Search Results (58)

This paper studies platform environments in which participation incentives change discontinuously when valuation crosses salient thresholds. Empirical research on digital and tokenised platforms documents valuation plateaus, abrupt participation shifts, and weak short-run links between price stability and usage dynamics, patterns that are difficult to reconcile with smooth adjustment models. We capture these features structurally by modelling adoption and valuation as a coupled equilibrium system with regime-dependent incentives, formulated as a Filippov differential inclusion. Token prices are determined endogenously through market clearing between usage-driven demand and regime-dependent speculative demand. We establish global well-posedness and identify conditions under which valuation thresholds become attracting manifolds. In these regimes, prices remain anchored at the threshold while adoption continues to evolve, generating persistent valuation plateaus and path dependence. When threshold crossings are regular and the induced dynamics are uniformly dissipative, endogenous boom–bust cycles are ruled out. The framework yields design-relevant insights for digital platforms. Valuation anchoring and volatility depend on governance primitives such as effective circulating supply and regime-dependent speculative depth. A diagnostic numerical analysis links time-at-anchor and sliding intensity to adoption volatility and platform risk, providing empirically interpretable indicators of stability in tokenised platforms. Full article

In the complex landscape of Industry 5.0, traditional management systems for smart manufacturing struggle to harmonize high-speed production with the rapid integration of AI and digital technologies. Crucially, these legacy frameworks often fail to capture tacit human knowledge or ensure trustworthy AI and trusted sharing of sensitive industrial data. This paper proposes a novel Decision Support Framework (DSF) that addresses these challenges through a multi-layered approach. At its core, the framework utilizes Data Spaces to enable secure, sovereign data sharing, ensuring that organizations maintain control over their assets. To handle the inherent ambiguity of industrial data, the system employs fuzzy logic and DAG-based root-cause-oriented investigation to provide robust recommendations, helping users distinguish descriptive correlations from plausible structural dependencies that require expert validation. Furthermore, the framework integrates eXplainable AI (XAI) services and AI-driven visual analytics, transforming complex algorithmic outputs into transparent, intuitive insights. By synthesizing data sovereignty with interpretable machine intelligence, this framework empowers trusted data sharing and human-centric decision-making, providing an advanced platform for achieving operational excellence within the Industry 5.0 vision. The proposed DSF is validated in three different pilot cases with end-users to be a milk industry, an automotive supplier and a machine manufacturer. Full article

Objective: This paper investigates how Generation Z students perceive the quality, accessibility, and capacity of higher education in the Czech Republic, with relevance for the wider Visegrád (V4) region and for the design of educational platforms. Methodology: The study draws on a questionnaire survey of 819 students and analyses 38 Likert-type statements aggregated into five domains: digitalisation and technology, innovation in teaching, practical orientation and mobility, support and well-being, and capacity constraints and infrastructure. The analysis combines descriptive statistics, reliability and dimensionality checks, Pearson correlation analysis with normality and robustness diagnostics, and subgroup comparisons by gender, level of study, field of study, institution type, and age group. Results: Students report the strongest agreement with digitalisation and technology (M = 3.90) and practical orientation and mobility (M = 3.89), while support and well-being (M = 3.40) and capacity constraints and infrastructure (M = 3.36) remain weaker. Perceived adequacy of the student–teacher ratio is positively associated with perceived teacher availability (r = 0.37) and emotional support (r = 0.34), while teacher availability is positively associated with emotional support (r = 0.44). Subgroup tests indicate limited but meaningful differences, particularly by institution type, field of study, and age group. Conclusion: The findings suggest that Generation Z students value digitally enabled, practice-oriented and innovative educational platforms, but sustainable quality improvement also requires investment in human capacity, teacher availability, and student-facing support systems. Full article

Technological and social development is desirable and even indispensable, which necessarily involves the restriction of new life situations within legal frameworks. European legislation has been visibly struggling with this problem in recent years, but the established/ongoing regulation may be an obstacle to development. Among other things, this includes the issue of regulating platform work. The emergence and spread of platform work has numerous advantages from an economic point of view, but from a legal point of view, the cautious regulation of this relatively new employment construction is not acceptable to the majority dealing with labour law. In our opinion, the relevant EU legislation is fundamentally flawed, as it basically seeks to answer the question of whether a given legal relationship is an employment relationship or not. The current binary classification might not be sufficient. Thus, the present study examines why platform work can be considered special and what are the labour law guarantees that are justified to be extended—at least as a rule—in this regard. To further investigate the practical risks of the current rules, a recent and relevant judgement of the Hungarian Supreme Court is also analysed in order to illustrate the uncertainties in litigation. The ruling demonstrates that traditional employment tests fail to recognise algorithmic control—including GPS surveillance, scheduling penalties, and unilateral remuneration determination—as indicators of subordination, while placing an insurmountable burden of proof on workers. This case empirically confirms the practical difficulties of the current binary classification. Our aim is to examine whether it is necessary to develop a minimum guarantee system that allows for easier transparency, greater legal certainty and a more uniform application of the law, unlike the current regulation. Full article

