Canalization or Increased Diffusion? An Empirical Analysis on the Impact of the Recommendation System in the Mobile App Market

Online retailers have increasingly adopted product recommendation systems as an effective tool to improve product visibility and promote sales. This study examines the impact of the recommendation system in the popular Google Play mobile app store. By analyzing a 60-day panel dataset with 235,638 observations from 9,735 apps, we investigate how the characteristics of the recommended apps relative to those of the focal apps affect the adoption of mobile apps in this volatile market. Our results show that the relative strength of the recommended apps over the focal app plays a key role in influencing the outcome of recommendations. Moreover, the heterogeneity of the recommendations as represented by the diversity of the popularity of the recommended apps is positively associated with a more even distribution of revenue in the market. These findings provide insights for mobile app market operators to enhance the design of their recommendation system

Separating privacy and security in online decision-making process: The case of Venmo

The rise of peer-to-peer online financial services that attract users with social media features warrants a sharper distinction between security and privacy. While past research on online financial services focuses on the security of the transactions, the literature on online social media emphasizes the risks for the individual’s privacy. Unfortunately, the two concepts are often considered as overlapping or, in some cases, as two dimensions of the same concept, thus making complex the study of the distinct roles of security and privacy in the decision-making process. We analyze the activity of 13; 338 accounts on Venmo to explore the different roles of the two concepts in the decision to disclose financial transactions on online platforms. The results show that security concerns cause the users to opt-out of any public feeds, while users address their privacy concerns by limiting the amount of information disclosed. The findings and their impact are discussed

Crowdfunding Project Success for Game Developers: Evidence from Kickstarter and Steam

Crowdfunding has revolutionized business investor connection in many industries, one of which is game development. Traditionally, triple-A game developers and publishers were able to monopolize the industry, but with the emergence of crowdfunding platforms, smaller game development teams and companies have a way of competing with large corporations by attracting funds. However, Kickstarter reports show that two-third of game funding projects fail to meet their goals. This study develops and empirically examines a theoretical model to predict video game’s crowdfunding success to address this gap. We collect data on video game projects that were initiated on Kickstarter and were later released on the Steam platform. Our analysis of more than 7000 reward tiers for 1967 projects reveals that reward type (free game copy, in-game perks, accessories, artworks, and involvement), and reward description length positively influence funding success, while the number of reward tiers and funding period negatively impact funding success

Conceptualizing Information Quality in Online Health Forums

Increased access to the Internet has provided patients with new sources of information, and the rapid growth of the Internet and ancillary services has changed the way in which people seek and consume information. An example of such transformation is the wide proliferation and acceptance of online health forums over the last decade. However, the narrative, personal, discursive, and experiential nature of knowledge shared by patients that make these online forums unique and attractive also challenges the quality of the health information. Moreover, there is a lack of consensus as to what information quality really means in the context of online health forums. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to establish a validated measure of the quality of health information on online forums targeted to patients and the general public secernated by certain communities

The Effect of the Recommendation System in the Mobile App Market

Product recommendation systems have been widely adopted in e-commerce to improve product visibility and promote sales. This study examines the effect of recommendation system in the increasingly popular mobile app market, which is uniquely characterized with its multitude of product choices and the prevailing use of the freemium model. We constructed a panel dataset using a wide range of daily app data collected from the world’s leading Google Play app store. This rich dataset allows us to examine how the competition between the focal app and its recommendations affects their relative adoptions, and how the heterogeneity of the recommendations influences market inequality. By introducing new research angles on competition within recommendation system and market inequality, our study will help platform operators and developers better understand the dynamics in the mobile app market and offer practical guidance on how to enhance the design of the mobile app recommendation system

Privacy concerns and benefits of engagement with social media-enabled apps: A privacy calculus perspective

Privacy threats in a social media-enabled application (app) can originate from either the institution or other app users. Although privacy in social media is well studied, the role of social (peer) privacy concerns is largely unknown and most privacy studies on mobile apps focus on initial adoption and ignore long-term behavioral outcomes. Drawing on the privacy calculus theory, this study examines the impact of both institutional and social privacy concerns on long-term user engagement with social media-enabled apps. Findings from the analysis of 354 survey responses reveal that both institutional and social privacy concerns decrease engagement. Regarding the antecedents, the perceived sensitivity of information increases institutional privacy concerns. However, social privacy concerns are influenced by the perception of risk and control. Moreover, while the impacts of social and enjoyment benefits are expectedly positive, the perception of efficiency benefits decreases engagement. These findings are further investigated and validated through a follow-up text analysis study, suggesting that users who enjoy the functionality of these apps are more likely to express social privacy concerns and minimize their engagement. This study contributes to the literature of privacy on mobile apps by unraveling the intricate dynamics of privacy concerns and benefits in the social mobile era

