Cheuk Hang Au, Po-Hsu Shieh, Vladimir Nurbaev, Kris M. Y. Law ¡ 5 authors
Digital platforms face a fundamental paradox: while expanding service variety is a dominant competitive strategy, it risks inducing a âparadox of choiceâ that confuses and deters users. This tension manifests with extreme clarity in the nascent, high-complexity market of cryptocurrency exchanges, creating a pressing empirical puzzle. To resolve this, we adopt the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) perspective in a three-stage mixed-method study to investigate how platforms can strategically manage this trade-off. Our qualitative exploration (Study 1) established a capital flow schema called âinflow, roll, and goâ and identified key complexity-reduction mechanisms. A subsequent survey (n = 190, Study 2) validated that perceived innovativeness and scalability are critical stimuli for service variety, which in turn drives user continuance intention. A final survey (n = 140, Study 3) confirmed that users prioritise services that bridge to the traditional financial system, forming a minimal viable structure with a variety of functions. Our meta-inferences make several key contributions, including the resolution of the service variety paradox by introducing a theoretical distinction between value-adding âreal-varietyâ and confusing âpseudo-varietyâ and the development of a strategic roadmap that guides exchanges in navigating the tension between service expansion and user confusion, offering actionable insights for platform strategy in any high-velocity digital market.
As tokenized digital assets, Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are becoming part of luxury brandsâ digital business infrastructure. Yet it remains insufficiently understood how NFTs can be configured to foster enduring brand loyalty. To address this issue, we integrate necessary condition analysis (NCA) with fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) using survey data from 620 luxury consumers. The framework combines customer-based brand equity conditions with NFT value cues. NCA indicates that all conditions are necessary for high loyalty, with perceived uniqueness, authenticity, and scarcity particularly critical. fsQCA complements this necessity logic and shows that high loyalty arises from multiple equifinal configurations, not a single dominant driver. Four propositions summarize these routes: Proposition 1 (reputation-driven strategy) demonstrates that brand capital can anchor loyalty through awareness and image even when NFT cues are less central; Proposition 2 (limited-access engagement strategy) indicates that scarcity-based access amplifies the loyalty effects of reinforcing associations, experiences, and image; Proposition 3 (privilege lock-in strategy) suggests that tokenized privileges translate engagement into durable attachment via uniqueness and psychological ownership; Proposition 4 (end-to-end assurance strategy) shows that technology adoption aligns authenticity verification with tokenized uniqueness and ownership to reduce friction, build trust, and sustain loyalty under high awareness. The findings position NFT attributes as boundary conditions and configurational ingredients rather than linear drivers of luxury brand loyalty. NFTs build durable loyalty when they serve clear infrastructure functions, such as verification, controlled access, or portable membership. They are most effective when deployed through a configurational strategy that fits brand capabilities and customer readiness.
Open access
Qualitative Comparative Analysis Research
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
This conceptual paper contributes to the nascent Web3 marketing stream via offering a novel typology of Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) as blockchain-enabled digital offerings. Grounded in a customer-centric approach to marketing strategy, our 2 Ă 2 typology suggests that NFTs vary in terms of the value on offer (i.e. value-in-use/value-in-exchange) and the strategic focus pursued by firms/creators (i.e. transactional/relational). Four main types of NFTs thus emerge: 1. Validation certificates; 2. Digital replicas; 3. Immersion enablers; and, 4. Digital upgrades. For each NFT type, we discuss their distinctive features, the opportunities they offer and their shortcomings, before detailing their strategic implications. Our typology offers researchers and practitioners who want to engage with the Web3 space a solid grounding for understanding the implications of deploying different types of NFTs from a strategic marketing perspective.
Open access
2 source records
Service and Product Innovation
Blockchain Technology Applications and Security
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
From Balenciaga to Bored Apes, non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have captured popular, managerial, and scholarly attention. However, despite some prominent exceptions, the question of whether and how NFTs can represent a real source of value for retailers remains open. This paper provides a framework to consider ways in which NFTs can be a source of value in retailing. We identify three technical features of NFTs (decentralization, immutable encryption, automated execution), which in turn offer potential utility to retailers in the form of three value propositions (transcendence, dynamic contingencies, flexible identification), which a survey study suggests are valued by managers but not yet connected to NFTs. To help make this connection, we use illustrative examples to demonstrate the ways in which NFTs can deliver these three value propositions in a single marketing tool. Taken together, we hope this framework's proposed relationships will spark future work in this area, leading to the developmentâand evolutionâof theories of NFTs and their use in retailing as this technology continues to progress.
