This work aims to examine the quality disclosure strategy of sharing economy platforms with network externality, considering consumer risk aversion.
Abstract
Purpose
This work aims to examine the quality disclosure strategy of sharing economy platforms with network externality, considering consumer risk aversion.
Design/methodology/approach
The game theory, sensitive analysis and numerical study are used herein. The equilibria are derived from the game theory. The quality disclosure strategy is analyzed by profit comparison. To further understand the characteristics of the optimal disclosure strategy, sensitive analysis and numerical studies are conducted to detail the analytical results.
Findings
Regardless of market structure, the quality disclosure decision problem is a trade-off between information effect and cost effect. Consumer risk aversion is a factor that can incentivize low-quality platforms to disclose quality. Both consumer risk aversion and network externality influence the quality disclosure strategy through information effect. Interestingly, for different competition intensities, consumer risk aversion and network externality could lead to positive or negative information effects of removing uncertainty. The authors show that under certain conditions, consumer risk aversion and network externality could induce more quality concealment.
Research limitations/implications
The quality is set exogenous herein, and the integrated process of quality investment and information disclosure is an interesting direction for future research.
Practical implications
This work provides managerial insights for sharing economy platforms regarding how to wisely consider consumer risk aversion and network externality when sharing quality information.
Originality/value
This work identifies two effects that determine quality disclosure strategy and specifies the role of each factor on quality disclosure.
Details
Keywords
Zelin Tong, Fang Ma, Haowen Xiao, Perry Haan and Wenting Feng
The purpose of this research is to explore how experienced scarcity affects home country consumers' attitudes toward the firm engaging in cross-border philanthropy by analyzing…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this research is to explore how experienced scarcity affects home country consumers' attitudes toward the firm engaging in cross-border philanthropy by analyzing perceived distributive justice as a mediating variable. This research also investigates the moderating factor of this effect to identify practical strategies for managers.
Design/methodology/approach
This research conducted one survey (Study 1) and three experiments (Studies 2–4) by manipulating scarcity to provide robust evidence for the influence of experienced scarcity on consumer perception of the company conducting cross-border philanthropy.
Findings
This paper provides empirical insights about the significant negative effect of experienced scarcity on consumer attitudes toward the firm engaging in cross-border philanthropy. It proposes that home country consumers with high versus low experienced scarcity show lower perceived distributive justice for cross-border philanthropy, which generates less favorable attitudes toward the firm. To alleviate the negative impact of experienced scarcity on consumers' perceptions of corporate reputation, providing donation amount comparisons between home and foreign countries has a significant moderating effect.
Practical implications
This paper provides several suggestions for marketers seeking cross-border philanthropy to improve consumers' attitudes toward the firm.
Originality/value
This paper enriches the literature on corporate social responsibility in the domain of cross-border philanthropy and explains contradictory findings on consumers' attitudes toward corporate cross-border philanthropy. Moreover, this study makes meaningful contributions to the scarcity and justice literature.