Digital Platform Strategy - A Systematic Critical Review

While the transformative effect of digital platforms is broadly recognized, digital platform-related research evolved in largely disconnected streams focusing on technical platform architecture, network effects, and specific tactical decisions, without offering a holistic view of digital platform strategy. With the goal of advancing digital platform strategy research, we conduct a systematic critical review of research published in the leading Information Systems journals through a pragmatic business strategy lens that argues that markets, partnerships, differentiators, staging, and profit logic form the core elements of a holistic business strategy. We outline the core insights in extant research and we identify a number of promising opportunities for expanding the scope of digital platform strategy research in Information Systems

The Role of Information Technology in Fintech Innovation: Insights from the European Fintech Ecosystem

Fintech is an active area of innovation and a rapidly growing sector of the economy, yet relatively little is known about how information technology contributes to innovation in fintech. We draw on the business model canvas framework and we examine the role of information technology in the business models of leading European fintech startups. We find that information technology plays a key role across nearly all components of the fintech business models that we reviewed, orchestrating resources and processes to efficiently deliver personalized financial services to customers. Focusing on the IT-enabled value propositions across the fintech startups in our sample, we find that the startups tend to emphasize low-cost offerings that may pose a threat to incumbent business models in financial services

Psychological Contracts in Information Exchanges

Information assets continue to grow in importance of contribution to economic activity. Many emergent businesses, including Google, Amazon and Facebook, leverage crowd-sourced information assets as essential pillars supporting their business models. The appropriation of rights to information assets is commonly done through legal contracts. In practice this approach often fails to prevent conflicts between the information contributors and the companies claiming information rights. In research presented here I attempt to understand when and why the conflicts arise. I draw on psychological contract theory and I develop the framework of psychological contracts in information exchanges. I propose that intellectual property and privacy expectancies comprise core domains of psychological contracts in information exchanges. The proposed framework predicts that perceived breach of expectancies in relation to intellectual property rights and/or privacy triggers the affective experience of psychological contract violation characterized by feelings of anger and betrayal which undermines the sustainability of information exchanges. I also develop and evaluate a nomological network of antecedents and consequences associated with perceptions of a psychological contract breach in information exchanges. I investigate the effects of psychological ownership of information and privacy concerns as antecedents of perceived breach of intellectual property rights and privacy respectively. I also evaluate the attitudinal and behavioral adjustments which follow the affective experience of psychological contract violation. I examine the effects of psychological contract violation on commitment and cynicism attitudes and I use the exit, voice, loyalty and neglect typology to evaluate the behavioral outcomes which result from psychological contract violations. I evaluate the proposed framework in the context of information exchanges on a social networking site by surveying 598 Facebook users. The empirical data support the core hypotheses in proposed framework and indicate that perceptions of a privacy breach and/or an intellectual property breach trigger the affective experience of a psychological contract violation which is most strongly associated with exit intentions. These findings point to the critical role of psychological contracts in influencing the sustainability of information exchanges and offer a novel theoretical lens for examining sustainability of information exchanges across different contexts

IT Impact on Innovation at the Individual and Group Level – A Literature Review

Information technology (IT) is broadly recognized as an important element that supports innovation within organizations, however there has been relatively little integration of research in Information Systems on this topic. In this literature review, we examine and synthesize studies on the effects of IT in supporting innovation at the individual and group levels of analysis published in the past ten years in the leading Information Systems journals. We find that although innovation is inherently done by individuals and groups, there have been relatively few studies that examined how technology affects the innovation process and outcomes at the individual or group level. Further, much of the extant research is narrowly focused on incremental innovation. Through synthesis of the extant research, we identify opportunities for future research on the role of technology in innovation

Success Factors in Equity Crowdfunding in the United States

Equity-based crowdfunding is a growing global phenomenon, however little is known about the factors that may affect venture fundraising success in equity crowdfunding platforms in the United States. We develop a novel theoretical framework for understanding equity crowdfunding success by drawing on research in traditional risk capital investments that emphasizes market, execution and agency risks as the key determinants of investment decisions. We expand the framework to include computer-mediated communication challenges that can arise in internet-based equity crowdfunding. We evaluate the framework using data from a leading equity crowdfunding platform in the United States. We find that investors appear to focus on the market and agency risks in screening the potential investments in equity crowdfunding platforms. We also find that the use of video narratives by the entrepreneurs is positively correlated with equity crowdfunding success

Success Factors in Title III Equity Crowdfunding in the United States

Title III of the JOBS Act took effect in May 2016 and it began a new chapter in equity crowdfunding in the United States by providing an opportunity for entrepreneurial ventures to solicit funding from non-accredited investors. Due to the relative novelty, little is known about factors that can affect equity crowdfunding success under Title III. To address this gap in research, we draw on the risk capital framework and we examine the effects of market, execution and agency risks in equity crowdfunding under Title III. We collect data on 133 ventures that attracted more than $11 million in funding commitments across sixteen Title III equity crowdfunding platforms. We find that all three types of risks can affect the likelihood of successful fundraising under Title III. We discuss the implications of these findings for entrepreneurs, investors, crowdfunding platforms and policy makers

The Role of IT in Innovation at the Organizational Level – A Literature Review

Information technology (IT) is broadly recognized as an important element that supports innovation, however there has been relatively little integration of research in Information Systems on this topic. In this literature review, we examine and synthesize studies on the role of IT in innovation at the organizational level of analysis published in the past ten years in the leading Information Systems journals. We find that while much of the research has generally demonstrated positive effects of IT investments on innovation, IT can also be a cause of hyperturbulence in specific industries, and many factors can moderate the returns realized from IT investments. We also note that extant research is grounded in a relatively narrow theoretical foundation and we discuss the opportunities for developing the theoretical base on the role of IT in innovation

It’s Cool! Analysis of Factors That Influence Smart Thermostat Adoption Intention

Smart thermostats represent an innovative smart home technology and a growing commercial opportunity, yet little is known about the salient factors that affect the adoption of such devices. To address this gap in research, we conduct a three-stage study that progresses through belief elicitation, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factory analysis within a nomological network. We leverage the mixed methods approach to explore the factorial structure of salient perceived benefits and concerns associated with smart thermostats, and we examine the effects of the emergent factors on the adoption intention. We discover that a novel factor, which we term techno-coolness, is the key predictor of the smart thermostat adoption intention. Techno-coolness encompasses the perceptions that a smart thermostat can make a home look modern and futuristic, be fun to use, and make the user feel technologically advanced. We also find that compatibility concerns as well as privacy concerns are significant impediments to the smart thermostat adoption intention

Unlocking the Smart Home: An Examination of Factors Influencing Smart Lock Adoption Intention

Smart home technologies are a growing trend, yet little is known about factors that drive their adoption, given the spectrum of potential functional, experiential and esthetic benefits they offer. To address this gap in research, we explore the factorial structure of salient perceived benefits and concerns associated with smart locks, and we examine the effects of the emergent factors on the adoption intention. We find that while potential adopters express a broad range of perceived benefits and concerns associated with smart locks, only the perceived relative advantage of smart locks vis-a-vis conventional locks in providing safety and security is significantly correlated with adoption intention. Our results indicate that this perceived relative advantage is a critical consideration in the adoption of smart home technologies that replace existing solutions