JTAER, Vol. 18, Pages 1157-1176: Strata Fee Management in Condominiums via Smart Contracts

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer18030059

Authors: Liam Scholte Rui Wang Kwok Keung Chung Michal Aibin

Condominiums and similar properties use a stratum to manage daily operations, and owners fund it through strata fees. While existing strata fee management systems may be able to handle such funds, such systems could be more inherently transparent. It is possible to leverage the digital ledger from blockchain networks and smart contracts to build a fully transparent strata fee management system. This paper proposes designing a strata fee management system based on a smart contract in the Ethereum network. Both strata corporations and homeowners can interact with the smart contract to execute common procedures such as paying strata fees and handling expenses. Using smart contracts for strata fee management, it is believed that the chance of fraud by strata corporations is lowered compared to other systems.

JTAER, Vol. 18, Pages 1107-1125: What Drives VOD Purchases in Mobile TV Services? Exploring Utilization, Motivations, and Personality Traits

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer18020056

Authors: Jaemin Song Sunghan Ryu Dongyeon Kim

Mobile streaming is increasingly viewed as a major advancement in the wireless industry, as it enables users to consume content without any time or space restrictions. Mobile TV serves as an excellent example of streaming, providing services for watching TV content on mobile devices. While previous studies have explored video-on-demand (VOD) purchasing factors in mobile TV, it is rare to find research examining differences based on users’ mobile TV usage types, such as subscribers and free users. Consequently, we investigated VOD purchase factors for 310 subscribers and 311 free mobile TV users. In other words, using 621 survey responses, we analyze the influence of personality traits, intrinsic and extrinsic motivations, and mobile-related factors on users’ VOD purchase intentions and behavior. Our findings indicate that mobile TV utilization, hedonic needs, and subjective norms are positively related to VOD purchases, and that neuroticism, extraversion, openness, and conscientiousness positively impact mobile TV utilization. We also examine the relationships between the constructs within two sub-groups to highlight the differing perceptions and behavioral patterns of these groups regarding mobile TV utilization and VOD purchases. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed as well.

JTAER, Vol. 18, Pages 1126-1141: A Multi-Criteria Group Decision-Making Method for Risk Assessment of Live-Streaming E-Commerce Platform

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer18020057

Authors: Jiafu Su Dan Wang Fengting Zhang Baojian Xu Zhiguang Ouyang

Live-streaming e-commerce is the future development direction of the retail industry. When retailers choose a live-streaming e-commerce platform, they face the test of various risks of the platform, such as insecure control of capital flow, insufficient support of public domain traffic, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the risks of the platform to help retailers identify the platform with the lowest risk. Considering the complexity of the risks of live-streaming e-commerce platforms and the ambiguity of the decision-makers thinking, the current method for multi-criteria group decision-making (MCGDM) method in a fuzzy environment rarely discusses the decision-makers weight for the criterion. This paper proposes interval-valued intuitionistic fuzzy multi-criteria group decision-making based on the decision-makers’ professionalism to evaluate the platform’s risks. This method determines the decision-maker’s weight for the criterion based on the professionalism of the decision-maker and uses the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) method to rank the alternative platforms. Finally, a risk assessment of the agricultural product live-streaming e-commerce platforms is used as a case study to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of the proposed method. This research will not only provide practical guidance for retailers to choose the live-streaming e-commerce platform with the lowest comprehensive risk but also provide ideas for the research of live-streaming e-commerce from the perspective of risk assessment.

JTAER, Vol. 18, Pages 1142-1156: Fear of COVID-19 Effect on Stock Markets: A Proposal for an Algorithmic Trading System Based on Fear

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer18020058

Authors: Jessica Paule-Vianez Carmen Orden-Cruz Raúl Gómez-Martínez Sandra Escamilla-Solano

This study analyzes the fear of COVID-19 effect on European stock market returns. For this purpose, the search volumes (SV) collected by Google Trends (GT) and Wikipedia were used as proxies of fear of COVID-19. In a sample from 13 European stock markets, fear of COVID-19 was found to be associated with negative European stock returns. Our research employed this observation to propose an algorithmic trading system based on fear of COVID-19. Back-testing results show the possibility of extraordinary returns based on this system. These findings have important implications for political authorities, the mass media, and investors.

JTAER, Vol. 18, Pages 1086-1106: Optimal Recommendation Strategies for AI-Powered E-Commerce Platforms: A Study of Duopoly Manufacturers and Market Competition

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer18020055

Authors: Chi Zhou He Li Linlin Zhang Yufei Ren

Artificial intelligence-powered recommendation systems have gained popularity as a tool to enhance user experience and boost sales. Platforms often need to make decisions about which seller to recommend and the strength of the recommendation when conducting recommendations. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the recommendation strategy of the platform in the case of duopoly competition. We develop a game model where two competing manufacturers sell products through an agency contract on a common platform, and they can decide whether or not to provide recommendations to the manufacturers. Our highlight lies in the endogenous recommendation strength of the platform. The findings suggest that it is optimal for the platform to offer recommendation services when the commission rate is high. The platform also prefers to only recommend one manufacturer in the market with low or high competition, but it prefers to recommend both manufacturers in moderately competitive markets. From the view of manufacturers, they can benefit from the recommendation service as long as the commission rate is not too low. Moreover, recommending only one manufacturer consistently yields stronger recommendations compared to recommending multiple manufacturers. However, the impact of recommendation on prices is influenced by the commission rate and product substitutability. These results have significant implications for platform decision making and provide valuable insights into the trade-offs involved in the development of recommendation systems.

