On Rapport Uncertainty in the Sharing Economy - Extending the Categories of Uncertainty

Sharing Economy platforms enable a close physical interaction among strangers by mediating goods and services owned or provided by individuals. This close physical interaction is an inherent part of the service experience, is highly individual and thus can hardly be evaluated beforehand. This gives rise to a novel type of service uncertainty that we term as rapport uncertainty. Building on the hierarchical decomposition of service quality, we construct an uncertainty model that encompasses three uncertainty categories consumers face when sharing a resource: rapport, technical, and environment uncertainty. Our empirical study in a ride sharing context reveals that rapport uncertainty differs from other categories of uncertainty and significantly reduces the intention to transact with a service provider. Our findings illustrate how the concept of uncertainty must be extended to reflect the nature of shared service experiences. We suggest that owners of these platforms should actively manage this aspect through platform design

The Sharing Economy Platforms: Managerial perspective for peer-to-peer services

The increased usage of mobile devices and constant online presence as well as the changes in consumer values have helped the sharing economy platforms to grow significantly. The sharing economy platforms are not only competitors to one another but also to the incumbent companies. The sharing economy platforms benefit from the idle resources owned by the individuals willing to contribute to the platform, which means that value creation differs from traditional business models. This thesis presents the key differences between managing incumbent companies and managing the sharing economy platforms. This thesis provides a managerial perspective for peer-to-peer services by using two research methods: a literature review and an online study. The literature review focuses on academical studies and frameworks presented by researchers and the online study clarifies the current practices the sharing economy platforms are using to tackle some managerial issues relevant for sharing economy businesses. Moreover, some criticism the sharing economy has confronted is presented in the thesis. In addition to addressing the key differences and challenges in managing sharing economy platforms, this thesis provides suggestions on how to avoid common pitfalls and how to tackle common challenges

BUILDING AND SUSTAINING COMMUNITIES IN ONLINE LABOUR PLATFORMS

Online labour platforms enable the trading of services by connecting buyers who need services with providers willing to deliver those services. One crucial element to a platform’s survival and success lies in creating and fostering a thriving community of users – otherwise, the platform is likely to perish. However, we know very little about how such communities can be built. Extant studies have overlooked different stakeholder groups’ roles in community building and how primarily online platforms utilize offline activities. In this paper, we study the community-building efforts of six online labour platforms that have succeeded to thrive longer than an average platform. Beyond the traditional stakeholder roles of providing a marketplace (platform), delivering services (providers) and purchasing services (buyers), we find novel unique and shared roles that foster a well-functioning community. We identify five levers of community building: facilitating trade, encouraging community participation, involving users, empowering providers, and empowering buyers

THE ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY FOR SERVICE INNOVATION IN SHARING ECONOMY ORGANIZATIONS – A SERVICE-DOMINANT LOGIC PERSPECTIVE

The role and influence of information technology related to business and value creation of a firm are discussed controversially. The question how technology can drive service innovations is especially crucial in highly competitive and quickly developing areas such as digital platforms – and at the same time not well understood. This study investigates the role of information technology for service innovation in sharing economy organizations. These organizations are digital platforms that conflate physical and digital service elements. Using a service-dominant logic perspective, we conduct an interpretive multiple-case study to gain a deeper understanding for types of service innovation in this area and the different roles that IT can play in these initiatives. Our findings reveal different areas for service innovation and thereby help identifying previously unexplored interdependencies between the service ecosystem and value co-creation. We furthermore find that organizations’ choices on the role of IT are dependent on the level of heterogeneity and standardization of the mediated transactions. We derive four archetypes for the role of IT in service innovation that serve to explain how and why IT is exploited sharing economy organizations. The findings are translated into practical guidelines for managers of digital platforms

Value creation in electric vehicle charging networks

Electric vehicles (EV) are gaining a prominent share of the trillion-dollar automotive market. The growth is fueled by falling battery prices, tightening emission standards, government subsidies and increasing competition. The rise of EV’s creates a need for, and also depends on, charging infrastructure on a large scale. Electric vehicle charging networks are services that are used to manage and enable access to charging points. This study aims to understand how these networks can succeed in the tightening competition by examining what factors contribute to the value of an EV charging network for its participants. To reach this goal an explanatory single case study was conducted. The case examined a public EV charging network in Finland. First, earlier research in platform economics and EV charging were used to understand the context and to synthesize a theoretical framework. Next, empirical data was collected primarily with semi-structured interviews. Finally, pattern matching was used to analyze the data. Based on the results, the EV charging industry is still its infancy. EV charging networks mediate transactions between EV drivers and charging point owners (CPO), enabling exchange of information, control of charging points, and payments. Various signals suggest an expansion towards the energy system, as EV charging networks are likely to start aggregating and mediating vehicle-to-grid (V2G) services between EV drivers and energy market agents. The results suggest two focus areas as key factors creating value for participants. Firstly, the main contributor to the success of an EV charging network is the amount of charging points connected to it. This is mainly due to EV drivers’ strong positive cross-side network effects and to CPOs’ strong positive same-side network effects. Secondly, an EV charging network’s boundary resources should be designed to maximize efficiency for both sides. For EV drivers, charging is a mundane task that needs to be as effortless as possible. For CPO’s, offering charging is not a main business, but a relatively small value-added service. This study serves as a starting point for a new research stream, converging EV charging with platform economics research. In addition, the results help researchers in understanding the state of the industry and network operators in making strategic decisions

Associate Engagement, Customer Satisfaction, and the Impact on the Shopping Experience

