Platform quality factors influencing content providers’ loyalty

This study investigates what platform quality factors affect the contents of the loyalty of content providers to support the continued expansion and sustainability of online platforms. It analyses empirically the influence of platform quality on the satisfaction with and loyalty to the service as well as on the platform's ability to secure content providers from a survey of 222 platform users. It confirms five significant findings for platform quality and user loyalty. First, all five factors of SERVQUAL have meaningful effects on platform user satisfaction. Second, factors affecting service quality differ by gender. Third, while male users regard platform technology as most critical, female users are more concerned about platform events and interests. Fourth, female users care more about customer responses than male users do; however, the user interface is the most critical aspect for both genders. Finally, platform quality has a significant impact on satisfaction and loyalty among content providers. It identifies the importance of platform service quality as a factor to increase user (content providers) loyalty on the platform. And it also investigates differences according to user gender by subdividing platform service users and indicates how service quality effects can change according to user characteristics.     

User Reviews Variance,Critic Reviews Variance,and Product Sales: An Exploration of Customer Breadth and Depth Effects

Online user reviews constitute a new element of the marketing communication mix that can significantly affect product sales. A general consensus holds that positive user reviews valence benefits product sales, yet the effect of variance is less intuitive and current findings are mixed. We propose that user reviews variance actually constitutes a double-edged sword that can either hurt or help product sales, depending on the variance of critic reviews and other quality signals. Three complementary studies in multiple industries (movies, digital cameras, and books) with multiple methods (secondary data analysis and behavioral experiment) reveal three key insights in this setting. First, after recognizing a high variance in user reviews, many potential buyers may simply exclude the focal product from their consideration sets for fear that it does not match their needs and preferences, which is termed the customer breadth effect. Second, high user reviews variance, in combination with high critic reviews variance, can elicit a sense of uniqueness and thus enhance purchase intentions of some consumers, which is termed the customer depth effect. Third, quality signals (e.g., product cost and product extension) can strengthen the positive customer depth effect. The overall effects of user reviews variance, therefore, can be negative, insignificant, or even positive. These findings have important theoretical and managerial implications.     

TAXATION AND THE USER COST OF CAPITAL

This paper provides a review of the concept of user cost and its determinants. Particular attention is given to the influence of taxation. The concept of user cost relates to the rental, the rate of return to capital, that arises in a profit maximizing situation in which further investment in capital produces no additional profit. This paper sets out in some detail the range of assumptions involved in obtaining alternative expressions for the user cost. The user cost refers to a before-tax capital rental, the rate of return that ensures that the (after-tax) cost of capital is equal to the post-tax returns over its life. Hence, associated with the user cost measure is an effective marginal tax rate. This can differ substantially from the statutory marginal rate applicable to the investor. A related effective average tax rate is also defined.     

Airport user experience unpacked: Conceptualizing its potential in the face of COVID-19

Given the unprecedented challenges imposed on the aviation industry by the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper proposes a new perspective on airport user experience as a field of study to unlock its potential as a basis for strategic roadmapping. Through an integrative literature review, this study points out a dominant focus, in practice and research, on customer experience and service quality, as opposed to user experience, to help airports gain a competitive edge in an increasingly commoditized industry. The review highlights several issues with this understanding of experience, as users other than passengers, such as employees, working for the airport and its myriad stakeholders, as well as visitors, are largely omitted from study. Given the complexity of the system, operationally, passengers are generally reduced to smooth flows of a passive mass, which this study argues is both a missed opportunity and a vulnerability exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Major events apart from COVID-19 are used to show the negative effects this simplification of user experience has had. Based on solutions and models proposed in previous studies, a conceptual model has been developed to illustrate the postulated potential of a deeper and more holistic study of airport user experience to make airport systems generally more agile, flexible and future-proof. As such, the paper advocates to utilize the user experience as a basis for strategic planning to equip airports with the know-how to manage not just daily operations more effectively but also the aftermath of and recovery from major events like the COVID-19 pandemic. Moreover, with the user experience at the center of the strategic roadmap, airports can plan ahead to mitigate the impact of future scenarios. The importance of future research and the use of existing research are discussed.     