Digital platforms increasingly mediate economic coordination, labor allocation, and decision-making. As artificial intelligence becomes embedded within these platform ecosystems, automation no longer targets only manual labor. Instead, algorithmic systems are displacing routine tasks across both low-wage entry-level work and middle-management functions. This paper argues that the emerging phase of platform-mediated automation risks hollowing out labor structures from both directions, from below through the erosion of repetitive, junior roles, and from above through the automation of supervisory coordination functions. Drawing on institutional economics, platform governance literature, and recent research on AI-enhanced learning and workforce development, the paper examines how this dual displacement creates structural vulnerability. Entry-level roles have historically functioned as apprenticeships in which workers acquire tacit knowledge and critical judgment. At the same time, experienced workers are aging out of the workforce. If platforms curtail formative occupational layers, organizations may face a shortage of workers capable of exercising contextual reasoning required to manage complex systems. The paper situates these developments within broader debates about technological unemployment, platform labor, and the political economy of capitalism. It argues that the challenge is not merely job quantity, but institutional continuity, how societies reproduce practical competence when platforms optimize for efficiency rather than formation. This study proposes a framework for evaluating platform ecosystems by their long-term effects on human capital formation and institutional resilience. Full article

Live streaming commerce delivers conversion rates up to ten times higher than conventional online stores, yet research on the psychological mechanisms behind that lift has tested platform features in isolation, through single-mediator pathways. This study examines how three live streaming characteristics (streamer credibility, perceived interactivity, and product demonstration quality) shape consumer purchase intention through consumer trust and perceived value, operating both independently and sequentially. The stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) framework provides the organising structure, with source credibility and value-based theories anchoring specific paths. A structural equation model was tested on survey data from 478 UK live streaming consumers. All three characteristics predicted consumer trust; only perceived interactivity and product demonstration quality predicted perceived value directly. Streamer credibility reached perceived value entirely through consumer trust. Credibility’s parallel path through value alone was not supported, but its serial path through trust and then value was. Eleven of twelve hypotheses were supported, and bootstrap analysis with 5000 resamples confirmed serial mediation through trust then value for all three antecedents. The asymmetric pattern positions trust as the gateway through which competence-based credibility reaches purchase decisions, with implications for platform-design choices that sequence trust signals before value-oriented promotional cues. Full article

Misinformation has become a persistent feature of contemporary digital information environments. Platform designs and business models often privilege attention, engagement, and repeated exposure over epistemic quality. However, misinformation does not diffuse uniformly across platform structures. This study examines how contested claims in a South Korean social policy controversy circulate on YouTube. The analysis focuses on unfounded allegations regarding permanent employment offers to part-time workers at Incheon International Airport across two analytic levels: (1) a videoclip network, in which video-to-video ties are formed through shared commenters over time, and (2) a channel network, in which channel-to-channel ties are formed through shared commenters over time. Drawing on YouTube Data API records, we employ a mixed computational approach that integrates social network analysis, speech-to-text transcription, natural language processing, semantic network analysis, and automated content classification. Videos are classified as misinformation or non-misinformation based on the presence of demonstrably incorrect claims or corrective content. We compare network structure, diffusion patterns, and engagement dynamics across these two layers. The results reveal pronounced layer-specific differences. Misinformation diffuses more extensively within the channel network, which exhibits higher density and stronger cross-channel interconnectedness, suggesting that creator-level infrastructures function as stabilising conduits for the circulation of false claims. By contrast, diffusion pathways at the videoclip level show comparatively weaker differentiation between misinformation and non-misinformation content. Engagement patterns also diverge misinformation videos attract significantly more likes, while message format and channel attributes are less consistently distinguishing. From a theoretical standpoint, this study advances a multi-layer diffusion perspective on platform-mediated misinformation by demonstrating how platform architectures shape the visibility, persistence, and amplification of false claims. The findings highlight the importance of intervention strategies that move beyond individual content moderation toward creator- and network-level governance mechanisms, with implications for the design of platform features, recommendation systems, and misinformation mitigation tools. Full article

