Algorithmic Pricing and Fairness: A Moderated Moderation Model of AI Disclosure and Typicality of AI Pricing

In the era of big data, the utilization of algorithms for dynamic pricing has become prevalent. However, concerns have been raised about the potential negative impact of these practices on consumers\u27 fairness perceptions. Using attribution theory as the underlying framework, we explore how AI disclosure moderates the relationship between AI pricing type (unified/personalized dynamic pricing) and fairness perceptions (procedural/distributive fairness) and how this moderation effect is further moderated by the perceived typicality of AI pricing. An online scenario-based experiment was carried out with 145 participants. The results reveal that personalized dynamic pricing elicits lower fairness perceptions than unified dynamic pricing. Furthermore, we observe a significant moderated moderation effect, indicating that the negative impact of personalized dynamic pricing can be mitigated by AI disclosure for consumers who perceive AI pricing as typical. These findings contribute to AI pricing literature and the development of fairer platform designs

Why Users Accept Discriminatory Pricing: The Roles of AI Agent\u27s Presence and Explanation

Discriminatory pricing practices have raised consumers’ negative reactions. This study investigates how AI agent’s presence and the use of explanations impact consumers\u27 acceptance of discriminatory pricing. A scenario-based experiment revealed that AI agent’s presence negatively moderates the negative relationship between offer unfavorability and offer acceptance, which is mediated by perceived justice and invasion of privacy. Moreover, this research indicated that for unfavored price, environment-based explanation is more effective than user-based explanation and the positive effect of AI agent’s presence on offer acceptance is more pronounced when providing user-based explanations. This study contributes to price management literature and AI decision literature by illustrating how the AI agent\u27s presence asymmetrically shapes consumers\u27 perceptions of offer outcomes, enriching our understanding of consumer responses to AI. The findings have implications for firms managing discriminatory pricing, offering insights into optimal AI agents and explanation utilization for enhancing customer experience and business performance

Display “Why” Higher than “How”: How Display Positioning Affects Construal Level

Prior research has shown that vertical position of an item is important in both an offline and an online digital context. However, findings in the digital context are inconsistent and atheoretical. Recent psychology research has observed that looking up vs. down can shift processing style (abstract vs. concrete) because looking up (down) tends to associate with observing distant (proximal) stimuli. Based on this insight, we propose that when looking at an object displayed on the top (bottom) of a webpage, users will process the object in a relatively abstract (concrete) way. Further, according to the fit hypothesis in the construal level theory, we propose that advertising with low-level (vs. high-level) construals will be more persuasive when it appears at the bottom (vs. on the top) of the webpage. An initial study has been conducted to examine our propositions. Two future studies using eye-tracking technology are proposed to provide more stringent evidence

UNDERSTANDING POST ADOPTION SWITCHING BEHAVIOR FOR MOBILE INSTANT MESSAGING APPLICATION IN CHINA: BASED ON MIGRATION THEORY

Post adoptive IT use is a hot research stream in information systems field, including continuance behaviours and switching behaviours. While there are a great number of studies on users’ intentions or behaviors for diversified information systems, previous post adoptive IT studies pay relatively less attention on users’ switching behaviors. Hence, we know little about this phenomenon and triggers on users’ switching behaviors. This research identifies the features of users IT switching behaviors and examines what trigger their switching intentions and actual behaviors in the context of mobile instant messaging (MIM) application in China. A model of MIM switching behaviors is developed based on Curran and Saguy’s (2001) research on how networks of obligation, trust and relative deprivation affect human’s migration decision and process. Besides these three triggers, we also introduce dissatisfaction and curiosity into our model according to prior IS studies on switching behaviors. A survey research method will be adopted to test this model. Overall, our study may theoretically contribute to further understand users’ IT switching behaviors and yield some practical implications for designers and managers in MIM providers and their products propaganda

Effects of e-Commerce Websites’ Auditory Features on Consumers’ Appreciation for Innovative Products

It is has been established that sensory interactions, including sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch, can affect consumers’ consumption decisions. While various sensory interactions are devised in the offline context, e-commerce has to rely primarily on vision and hearing due to its inability to access other sensory. Previous IS literature has documented the substantial effects of various visual features. However, very few studies have examined auditory features. Drawing on the recent observation that medium noises enhance people’s abstractive thinking and creativity, this study tries to investigate this topic from a novel perspective that ambient sounds can promote users’ appreciation of innovative products when shopping online. The preliminary results of a lab experiment show that medium noise or music can improve participants’ likelihood of buying innovative products over traditional products, and noise brings other negative effects (e.g. bad mood), while music do not. Theoretical and practical contributions are discussed

