Today, we identify service articles published in Marketing, Management, Operations, Productions, Information Systems, and Practitioner-Oriented Journals in the last months.
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Wu, B., Y. Chen and P. A. Naik (2024): How Own Delivery Services Influence Customer Behavior and Sales in Online Retail? Building Trust and Improving Delivery Quality in Digital Economy, Journal of Marketing, 88(4034), pp.131-152
Online retailers worldwide invest beyond their core business of retailing to offer their own delivery services (ODS) to deliver products to customers’ homes through their own logistics network. How does this shift to ODS affect customers’ behaviors and sales performance? When and why do retailers venture beyond their core competence to offer ODS? To explore these questions, the authors analyze 250,055 customer transactions over 10 years across 416 cities and 49 product categories from JD, a major online retailer in China. Using difference-in-differences models, causal mediation analysis, and the synthetic control method, they find that ODS increases customers’ monthly spending by 7.8% and grows city-level sales by 11.9%. This study is the first to quantify the sales impact of ODS and shed light on when and why it works. The findings reveal that ODS has greater value for markets with lower trust levels, infrequent customers, high-risk product categories, and consumers who prefer the focal retailer (versus that of third-party sellers). Causal mediation analysis further reveals that ODS not only improves delivery quality but also builds customer trust, which together increase customers’ monthly spending, purchase frequency, and the number of items ordered.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00222429241239892 [Google]
Lu, J., E. T. Bradlow and J. W. Hutchinson (2024): More Likely to Pay but Less Engaged: The Effects of Switching Online Courses from Scheduled to On-Demand Release on User Behavior, Journal of Marketing, 88(4035), pp.63-88
Following trends in entertainment streaming services, online educational platforms are increasingly offering users flexible “on-demand” content options. It is important to understand how the timing of content release affects learning behaviors and firm revenue drivers. The current research studies over 67,000 users taking a marketing course before versus after a natural experiment in which the platform switched the course from a scheduled weekly-release format to an on-demand format with all content immediately available. The switch to on-demand positively impacted short-term firm revenue by increasing the number and proportion of certificate-paying users, suggesting that on-demand content can attract a broader set of consumers who value flexibility. On the downside, the switch resulted in users exhibiting lower lecture completion rates and quiz performance and taking fewer additional business courses on the platform, representing a long-term cost. The results were robust to propensity score matching and stratification. The analyses also revealed that on-demand content enabled learning patterns that deviated from a standard evenly paced schedule, including “strategic” binge learning and stretching out engagement past the recommended course period. Thus, while on-demand formats can boost revenues by bringing in more paying users, managers must consider new strategies for maintaining performance and engagement levels within these environments.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/00222429241227145 [Google]
Menguc, B., S. Auh, D. Ang and N. Uray (2024): Don’t give me just positive feedback: How positive and negative feedback can increase feedback-based goal setting and proactive customer service behavior, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, (4036), pp.1-19
How can managers use positive and negative feedback to encourage employees’ proactive customer service behavior (PCSB)? This question has significant implications because while companies utilize feedback for employee development, it remains unclear how different forms of manager feedback can improve or impair customer service. We synthesize the feedback, goal-setting, and proactive service behavior literature and propose a
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11747-024-01032-x [Google]
Grégoire, Y., M. Khamitov, F. A. Carrillat and M. Rohani (2024): The attenuation effects of time and “sensemaking” surveys on customer revenge, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, (4037), pp.1-25
The attenuation of revenge-related responses after a major service failure is not simply caused by the passage of time—as is assumed in prior work. Instead, we propose that the effect of time is enhanced by the completion of multiple surveys that allow customers to constructively make sense of their service failures. We document this sensemaking-based attenuation effect by conducting four longitudinal experiments; each of them includes a series of three to four surveys completed over four to eight weeks. Doing so, we make three key contributions. First, all studies show that customers having the opportunities to complete
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11747-024-01046-5 [Google]
