Suchergebnisse

AbstractOnline platforms facilitate the formation of micro-communities on the Internet by enabling exchange between locally dispersed individuals. Since all interactions are mediated through the online platform, user representation plays a critical role for such communities. Grounded in Social Exchange Theory, we report results of a behavioral experiment on the role of user profile photos and avatars for the emergence of network structures over time. While overall network value increases slightly, the underlying structures of exchange shift systematically from many weak ties to fewer but significantly stronger reciprocal exchange relations. Interestingly, despite representing users in a highly abstracted way, avatars yield outcomes comparable to those when using actual photographs. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of how online platforms can leverage social cues such as profile photos and avatars to manage and support micro-communities.

Abstract
Today, virtually all e-commerce and sharing-economy platforms rely on star ratings or similar systems to build trust between anonymous buyers and sellers. However, star ratings can be quite tricky as a navigation aid. Platforms and users face several challenges in making sure that reputation systems remain credible. Skewed ratings and low rating variance, however, make it difficult for users to differentiate good from bad products and services. To tackle the issue of retaliation, most platforms use so-called simultaneous review schemes, only publishing ratings once both parties have committed. Furthermore, platforms may offer individuals the opportunity to leave text reviews as a complement to numeric ratings. A growing number of platforms also use complex technical systems and algorithms to automatically identify, mark or delete fake news. To maintain legitimacy, platform operators need to design reputation systems with minimal negative side effects and make crucial decisions about the level of control they seek to enact.

AbstractThe rise of peer‐to‐peer platforms for sharing private resources has introduced new possibilities for access beyond ownership. Although experiencing fast growth, the academic literature has only recently begun to study individual user attitudes towards such new forms of consumption. Building on findings on the underlying consumer motives for peer‐to‐peer sharing, this study differentiates prototypical consumers by means of cluster analysis. Based on data from a large‐scale online survey (n = 745) on consumer motives, we identify 5 main dimensions (concerns, benefits, product‐specific aspects, social aspects, and ownership‐related aspects). On these grounds, we identify 4 consumer types with distinct demographic and attitudinal characteristics: Social Enthusiasts, Conflicted Materialists, Skeptic Ascetics, and Individualistic Refuseniks. Based on these clusters' differences with regard to demographics and sharing behaviors, we derive implications for practitioners to tailor their business models and marketing strategies to the specific motivational patterns of the respective user groups.

AbstractDigital platforms facilitate the coordination, match making, and value creation for large groups of individuals. In consumer-to-consumer (C2C) online sharing platforms specifically, trust between these individuals is a central concept in determining which individuals will eventually engage in a transaction. The majority of today's online platforms draw on various types of cues for group coordination and trust building among users. Current research widely accepts the capacity of such cues but largely ignores their changing effectiveness over the course of a user's lifetime on the platform. To address this gap, we conduct a laboratory experiment, studying the interplay of cognitive and affective trust cues over the course a multi-period trust experiment for the coordination of groups. We find that the trust-building capacity of affective trust cues is time-dependent and follows an inverted u-shape form, suggesting a dynamic complementarity of cognitive and affective trust cues.