Consumer perception of knowledge-sharing in travel-related Online Social Networks

Consumers trust the Internet for advice. Online Social Networks (OSNs) are creating collective knowledge and becoming major information gathering sources among tourists when making travel decisions and purchasing travel-related products and services. The aim of the current study is to develop a theoretical model that tests the precursors of “intention to share knowledge” behaviors in the context of OSNs. Based on the previous literature, a theoretical model was developed and tested using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Structural Equation Modeling with a sample of travel-related OSN users who had at least one year of online travel shopping experience. Study results show that both perceived ease of use and belief in integrity positively influence knowledge sharing behaviors. Utilitarian beliefs and subjective norms positively influence belief in integrity. This is one of the few research studies within this field and study results present clear theoretical and practical implications for the travel and tourism industry.     

Anticipating transitions beyond the current mobility regimes: How acceptability matters

Today's car-based transportation systems require a transition toward sustainability. This is particularly the case in suburban areas, where the costs for introducing a new transportation system are high due to the low population density. At the same time the negative externalities of the current mobility regime – such as health costs and congestions – are increasing rapidly. Based on expert interviews with car manufacturers, transportation authorities, environmental groups, and scientists we identify two visionary characteristics of future, more sustainable transportation systems: automated driving and sharing. Using these two characteristics, we apply the scenario-axes technique to develop four mobility scenarios for a suburban context that range from business-as-usual to a radical and more sustainable one. In an evaluation with ten criteria that measure a scenario's performance from a user perspective, the radical scenario performs worst since it does not meet current individualistic user requirements. Our findings suggest that lock-ins of users’ expectations act as barriers for the diffusion of novel transportation systems. These barriers cannot be overcome by technological innovations and regulation alone. Hence, we call for innovative arenas, wherein technology and user acceptability could co-evolve.     

A different perspective on consumer engagement: exploring the experience of using health apps to support healthier food purchasing

ABSTRACT

Healthy food purchasing behaviour may be facilitated through the use of health apps if used for the necessary time period. However, little is known on the factors that influence the user experience and facilitate or impede their continued use. The purpose of the present research is to explore the lived experience of using a health app to support healthier food purchasing behaviour. Findings identify the presence of behaviour change motivation and anticipated effort levels as drivers of app engagement. It appeared that behavioural, cognitive and emotional dimensions of engagement may influence one another, driven by contextual influences, to simultaneously contribute to the intrinsic experience of engagement. The research makes practical and theoretical contributions to the consumer engagement literature and highlights the need to focus on understanding and capturing the specific engagement context to better understand engagement.     

Bi-objective bilevel optimization of distribution center locations considering user equilibria

We propose a bi-objective, bilevel optimization model for the location of relief distribution centers (DCs) in humanitarian logistics. The upper-level decision-maker (an aid-providing organization) selects locations for capacitated DCs. On the lower level, beneficiaries choose a DC according to distance and amount of supply to be expected. This effects a user equilibrium on the lower decision level. Upper level objectives are to minimize total opening cost for the DCs and total uncovered demand. We develop an exact algorithm for determining the Pareto frontier of the problem, integrating the adaptive epsilon-constraint method, a branch-and-bound procedure, and the Frank–Wolfe procedure.     

中国住房市场波动的影响因素研究——基于租金收益率的方差分解

基于资产定价的视角,本文通过将标准的动态戈登增长模型和传统的住房使用成本模型相结合,建立了一个关于住房市场租金收益率的动态住房使用成本模型。该模型将租金收益率分解为购房的预期资金成本、预期购房相对于租房的风险溢价和预期未来租金增长率三个部分的现值之和。进一步,本文将该模型应用于京沪广深四大城市的季度数据,并使用方差分解方法来考察国内住房市场动态波动的影响因素及其相对重要性。本文结果表明,资金成本变动在四大城市的住房市场波动中为最重要的影响因素,而租金在住房市场波动中虽然存在着一定的影响作用,但并不如资金成本显著。此外,本文还发现,不能直接观测得到的购房相对于租房的风险溢价也是影响国内住房市场的一个不可忽视的重要因素。值得注意的是,近年四大城市居民租房面临的风险相对于购房正日益上升。     

Democratizing innovation: The evolving phenomenon of user innovation

Almost 30 years ago, researchers began a systematic study of innovation by end users and user firms. At that time, the phenomenon was generally regarded as a minor oddity. Today, it is clear that user-centered innovation is a very powerful and general phenomenon. It is rapidly growing due to continuing advances in computing and communication technologies. It is becoming both an important rival to and an important feedstock for manufacturer-centered innovation in many fields. In this article, I provide an overview of what the international research community now understands about user-centered innovation. JEL classifications O32, O33