Doğan, O. B., V. Kumar and A. Lahiri (2024): Platform-level consequences of performance-based commission for service providers: Evidence from ridesharing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, 52(4038), pp.1240-1261
Ridesharing platforms compensate drivers using a fixed commission system that does not systematically reward effective drivers, which reduces platform engagement. Unsurprisingly, driver transaction activity is intermittent and service unpredictable. Influenced by agency theory, we propose a variable commission that jointly accounts for drivers’ transactions and service performance. To alleviate disengagement, we propose a customer-oriented engagement framework that challenges the notion of the sole monetary focus of drivers. We compare the effects of variable and fixed commission schemes on consequences such as driver net revenue and referral value, mediated by attitudinal outcomes. In a 3-month cluster-randomized field experiment with 3,367 ridesharing drivers across 16 cities and two population tiers, we show improvements in driver satisfaction and emotional connectedness accentuated by goal-oriented feedback. Variable commission with goal-oriented feedback translates to a 24.5% rise in revenue, a 19.5% increase in referral value, and a 43.21% lower churn. A cost–benefit analysis reinforces these results.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11747-024-01005-0 [Google]
Peres, R., M. Schreier, D. A. Schweidel and A. Sorescu (2024): The creator economy: An introduction and a call for scholarly research, International Journal of Research in Marketing, 41(4039), pp.403-410
Bloggers, streamers, artists, celebrities, musicians and service providers are just a few examples of creators who aim to monetize their talent by generating and posting digital content. Aided by technological platforms and AI tools, they form a complex and dynamic ecosystem of economic activity, estimated to be worth over $100 billion dollars, and growing rapidly. In this editorial we explore the creator economy from a marketing perspective, addressing questions such as: How can creators optimize their content, establish their brand, build their content composition, and expand their audience? How do platforms create the right mix of creators and curate their content? What challenges and opportunities are presented for traditional firms? We define the basic terminology and identify key stakeholders. We propose research questions related to creators, consumers, firms, and platforms, and discuss the implications for the marketing function within organization. A key insight of this editorial is that although content creators may appear to be a diverse group of individuals operating independently, their joint activity creates emergent patterns that can be monitored, monetized and managed strategically. To achieve this, research must develop suitable metrics and methodologies while adapting relevant marketing constructs. This editorial is accompanied by four research notes written by marketing scholars, who all learned first-hand from major players in the creator economy. Bleier et al. (2024) examine the role of social media platforms in enabling the creator economy. Hofstetter and Gollnhofer (2024) zoom into one of the most important dilemmas faced by creators on social media: balancing authenticity with monetization. Edeling and Wies (2024) also touch upon monetization in their focus on “creatrepreneurs,” entrepreneurs in the creator economy, and on the ecosystem that enables their activities. And Prandelli et al. (2024) discuss how luxury brands are leveraging the creator economy.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijresmar.2024.07.005 [Google]
Su, L., X. Wang, Z. Lin and S. Xiao (2024): From impression to expression: How warmth and competence in relaxing and challenging activities shape pleasure and eWOM, Psychology & Marketing, (4040), pp.1
This research investigates how aligning service providers’ warmth and competence with the nature of leisure activities (relaxing vs. challenging) influences pleasure and electronic word‐of‐mouth (eWOM) sharing. Through a series of five studies, including secondary data analysis (Study 1), scenario‐based experiments (Studies 2a, 3, 4, and 5), and observation of actual eWOM behavior (Study 2b), we demonstrate that the alignment between service judgments and activity type (i.e., warmth in relaxing activities and competence in challenging activities) enhances positive eWOM sharing, with this effect being mediated by the pleasure derived from the service experience. Our findings contribute to the theoretical understanding of the cognitive and affective antecedents of eWOM. We extend the stereotype content model to the eWOM research, identifying activity type as a novel boundary condition. We recommend that managers tailor their impression management strategies to the type of activity offered. For relaxing activities, emphasize warmth‐related attributes, while for challenging activities, highlight competence‐related attributes—both approaches can enhance customer pleasure and encourage positive eWOM sharing.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mar.22113 [Google]
Tang, F. and J. Hou (2024): Show me the outputs! The influence of charitable outputs and charitable cause phrasing on charitable giving, Psychology & Marketing, (4041), pp.1