INVESTIGATING CONSUMERS’ REDEMPTION RESPONSES THROUGH THE INTERPLAY BETWEEN MESSAGE FRAMING AND PSYCHOLOGICAL DISTANCE IN MOBILE ADVERTISEMENT DESIGN

On the one hand, the increasing digitalization of commerce has put local owner operated retail outlets (LOOROs) under pressure to adapt their business models to the new technological and competitive environment as well as to the changing shopping habits of their customers. On the other hand, it also offers potential competitive advantages for them. This paper investigates the retailers’ perception of the competition and their perception of customer expectations, combined with a survey of the current use of digitalized services and the LOOROs readiness to increase the usage of digitalized services. Our results confirm that the perception of competitive pressure and customer expectations has a positive influence on LOOROs’ readiness to adopt new technologies and business models. But a significant number of the surveyed retailers underestimate the expectations of their customers and are reluctant to add digital services to their business portfolio. While our key findings are relevant insights for all LOOROs on their journey towards digitalization, our findings provide even more significant insights for all digital service providers aiming to take a slice of the still substantial market shares of LOOROs in rural areas

Short-Video Marketing in E-commerce: Analyzing and Predicting Consumer Response

This study analyzes and predicts consumer viewing response to e-commerce short-videos (ESVs). We first construct a large-scale ESV dataset that contains 23,001 ESVs across 40 product categories. The dataset consists of the consumer response label in terms of average viewing durations and human-annotated ESV content attributes. Using the constructed dataset and mixed-effects model, we find that product description, product demonstration, pleasure, and aesthetics are four key determinants of ESV viewing duration. Furthermore, we design a content-based multimodal-multitask framework to predict consumer viewing response to ESVs. We propose the information distillation module to extract the shared, special, and conflicted information from ESV multimodal features. Additionally, we employ a hierarchical multitask classification module to capture feature-level and label-level dependencies. We conduct extensive experiments to evaluate the prediction performance of our proposed framework. Taken together, our paper provides theoretical and methodological contributions to the IS and relevant literature

MnO2-decorated N-doped carbon nanotube with boosted activity for low-temperature oxidation of formaldehyde

Low-temperature oxidative degradation of formaldehyde (HCHO) using non-noble metal catalysts is challenging. Herein, novel manganese dioxide (MnO2)/N-doped carbon nanotubes (NCNT) composites were prepared with varying MnO2 content. The surface properties and morphologies were analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscope (SEM) and transmission electron microscope (TEM). Comparing with MnO2/carbon nanotubes (CNTs) catalyst, the 40% MnO2/NCNT exhibited much better activity and selectivity for HCHO oxidation, mineralizing 95% of HCHO (at 100 ppm) into CO2 at 30 °C at a gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 30,000 mL h-1  g-1. Density functional theory (DFT) calculation was used to analyze the difference in the catalytic activity of MnO2 with CNTs and NCNT carrier. It was confirmed that the oxygen on NCNT was more active than CNTs, which facilitated the regeneration of MnO2. This resulted in remarkably boosted activity for HCHO oxidation. The present work thus exploited an inexpensive approach to enhance the catalytic activity of transition metal oxides via depositing them on a suitable support

THE EFFECTS OF TOUCH VERSUS NON-TOUCH INTERFACES ON ONLINE SHOPPING EXPERIENCE

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (SOC

The Role of Mobile Payment in Increasing Consumers’ Preferences towards Hedonic Products

How do payment methods affect consumers’ willingness to purchase hedonic products? Based on the pain of paying theory, past research has explored this topic by comparing cash payment with card payments. With the flourishing of electronic commerce, the usage rate of mobile payment is rapidly increasing worldwide. Considering the evolution of the mainstream payment method, this study intends to compare the newly popular mobile payment with traditional payment methods (e.g., cash payment, card payment) in influencing consumers’ preferences towards hedonic products. We propose that consumers gradually establish associations between mobile payment and hedonic mindset in their daily lives. As a result, mobile payment triggers consumers’ hedonic mindsets, which contribute to their hedonic preferences. This study provides a new explanation for the effect of payment methods on consumers’ hedonic preferences from the perspective of the distinct features of mobile payment