Open access
Consumer Retail Behavior Studies
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
Purpose This study aims to investigate the integration of blockchain technology into the food supply chain within the restaurant industry. It focuses on how blockchain can be applied to enhance transparency and trust in tracking food sources, ultimately impacting customer satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach A service design workshop (Study 1) and three between-subjects experiments (Studies 2â4) were conducted. Findings Results indicate that blockchain adoption significantly improves traceability and trust in the food supply chain. This improvement in turn enhances customer satisfaction through perceived improvements in food safety, quality and naturalness. This study also notes that the effects of blockchain technology vary depending on the type of restaurant (casual or fine dining) and its location (tourist destinations or residential areas). Practical implications The findings offer practical insights for restaurant owners, technology developers and policymakers. Emphasizing the benefits of blockchain adoption, this study guides decision-making regarding technology investments for enhancing customer service and satisfaction in the hospitality sector. Originality/value This research contributes novel insights to the field of technology innovation in the hospitality industry. It extends the understanding of signaling theory by exploring how blockchain technology can serve as a tool for signal transmission in restaurant food supply chains.
Open access
Consumer Retail Behavior Studies
Customer Service Quality and Loyalty
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
This study aims to investigate consumer intention to pay for services in the travel and tourism industry using cryptocurrencies. This research investigates the impact of technology awareness, motivational factors and consumer attitudes on the intention to pay for tourism services using cryptocurrency by analyzing data collected from 794 respondents in the Baltic countries (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia). The empirical findings support the extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) and confirm that technology awareness, motivational factors and attitudes towards cryptocurrencies have a statistically significant impact on the intention to use cryptocurrencies to pay for tourism services. The results also suggest that technology awareness has an indirect effect on intention through the mediators of motivational factors and attitude, with motivation indirectly affecting intention through the mediator of attitude towards cryptocurrencies.
To facilitate the sustained development of non-fungible token (NFT) platforms and enhance user stickiness, it is imperative to study the factors that affect usersâ continuous usage intentions. This research is grounded in the Expectation Confirmation Model and the Information Systems Success Model, and extends these approaches by introducing three elementsâeconomic benefits, perceived trustworthiness, and technological pressureâthereby constructing the research model. Structural equation modeling was employed to analyze data from 304 respondents with experience in using NFT trading platforms. The findings indicate that: (1) technological pressure is positively correlated with perceived ease of use; (2) both service quality and information quality are positively correlated with perceived ease of use and usefulness; (3) perceived ease of use, usefulness, economic benefits, and their impact on individuals and organizations are all positively correlated with continuous usage intention; and (4) system quality is not significantly related to perceived ease of use or usefulness, nor is perceived trustworthiness significantly related to continuous usage intention. Based on these findings, we provide practical recommendations for optimizing NFT platforms and offer guidance for platform developers and operators.
This study is based on the Expectation Confirmation Model and the Information System Success Model to evaluate the influence of perceived usefulness and satisfaction towards online cryptocurrency exchanges. Therefore, this study deconstructs the âconfirmationâ component of the information system continuous use model into three different components: confirmation of information quality, confirmation of system quality, and confirmation of service quality, to investigate the factors that influence the desire to use online cryptocurrency exchanges continuously. This research used a questionnaire methodology, with data collected from 248 users of cryptocurrency platforms. This study found that perceived usefulness and satisfaction significantly correlated with continuance intention. Furthermore, information quality, system quality, and service quality significantly correlated with perceived usefulness and satisfaction. Finally, perceived usefulness was found to be significantly correlated with satisfaction.
Blockchain technology is predicted to become a powerful driver of marketing transformation. At present, most envisioned use cases are in an early stage with an uncertain industrial impact and an immature theoretical integration in academic research. To help close this research gap, we investigate how blockchain-based loyalty programs transform B2C relations through innovative customer services that bear important properties of a sharing economy. Specifically, we identify-five potential advantages of blockchain-based programs over traditional loyalty programs pertaining to usage, accrual, relevance, expiration, and transferability. We then apply expectancy theory to assess consumersâ perceptions in two empirical studies, both of which reveal an overall preference for blockchain-based loyalty programs over traditional models: an analysis of 5,059 Twitter tweets detects more positive feedback for the blockchain-based program, and a survey of 206 consumers reveals a significantly more positive attitude toward the blockchain-based loyalty program with respect to accrual, relevance, expiration, and transferability.