This qualitative case study focuses on levels of associate engagement, customer satisfaction and the customer shopping experience. The qualitative research presents a case study design that looks to develop an understanding of how the different levels of associate engagement and customer satisfaction will impact the shopping experience, which could result in a loss of future revenue through reduced future visits and decreased spending. It addresses the general problem of low levels of associate engagement, customer satisfaction and the impact on the customer shopping experience. This research looks to question how important customers perceive levels of associate engagement when they are shopping in Walmart. A survey for Walmart customers and associates and one-on-one interviews were used to ask questions that would answer the issue. This researcher used NVivo software to code the data that was collected and also used preexisting literature to substantiate the findings. The results of this study show that the levels of associate engagement are a driving factor in customer satisfaction and in creating a positive shopping experience. Customers want to feel valued and welcome when they shop, and they look to associates to provide that through engagement. It was found that often it is more important to a customer to be acknowledged then quality of product received. Customers were willing to overlook lack of selection and lower quality if they received engagement and acknowledgement from store associates

An Investigation of Multisided Digital Platform Boundaries

Multisided digital platforms (MSDPs) are software systems that attract at least two distinct groups of users and generate network effects. They have attracted the attention of scholars and practitioners in recent years, as they have disrupted how firms create and capture value and have blurred their boundaries. Firms implementing MSDPs may make different boundary decisions when configuring the complements of their MSDPs. In some cases, they build complements in-house, while in others, they rely on third-party complementors. Despite efforts to understand the complex phenomenon of MSDPs, there is still confusion about what they are, and little is known about the determinant of their boundaries. This study aimed to provide a clear definition of MSDPs and investigated the factors influencing their boundaries as well as how firms respond to these factors. To answer these questions, first, this thesis synthesised a definition of MSDPs by integrating various streams of literature. Based on this, MSDPs have been defined as an organising logic characterised by a layered modular architecture and satisfying three conditions: (1) multisidedness, (2) modularity and (3) codebase extension. Second, this thesis implemented a qualitative case study of Uber, a ridesharing MSDP that disrupted the taxi industry worldwide, to understand the factors influencing MSDP’s boundaries. An in-depth analysis of Uber’s boundary decisions regarding its payment and maps complements was conducted. This showed that supply side factors identified in the literature, such as the need to reduce transactional hazards and build core competencies, influenced MSDP boundary decisions. In addition, demand side factors that have not been considered by previous research influenced firm boundaries. These demand side factors were complement localisation (adapting to local market conditions), customer heterogeneity realisation (addressing customers’ heterogenous needs and preferences) and supermodular complementarity ignition (increasing user numbers and investment in the MSDP). The findings suggested that an MSDP firm is more likely to rely on third-party complementors to respond to demand side factors, even though this may increase transactions costs. An exception to this is when a third-party complementary asset cannot be customised to meet the requirements of the MSDP. In these cases, an MSDP is more likely to build a complement in-house. These findings have offered new insights into MSDP boundaries by shifting the focus of existing theories of firm boundaries from the supply side to the demand side and from value capture to value creation. These new theoretical findings have complemented existing theories of firm boundaries and enhanced our understanding of MSDP boundaries. Moreover, these findings have important theoretical and practical implications, such as the need for future research to better understand demand side factors and for managers to evaluate the tension between supply side and demand side factors strategically.Qatar Research Leadership Program, Qatar Foundatio

Value creating factors in sharing economy platform businesses

Sharing economy in 2022 is more relevant than ever, when the world is recovering from a once in a lifetime pandemic that shut down most global commerce for nearly two years. Almost overnight, the world went from global supply chains and production optimization to local production and resourcing. Even now, after more than two years since the pandemic started, global supply chains are still suffering from production disruptions and scarcity of resources. Limitless quantitative easing combined with supply chain issues have skyrocketed inflation up to a level not seen in the 21st century, while cheap interest rate fueled lending has increased the level of debt to new global heights, making interest rate hikes difficult. With global travel almost all but eliminated, the travel and hospitality industries as well as ride-hailing industries suffered immensely for two years. Now, with the world opening, shortages in building materials and vehicle production have made the rebound difficult for traditional companies. Luckily the new sharing economy platform companies within these industries have shown incredible resilience and adaptability, and this resilience has allowed them to bounce back much quicker than their traditional competitors. The purpose of this thesis is to find out what are the factors behind sharing economy platform businesses that allow them to thrive in today’s competitive landscape and ensure a durable, competitive advantage. The study is composed of a theoretical and empirical part, where two industries (hospitality and ride-hailing) are analyzed and compared with each other. In the ride-hailing industry there are two companies, Uber Technologies and Lyft, and in the hospitality industries there are Airbnb, Booking Holdings, Expedia Group, TripAdvisor and Trip.com. Earlier research on this area has yielded some ideas of which factors seem to have a positive impact on value creation, but there is a serious gap in empirical evidence that would support their views. This thesis attempts to close this gap by taking an in-depth look at different value driving factors and testing their effect on revenue generation by running a series of regressions on different variables. The study relies on the assumption that market efficiency theories hold true and that the value of a business is all its future cash flows to shareholders discounted to today with the appropriate discount rate. Findings are mixed in this research, supporting some of the value creating factors found in academic research. There are three main value driving factors within the sharing economy platform businesses: attracting a network of users and incentivizing them, incremental improvements to the platform and saturating the market. Some of the factors seem to have a bigger impact than others and show a higher correlation, however, proving a conclusive causation between factors and value proved to be impractical. This thesis also argues that there are no major differences between platform businesses and any other business when it comes to sustained success. Platform companies also have to build a rational business model that is protected against outside threats and manage them in a way that is intelligent, focused on the long-term and offer products that bring true value to the participants. The findings of this thesis shed some light on the intricate nature of platform value, which as a concept is not well understood in the current theoretical grounding