Leveraging social grouping for trust building in foreign electronic commerce firms: An exploratory study

Internet development has fueled e-commerce firms’ globalization efforts, but many have met with only limited success. This often stems from the foreign firms’ limited understanding of a focal country's local culture and idiosyncrasies. Foreign firms are usually viewed as out-group entities, which lowers consumers’ trust in them. The extent of such a phenomenon varies. In locations where people are more skeptical of out-groups, a critical question is whether it is possible to transform such foreign out-group firms into in-groups, specifically with the support of popular social networking media. Based on Social Identity Theory and Trust Transference Process, five strategies leveraging social grouping and social ties to build trust for foreign electronic commerce firms were proposed. A survey was conducted to examine their effectiveness. The results suggest that social-grouping strategies are useful for in-grouping foreign out-group entities to build trust, and the effectiveness of strategies is determined by the social similarity and psychological distance between the consumer and the endorser. This has important implications for scholars and practitioners, both local and abroad, to leverage social grouping to boost Internet sales.     

Self-tracking and metric codification in digital infrastructures for scholarly communication

Abstract

We argue that the stakes of scholarly communication are changing as a result of technology-enabled ability to self-track and the enhanced provision and proliferation of instant metrics. These developments accentuate the role of the individual, and conversely underplay the collective effort, in the advancement of knowledge by focusing attention on metrics centered on the individual, professional performance, and communication directed at oneself. We suggest – in line with previous research – that metrics play an increasingly important role in configuring the scholarly communication system. But we also stress, unlike previous research, that metrics are embedded in larger communication contexts, or systems, that are already codified and ordered. Hence the discursive value ascribed to metrics must take into account these contexts. This has at least two benefits. One, we do not reduce scholarly communication to an issue of metrics and rewards, like scientometric studies and contemporary notions of the so-called quantified academic self, and two, a communication framework allows us to see new sorts of conversations going on and new modes of togetherness enabled alongside the digital nurturing of metric regimes.     

传统企业数字化转型过程与机制探索性研究

   数字化转型已经成为当前很多传统企业的战略选择。然而,已有文献对数字化转型的过程与内在机理缺乏深入研究。借助科技给予与意义建构理论视角,通过对典型企业——双星集团的案例研究,文章对数字化转型的过程与内在机理进行了探索性分析。文章发现传统企业的数字化转型是一个自上而下的过程,包含转型发起、形成共识与转型实现三个阶段。在每一个阶段,由行为主体和数字化技术形成的二元结构是数字化转型给予形成（即阶段性转型认知）的社会基础。文章进一步揭示了支撑企业转型的四种数字转型给予,包括：数字化战略给予、共享的数字化战略给予、数字化业务战略给予与数字化业务战略实现。意义建构是促进转型给予形成的主要机制;意义解构和意义给赋是高层次主体影响低层主体意义建构的主要方式,也是实现过程转换的主要机制。文章打开了数字化转型过程黑箱,对IT驱动的组织转型研究和相关理论进行了有效补充,也为我国传统企业转型与新旧动能转换提供了有益借鉴。     

Calculating trust in domain analysis: Theoretical trust model

In recent decades, more information has become increasingly available on the Web. Every user can actively participate in the generation and exchange of information. Investigating the quality of user-generated content (UGC) has therefore become a necessity and an ever-increasing challenge. In collaborative environments where users collect, share and build a knowledge base, trust is an important factor. If, for example, we as users trust UGC on the Web, this influences our interaction with this content. The aim of our research is to propose a model for the evaluation of trust in UGC. Based on the available research results, we define a model for measuring trust in collaborative environments. Our approach is based on three dimensions: stability, credibility and quality. These three concerns are combined to create a trusted translator. We use a real-world data set of the social annotation platform Genius to calculate the value of our trust in an annotation. Based on this case study, we show which insights can be gained by calculating the trust in such an environment. When information has specific qualities, our approach will enable the user to better determine which information offers the highest level of trust.     