Charitable outputs, the immediate effects of charitable organization services, are among the most vital messages for encouraging rational giving, and different outputs should thus affect fundraising effectiveness. However, this topic has received relatively little attention from scholars. Fundraising practice includes two types of charitable outputs—goods‐oriented and services‐oriented, raising the question of how charitable organizations should use these two types of charitable outputs to increase donor support. The findings of four main experimental studies show that the fit of the types of charitable outputs and charitable cause phrasing can promote charitable giving. Specifically, goods‐oriented (vs. services‐oriented) charitable outputs have a better facilitating effect when charitable cause phrasing is concrete (vs. abstract). We also find evidence for the mediating role of ability perception and effort perception in this effect of fit, reflecting different formative pathways that influence individuals’ giving. Our research proposes a categorization perspective of charitable outputs and provides managerial guidance for designing fundraising messages.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mar.22054 [Google]
Zhang, W., E. L. Slade and E. Pantano (2024): Humanlike service robots: A systematic literature review and research agenda, Psychology & Marketing, (4042), pp.1
Humanlike robots are increasingly employed to provide frontline services. They are frequently designed with stereotypically feminine or masculine humanlike features which affect or bias consumer behavior in service encounters. This systematic review of 118 peer‐reviewed journal papers aims to comprehensively capture the current status of the field and identify important research gaps requiring further investigation. Following Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta‐Analyses protocol, a comprehensive framework is developed to conceptualize the process of customer interactions with humanlike service robots, depicting how humanlike service robots influence consumer behavior. Specifically, we identify interaction antecedents, consumer processing factors, outcomes of the interactions, and strengthening/attenuating factors. Based on the framework, the review concludes by identifying issues that future research should seek to solve to contribute to the field. This paper provides a deep understanding of service robot anthropomorphism in marketing and consumer research and proposes a future research agenda to advance knowledge of the field.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mar.22099 [Google]
Malik, A. Z., F. Guzmán and K. Vo (2024): The tip of the tongue: Language‐based chronic social exclusion and tipping as a refocusing strategy, Psychology & Marketing, 41(4043), pp.2136-2151
Language is crucial for successful service exchange, yet it can also become a source of chronic social exclusion for nonnative speakers in the host country. This research examines how language‐based chronic social exclusion affects nonnative consumers’ experiences and consequently, their tipping behavior. The results from a survey with 355 nonnative speakers in the USA and 355 nonnative speakers in the UK, along with a field study, reveal that these customers feel threatened in terms of their relational and efficacy needs, influencing their desire to restore their self‐image. This, in turn, positively influences their tipping behavior. This study is the first to empirically explore language‐based chronic social exclusion and its psychological and behavioral effects from the speakers’ (nonnative customers’) perspective in a service exchange setting. It highlights the importance of inclusive practices and policies to support socially excluded customers based on their language.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/mar.22032 [Google]
Compagni, A., G. Cappellaro and A. Nigam (2024): Responding to Professional Knowledge Disruptions of Unmitigable Uncertainty: The Role of Emotions, Practices, and Moral Duty among COVID-19 Physicians, Academy of Management Journal, 67(4044), pp.829-861
Drawing on an in-depth study of physicians facing the Covid-19 pandemic in Italy in 2020, we advance theory on how professionals in their workplace respond to knowledge disruptions associated with complex societal challenges that undermine the adequacy of their knowledge base to solve professional problems. We show that, in the context of uncertainty generated by the knowledge disruption and the inability to mitigate this uncertainty through typical knowledge-based strategies, professionals experience a trail of negative epistemic emotions. Despite these negative epistemic emotions, and motivated by a heightened sense of moral duty, professionals engage in service-oriented practices of collegial and humanistic work that depart from the knowledge-centric practices of their usual work. We detail how the repeated development of positive moral emotions when performing such practices leads professionals to ultimately consolidate and embed service-oriented practices in their professional work. Our study contributes to the literature on professions and organizations by theorizing the distinctive category of knowledge disruptions of unmitigable uncertainty and by uncovering the microlevel dynamics and mechanisms that sustain professionals’ responses.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.5465/amj.2022.0697 [Google]
