Do Human Faces Matter? Evidence from User-Generated Photos in Online Reviews

The importance of online reviews in e-commerce cannot be overstated, but few studies have focused on user-generated photos (UGPs) in reviews, especially human faces in UGPs. In this study, using Amazon online review data, we divide online reviews into text with UGPs, UGPs with faces, and UGPs with multiple faces based on the presence and number of faces, and discuss their effects on review helpfulness. Drawing on media richness theory and emotional contagion effects, we argue that faces provide a richness of information that can increase the effectiveness of photos as information mediators. Moreover, we argue that facial expressions and emotional states, as read-in and read-out devices that convey individual emotions, affect other consumers\u27 perceived review helpfulness. This study contributes to the literature on online reviews, media richness theory, and emotional contagion effects, while providing practical insights for e-commerce sites and consumers seeking to write effective online reviews

The Effect of Relative Power on Interorganizational Knowledge Transfer and Relationship Quality in the Buyer-Supplier Relationship: A Bilateral Perspective

Considerable attention has been paid to relative power that decides the type of buyer-supplier relationship. However, most prior studies have limitations as they have focused only on one focal firm’s (buyer’s or supplier’s) perspective, failing to achieve a more balanced view from both sides of a buyer-supplier relationship. This study proposes a research framework by integrating both the buyer’s and the supplier’s perspectives and develops three hypotheses on the effects of relative power on interorganizational knowledge transfer and relationship quality in the buyer-supplier relationship. The proposed framework and its hypotheses were tested using cluster analysis and ANOVA with data from the survey of 89 dyadic pairs of participants of the buyer-supplier relationship. The results showed four distinguished types of buyer-supplier relationship: (1) confident buyer and supplier, (2) diffident buyer and supplier, (3) arrogant buyer but diffident supplier, and (4) confident buyer but cowed supplier. In addition, we also found that buyers and suppliers have their own different perceptions on relative power, degrees of knowledge flow, and relationship quality. Interestingly, when a buyer and a supplier believe that the power is balanced between them, inter-organizational knowledge transfer activities and quality of relationship were improved. The results help sharpen our understanding of how relative power affects knowledge transfer and relationship quality in the buyer-supplier relationship, and enable us to explore the different standpoints between the buyer and the supplier. Such findings based on a bilateral view of relative power in the buyer-supplier relationship may be used as a stepping stone for further empirical research. It also offers valuable practical suggestions for managers who want to facilitate knowledge flow with their partners

Understanding the Impact of Restaurants’ Initial Online Reputation on Subsequent Online Reputation: Focusing on Source and Message Credibilities

When consumers have no previous experience with products or services, they form trust on them based on credible sources and messages. Thus, online review sites have become crucial word-of-mouth channels where customers search for the credible information. Although considerable literature on online reviews has revealed the role of reviewers and review characteristics in forming consumer behaviors, few studies have examined their impact on business reputation building processes. Therefore, we investigate whether the overall tendency of initial source and message credibilities can moderate the impact of the initial online reputation on the subsequent online reputation. We listed up 1,516 newly opened restaurants located in Manhattan of New York City and collected their reviews posted over the first six months. Expected contributions are also discussed

Factors Influencing Facebook Users’ Political Participation: Investigating the Cambodian Case

As social networking sites (SNS) have been actively used as a platform for the political participation, this study investigates factors influencing SNS users’ political participation intention and behavior in developing countries. More specifically, based on the integrated model of Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) and Civic Voluntarism Model (CVM), we develop a research model on how technological factors (e.g., performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions) as well as social factors (e.g., political interests and experience) influence Facebook users’ political participation intention, which lead to actual political participation behavior, focusing on the Cambodian context. Our research model will be empirically tested with survey samples gathered from Cambodian Facebook users and their actual political behaviors, measured by counting actual comments of each survey respondent one month after the survey. While prior studies have only focused on either technological or social influencing factors on online political participation, this paper is among the first attempts to investigate them from integrative and comparative perspectives. By highlighting the relative impacts of each factor in the context of developing countries, where direct and public challenging or criticizing on the government is still a fear for most citizens, this paper would provide an important lesson for other developing countries with a similar political environment

Do Micro-Mobility Services Take Away Our Privacy? Focusing on the Privacy Paradox in E-Scooter Sharing Platforms