Exploring the role of personality,trust, and privacy in customer experience performance during voice shopping: Evidence from SEM and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis

Voice shopping is becoming increasingly popular among consumers due to the ubiquitous presence of artificial intelligence (AI)-based voice assistants in our daily lives. This study explores how personality, trust, privacy concerns, and prior experiences affect customer experience performance perceptions and the combinations of these factors that lead to high customer experience performance. Goldberg’s Big Five Factors of personality, a contextualized theory of reasoned action (TRA-privacy), and recent literature on customer experience are used to develop and propose a conceptual research model. The model was tested using survey data from 224 US-based voice shoppers. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). PLS-SEM revealed that trust and privacy concerns mediate the relationship between personality (agreeableness, emotional instability, and conscientiousness) and voice shoppers’ perceptions of customer experience performance. FsQCA reveals the combinations of these factors that lead to high perceptions of customer experience performance. This study contributes to voice shopping literature, which is a relatively understudied area of e-commerce research yet an increasingly popular shopping method.     

The information seeking behaviour of the users of digital scholarly journals

The article employs deep log analysis (DLA) techniques, a more sophisticated form of transaction log analysis, to demonstrate what usage data can disclose about information seeking behaviour of virtual scholars – academics, and researchers. DLA works with the raw server log data, not the processed, pre-defined and selective data provided by journal publishers. It can generate types of analysis that are not generally available via proprietary web logging software because the software filters out relevant data and makes unhelpful assumptions about the meaning of the data. DLA also enables usage data to be associated with search/navigational and/or user demographic data, hence the name ‘deep’. In this connection the usage of two digital journal libraries, those of EmeraldInsight, and Blackwell Synergy are investigated. The information seeking behaviour of nearly three million users is analyzed in respect to the extent to which they penetrate the site, the number of visits made, as well as the type of items and content they view. The users are broken down by occupation, place of work, type of subscriber (“Big Deal”, non-subscriber, etc.), geographical location, type of university (old and new), referrer link used, and number of items viewed in a session.     

创业拼凑、关系信任与新企业绩效实证研究

创业拼凑为突破"新生弱性"与"小而弱性"导致的双重资源约束提供了全新的理论解释,但其如何通过现有资源的创造性利用以支持新企业生存和成长、以及该过程中的影响因素尚不明确。本文以212家成立时间在8年内新企业为样本,研究关系信任对创业拼凑与新企业生存和成长的影响。实证结果发现:创业拼凑对新企业财务绩效、成长绩效具有显著地正影响;关系信任对创业拼凑与新企业财务绩效、成长绩效具有显著地调节作用。本文认为,在当前转型升级经济环境下的新企业通过"内外兼修"的方式培育和发展创业拼凑战略,并注重关系信任的资源配置机制和经济杠杆作用,以突破资源约束及获得创业成功。     

一种基于混沌数字指纹技术的P2P网络环境信任机制方案

由于P2P网络中存在大量欺诈行为、攻击和不可靠的服务,使服务质量无法得以较好的保证。文章介绍了p2p网络时间向量,然后利用混沌加密技术对时间向量构建数字序列,通过数字序列构成数字指纹来使通信双方建立信任;仿真实验表明:新模型较传统的模型能更有效的识别出具有复杂策略的节点,在抵御恶意节点的各种动态行为上有更好的性能。     

Market-level information and the diffusion of competing technologies: An exploratory analysis of the LAN industry

Market-level information diffused by print media may contribute to the legitimation of an emerging technology and thus influence the diffusion of competing technological standards. After analyzing more than 10,000 trade media abstracts from the Local Area Networks (LAN) industry published between 1981 and 2000, we found the presence of differential effects on the adoption of competing standards by two market-level information types: technology and product availability. The significance of these effects depends on the technology's order of entry and suggests that high-tech product managers should make strategic use of market-level information by appropriately focusing the content of their communications.     

