Smile through the Mask: Emotion Measurement for Stationary Retail

The global pandemic caused by the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) changes the lives of many people all over the world. In the context of stationary retail, a strong change of customer behavior occurs as mandatory safety measures like wearing facemasks and distance regulations have come into place. The sales personnel’s ability to understand and react to customers’ emotions is critical for service interactions and the customers’ overall satisfaction. Unfortunately, facemasks make it difficult to recognize other’s emotions and may lead to misinterpretation and confusion. To address this problem, this paper proposes the design of self-assessment interfaces that offer the customer an easy way to enter their emotions. As part of a Design Science Research (DSR) project, we designed three interfaces and evaluated them over the course of a design cycle. The results indicate that it is possible to use self-assessment technology in stationary retail to measure customer emotions.

Telemedicine in Slovenia

Telemedicine could be one of the solutions for challenges in healthcare, especially in this time of the Covid-19 pandemic. The results of the research about the state of telemedicine services in Slovenia are presented in this article. We found several telemedicine solutions in Slovenian healthcare. Metadata for them were collected. The solutions are placed in groups of telemonitoring, provision of healthcare services by remotely connecting patients with a doctor or healthcare professional and remote cooperation for the patient's treatment between doctors or healthcare professionals who are physically at different locations. The opinions of the research participants regarding the challenges associated with telemedicine services in Slovenia were also collected. They are placed in three main groups: financing, healthcare system and healthcare professionals. Telemedicine is a necessity and the future of Slovenian healthcare services. If a solution is to be applied successfully, business processes must be changed so that a practically useful service can arise from the solution.

Students’ Satisfaction with e-Learning Systems During the COVID-19 Pandemic—An International Comparative Study

t In response to the global COVID-19 situation, quarantine measures have been implemented at the educational institutions around the world. This paper aims to determine the antecedent factors predicting the university students’ satisfaction with e-learning systems during the COVID-19 situation. We used structural equation modelling (SEM) and evaluated a conceptual model on the basis of a sample of university students from Finland (n = 131) and South Korea (n = 114). The SEM results showed that the COVID-19 related factors, i.e., COVID19 awareness, perceived challenges during COVID-19 and the educational institutions’ preparedness indirectly influence the satisfaction with e-learning systems. Moreover, we found a statistically significant moderating effect of course design quality, and instructor’s teaching style between the COVID-19 related factors and the satisfaction with e-learning systems. The implications of these results for the management of e‐learning systems are discussed.

Business Data Sharing through Data Marketplaces: A Systematic Literature Review

Data marketplaces are expected to play a crucial role in tomorrow’s data economy but hardly achieve commercial exploitation. Currently, there is no clear understanding of the knowledge gaps in data marketplace research, especially neglected research topics that may contribute to advancing data marketplaces towards commercialization. This study provides an overview of the state of the art of data marketplace research. We employ a Systematic Literature Review (SLR) approach and structure our analysis using the Service-TechnologyOrganization-Finance (STOF) model. We find that the extant data marketplace literature is primarily dominated by technical research, such as discussions about computational pricing and architecture. To move past the first stage of the platform’s lifecycle (i.e., platform design) to the second stage (i.e., platform adoption), we call for empirical research in non-technological areas, such as customer expected value and market segmentation.

Alternative Data for Credit Risk Management: An Analysis of the Current State of Research

Determining credit risk is important for banks and nonbanks alike. For credit risk management, the heterogeneous data generated today can potentially complement the established data such as balance sheet ratios. It has not yet been clearly shown which alternative data sources, such as social media or satellite data, provide added value and how this value can be extracted effectively. This review provides an overview of the intersection between these areas and develops a research agenda. The analysis of the 29 identified papers shows that the use of financial news is analyzed most frequently. Social media has also been used to some extent. The use of other alternative data sets, such as geospatial data, has been analyzed infrequently. The empirical evidence suggests that alternative data can provide both explanatory and predictive benefits in credit risk management. Convergence in terms of analytical approaches and evaluation offers the potential to advance the field.

Solopreneur Digital Ecosystems: Genesis, Lineage and Preliminary Categorization

This paper traces the genesis and lineage of solopreneur digital ecosystems. These ecosystems, fostered by a digital environment that is infrastructural, combinatorial and servitized, are enabling the rise to prominence of the solopreneur. We theorize solopreneur digital ecosystems as the latest incarnation of systems beyond firm control, with digital platforms and digital marketplaces as their principal enablers. In an effort to compare them from the perspective of the solopreneur, we categorize solopreneur digital ecosystems on three dimensions: algorithmic control, commoditization, and lock-in. Our work contributes a framework that solopreneurs can use to identify ecosystems in which they can optimally invest their talents and scarce resources. We discuss the findings of this mapping and draw implications for research and practice.

Creating a Taxonomy of Business Models for Data Marketplaces

Data marketplaces can fulfil a key role in realizing the data economy by enabling the commercial trading of data between organizations. Although data marketplace research is a quickly evolving domain, there is a lack of understanding about data marketplace business models. As data marketplaces are vastly different, a taxonomy of data marketplace business models is developed in this study. A standard taxonomy development method is followed to develop the taxonomy. The final taxonomy comprises of 4 meta-dimensions, 17 business model dimensions and 59 business model characteristics. The taxonomy can be used to classify data marketplace business models and sheds light on how data marketplaces are a unique type of digital platforms. The results of this research provide a basis for theorizing in this rapidly evolving domain that is quickly becoming important.

Familiarity Attracts Consumer Attention: Two Methods to Objectively Measure Consumer Brand Familiarity

Brand familiarity is an important and frequently used concept in marketing research and practice. Existing measures of brand familiarity typically rely on subjective self-reports and Likert scales. Here we develop and empirically test two implicit measures to quantify brand familiarity. Based on research in visual attention and computer image processing, observers in a first visual search task are incentivized to quickly find a target brand among varying numbers of competitor brands. In the second approach, we measure the speed at which observers can identify a target brand that is gradually revealed. Both approaches are validated in preregistered experiments. Results show that reaction times predict brand familiarity on an individual level beyond conventional self-reports, even when controlling for “bottom-up” visual features of the brand logo. Our findings offer an innovative way to objectively measure brand familiarity and contribute to the understanding of consumer attention.

How Digital Market Hosts Control Sellers

How do hosts of digital markets exercise control over sellers? Our three-case study, set in India, reveals that seller control portfolios used by large digital market hosts differ from control portfolios in other contexts (reported in prior research). The platform host neither preselects nor hires most sellers; this limits hosts’ control options. The platform supports many shortduration transactions, yet some related processes take place offline – again limiting hosts’ control options. In this context of many-sellers, many-buyers, digital market hosts (similar to other controllers) attempt to balance formal and informal controls. By identifying specific control mechanisms that hosts utilize, our study findings provide a useful foundation to support further research on control challenges in digital markets and other digital platforms.

Clinical Tele-Assessment: The Missing Piece in Health Care Pathways for Orthopaedics

An aging population coupled with longer life expectancy has resulted in an exponential growth in total hip and total knee replacements (THR) (TKR). Especially during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, support for patients recovering form THR and TKR was difficult due to reduction in face-toface visits. To address this and enable Australians to have a better patient experience, the following proffers a tele-assessment solution, ARIADNE (Assist foR hIp AnD kNEe), that can provide high quality care, with access for all and support for high value outcomes.