Earticle

AI is recognized to be a key technology for digital transformation (DT) and the value of AI is considered to determine the future of the company. However, in reality, although managers acknowledge the future value of AI and have plans to introduce it, most are not sure what to expect from AI or how to apply it to their business. This study compares two company cases to demonstrate how an organization has successfully achieved AI led organizational change while another failed. Specifically, by taking institutionalist’s view, this study examines how the legitimacy enables and constrains AI led organizational changes in organization’s practices, processes, and infrastructure. The results of this study indicate that for the success of AI led organizational changes, the legitimacy plays an important role by reducing the challenges from stakeholders and increasing the institutional momentum to move through the phases of the change.

This paper proposes how to design and implement data-driven strategies by investigating how a firm can increase its value using data science. Drawing on prior studies on architectural innovation, a behavioral theory of the firm, and the knowledge-based view of the firm as well as the analysis of field observations, the paper shows how data science is abused in dealing with meso-level data while it is underused in using macro-level and alternative data to accomplish machine-human teaming and risk management. The implications help us understand why some firms are better at drawing value from intangibles such as data, data-science capabilities, and routines and how to evaluate such capabilities.

Artificial intelligence or big data technologies can benefit finance companies such as those in the insurance sector. With artificial intelligence, companies can develop better customer segmentation methods and eventually improve the quality of customer relationship management. However, the application of AI-based customer segmentation in the insurance industry seems to have been unsuccessful. Findings from our interviews with sales agents and customer service managers indicate that current customer segmentation in the Korean insurance company relies upon individual agents’ heuristic decisions rather than a generalizable data-based method. We propose guidelines for AI-based customer segmentation for the insurance industry, based on the CRISP-DM standard data mining project framework. Our proposed guideline provides new insights for studies on AI-based technology implementation and has practical implications for companies that deploy algorithm-based customer relationship management systems.

Online reviews offer valuable information to businesses by reflecting consumer experiences about their products and services. Two crucial aspects of online reviews are the topics consumers choose to address, and the sentiments expressed in their reviews. Building upon previous literature that shows online reviews are context- dependent, we employ the Expectation-Confirmation Theory (ECT) to examine the impact of topic distribution on review sentiment in South Korea and the U.S. during pre- and post-pandemic periods. After applying a topic modeling to Airbnb app review data, we measure the contribution of each topic on review sentiment using SHAP values. Our results indicate variations in topic distribution trends between 2018 and 2021. In addition, the order and magnitude of topics’ impact on review sentiment change between pre- and post-pandemic periods for both countries. This study can help businesses understand how topics and sentiments associated with their products and services changed after the pandemic and thus identify areas of improvement.

This study investigates the adoption and application of digital transformation in the financial sector and analyzes the process and outcomes of digitization and digitalization in the field of the finance industry of South Korea and overseas, in order to seek both managerial and strategic implications for successful implementation of digital transformation in the future. The findings show that, for successful digital transformation, it is necessary to maximize active and systematic use of advanced online and digital technologies that form the basis of business and create an open, horizontal organizational culture and communication system to equally share and distribute advanced technologies and competencies through the entire organization. Furthermore, this study also discovers the legitimacy to concentrate the organizational competencies and know-how in providing technical training for members, expanding customer experience, and improving customer satisfaction services to contribute to improving the quality of life for members of the organization and creating and improving social and public infrastructures, instead of using digital transformation only to improve productivity of organizations or firms. As such, it is necessary to concentrate corporate competencies in establishing and supplying digital transformation that is not just human-centered but also has productivity, innovativeness, and reliability at the same time.

The use of on-premises technology in the business environment to create a competitive advantage is ushering in a new era known as digital transformation. As the foundation of digital transformation of enterprises, information technology still has a paradoxical effect on enterprises. This paper documents the effect of investments in IT on a firm’s long-term profitability performance measures as return on assets (ROA), as well as tests whether the earlier entrant and the later entrant are different in IT investment performance. Using a sample of China’s public firms IT investment data between 2016 and 2019, the result indicates that IT investment in firms have a positive effect on firm performance in full sample, but not in the financial industry firms. When it comes to the different investment time, the result shows no significant difference between the earlier entrant firm and the later entrant firm in the full sample, but not in the case of software industry sample. This should help alleviate the concerns that some have expressed about the viability of digital transformation given the highly publicized IT investment and implementation problems at some firms.