Understanding trust influencing factors in social media communication: A qualitative study

Based on five types of trust, this research explores trust influencing factors in peer-to-peer interpersonal communication, group communication and mass communication. Previous research has mainly focused on trust and the corresponding antecedents in electronic commerce communication and online collaboration. This study extends the literature on trust influencing factors in social media communication. A trust traffic light model is used to illustrate the importance of keywords, drawn from interviews with 115 participants who use WeChat frequently. Salient trust factors were found and further elaborated through qualitative analysis. Furthermore, we developed a trust cognitive onion model to illustrate the interactions of trust factors.     

Making the development of technological innovations more efficient: An exploratory analysis in the biotechnology sector

The current study analyzes the processes involved in obtaining technological innovations. Conclusive results are lacking in the literature, so this work defines and empirically tests a model of the relations between the firm's innovative capacity and the different ways of accumulating knowledge and the decision whether or not to codify it. Also, the model takes into account whether the innovations obtained are radical or incremental.The empirical study uses a sample of Spanish biotechnology firms, and the results show that accumulating knowledge using internal sources and not codifying it significantly improves the firm's capacity to develop radical innovations. The results also show that knowledge codification speeds up the development of incremental innovations. The relation between incremental innovations and the sources of knowledge is not so clear, although the results suggest the possible existence of a nonlinear relation between the two variables.     

组织信任与知识共享行为的演化博弈分析

知识是企业最为重要的战略性资源,为了提高知识的价值,企业需要促进员工间知识共享行为以增加其竞争优势。在有限理性的基础上,构建知识共享行为的演化博弈模型,依此分析影响员工间知识共享行为的因素,探究组织信任对知识共享行为的影响。结果表明,知识数量、知识贡献系数、共享奖励系数和共享惩罚系数与知识共享行为正相关而共享风险系数和成本系数与知识共享行为反相关,情感信任促进知识获取而认知信任促进知识贡献。     

产业集群治理结构探析

根据集群协调与组织成员独立行动的水平不同,建立自治型、领导企业型和管理组织型的基本结构分类方法,并通过若干制度特征变量与治理结构的对照关系,揭示出机制变化是结构演进的内在驱动力这一深刻主题。产业集群适应能力的效率分析即建立在这些结构模式选择的基础上。     

组织信任与知识共享行为的演化博弈分析

知识是企业最为重要的战略性资源，为了提高知识的价值，企业需要促进员工间知识共享行为以增加其竞争优势。在有限理性的基础上，构建知识共享行为的演化博弈模型，依此分析影响员工间知识共享行为的因素，探究组织信任对知识共享行为的影响。结果表明，知识数量、知识贡献系数、共享奖励系数和共享惩罚系数与知识共享行为正相关而共享风险系数和成本系数与知识共享行为反相关，情感信任促进知识获取而认知信任促进知识贡献。     

专利联盟的竞争分析

介绍专利联盟的相关概念,详细分析专利联盟的竞争效应,简要回顾美国专利联盟反垄断的历史,总结建立专利联盟竞争机制的基本要求,并指出对我国的现实意义。     

Characterizing the technology firm: An exploratory study

Technology firms occupy a central position in modern economies. They drive economic growth, productivity gains and have created new industries and innovative products.Many will agree that technology firms are distinguished from others in their emphasis on technological activities. Since this observation is too general, researchers suggested a variety of specific criteria and definitions. A number of definitions of technology firms appear in the literature but many are arbitrary and simplistic and none gained wide acceptance. Similarly, the number of characteristics suggested is large, reflecting a variety of perspectives and interests. In this case too no agreement exists as to which are the important ones. Also, many seem to be interrelated capturing different aspects of the same underlying concepts.This paper is concerned with the issue of definition and classification of technology firms. We demonstrate the usefulness of a different approach to the definition and classification problem. We rely on executives’ evaluations of their firms’ technology profile and level. An analysis of these evaluations reveals the underlying dimensions the executives used in making their judgments. We regard the dimensions we uncover as capturing the essence of technology firms and use them to classify the firms we study. The specific characteristics the executives used to evaluate their firms were derived from a systematic scan of the literature. Thus, the list represents the set of characteristics early researchers viewed as describing and defining technology firms. The connection to early work enhances our findings’ validity and lends some credence to our belief that the three dimensions we uncover (R&D activities which are closely associated with a set of organizational elements and market conditions, product strategy, and corporate culture) can be used by others to define technology firms and classify firms according to their technology level. In our study we use these three dimensions to classify the firms studied. We show that the commonly used practice of classifying firms as high and low technology according to the industry to which they belong is flawed.Our goal in this study is not to offer a “new” or “better” definition and characterization of technology firms or to offer the “best” approach to the generation of the classification criteria. Rather, we demonstrate here the usefulness of a different approach to the problem. While our approach does suffer from limitations it has important advantages. We hope future studies will confirm not only the usefulness of our approach but also the general applicability of the specific criteria we identify in this study.     