Fang Yu, Wenbin Bi, Ning Cao, H.H. Li ¡ 5 authors
In view of the fact that the prediction effect of influential financial customer churn in the Internet of Things environment is difficult to achieve the expectation, at the smart contract level of the blockchain, a customer churn prediction framework based on situational awareness and integrating customer attributes, the impact of project hotspots on customer interests, and customer satisfaction with the project has been built. This framework introduces the background factors in the financial customer environment, and further discusses the relationship between customers, the background of customers and the characteristics of pre-lost customers. The improved Singular Value Decomposition (SVD) algorithm and the time decay function are used to optimize the search and analysis of the characteristics of pre-lost customers, and the key index combination is screened to obtain the data of potential lost customers. The framework will change with time according to the customerâs interest, adding the time factor to the customer churn prediction, and improving the dimensionality reduction and prediction generalization ability in feature selection. Logistic regression, naive Bayes and decision tree are used to establish a prediction model in the experiment, and it is compared with the financial customer churn prediction framework under situational awareness. The prediction results of the framework are evaluated from four aspects: accuracy, accuracy, recall rate and F-measure. The experimental results show that the context-aware customer churn prediction framework can be effectively applied to predict customer churn trends, so as to obtain potential customer data with high churn probability, and then these data can be transmitted to the companyâs customer service department in time, so as to improve customer churn rate and customer loyalty through accurate service.
Abstract Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have witnessed unprecedented dynamism over the recent years with only few luxury brands experimenting with the technology albeit the very personal characteristics of NFT ownership. Little is known about how luxury brands use NFTs to develop their brand image and what opportunities luxury brands anticipate from NFTs as a new technology, digital product category or customer relationship channel. The present research note offers an applied research design to tackle these questions and systematically understand the potential of NFTs for personal luxury brands at large.
Open access
Consumer Behavior in Brand Consumption and Identification
Abstract Prior research typically positions blockchain technology as enabling a trustless exchange environment without specifically investigating how blockchain technology provides trust and what makes the data in a blockchain âtamperproofâ and âimmutable.â This article serves to address these research gaps by conducting semi-structured interviews with 18 informants who have had at least three years of project experience with blockchain-enabled exchanges. Our findings uncover three unique aspects of blockchain that enable trust in exchange vs. a traditional exchange: (1) trust in exchange actors: mathematics and cryptography vs. human guardians within institutions, (2) trust in exchange actions: information transparency enabling tamperproof and immutable data vs. information asymmetry, and (3) trust in exchange assets: digital vs. manual escrows for verifying ownership of valuable goods. This research is vital for marketing scholars and practitioners who seek to understand the rise of threats to trust regarding online advertising, customer trust, privacy, and digital rights.
Purpose This paper examines the impact of a blockchain platform on the role and importance of trust in established buyer-supplier relationships. Design/methodology/approach A literature review provides insight into trust development in supply chains. Research uses a case study of two wine supply chains: the producers, importers, logistics companies and UK Government agencies. Semi-structured interviews determine how trust and trustworthiness develop in buyer-supplier relationships and the impact of a blockchain-based technology proof of concept on supply chain trust. Findings A blockchain-based platform introduces common trusted data, reducing data duplication and improving supply chain visibility. The platform supports trust building between parties but does not replace the requirements for organisations to establish a position of trust. Contrary to literature claims for blockchain trustless disintermediation, new intermediaries are introduced who need to be trusted. Research limitations/implications The case study presents challenges specific to UK customs borders, and research needs to be repeated in different contexts to establish if findings are generalisable. Practical implications A blockchain-based platform can improve supply chain efficiency and trust development but does not remove the need for trust and trust-building processes. Blockchain platform providers need to build a position of trust with all participants. Originality/value Case study research shows how blockchain facilitates but does not remove trust, trustworthiness and trust relationships in established supply chains. The reduction in information asymmetry and improved supply chain visibility provided by blockchain does not change the importance of trust in established buyer-supplier relationships or the trust-based policy of the UK Government at the customs border.