The purpose of this study is to investigates the effect of SMEs’ digital transformation efforts in O2O platforms on customer engagement. This study focuses on digitalization, which is a practically viable phase for SMEs using O2O platforms among the three digital transformation stages (digitization, digitalization, and digital transformation). This study specifically categorizes digital transformation efforts into three categories: information diversity, responsiveness to customers, and the degree of functional use. To analyze the impact of these efforts on customer engagement, we conducted a zero-inflated negative binomial regression using the dataset provided by Naver SmartPlace, a representative O2O platform in South Korea. The results present that the positive relationship between these aforementioned factors and customer engagement. Thus, this study demonstrates that utilizing O2O platforms can be an effective strategy for SMEs that lack the resources to achieve a successful digital transformation.

Social networking sites (SNSs) have become an essential part of people’s lives. It is thus crucial to understand how individuals use these platforms. Previous literature has divided usage into numerous activities and then grouped them into dimensions to avoid excessive granularity. However, these categories have not been derived from a uniform theoretical background; consequently, these dimensions are dispersed, overlapping, and disconnected from each other. This study argues that “SNS usage” is a complex phenomenon consisting of multiple activities that can be grouped into dimensions under the umbrella of communication theories and these dimensions are related to each other in a particular multi-dimensional architecture. “SNS usage” is conceptualized as a third-order construct formed by “producing,” “consuming,” and “communicating.” “Producing,” in turn, is proposed as a second-order construct manifested by “commenting,” “general information sharing,” and “self-disclosure.” The proposed model was assessed with data collected from 414 USA adult users and PLS-SEM technique. The results show empirical support for the theorized model. SNS providers now have this architecture that clarifies the role of each dimension of use, which will allow them to design effective strategies to encourage the use of these networks.

This paper examines the integrated QR code payment service (QRIS) adoption by retailers in Indonesia. Indonesia started its cashless journey in 2017 by using electric money in card form. As the country keeps developing, Indonesia has planned to integrate its payment towards a cross-border payment using QR codes by 2025 in the South East Asian region. Facing government vision, MSMEs that act as the significant economy wheel in Indonesia was required to be prepared to face the multi-cultural, multi-currency, and the new tech innovation for doing transactions. However, as a developing country, Indonesia faced significant problems with its infrastructure, which made it hard for merchants to access digital payment. As infrastructure was a common problem for developing countries, Indonesia also faced financial inclusion, lack of digital knowledge, a high amount of cash use, and socialization that made low digital payment penetration. Therefore, as there was a need to increase digital payment penetration for ASEAN integrated payment, this study found that merchant compatibility, facilitating conditions, trust, and relative advantages are drivers for MSMEs using this payment method. Further, this research provides propositions for banks, financial institutions, and governments to develop and evolve towards a cashless ecosystem, especially for a country lacking infrastructure.

The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly affected the world, inflicting nationwide lockdowns interrupting conventional schooling through schools, colleges and universities. Educational institutions are struggling to maintain learning continuity through remote learning solutions. Still, the students’ perception of this ‘new normal’ mode and pace of learning needs to be examined to ensure the success of these efforts. This study aimed at examining the perception of higher education students in India and Croatia especially with respect to the association between cultural orientation and the e-learning. The period considered for the data collection was from March 2020 to September 2020. Correspondence analysis was attempted to create spatial maps to depict the respondent choices. Students from both the regions agreed to the high-power distance that existed in their cultures and considered the role of device and content to be an important dimension of e-learning for it to be effective, but the results also pointed out some differences in their choices on other culture dimensions as well as factors affecting e-learning which make this study unique and suggest in-depth future research for conclusive results.

A new trend has been emerging in recent years, with video game live streaming becoming a meeting ground for gamers, as well as a marketing strategy for game developers. In line with this trend, the emergence of the “Let’s Play” culture has significantly changed the manner in which people enjoyed video games. In order to academically explore this new experience, this study seeks to answer the following research questions: (1) Does engaging in video game streaming offer the same feeling as playing the game? (2) If so, what are the factors that affect the feeling of telepresence from viewers’ perspective? and (3) How does the feeling of telepresence affect viewers’ learning experience of the streamed game? We generated and empirically tested a comprehensive research model based on the telepresence and consumer learning theories. The research findings revealed that the authenticity and pleasantness of the streamer and the interaction of viewers positively affect telepresence, which in turn is positively associated with the gained knowledge and a positive attitude toward the streamed game. Based on the research findings, various practical implications are discussed for game developers as well as platform providers.