Internet Research最新文献

Purpose

This study aims to examine the cultural and economic circumstances that shape esports consumer agency through case studies of “experiential consumption” (Miles, 2021).

Design/methodology/approach

A multiple-case study approach (Stake, 2006) is deployed alongside participant observation and document analysis to identify three cases of experiential consumption in esports – an esports tournament, a large online community for gaming peripherals and accessories, and an esportswear fashion brand.

Findings

The research identifies three aspects of experiential consumption relevant to esports. First, tournaments are sensory and emotional “spectacles”, immersing consumers in memorable experiences. Second, online gaming communities enable consumers to express themselves through “self-work”. Third, esportswear companies engage consumers with exclusive, authentic fashion experiences via “lifestyle branding”.

Research limitations/implications

The case studies highlight the need for future cross-cultural research on esports experiences, particularly how regional differences shape consumer behaviour. The impact of emerging technologies like virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), blockchain and AI on personalising experiences, enhancing interactivity and related ethical considerations should be further explored.

Practical implications

Esports stakeholders can enhance esports events with real-time data analytics, VR and AR to create immersive experiences. They can also diversify income streams via personalised and exclusive apparel lines that reflect consumer identity, collaborating with mainstream fashion or entertainment brands. Compelling, emotionally resonant storytelling can deepen fan engagement and help build brand loyalty.

Originality/value

This article presents a new theoretical understanding of esports consumption through multiple case studies of experiential consumption, revealing the central role that “experience” plays in shaping the design and choice of esports products and services.

Purpose

Multiple crowdfunding platforms have been created over the last decade. Some have become extremely successful, but many others have failed. This study focuses on those strategic choices that founders of crowdfunding platforms need to make early on and which determine the basic characteristics of a platform. Specifically, it examines which combination(s) of these initial strategic choices shape(s) the survival of a platform.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative comparative analysis is used to analyze the design configurations that are especially relevant for the long-term survival of crowdfunding platforms. Several robustness checks are performed. The empirical setting consists of a unique dataset of all crowdfunding platforms created in Spain over a period of ten years.

Findings

Ten configurations are obtained (four in the case of reward and donation platforms, and six for equity and lending), suggesting different paths to platform survival. Although equity and lending platforms tend to be more likely to survive than donation and reward platforms, the type of platform is not definitive. Another interesting observation is that when platforms fail, they do so quite fast.

Practical implications

We acknowledge that strategic choices are a combination of different elements; therefore, our approach offers a holistic view that mirrors the heterogeneity of resources and capabilities of entrepreneurs. Our study derives a different set of recommendations for lending and equity platforms than for reward and donation platforms, underlining the importance of designing and treating each type of platform in a particular way.

Originality/value

Most crowdfunding literature has the individual crowdfunding project as the main level of analysis. Research to date has focused on the characteristics that projects must possess to succeed. The present study explores differences at the platform level. Our research brings new evidence on some of the decisions entrepreneurs need to confront when starting a crowdfunding platform and provides useful recommendations that might help them increase the chances of survival for their platform.

Purpose

Online patient reviews are of considerable importance on online health platforms. However, there is limited understanding of how these reviews are generated and their impact on patients' choices of physicians. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the antecedents and consequences of online patient reviews on online health platforms.

Design/methodology/approach

This study introduced an online interaction model with multiple stages aimed at examining how physicians' service quality affects patients' review behavior and, consequently, influences patients' choices of physicians.

Findings

The results revealed that technical quality and emotional care significantly influenced the effort that patients exert and their use of positive emotional words when writing reviews, which, in turn, positively influenced patients' selection of physicians. Moreover, it was found that the voice channel had a significant moderating effect on the relationship between physician service quality and patient review behavior.

Practical implications

The study’s findings can help online health platform managers improve the platform system by optimizing the integrated text and voice interaction functions. The findings can also support physicians in improving service quality, managing online reviews and attracting patients’ choices.

Originality/value

This study enriches the literature on physician service quality, patient online reviews and choices in online health platforms. Furthermore, this study offers a novel perspective on the social exchange process in online healthcare settings by highlighting the role of media in shaping physician–patient interactions.

Purpose

The metaverse enables users to create their own avatars in a shared virtual space, giving rise to a new avatar personality that differs from their real-self personality. The aim of this research is to explore how users' real-self and avatar personalities may affect their behavioral engagement and satisfaction in the metaverse context.