Chen, Z., C. Stanton and C. Thomas (2024): Information Spillovers in Experience Goods Competition, Management Science, 70(4045), pp.3923-3950
Trialing an experience good allows consumers to learn their value for the sampled good and also informs beliefs about their value for similar products. These demand-side information spillovers across products create a relatively well-informed group of potential future consumers for rival firms. When both switching consumers and repeat buyers are profitable, firms face reduced incentives to set a low initial price to attract inexperienced consumers. Switchers and repeat buyers are more likely to be profitable in new product categories that build on major innovations and when firms can price discriminate based on purchasing history. We suggest that competing products and services arising from new innovations often have demand-side information spillovers from any product trial and are, hence, settings where competing firms can make overall profits even when selling products that consumers perceive to be indistinguishable prior to initial trial. This paper was accepted by Joshua Gans, business strategy. Funding: This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 71903046) and the “Shenzhen Peacock Program” (No. GA11409002). Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.02754.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2021.02754 [Google]
Bertsimas, D. and J. Pauphilet (2024): Hospital-Wide Inpatient Flow Optimization, Management Science, 70(4046), pp.4893-4911
An ideal that supports quality and delivery of care is to have hospital operations that are coordinated and optimized across all services in real time. As a step toward this goal, we propose a multistage adaptive robust optimization approach combined with machine learning techniques. Informed by data and predictions, our framework unifies the bed assignment process across the entire hospital and accounts for present and future inpatient flows, discharges, and bed requests from the emergency department, scheduled surgeries and admissions, and outside transfers. We evaluate our approach through simulations calibrated on historical data from a large academic medical center. For the 600-bed institution, our optimization model was solved in seconds and reduced off-service placement by 24% on average and boarding delays in the emergency department and postanesthesia units by 35% and 18%, respectively. We also illustrate the benefit of using adaptive linear decision rules instead of static assignment decisions. This paper was accepted by Carri Chan, healthcare management. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4933.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4933 [Google]
Nikzad, A. and P. Strack (2024): Equity and Efficiency in Dynamic Matching: Extreme Waitlist Policies, Management Science, 70(4047), pp.5187-5207
Waitlists are commonly used to allocate scarce resources, such as public housing or organs. Waitlist policies attempt to prioritize agents who wait longer by assigning them priority points ( la first come, first served). We show that such point systems can lead to severe inequality across the agents’ assignment probabilities unless they use randomization. In particular, deterministic point systems lead to a more unequal allocation than any other rule that prioritizes earlier arrivals, an axiom that ensures that agents who wait longer are treated (weakly) better. Among the policies abiding by this axiom, we show that service in random order (SIRO) leads to the most equal allocation. From a utilitarian perspective, we show that the planner faces no trade-off between equity and efficiency when the flow utility from waiting is nonnegative or negative and increasing over time. In these cases, SIRO is also the most efficient policy. However, when the flow cost of waiting increases over time, then the planner may face an efficiency–equity trade-off: SIRO remains the most equitable policy but may not be the most efficient one. This paper was accepted by Omar Besbes, revenue management and market analytics.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.01212 [Google]
Liu, C.-W., W. Wang, G. Gao and R. Agarwal (2024): The Value of Virtual Engagement: Evidence from a Running Platform, Management Science, 70(4048), pp.6179-6201
