digitalization”. Shipping companies promote digitalization as the future of the maritime industry and their efforts to set up strategies are already in progress. Examining those visions and strategies in relation to digitalization would be beneficial to better understand the way towards which the maritime industry is heading. This paper is aiming to identify the characteristics of that pool of future plans via a qualitative review and with a particular focus on major maritime commercial actors, based on shipping companies' relevant action plans that were gathered online. A conclusion standing out is that major shipping companies have embraced digitalization to increase cost-efficiency, raise competitiveness and meet the needs of their customers.