Design/methodology/approach

This research applies self-discrepancy theory to investigate how the big five traits of both real-self and avatar personalities influence users' engagement and satisfaction in the metaverse. The present research employed a mixed-methods approach, beginning with a qualitative study to identify prevalent personality cues among users on metaverse social media platforms. Subsequently, a quantitative study was conducted to further validate the findings of the qualitative study.

Findings

The results indicated that avatar personality scored higher than the real-self personality in the dimensions of openness, conscientiousness and extraversion, while scored lower in the dimensions of agreeableness and neuroticism. Both real-self and avatar personality traits positively influenced metaverse satisfaction via behavioral engagement in the metaverse. Notably, avatar personality traits had a stronger impact on behavioral engagement compared to real-self personality traits, which further influence metaverse satisfaction.

Practical implications

The present study offers practical insights for metaverse developers and managers to enhance user satisfaction by focusing on users’ big five traits of both real-self and avatar personality. It suggests implementing personalized tools, organizing personality-based social activities and other initiatives to encourage user’s behavioral engagement and ultimately enhance metaverse satisfaction.

Originality/value

Unlike existing research that concentrates on a single facet of personality traits, this research employs a mixed-methods approach to conceptualize users' real-self personality and avatar personality, further exploring their impacts on metaverse satisfaction.

Purpose

The study investigates the relationship between social presence dimensions and customer brand engagement (CBE) as well as the relation between customer brand engagement and purchase intention (PI) in the fashion retail metaverse with self-efficacy moderating between CBE and PI.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were gathered by conducting an online survey (n = 476) from young adults exposed to fashion retail metaverse platforms. The collected data were analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The findings discovered that social presence dimensions positively impact CBE, which substantially impacts the PI of young consumers in the fashion retail metaverse. The findings demonstrate that self-efficacy moderates the relationship between CBE and PI.

Research limitations/implications

This study uses cross-sectional data in the fashion retail metaverse for young consumers. Future studies can use longitudinal data in the context of other industries and demographic profiles to assess changing customer behavior.

Practical implications

This study implies that customer experiences can be enriched through social presence dimensions, helping brands adapt their offers to create more engaging and rewarding customer interactions. It offers insights for brand managers aiming to augment the relationship between CBE and PI.

Originality/value

The study uniquely explores the relationship between social presence dimensions and CBE within the fashion retail metaverse. It examines self-efficacy as a moderator between CBE and PI, providing fresh insights into consumer behavior in the fashion retail metaverse.

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to explore the relationship between digital transformation and corporate fraud.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses panel data of Chinese listed corporations from 2010 to 2021 and captures digital transformation from the perspectives of awareness and investment by extracting related content from annual reports. Our work investigates whether and how digital transformation influences corporate fraud and examines the moderating effects of the legal environment, media environment and privacy concerns.

Findings

Our findings show that digital transformation, captured either from awareness or actual investment, can significantly alleviate corporate fraud. Our results are robust in a set of endogeneity tests and robustness checks. Additionally, we confirm that digital transformation alleviates corporate fraud through two mechanisms: improving internal monitoring and boosting information flow. Additionally, this alleviating effect is more pronounced for corporations with fewer privacy concerns and in worse legal and media environments.

Practical implications

Our findings provide insights for policymakers to motivate corporations to engage in digital transformation for fraud prevention. We also offer guidelines for corporations to improve their awareness and actual investments in digital transformation and take advantage of its governance effect in preventing corporate fraud.

Originality/value

Overall, we highlight the governance role of digital transformation in alleviating corporate fraud and provide policy implications for regulators in emerging economies to regard digital transformation as an effective tool for fraud prevention.

Purpose

Given the urgency of corporate engagement in sustainable development, companies seek ways to involve their employees in sustainability efforts. In this regard, gamified systems have gained attention as a novel tool to promote sustainable employee behavior. However, as the research field matures, researchers and practitioners are confronted with a scattered academic landscape that makes it difficult to grasp how gamification can be designed to engage employees in sustainable behavior and to understand how gamification effects unfold at psychological, behavioral and corporate levels of sustainability.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses a systematic literature review to consolidate the existing knowledge on gamification designs and their effects on sustainable employee behavior.

Findings

Studies have explored a variety of utilitarian and achievement-, immersion- and social-related gameful affordances to promote positive behavior- and system-related psychological effects as a basis for employee engagement in sustainable behavior. However, the evidence regarding their impact on rational decision-making processes and overcoming the intention-action gap inherent in sustainability is still limited. Nevertheless, several studies in focused areas indicate the potential to elicit behavioral changes that drive sustainability outcomes at the corporate level as well.