This article examines how platform-mediated crisis policy shaped inclusion and exclusion outcomes for small, medium, and micro enterprises (SMMEs) in the Western Cape during COVID-19. Integrating a market-failure perspective with entrepreneurial ecosystem theory, we present a theory-driven secondary analysis of 16 qualitative interviews and policy documents. We map five crisis-amplified failures—finance, markets, digital, institutions, and human capital—onto Isenberg’s six ecosystem domains and analyze how provincial interventions, particularly digital marketplaces, voucher schemes, and online coordination tools, functioned as governance mechanisms regulating access, visibility, and participation. The findings show that platform-mediated interventions accelerated coordination and digital market access but disproportionately benefited already connected firms, leaving institutional and inclusion gaps largely unresolved. We conceptualize sub-national crisis response as a form of platform governance and discuss implications for designing more inclusive digital policy infrastructures in middle-income contexts. Full article

Rural territories continue to face persistent structural challenges related to depopulation, limited economic diversification, and unequal access to specialized knowledge. Although scientific research and applied expertise are widely recognized as critical resources for addressing these challenges, their effective transmission to local actors remains fragmented. In recent years, digital platforms have emerged as potential mechanisms to bridge this gap; however, their role within rural development frameworks remains conceptually underdeveloped. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for knowledge transmission platforms oriented towards rural development, integrating scientific research, applied analysis, and structured dissemination within a unified operational architecture. Drawing on a structured review of the literature on rural development, knowledge transfer, and digital platforms, the framework identifies key functional dimensions and design principles that shape platform-based knowledge intermediation. The framework is illustrated through a qualitative case study of CreandoTuProvincia, a Spanish platform focused on territorial analysis and rural knowledge transmission. The findings highlight the relevance of hybrid platforms that combine scientific rigour, accessibility, and territorial embeddedness, offering a scalable model for strengthening evidence-informed rural development strategies. By conceptualizing platforms as structured knowledge intermediaries, this study contributes to the emerging literature on knowledge-based rural development and provides practical insights for policymakers, researchers, and platform designers. Full article

This study aims to systematically analyze scholarly research on virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and the metaverse in the tourism and hospitality sectors, offering insights into publication patterns, key contributors, thematic evolution, and potential research directions from 2016 to mid-2025. It maps how the literature evolved in response to technological maturation and changing tourism constraints. A systematic literature review and comprehensive bibliometric analysis were conducted using the Scopus database. The analysis encompassed bibliographic metrics, thematic clustering, and content analysis techniques to identify influential journals, authors, and evolving research themes. The results reveal a pronounced acceleration in research activity post-2020, reflecting heightened interest due to the COVID-19 pandemic’s push towards digital and immersive solutions. Core journals identified include Tourism Management, Current Issues in Tourism, and Journal of Travel Research. Influential contributors such as Timothy H. Jung, M. Claudia tom Dieck, and Dimitrios Buhalis significantly shaped the field. The thematic trajectory demonstrates a shift from initial exploration and application of VR and AR technologies toward comprehensive integration into metaverse ecosystems, with emerging themes such as digital twins, synthetic experiences, immersive storytelling, and growing emphasis on ethical and sustainability considerations. By synthesizing nearly a decade of research, this study provides valuable insights into immersive technologies’ evolution in tourism and hospitality, identifying critical areas for future investigation aligned with enterprise information management strategies. Full article

This article explores how fashion, as a culture-intensive industry, can act as a testbed for ecosystem-centred sustainability transitions. Building on debates on the Triple Transition (green, digital, resilience) and the four pillars of sustainability (environmental, social, economic, cultural), the study addresses a theoretical and methodological gap: while transition agendas and sustainability frameworks are well developed at policy and conceptual levels, there is limited empirical integration of these frameworks into design-oriented methods capable of guiding situated organisational decisions in fashion and cultural and creative industries. It proposes a design- and futures-driven methodology that combines intuitive-logics scenario building, horizon scanning and a customised three-axis Polar Map. The Polar Map translates the Triple Transition into three composite orientations: Bios, Techné and Resilience, used to structure four narrative scenarios applied to the fashion ecosystem: Trailblazing Agency, Other-than-Human Agency, Constructive Agency and Normative Agency. Each scenario assembles concepts, weak signals and case examples into plausible configurations of the fashion value chain and its ecosystem. The results show how these scenarios act as meta-narratives, orienting devices and boundary objects that support futures literacy, make the cultural and intangible consequences of design decisions explicit and reveal interdependencies across value chains. Conceptually, the work operationalises combined transitions and the four pillars of sustainability in a flagship CCI; methodologically, it advances a design-oriented adaptation of scenario practices; and practically, it offers organisations narrative tools to rehearse ecosystem-centred innovation pathways. The conclusion reflects on structural constraints and methodological directions for further hybridisation within foresight methods. Full article