Manuel Utz, Simon Johanning, Tamara Roth, Thomas Brßckner ¡ 5 authors
Global initiatives on climate protection and national sustainability policies are accelerating the replacement of fossil fuels with renewable energy sources. Many electricity suppliers are engaged in efforts to monetize this transition with âgreenâ services and products, such as Green Electricity Tariffs. These promise customers that their supply includes a specific share of green electricity, yet since electricity suppliers often fail to deliver on those promises, many customers have lost trust in their suppliers. Further information asymmetries may not only exacerbate this loss of trust, but also spark distrust and lead to an overall feeling of ambivalence. Eventually, ambivalent customers may feel inclined to switch suppliers. To prevent this domino effect, electricity suppliers must eliminate ambivalence by increasing customer trust and reducing customer distrust. Here, we discuss how these challenges can be met with a customer loyalty program built on blockchain technology. We developed the program following a Design Science Research approach that facilitated refinement in four iteration and evaluation cycles. Our results indicate that the developed customer loyalty program restores trust, reduces distrust, and resolves customer ambivalence by providing four features: improved customer agency, sufficient and verifiable information, appropriate levels of usability, and unobstructed data access.
The study examined the influence of Human Resource (HR) practices on job satisfaction in the decentralized health service delivery in Shinyanga region, Tanzania. The influence of HR practices on job satisfaction is vastly examined by different scholars. Their findings revealed mixed results ranging from significant positive to adverse influence on job satisfaction. Thus, to bridge the knowledge gap, this study examined the specific HR practices in the specific area context. The specific HR practices tested in this study included human resource planning (HRP), supervision, performance appraisal, training and compensation. The region was selected because over different periods of time, it experienced unsatisfactory performance in health service delivery. This was reflected by inability of the region to attain 50% of the Mellenium Development Goals related to health and lowest achievements in health service delivery as reflected in the preparatory stage in launching the Results Based Financing in which the region ranked the last in the then 21 regions of the country. An explanatory Survey research design with mixed research approach was employed for the study. The survey data were collected from 287 respondents and supplemented by the qualitative data. The study found that all the five HR practices had some chances on job satisfaction. However, HRP and supervision revealed significant chances of having job satisfaction implying that they were effectively undertaken. Nevertheless, these practices were constrained by the ineffective employeesâ participation in HRP and the inability of the Council Health Management Teams (CHMTs) to provide supportive supervision in health facilities. It was thus recommended to enhance employeesâ participation in HRP and supervision for improving job satisfaction. Likewise, it is also important for the facilities to continuously appraise human resource performance and use the results in making human resource decisions.
Jan 1, 2019¡Proceedings of the ... Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences/Proceedings of the Annual Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences
While interest in blockchain technology and applications increases, research studying the role of trust as an element that leads potential users and consumers to adopt and accept the technology remains scarce. This study conducts acceptance research that expands beyond traditional acceptance models and explores the role of trust from the user/consumer perspective. It provides comprehensive insights from the user/consumer angle and a deeper understanding of the role of trust in blockchain adoption. Using an inductive research approach that builds theory from qualitative empirical data, this paper identifies trust as a critical benefit of blockchain technology and applications, encompassing both functional (economic and system-/ process-related) as well as emotional benefits (social and personal). As trust spans across functional and emotional benefit dimensions, this study suggests that trust is a key driver for user/consumer adoption of blockchain technology and applications.
We are part of historic changes in terms of profoundness and velocity in all industries and in customersâ expectations. The aim of this paper is to create an overview of a new age in customer experience generated by a banking environment disturbed by the raising of Financial Technology. Firstly, the article is reviewing the customer experience concept from academic and practitioner perspective. It is making a literature review and additionally is bringing into attention the common elements of customer satisfaction and service quality which are considered an antecedent of customer experience. Furthermore, it is reminded that the latest developments in communications and information technology are intensely changing customersâ demands and expectations resulting a total transformation in the way that customers are interfering with the service providers. Secondly, is debating the subject of how financial service industry should balance customer experience expectations, considering that the banks are activating in an environment disrupted by the raise of distributed ledger technology, machine learning, big data analytics, roboadvice and other technology/digitalization proliferated by the FinTechs. Lastly it is analyzed how European regulatory bodies are seeing and managing the new technologies and FinTechs, how agile should be in an ecosystem that is very dynamic and governed by a customer with a lot of choices, good or bad, risky or non-risky, in front of his decision.