Fueled by remarkable developments in mobile and wearable technologies coupled with the power of the Internet a multibillion industry constructed on digital platforms, Connected Fitness, has emerged. Sustained engagement is a crucial prerequisite for healthy behavior, and platforms that offer connected fitness services must contend with the challenge of engaging new users. In this study, we examine whether a virtual race, an event in which runners can participate remotely in an organized activity, can serve as an effective strategy to amplify users’ long-term engagement related to healthy behavior. We study the impact of offering virtual races to runners on a digital fitness platform on their engagement with the platform and level of physical activity. Leveraging the match of the theme of the virtual races and users’ zodiac signs as the instrument to support causal inference, we find that a virtual race increases the engagement of new users by 42.8 days and total spending on related e-commerce on the platform by 48.4% during our study period. We also find that the positive impact of virtual races transcends the typical mechanism of social connections; results show that virtual races can increase the engagement with the platform even when their social connections are low. Finally, we find that existing users who participate in a virtual race outrun those in the control group by 4.41 km in a three-week period. Our study highlights the potential of new forms of digital interactions, powered by mobile and wearable technologies, on user behavior in fitness platforms. This paper was accepted by Anindya Ghose, information systems. Supplemental Material: The data files and online appendix are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4945.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4945 [Google]
de Rooij, P., A. van Liempt and C. van Bendegom (0): Service quality or customer experience: what drives cultural heritage satisfaction and loyalty?, Anatolia, (4049), pp.1-18
Previous research suggests that in today?s experience economy, service is no longer the key determinant and that customer experience has taken over. However, few studies compare the relative impact of service quality and customer experiences on outcomes. The aim of this quantitative study is to examine the separate effects of service quality and customer experience on satisfaction, revisit intentions and word-of-mouth communication. Contrary to expectations, service quality has a larger effect on outcomes than customer experience. The mediation analysis shows very small indirect effect sizes, suggesting that that customer experience hardly mediates the relationship between service quality and the three outcomes. The conclusion is that measuring service quality remains essential to explaining consumer behaviour in the experience economy.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/13032917.2024.2404909 [Google]
Lee Adawi Awdish, R., L. L. Berry and G. T. Bosslet (2024): “Relative Value Units” Belie Real Value, CHEST, 166(4050), pp.579-581
Lee Adawi Awdish, R., G. Grafton and L. L. Berry
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chest.2024.04.009 [Google]
Sun, G., Y. Kim, Y. Tan and G. G. Parker (2024): Dinner at Your Doorstep: Service Innovation via the Gig Economy on Food Delivery Platforms, Information Systems Research, 35(4051), pp.1216-1234
Despite the rapid growth of online food delivery (OFD) market, the impact of its three-sided nature—encompassing consumers, restaurants, and gig drivers—on incentives and payoffs remains unclear compared to the traditional two-sided model. This study examines how OFD platforms make optimal choices in a competitive environment involving pricing and service quality. The analysis reveals that insights from two-sided platforms don’t seamlessly translate to OFD markets. The triad nature of OFD can either dampen or heighten price competition in the buyer-seller market, altering subsidization dynamics for platforms. While conventional platforms suffer from negative network effects due to participation pressure, OFD platforms can adapt service strategies to mitigate this. However, introducing gig labor might not always benefit OFD platforms as it could trigger a prisoner’s dilemma situation by empowering competing platforms. The study underscores the dependence of platform strategies on network effects’ strength. As the gig economy rises, the employment status of gig workers garners controversy. The study demonstrates that implementing minimum wage regulations, while benefiting gig drivers, might diminish societal welfare. These findings offer guidance to policymakers aiming to balance gig workers’ interests with overall societal concerns. Boosted by greater demand for convenience and then turbocharged by the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, online food delivery (OFD) has witnessed rapid growth over the past several years. Despite such growth, however, it is still unclear how incentives and payoffs of various parties are affected by the three-sidedness of the OFD market, which involves consumers, restaurants, and gig drivers—beyond the traditional two-sided setting. In this paper, we study the OFD platforms’ optimal choices in a competitive setting where the platforms compete on both prices and service quality. Our analysis shows that conventional insights from two-sided platforms do not completely carry over to OFD markets. Specifically, we find that the three-sidedness may either soften or intensify the price competition in the buyer-seller market, consequently altering the subsidizing conditions of OFD platforms. Although two-sided platforms generally get hurt by network effects because of the pressure to induce participation, OFD platforms are able to mitigate such negative impact by flexibly adjusting their service strategies. Yet, OFD platforms may not always be better off by introducing gig labor because additional leverage for competing platforms could lead to a prisoner’s dilemma situation. We show further how the platforms’ pricing and service strategies critically depend on the strength of network effects. With the rising of the gig economy, the question of employment status for gig workers has become an increasingly controversial issue in the United States and elsewhere. We address this by showing that the introduction of minimum wage regulation, although benefiting the gig drivers, may be welfare diminishing to society at large. Our results can thus provide guidance to policy makers seeking a compromise between the interests of gig workers and society as a whole. History: Yong Tan, Senior Editor; Jianqing Chen, Associate Editor. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.0119.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.0119 [Google]
Gnewuch, U., S. Morana, O. Hinz, R. Kellner and A. Maedche (2024): More Than a Bot? The Impact of Disclosing Human Involvement on Customer Interactions with Hybrid Service Agents, Information Systems Research, 35(4052), pp.936-955
To leverage the complementary strengths of humans and artificial intelligence (AI) in online service encounters, firms have begun to use hybrid service agents: combinations of AI agents (e.g., chatbots) and human agents (e.g., service employees) behind a single interface. However, it is unclear whether firms should be transparent about behind-the-scenes employees working in tandem with an AI-based chatbot to serve customers. Against this backdrop, we investigated the impact of human involvement disclosure on customer interactions with hybrid service agents. Our findings suggest that disclosing human involvement before or during an interaction with the hybrid service agent leads customers to adopt a more human-oriented communication style. This effect is driven by impression management concerns that are activated when customers become aware of humans working in tandem with the chatbot. The more human-oriented communication style ultimately increases employee workload because fewer customer requests can be handled automatically by the chatbot and must be delegated to a human. These findings provide novel insights into how and why disclosing human involvement affects customer communication behavior, reveal its negative consequences for employees working in tandem with a chatbot, and highlight the potential costs and benefits of providing transparency in customer–hybrid service agent interactions. The proliferation of hybrid service agents—combinations of artificial intelligence (AI) and human employees behind a single interface—further blurs the line between humans and technology in online service encounters. While much of the current debate focuses on disclosing the nonhuman identity of AI-based technologies (e.g., chatbots), the question of whether to also disclose the involvement of human employees working behind the scenes has received little attention. We address this gap by examining how such a disclosure affects customer interactions with a hybrid service agent consisting of an AI-based chatbot and human employees. Results from a randomized field experiment and a controlled online experiment show that disclosing human involvement before or during an interaction with the hybrid service agent leads customers to adopt a more human-oriented communication style. This effect is driven by impression management concerns that are activated when customers become aware of humans working in tandem with the chatbot. The more human-oriented communication style ultimately increases employee workload because fewer customer requests can be handled automatically by the chatbot and must be delegated to a human. These findings provide novel insights into how and why disclosing human involvement affects customer communication behavior, shed light on its negative consequences for employees working in tandem with a chatbot, and help managers understand the potential costs and benefits of providing transparency in customer–hybrid service agent interactions. History: Karthik Kannan, Senior Editor; Jason Chan, Associate Editor. Supplemental Material: The online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.0152.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.0152 [Google]
Liwei, C., J. J. P.-A. Hsieh and C. Kimmy Wa (2024): TECHNO-SERVICE-PROFIT CHAIN: THE IMPACTS OF IOT-ENABLED ALGORITHMIC CUSTOMER SERVICE SYSTEMS FROM AN INTERDISCIPLINARY PERSPECTIVE, MIS Quarterly, 48(4053), pp.1077-1120