A comparative study for diagnosis of Bovine Leukemia Virus (BLV) infection in dairy cows by Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) and Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent assay (ELISA)

Bovine Leukemia Virus (BLV) is a retrovirus that causes bovine enzootic leukemia (EBL). The routine method for the diagnosis of the infection is antibody screening tests. Agar gel immunodiffusion (AGID) and ELISA are widely used for detection of the antibody against BLV. Amplification and detection of the proviral DNA by PCR is a powerful method for direct detection of the infection. However there are some limitations for routine use of this method in laboratory diagnosis of the disease and it requires further investigations. The objective of this study was to compare the results of a PCR assay with a commercial ELISA in detection of the bovine leukemia provirus and antibodies to this agent, in blood samples of dairy cows. The ELISA was assumed as reference test and the relative sensitivity and specificity of the PCR assay was calculated by testing samples from 173 cows in suburb of Tabriz. Blood sample were taken and taken sera and DNA contents were harvested. Sensitivity and specificity of the PCR assay in caparison to commercial ELISA were 100% and 98.6% respectively. The frequency of the presence of the targeted part of gag gene in PCR was 13.3% and the frequency of the seropositive reaction by commercial ELISA was 12.1%. The results showed that it is possible to use PCR as a laboratory diagnostic method for identification of the disease

Using Cognitive Dissonance Theory to Explain Information Security Policy Violations

The use of sanctions has long been advocated to enforce information security policy (ISP) compliance to control malicious and non-malicious insider threat. The ISP literature is largely based on deterrence theory. However, findings are inconsistent and deterrence has not been a strong predictor especially when non-compliant behavior is the focus of the study. To better explain this phenomenon, scholars have integrated theories and introduced additional constructs. By integrating cognitive dissonance and extended deterrence theory, this study seeks to examine the moderating effect of the personality trait of inertia on the relationship between formal and informal sanctions with ISP non-compliance. More specifically, the focus of this study is on investigating the factors that impact non-compliance of insiders (employees). \ \ This paper revisits the role of formal and informal sanctions in ISP compliance literature through the lens of cognitive dissonance theory. Although certainty of getting caught as well as the severity and swiftness of penalties for engage in policy violating behavior along with subjective norm and their peer behavior have a negative effect on employees’ intention to show non-compliance behavior, inertia will strengthen this relationship. \ \ To test the research hypotheses, we plan to use a scenario-based survey instrument for data collection following by Partial Least Squares (PLS) method using Smart PLS 3.0 for data analysis. The survey instrument will be created with items extracted from extant literature and the scenarios will be chosen from unauthorized access to computerized data. \ \ This study has a number of theoretical and practical implications. It contributes to ISP compliance body of knowledge by its novel theoretical approach such that individuals utilize a cognitive process to justify the inconsistency between their prior thought and the subsequent action (inertia). To the authors’ knowledge, cognitive dissonance theory has never been used in ISP compliance literature. Moreover, examining the moderating effect of inertia can shed light on the long standing debate regarding the effectiveness of deterrence on compliance. From a practical standpoint, the result of our study can help in designing training and information intervention programs for employees who are in inertia state and driving them toward attitude and behavior change.

A Conceptual Model to Understand Privacy Concerns in a Social P2P Payment App

Privacy provision guarantees and protection are crucially important in information intensive services such as online transactions. Although most studies have looked at privacy concerns in the past, they have inconsistent results leading to the privacy paradox. In the social peer to peer (p2p) payment app context, this paradox is pronounced as users seek to satisfy social needs they have on social media and fulfill private financial transactions. To understand this privacy paradox, we advance in this study that privacy concerns for users of social p2p payment app consist of two dimensions, namely: social and institutional. Based on this multidimensional view of privacy concerns, we develop a conceptual model to explain users’ continuous engagement in social p2p mobile payment app such as Venmo. We discuss the implications of our conceptual model and outline future efforts to validate the model. \ \ Keywords: Privacy paradox, institutional privacy concerns, social privacy concerns, mobile payment, continuous engagement, risk, contro