Originality/value

Our study provides three main contributions. First, we develop a conceptual framework that illustrates how gamification can drive sustainable behavior in the workplace. Second, we derive seven agenda points to guide future research on gamification for corporate sustainability. Third, we deduce three practical approaches to use gamification as a strategic intervention to promote sustainable behavior in organizations.

Purpose

The metaverse, a virtual space where one can build and explore with others using avatars, is drawing global interest. Then questions arise: What drives consumers to customize their avatars and purchase virtual items in the metaverse? Who customizes and purchases virtual items more than others? To find the answers, this study tested a research model that explains why consumers customize their avatars and buy virtual items in the metaverse.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the stimuli-organism-response model, this study posits that metaverse characteristics (i.e. escapism, visual attractiveness, social interaction and autonomy) arouse consumers’ curiosity toward the metaverse, which in turn evokes avatar customization behavior and virtual item purchase intention. Survey data from 501 metaverse-experienced consumers in both the US and Korea are analyzed.

Findings

The result revealed that all four metaverse characteristics were found to stimulate consumers’ curiosity. Consumers’ curiosity enhances avatar customization behavior and purchase intention of the virtual items. Further, avatar customization behavior increases the purchase intention of virtual items.

Practical implications

The findings provide valuable insights into how metaverse platforms can effectively engage consumers by stimulating curiosity, especially through social interaction, and offering extensive avatar customization options and virtual items.

Originality/value

This study highlights how the metaverse’s open-ended experiences, user-driven customization and social interactions – unlike traditional online games – spark consumer curiosity. It emphasizes the pivotal role of curiosity in driving metaverse engagement and highlights the need to consider it as a central construct in future research. Additionally, this study provides managerial implications for virtual item purchases in the metaverse.

Purpose

Influencer transgressions can disappoint their followers. However, there is a lack of clarity about the effects of a false allegation on an influencer–follower relationship. Drawing from cognitive dissonance and moral reasoning theory, the current study aims to examine how this relationship is shaped across three time periods (before the allegation is leveled, after the allegation is leveled, and when the allegation is found to be baseless).

Design/methodology/approach

We study comments posted by followers of two falsely alleged social media influencers (SMI) on their YouTube and Instagram channels. Latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) followed by netnography is used for thematic analysis. LDA is a social media topic modeling method that processes a statistically representative set of words to explain the tone and tenor of qualitative conversations. A sentiment analysis of the comments is done using SentiStrength.

Findings

When an allegation is leveled initially, the response from followers is overwhelmingly negative toward the influencer owing to moral coupling. However, when the allegations are proven to be false, the followers return to a positive opinion of the influencer, owing to feelings of dissonance and guilt.

Practical implications

The study contributes to the fields of influencer marketing, cognitive dissonance and moral reasoning. It highlights how endorsers can take advantage of the positive sentiment that arises once an accused SMI’s transgression is proven false.

Originality/value

This study introduces the concept of “Sentiment Reversal,” which is exhibited in the social media space. In this phenomenon, sentiments move from negative to positive toward the falsely accused SMI as they are vindicated of the previous charge.

Purpose

The rapid growth of professional esports has highlighted the lack of a universally recognised governing body to standardise operations and competition rules. This absence presents many challenges. A key concern is the well-being of professional esports players (e-pro-players), who often suffer from exhaustion. This study aims to examine the factors contributing to exhaustion among e-pro-players.

Design/methodology/approach

Using the conservation of resources theory, we developed a framework to explain the factors leading to e-pro-players’ exhaustion and the conditions under which it occurs. We tested this framework with 126 responses in a dyadic survey from e-pro-players and their coaches in China. Additionally, we gathered qualitative insights from 50 interviews with esports stakeholders to provide more context for our quantitative findings.

Findings

Our study found that e-pro-players’ intrinsic motivation to engage in training reduces their exhaustion, while their struggle to cope with uncertainty in esports environments (intolerance of uncertainty) increases it. The effect of intrinsic motivation is weaker for those who believe their talent for playing esports is fixed (entity belief) but stronger for those with high relational identification with their coaches. Additionally, the link between uncertainty intolerance and exhaustion is stronger in players with strong entity beliefs.

Originality/value

Our study sheds light on the factors contributing to e-pro-players’ exhaustion within the partially regulated professional esports environment, a phenomenon that significantly influences their overall well-being. Through the identification and examination of these factors and the conditions under which they affect exhaustion, we deepen the understanding of the drivers of exhaustion for e-pro-players who operate in an industry lacking standardised regulations.