Digital ecosystems are sociotechnical systems that connect various business actors via digital platforms. While they drive digital transformation across domains, their conceptual design remains challenging due to the need to address legal, technical, and business aspects simultaneously. Our research investigates which modeling concepts are relevant for this purpose and to what extent existing modeling techniques support their representation. A survey with 32 experienced practitioners and researchers revealed a diverse set of relevant views, elements, cross-cutting concerns, and principles. Some concepts—such as ecosystem overview and value exchanges—were broadly accepted, whereas others—including legal aspects and cooperation mechanisms—raised controversy. Based on the survey results, we developed an assessment framework and applied it in an action research study to evaluate five established modeling techniques. Despite their strengths, none of the techniques supporting all concepts were deemed highly relevant. The findings underline the need for a unified modeling technique grounded in shared concepts and multi-view representations. The proposed framework defines requirements for modeling techniques to support digital ecosystem design and enables their systematic assessment. Full article

China’s urbanization has entered a stage of high-quality development, yet persistent urban expansion and the rapid rise of the digital platform economy have driven up energy consumption, making the decoupling of energy use from economic growth increasingly urgent. To address this challenge, this study examines how new urbanization influences the decoupling of energy consumption from economic growth in China and explores its underlying mechanisms. Using panel data from 30 Chinese provinces spanning 2014–2023, we employ a two-way fixed-effects model to test our hypotheses. The results indicate that new urbanization significantly suppresses energy-growth decoupling: a 1% increase in the new urbanization index reduces the decoupling index by 0.686 units. The expansion of the digital platform economy intensifies this suppression effect. Concurrently, technological innovation and government support play mediating roles. The study thus concludes that promoting high-quality new urbanization, accelerating technological progress, and strengthening government investment are key pathways to advancing decoupling. Full article

In digital marketplaces, trust in e-commerce platforms has evolved from a protective heuristic into a powerful mechanism of behavioral conditioning. This review interrogates how trust cues such as star ratings, fulfillment badges, and platform reputation shape consumer cognition, systematically displace critical evaluation, and create asymmetries in perceived quality. Drawing on over 47 high-quality studies across experimental, survey, and modeling methodologies, we identify seven interlocking dynamics: (1) cognitive outsourcing via platform trust, (2) reputational arbitrage by low-quality sellers, (3) consumer loyalty despite disappointment, (4) heuristic conditioning through trust signals, (5) trust inflation through ratings saturation, (6) false security masking structural risks, and (7) the shift in consumer trust from brands to platforms. Anchored in dual process theory, this synthesis positions trust not merely as a transactional enabler but as a socio-technical artifact engineered by platforms to guide attention, reduce scrutiny, and manage decision-making at scale. Eventually, platform trust functions as both lubricant and leash: streamlining choice while subtly constraining agency, with profound implications for digital commerce, platform governance, and consumer autonomy. Full article

Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS) are often introduced as platforms expected to deliver strategic value through workforce analytics, decision support, and alignment with organizational goals. Yet evidence consistently shows that line managers’ use remains confined to administrative functions. This paper addresses this paradox by reframing it through the lens of the attitude-behavior gap (ABG), a concept established in consumer research to describe the disconnect between favorable attitudes and actual behaviors. Drawing on qualitative interviews with 25 line managers in five UK organizations, the study identifies three themes: HRIS as an Administrative Rather than Strategic Tool, Organizational Identity and Role Expectations, and Confidence Gaps and Habitual Routines. Together, these themes illustrate how supportive attitudes toward HRIS coexist with restricted behavioral engagement, sustained by cultural scripts, situational barriers, and ingrained routines. Theoretically, the study extends the ABG beyond consumer contexts into organizational technology use, challenging the linear assumptions of dominant adoption models such as TAM and UTAUT. Practically, it highlights the need for cultural reframing of HR’s role, user-centered system design, and sustained training and integration efforts to enable more strategic engagement. By framing HRIS adoption as a context-dependent practice shaped by organizational roles and behavioral patterns, the paper offers deeper insight into why favorable attitudes toward innovation frequently fall short of producing substantive engagement. Full article