E-scooter sharing is gaining popularity while riders’ privacy concerns still remain, due to their destructive threat to individuals. Based on the APCO macro model, this study examines the relationships among antecedents (i.e., privacy experiences, privacy awareness, usage regularity, and geographical regularity), privacy concerns, and the outcome (i.e., continuance intention to use e-scooter sharing platforms). An interesting phenomenon is that quite a few users have continuance intention to use even when they have privacy concerns, which has rarely been explored with the concept of psychological distance. This research therefore further investigates the relationship between privacy concerns and users’ continuance intention by adding four different types of psychological distance (i.e., temporal, spatial, interpersonal, and platform-self distances) as moderating variables in our research model, drawing on construal level theory. Research findings are expected to contribute to literature on privacy paradox, the APCO macro model, and construal level theory, along with some practical implications

Influencing Factors on Knowledge Adoption of Mobile Game Developers in Online Communities

Recently, with the advance of wireless Internet access via mobile devices, a myriad of game development companies has forayed into the mobile game market, leading to intense competition. To survive in this fierce competition, mobile game developers often try to get a grasp of the rapidly changing needs of their customers by operating their own official communities where game users freely leave their requests, suggestions, and ideas relevant to focal games. Based on the heuristic-systematic model (HSM) and data quality (DQ) framework, this study derives key content, non-content, and hybrid cues that can be utilized when game developers accept suggested postings in these online communities. The results of the hierarchical multiple regression analysis show relevancy, timeliness, amount of writing, and the number of comments are positively associated with mobile game developers’ knowledge adoption. In addition, title attractiveness mitigates the relationship between amount of writing/the number of comments and knowledge adoption

Examining the Role of Semantic Similarity in Online Restaurant Review Evaluations

Both language and image are critical for the grasp of information embedded in online reviews. While a large quantity of research has focused on the role of textual features and visual features separately, the specific role of similarity between textual and visual information in online review evaluations (e.g., review usefulness and review enjoyment) remains unaddressed. Thus, drawing on dual coding theory, this study attempts to investigate the impacts of textual and visual features on review evaluations by employing the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) topic modeling and Google Vision API’s web detection techniques in the context of online restaurant review (ORR). Moreover, the moderating role of semantic similarity is examined in the relationships between textual/visual features and ORR evaluations. It is believed that this study could provide implications on information comprehension, draw consumer interest, and provide suggestions for restaurant managers to tune levels of review evaluation in a proper manner

An Exploratory Study of the Effects of Price Decreases on Online Product Reviews: Focusing on Amazon’s Kindle 2

As online shopping proliferates, online product reviews (OPRs) play a crucial role in online consumers’ purchasing decisions. Although prior research on the effects of price changes on consumer reactions has provided insightful implications, little is known about the impact of price changes on the characteristics of OPRs. With the growing importance of OPRs as a key social recommendation system for potential consumers’ decision-making, it is important to understand the dynamics of OPRs around price changes. We select the Kindle 2 from Amazon.com as our focal product and conduct an exploratory case study. By analyzing 6,714 reviews on the Kindle 2, we examine how consumers respond to price decreases using OPRs. The results show that all four characteristics of OPRs (star-rating, review depth, positive emotion, and negative emotion) are significantly influenced by price decreases. Moreover, we found that the impacts of price decreases on OPRs’ characteristics are different between the first and the second attempts at price reduction. Interestingly, the number of reviews per day significantly soars immediately after the first price decrease, while there is no significant change in the number of reviews after the second price cut. We conclude the paper with a discussion of our findings

Linking Privacy Concerns for Traceable Information and Information Privacy Protective Responses on Electric Scooter Sharing Platforms

Electric scooter (e-scooter) sharing platforms have taken over multiple cities across the globe. Yet, behind the craze, information privacy issue has been added to the list of concerns in this revolution of e-scooter sharing, as major companies and even governments’ regulatory bodies are alleged to collect and use traceable information generated by users’ routes without proper notice. We therefore attempt to conceptualize a new dimension of privacy concern (i.e., privacy concerns for traceable information: PCTI) in the context of e-scooter sharing platforms. In an attempt to understand users’ rising actions in protecting their privacy, we further examine the relationships among some antecedents, PCTI, and information privacy protective responses, drawing on the APCO macro model. Our research findings are expected to contribute to the body of knowledge on information privacy in the sharing economy context, and provide some practical implications to both users and industry members of e-scooter sharing services

Characterization of GDP-mannose Pyrophosphorylase from Escherichia Coli O157:H7 EDL933 and Its Broad Substrate Specificity

GDP-mannose pyrophosphorylase gene (ManC) of Escherichia coli (E. coli) O157 was cloned and expressed as a highly soluble protein in E. coli BL21 (DE3). The enzyme was subsequently purified using hydrophobic and ion exchange chromatographies. ManC showed very broad substrate specificities for four nucleotides and various hexose-1-phosphates, yielding ADP-mannose, CDP-mannose, UDP-mannose, GDP-mannose, GDP-glucose and GDP-2-deoxy-glucose