JTAER, Vol. 18, Pages 1069-1085: From Fake Reviews to Fake News: A Novel Pandemic Model of Misinformation in Digital Networks

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer18020054

Authors: Sreeraag Govindankutty Shynu Padinjappurathu Gopalan

Digital networks and E-commerce platforms have had a profound effect on people’s personal, educational, and professional life all around the world. They offer space for advertising, sales, and disseminating news and information, even if they are frequently used for social marketing, interacting, and sharing thoughts among people. Currently, most E-commerce platforms utilize digital network space for advertisement and an increasing trend of social commerce is visible in all parts of the world. During the Post-COVID-19 pandemic, a rapid increase in digital media and E-commerce usage was observed in all parts of the world for personal and professional aspects. The increase in misinformation through these platforms is a major challenge that the current governments face today as rumors and fake news creates severe detrimental implications in society. In this work, we consider fake reviews and misinformation in online digital networks as a single disease, and thereby, by considering the recent trends in online social media marketing, we formulate a pandemic model for digital networks with a psychological state of human choice. The positivity and stability of the model are mathematically tested and validated. Our analysis and simulation prove that the system is stable and justifiable in the real-world digital environment. The generated pandemic model can be applied to assess the social and emotional intelligence of communities and consumers who are frequently exposed to misinformation and share fake news.

JTAER, Vol. 18, Pages 1041-1068: Pricing Decisions and Coordination in E-Commerce Supply Chain with Wholesale Price Contract Considering Focus Preferences

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer18020053

Authors: Xide Zhu Yao Song Guihua Lin Weina Xu

Decision makers’ behavioral preferences have always been important in coordinating the supply chain. Decision makers need to choose a partner wisely to increase the profitability of the entire supply chain, especially in the competitive e-commerce environment. In this paper, we examine a two-echelon e-commerce supply chain with one retailer and one supplier using the most popular wholesale price contract to facilitate collaboration. Traditional research has shown that the classical expectation model cannot coordinate the supply chain. We apply the focus theory of choice to describe the retailer’s behavior as a follower, and we examine the impact of the retailer’s pricing decisions on the supplier under different focus preferences and the coordination for the entire supply chain. The lower the parameter φ, which represents the degree of positivity, and the higher the parameter κ, which represents the level of confidence, the closer the profit of the whole supply chain is to the coordination result—both are visualized through numerical experiments and images. In the case of φ determination, the lower the κ, the better the supply chain coordination. The finding implies that the retailer may be able to coordinate the supply chain and produce better results than the expectation model when he or she makes choices using a positive evaluation system that includes both higher levels of optimism and lower levels of confidence. The findings of the FTC model can simultaneously offer a theoretical foundation for expanding collaboration among supply chain participants and management insights for decision makers to choose cooperation partners.

JTAER, Vol. 18, Pages 1020-1040: A Luxury Tourist Destination in Housing for Tourist Purposes: A Study of the New Airbnb Luxe Platform in the Case of Marbella

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer18020052

Authors: María Jesús Carrasco-Santos Andrea Peña-Romero Daniel Guerrero-Navarro

Marbella has a wide range of luxury property rentals, which are the subject of study within the framework of the collaborative economy, where the Airbnb platform stands out as the most used channel. This research focuses on the analysis of the total number of luxury villas offered in Marbella by Airbnb Luxe and Luxury Retreats. The methodology was carried out in four phases: the first phase involved a review of the literature on tourism and luxury and a study of Marbella as a luxury destination. The second phase focused on the analysis of the types of accommodation that Marbella offers. The third phase focused on the collection of data from the analyzed platform: Airbnb Luxe and Luxury Retreats. Finally, qualitative research consisting of in-depth interviews with owners and real estate agents focused on the luxury sector in Marbella was carried out. The results obtained yield relevant conclusions: Marbella is one of the main luxury holiday destinations in Spain, and the most demanded type of luxe accommodation in Marbella is large luxury villas. The term ‘luxury’ can be subjective, referring to such things as the visible and non-visible aspects that determine the category of a luxury property, hence the need to carry out a study on the luxury segment to establish a precise definition.

JTAER, Vol. 18, Pages 995-1019: Chatbots and Voice Assistants: Digital Transformers of the Company–Customer Interface—A Systematic Review of the Business Research Literature

Journal of Theoretical and Applied Electronic Commerce Research doi: 10.3390/jtaer18020051

Authors: Carmen Bălan

Chatbots and voice assistants are digital transformers of the interface between companies and customers. They have become part of the current practice of companies and represent a distinct domain of business research. This trend is significant in the broad business context marked by the digital transformation of companies, the fast development of e-commerce and the omnichannel behavior of customers. This article is a systematic review of the high-quality business research literature on chatbots and voice assistants. The purpose of this review is to critically analyze the current status of this literature from the perspective of the theories, contexts, characteristics and methodologies applied. The final aim of this review is to support the domain of study by suggesting a relevant agenda for future research. This review brings several contributions to the research domain, including the following: the identification of the main streams of high-quality business research in function of the theories in which the studies are grounded; the development of a conceptual framework of the investigated variables (antecedents, mediators, moderators and consequences); the creation of a conceptual framework of the humanlikeness of chatbots and voice assistants; the development of a conceptual framework of the consumer experience with chatbots and voice assistants and the presentation of insights for business practice.