The infusion of emerging technologies (e.g., IoT-enabled algorithmic customer service systems [IACSs]) often brings disruptive changes to customer service. In particular, the agentic nature of these technologies challenges prominent service theories. Among these challenges, recent scholarly calls have pushed for more research on the infusion of emerging technologies into the service-profit chain (SPC) framework, advocating for the importance of extended knowledge to develop a techno-infused version of the SPC. Thus, from an interdisciplinary perspective, we draw upon role theory and propose a technoservice-profit chain (TSPC). Specifically, we contextualize the SPC in the technoservice context with different approaches, including decomposing context-specific constructs and theorizing IACS implementation as a contextual factor that moderates TSPC relationships. Using a sequential mixed methods design combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, we tested our research model by conducting multiwave surveys and follow-up interviews in a large business-to-business service firm with data from employees, supervisors, and customers before and after IACS implementation. This interdisciplinary study contributes to the information systems, service marketing, and management literatures by enriching the compositions of core SPC constructs, theorizing interactions between human agents and technology agents, and scrutinizing the impacts of technology agents on the linkages between internal employee management and external customer service. Our results further reveal the emerging issues of competing bosses (i.e., supervisors and IACSs), competing employees (i.e., employees and IACSs), and the unintended dehumanization effects of IACSs on supervisors and employees.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.25300/MISQ/2023/16664 [Google]
Haki, K., H. Tanriverdi, D. Safaei, M. Schmid, S. Aier and R. Winter (2024): GENERATIVITY AND PROFITABILITY ON B2B INNOVATION PLATFORMS: A SIMULATION-BASED THEORY DEVELOPMENT, MIS Quarterly, 48(4054), pp.583-611
Firms generate innovations to profit from market opportunities, which are newly identified customer needs not yet being met in the market. The rising complexity of market opportunities requires collaboration among multiple partner firms. However, this multipartner collaboration increases transaction and production costs when generating innovations. To address these challenges, incumbents build B2B innovation platforms with mechanisms to reduce partners’ transaction and production costs. We do not yet know if and when partners would choose to use the incumbent’s traditional service innovation model or the B2B innovation platform and how this choice would affect the generativity and profitability of innovations for the incumbent and the partners. We used agent-based modeling and simulation to develop a theory to address these questions. We found that the complexity of market opportunities interacts with the B2B innovation platform’s transaction and production mechanisms to jointly affect whether partners use the platform and when the incumbent and partners achieve generativity and profitability. When the complexity of market opportunities is low, partners use the traditional service innovation model. As complexity increases to medium or high levels, partners begin to use the B2B innovation platform mechanisms to address the transaction and production challenges presented by the complexity of market opportunities. However, there are limits to how much the platform mechanisms can address these challenges. The complexity of market opportunities inhibits the emergence of network effects on B2B innovation platforms and limits the generativity and profitability of platform partners. There are diminishing benefits of investing in the platform’s transaction and production mechanisms, and complexity affects whether the platform owner or the partners profit from innovations generated on the platform.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.25300/misq/2023/17710 [Google]
Xu, A., Y. Tan and Q.-C. He (2024): Information Transparency With Targeting Technology for Online Service Operations Platform, Production & Operations Management, 33(4055), pp.1410-1425
Social technologies have enabled the emergence of online platforms that provide offline service consultations and recommendations. In this environment, economic inefficiency arises when customers are not fully aware of their horizontally differentiated preferences. With its expertise or data dominance, a platform can be more informed about customers’ hidden preferences. We focus on an instrumental social technology, that is, targeting, which is a type of data-driven personalized information provision to manipulate customers’ beliefs about service quality. We propose a Hotelling model wherein customers are sensitive to the delays for service while making Bayesian belief updates based on a platform’s recommendations. When customers self-select their favorite service, their choices impose negative externalities through congestion and welfare loss. Our results indicate that service recommendations allow customers to navigate toward the more appropriate service, thus improving matching efficiency, reducing congestion costs, and enhancing aggregate customer welfare. We further identify the role of “information transparency” and study how the platform should strategically release information by making personalized service recommendations to customers. Interestingly, when a customer-centric platform maximizes aggregate customer welfare, we identify the “value of opaqueness” by strategically withholding service recommendations from a subset of customers and notice that this effect is more pronounced for a profit-seeking platform. Our results offer a better understanding of information transparency policies in the joint design of service recommendation systems and pricing mechanisms.
Link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/10591478231224963 [Google]