Tracing the links between science and technology: An exploratory analysis of scientists’ and inventors’ networks

The paper provides an exploratory analysis of the research networks linking scientists working in an open science environment, and researchers involved in the private technology domain. The study combines data on scientific co-authorship with data on patent co-invention, at the level of individual researchers, for three science-intensive technology fields, i.e. lasers, semiconductors and biotechnology, in order to assess the extent of the overlap between the two communities and to identify the role of key individuals in the process of knowledge transfer. Our findings reveal that the extent of the connectedness among scientists and inventors is rather large, and that particular individuals, i.e. authors-inventors, who act as gatekeepers and bridge the boundaries between the two domains, are fundamental to ensuring this connectivity. These individuals tend to occupy prominent positions in the scientific and the technological networks. However, our results also show maintaining a very central position in the scientific network may come at the expense of being able to fill a similarly central position in a technological network (and vice versa). Finally, preliminary analysis of the institutional origins of authors-inventors shows that one characteristic, distinctive of Europe compared to the United States, is associated with the relatively lower involvement of corporate scientists at the intersection between the two worlds of science and technology.     

An integrated view of particularized trust in social commerce: An empirical investigation

With the prevalence of social media and social networking, social commerce is becoming increasingly popular in both business and research areas. As in other types of e-commerce context, trust is also indispensable in social commerce. In this study, two types of trust have been discussed. This study represents an initial attempt to provide an integrated view of particularized trust in social commerce, including particularized trust antecedents, trust transfer and trust performance, so as to promote trust formation in social commerce. Using data collected from 614 social commerce users, we demonstrate that trust disposition, quality-assured shared information, familiarity and endorsement by other members are four antecedents of particularized trust. The results also indicate particularized trust can be transferred into system trust, and particularized trust only exerts positive effect on social WOM intention while system trust only exerts positive effect on social shopping intention. Furthermore, we prove perceived similarity can strengthen the relationship between trust disposition and particularized trust as well as the relationship between quality-assured shared information and particularized trust.     

企业间网络演化中的知识、信任与资源:一个层次分析框架

本文建立了一个基于层次的企业间网络演化分析框架,将企业间网络演化过程分解为知识网络、信任网络、资源网络和电子商务协同网络四个层次,着重分析了知识、信任和资源在企业间网络演化中的作用和地位,提出作为复杂过程的企业间网络演化是各个层次网络演化的叠加。     

Going offline: An exploratory cultural artifact analysis of an internet dating site's development trajectories

In this study, we develop a theorisation of an internet dating site as a cultural artifact. The site, Gaydar, is targeted at gay men. We argue that contemporary received representations of their sexuality figure heavily in the site's focus by providing a cultural logic for the apparent ad hoc development trajectories of its varied commercial and non-commercial services. More specifically, we suggest that the growing sets of services related to the website are heavily enmeshed within current social practices and meanings. These practices and meanings are, in turn, shaped by the interactions and preferences of a variety of diverse groups involved in what is routinely seen within the mainstream literature as a singularly specific sexuality and cultural project. Thus, we attend to two areas—the influence of the various social engagements associated with Gaydar together with the further extension of its trajectory ‘beyond the web’. Through the case of Gaydar, we contribute a study that recognises the need for attention to sexuality in information systems research and one which illustrates sexuality as a pivotal aspect of culture. We also draw from anthropology to theorise ICTs as cultural artifacts and provide insights into the contemporary phenomena of ICT enabled social networking.