Understanding the Success of Sharing Economy Startups: A Necessary Condition Analysis

Sharing economy businesses such as Uber and AirBnB have disrupted the traditional business models and drawn considerable attention from researchers. While many sharing economy startups are found, a majority of them go unnoticed and fail to reach a critical mass for survival. Prior studies have mostly focused on consumer engagement as success factors for sharing economy businesses. Yet, there is a scarcity of research on success factors at the entry level of sharing economy businesses, namely, the fundraising rounds. This study uses a Necessary Condition Analysis (NCA) on 99 sharing economy startups to explore how human capital, innovativeness, and entrepreneurial footprint impact their fundraising success. Our findings show a large necessary effect for human capital and entrepreneurial footprint, and a medium effect for innovativeness on fundraising success. Additionally, firms only need a range of 30% to 40% level of three factors to achieve at least 40% level of fundraising success

Globalization of Constitutional Identity

This Article extends Gary J. Jacobsohn’s theory of constitutional identity to better understand the dynamics of constitutional identity in the era of globalization. The extended theoretical framework features the relation of constitutional globalization to the change of national constitutional identity. Within that framework, this Article offers an original, empirical examination of the case of Vietnam and compares it with other socialist regimes (China, Laos, North Korea, and Cuba). It argues that globalization induces adaption to the socialist constitutional identity. The socialist constitutional identity is adapted by the pragmatic incorporation of fundamental ideas and principles of global constitutionalism. Consequently, the essence of the socialist constitutional identity remains but is modified and extended in the globalizing context. Although there is convergence in the adaption to socialist constitutional identity among the five socialist countries due to the impact of constitutional globalization, there are four divergent models which these countries adopt to react to the global impact on their constitutional identity, namely constitutional globalism (Vietnam and Laos); constitutional exceptionalism (China); constitutional isolationism (North Korea); and constitutional reservationism (Cuba). This Article contributes to the scholarship on constitutional globalization, comparative theory on constitutional identity, and empirical knowledge on constitutional dynamics in the contemporary socialist world

Discursive Constitutionalism

“Constitutionalism” has been contentiously debated at national and international levels. This Article develops the concept of discursive constitutionalism, defined as the construction of constitutionalism through public discourse. It theorizes about four elements (ideas, actors, actions, and spaces) and the constructive logic of discursive constitutionalism. Public constitutionalist discourse can be shaped by the existing relations of political power. At the same time, it can constrain the political monopoly of constitutional thinking, shape the design of institutions to limit political power, and prevent the arbitrary use of political power in practice. This study provides an explanatory account of three models of discursive constitutionalism in East Asia. The protectionist model in Japan refers to the discursive defense of national constitutional commitments to international peace and renouncing war. The reformist model in China denotes the discursive promotion of institutional reforms in line with normative values of constitutionalism. The diffusionist model in Vietnam features the discursive spread of constitutionalist ideas from external international and comparative sources into internal intellectual communities. Discursive constitutionalism can be a useful conceptual tool to understand the quest for constitutionalism through public discourse

Constitutional Mobilization

People around the world are mobilizing for constitutional change. This global phenomenon has been underexplored in comparative constitutional studies. This Article introduces the concept of constitutional mobilization, theorizes about it, and offers an original, empirical case-study. First, it develops a general theoretical framework defined by the following key concepts. Constitutional mobilization is the process by which social actors employ constitutional norms and discourses to advocate for constitutional change. Constitutional opportunity refers to the general political and constitutional environment in which constitutional mobilization operates, and particular political and constitutional processes that provoke constitutional mobilization. Constitutional framing concerns identifying constitutional problems and proposing constitutional solutions, the process of which involves invocation of constitutional language, ideas, norms, or symbols presented in national constitutions, transnational constitutional law, and international law. Constitutional resources take the form of state actors who play the influential role in constitutional change. And finally, constitutional change is understood as a multiple concept, which includes three types of change, namely revolutionary, reformative, and cultural. Second, this article develops a contextual theory to answer this question: under what conditions, how and why do social actors mobilize for constitutional change in authoritarian regime? The theory holds that, in an authoritarian regime, social actors seize the opportunity presented by constitution-making process to mobilize the public and also political leaders to engage in a popular, national constitutional dialogue, which results in reformative and cultural constitutional changes. Third, on that theoretical ground, this Article offers a case-study of Vietnam. This case-study has implications for China, which, like Vietnam, is also governed by a communist regime. However, as this article will demonstrate, China also presents significant constitutional divergences from Vietnam. More generally, this Article proposes establishing constitutional mobilization as a new area of empirical comparative constitutional inquiry based on case-studies exploration and contextual theorization

The Influence of Technology Characteristics on Privacy Calculus: A Theoretical Framework

The notion of privacy calculus has been used to explain the risk-benefit analysis information technology users perform when asked to provide personal information. This study extends the privacy calculus model by proposing a theoretical framework in which technology characteristics (radicalness and complexity) have moderating effects on the benefit-value and risk-value relationships. The framework also suggests that perceive benefit is a multidimensional construct formed by utilitarian, hedonic, and social benefits. This study is contextualized for smartphone users who are faced with the decision to allow access to their personal information in order to use mobile applications. Propositions to guide future research are developed and implications of the proposed framework are discussed

Effects of Digital Transformation Initiatives on IT Performance: Evidence from US State Governments

For governments around the world, digital transformation (DT) initiatives have been a cornerstone in a plan to gain strategic competitiveness in the global market. However, DT initiatives have a high failure rate, and prior studies have suggested that DT initiatives are disruptive and evolutionary by nature, requiring a longitudinal examination of DT initiatives to fully understand how their effects unfolded over time. In this exploratory study, we use an event study analysis to unveil the effects of DT initiatives on IT performance over a decade in 25 US state governments. The results suggest that DT initiatives only have a significant and positive effect on radical transformation of IT performance, but not for incremental transformation of IT performance. The findings support a revolutionary perspective on effects of DT initiatives and suggest that for public organization, radical transformation is worth considering despite of the risks

Sharing Economy: What Works and What Doesn’t?

Uber and AirBnb, whose business models can best be described as sharing economy businesses, are disrupting the traditional businesses in their industries. Yet, many other sharing economy startups go unheard of and eventually cease to exist. There exists a fierce debate regarding whether sharing economy businesses are successful or not. While many researchers have sought to study the user motivation for engage with such businesses, no study has been conducted on a micro-economic level that determine the factors of success of sharing economy businesses. In this paper, we present a quantitative analysis study of 99 US based sharing economy business platforms to understand the factors which relate to the success of these startups. The finding of this study explains how factors such as human capital, innovation, and online reputation might impact the success of sharing economy startups