Electronic Commerce Research and Applications最新文献

We report on two studies that examine how social sentiment influences information asymmetry in digital currency markets. We also assess whether cryptocurrency can be an investment vehicle, as opposed to only an instrument for asset speculation. Using a dataset on transactions from an exchange in South Korea and sentiment from Korean social media in 2018, we conducted a study of different trading behavior under two cryptocurrency trading market microstructures: a bid-ask spread dealer’s market and a continuous trading buy-sell, immediate trade execution market. Our results highlight the impacts of positive and negative trader social sentiment valences on the effects of information asymmetry on observed trading patterns. This includes the spillover effect of volatile social sentiment, and the leverage effect when a cryptocurrency’s value falls or rises in response to changing sentiment. Our results highlight how volatility arises in parallel with investors’ reactions to public information and trade transaction volume. If the price falls beyond participants’ expectations, a negative shock from new information may lead to more volatile social sentiment than a positive shock of the same size does. Our work supports the roles of investment and speculation for cryptocurrency by identifying an immediate impulse and a longer-term effect of economic variables in the presence of sentiment-led information asymmetry. We contribute new knowledge to the interdisciplinary literature on the financial economics of digital currency for a technological innovation that has matured earlier than many observers may realize.

Consumers’ participation in brand value co-creation has played an important role in brand building since the rise of social media. There is little research that investigates brand value co-creation behaviors and their antecedents in social media-based brand communities (SMBBCs). This research proposes and tests an integrated model of brand value co-creation behaviors on the basis of the uses and gratifications and attachment theories. This study recruited 932 valid brand community members on Weibo, one of the most well-known social media platforms in China. Structural equation modeling was used to test the research model. The research findings confirm that brand community members’ motivations positively influence common identity-based and bond-based attachments, which in turn affect knowledge sharing behavior and brand advocacy. This research provides theoretical and practical contributions for SMBBC managers.

Negative electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) occasionally results from mismatches between reviewers’ preferences and product characteristics. In this study, we propose that enhancing consumers’ cognition of preference heterogeneity can overcome the egocentric anchoring in decision-making, thus inhibiting the negative influence of preference-oriented negative eWOM on consumers’ responses. Through four studies, we demonstrate that the negative impact of preference-oriented negative eWOM can be effectively reduced when consumers have high inherent cognition of preference heterogeneity or temporarily increase their cognition of preference heterogeneity by situational priming. Cognitive priming of preference heterogeneity has a more significant inhibitory effect on negative eWOM among less experienced consumers than more experienced consumers. Additionally, problem attribution plays a mediating role in shaping the impact of preference heterogeneity cognition on consumer responses, with a more pronounced mediating effect observed among less experienced consumers compared to their more experienced counterparts. The findings of this study have important theoretical significance and practical value for understanding the biased influence of eWOM on the consumer’s decision-making process.

We analyze the cooperation mechanism in a group buying channel where a supplier sells products to heterogeneous consumers through an organizer. We consider two cooperation mechanisms: traditional wholesale mechanism and commission negotiation mechanism. In particular, suppliers often need to negotiate the commission fee with organizers who promote products in group buying. The organizer faces two types of consumers who differ in their valuation of product quality (i.e., informed consumers and one less-informed consumers). We identify the conditions under which cooperation mechanism and consumer segment can lead to ”win-win” and ”win-lose” outcomes for the supplier and the organizer in group buying. We find that the supply chain incentives are often misaligned under the wholesale mechanism because the supplier extracts the entire profit from the organizer. However, the supplier and the organizer have perfect alignment of preferences when the operating cost is medium and the bargaining power is not so high. We also show that, when the product quality is endogenous, the commission negotiation mechanism can generate more consumer surplus. The theoretical and managerial insights derived from this work contribute to a deeper conceptual and practical comprehension of how suppliers make strategic decisions in group buying settings.

This article investigates how the message topics of electronic word of mouth (eWOM) (feasibility vs. desirability) and platforms with varying psychological distances contribute to the eWOM effect. Within the framework of the construal level theory, we examine the moderating role of the platforms (social media vs. online shopping websites) on the suggested eWOM message → perceived credibility → perceived diagnosticity → eWOM effect relationship. The results from a randomized online experiment with a sample of 316 participants (Mean age = 29.44, SD = 8.94, Range = [18, 70], 219 females) reveal that for readers of eWOM on social media, feasibility-oriented eWOM has a greater effect than desirability-oriented eWOM; while for readers of eWOM on online shopping websites, there is no significant difference between the impacts of the two types of eWOM messages. These findings provide support for the moderating effect of platforms on this relationship. Specifically, the effect of feasibility-oriented eWOM is more pronounced for readers on social media compared to that on online shopping websites, whereas the effect of desirability-oriented eWOM is similar for readers on online shopping websites and social media. These findings have implications for marketing strategies involving eWOM and offer insights into the effects of platforms, construal level theory, and the Elaboration Likelihood Model of information adoption.

Some players of online games download third-party cheats to gain an unfair advantage, which frustrates regular players and lowers the publisher’s revenue from in-game purchases. The publisher may respond by turning a blind eye, banning suspected accounts, or sequestering suspected players against each other on isolated servers. In this study, we apply the technique of industrial organization to investigate the dynamics between a game publisher and a cheats developer in a vertically differentiated market to figure out whether these countermeasures can effectively curb the use of cheating add-ons. Depending on the countermeasures adopted and their impacts, the cheats developer may either cater to a small but loyal customer base for avoiding further removal action or attract a large group of players to evade isolation. Particularly, this study, based on market mechanisms, explains the prevalence of cheating in massively multiplayer online games, despite the efforts to curb such behavior.

Herding behavior refers to the imitation of the behavior of the masses. The primary purpose of this study is to determine how herding affects digital purchases. It is an under-researched area in the marketing and consumer behavior context. First, one needs to understand the circumstances under which one is likely to herd. Second, it is yet to be understood how the effect of observing others' buying behavior transmits into herding. Third, there needs to be a better understanding of the role of price in one's tendency to herd. An online experiment with 541 participants was conducted using a 3 (consumer ratings/sales volume/control) × 2 (high involvement product/low involvement product) between-subjects design. LED TV was selected as a high-involvement product and ball pen pack was selected as a low-involvement product. This research study combined three theories to propose a holistic herding model. It used the social impact theory to capture its persuasive impact, the information adoption model to analyze the acceptance of herding information, and the cue utilization theory to assess the inference from herding information in consumer decision-making. Results indicated significant negative moderating effects of perceived price and product knowledge and the positive moderating effect of perceived uncertainty between the relationship of herding cues (star rating and the number of products sold) and herding behavior. In addition, the mediating results of perceived information usefulness and perceived quality were also significant. This herding model provides a holistic view of the herding process beyond limiting it to an attempt to follow others blindly. Therefore, this study has both theoretical as well as managerial implications.

Although fraudulent operations on e-commerce platforms have been repeatedly mentioned, neither its causes nor the complexity among merchants has been systematically established in the literature. Combined with a merchant complex network and game theory, we propose a signaling game model. The model highlights that the pooling equilibrium is why merchants transmit false signals. Imposing the penalty on dishonest merchants can shift to the separation equilibrium, an effective way to resolve the credit crisis. Meanwhile, we utilize consumer reviews to adjust the stability of the separation equilibrium and demonstrate the validity by numerical simulations. The results show that the enthusiasm and authenticity of reviews were complementary to penalty strategies. The moderate enthusiasm and influence of reviews, and high authenticity, are more conducive to the long-term development of the e-commerce platform. The findings of this study provide insight into platform credit supervision from the perspective of consumer reviews.

Brand differentiation is an effective strategy commonly used by large-scale brand manufacturers to produce multiple brands of a particular product type. To avoid undesirable inter-brand competition, a brand manufacturer prefers to adopt multiple online sales channels (OSCs) with different channel’s service levels provided by the online retailer in selling such differentiated brands. Considering both brand and channel’s service differentiation, this joint decision of the brand manufacturer and online retailer achieves the coordination of retail supply chain. Our study is based upon a model that consists of a responsible brand manufacturer(he) that aims to maximise profits and enhance consumer surplus (CS). He offers two brands with differentiated consumer acceptances, a premium and an economy brand. Also, he chooses between two OSCs (a reselling and a marketplace channel) to provide different levels of services. The brand manufacturer’s OSC strategies are investigated according to the interplay between brand and service differentiation, and profits and CS, respectively. The results show that the brand manufacturer prefers differentiated OSCs for two brands as service differentiation decreases. Also, at low brand differentiation and alternatively, high brand differentiation and low service differentiation, the brand manufacturer and consumers show different OSC preferences. Finally, a case study is performed to validate our results.

The discontinuance behavior of augmented reality (AR) apps is a significant challenge for enterprises providing long-term services. While AR technology has been widely used in e-commerce, most consumers are not prone to continue using AR apps after briefly experiencing them. The literature lacks a deep understanding of the antecedent conditions of the discontinuance behavior of AR apps in this context and is limited by inconsistent findings; thus, there is a need for an integrated theoretical framework. Based on the two-factor theoretical model, this research focused on six influencing factors from the perspectives of enablers, inhibitors, and individual factors to explore complex discontinuance behavior. In accordance with this theoretical objective, fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA), an emerging configuration analysis approach, was adopted. Data were collected from 285 consumers with AR experience on Jingdong, one of the largest e-commerce platforms in China. The fsQCA results revealed multiple configurations for the high and non-high discontinuance behavior of AR apps. Specifically, although system quality and technology anxiety play core roles, discontinuance behavior is also highly dependent on other factors. From these results, five (three) antecedent configurations leading to the high (non-high) discontinuance behavior of AR apps were derived. This research enriches the understanding of the complex, asymmetric, and equivalent causes of the discontinuance behavior of AR apps and provides novel insights that will enable management practitioners to take appropriate countermeasures.