Digital Platform: Design and Strategy
Source: https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/bizinsight/digital-platform-design-and-strategy Parent: https://bm.hkust.edu.hk/
Digital platforms are transforming how people interact, transact, and share information. Our researchers explore the evolving strategies and design mechanism that shape platform ecosystems, user experiences, and broader economic and social outcomes.
“Optimal” Feedback Use in Crowdsourcing Contests: Source Effect and Priming Intervention
Crowdsourcing contests allow firms to seek ideas from external solvers to address their problems. This research examines solvers’ use of developmental feedback from different sources and of different constructiveness when generating ideas in contests. I theorize a source effect in solvers’ feedback use where they use seeker feedback more than peer feedback ... Read More
[ Digital Platform: Design and Strategy ] [ Innovation and Entrepreneurship ]
SPIER, Kathryn E.
Should platforms be liable for harms suffered by users? A platform enables interactions between firms and users. Harmful firms impose larger costs on users than safe firms. If firms have deep pockets and are fully liable for harms, platform liability is unnecessary. If firms have limited liability, holding platforms liable for residual harm increases ... Read More
[ Digital Platform: Design and Strategy ]
CHEN, Yongmin
MASKUS, Keith E.
International Protection of Consumer Data
We study the international protection of consumer data in a model where data from product sales generate additional revenue to firms but disutility to consumers. When data usage lacks transparency, a firm suffers a commitment problem and overuses consumer data. Greater transparency enables the firm to commit to less data usage, which boosts consumer demand ... Read More
[ Digital Platform: Design and Strategy ]
CHEUNG, Wang Chi
TEO, Chung-Piaw
WANG, Hai
Optimizing Passenger–Driver Matching in Ride-Sharing Markets
Uber and other ride-sourcing companies rely on multiple types of data to optimize service delivery, and they often use Internet-based platforms to match passengers and drivers through smartphone data. However, this type of supply–demand matching remains challenging due to the need to balance speed, revenue, and quality. HKUST’s Guodong Lyu and colleagues aim ... Read More
[ Digital Platform: Design and Strategy ]
GAO, Baojun
DING, Xiaojie
GUO, Yue
The Pitfalls of Soliciting Online Reviews
Today’s consumers heavily rely on online peer reviews to guide their purchase decisions. Yet, review platforms and businesses alike are struggling with a shortage of online reviews and declining review length. In response, many businesses have turned to offering incentives, such as discounts or even direct payments, in exchange for (often positive) reviews ... Read More
[ BizStudies ] [ Digital Platform: Design and Strategy ]
MAGLARAS, Costis
SCARSINI, Marco
VACCARI, Stefano
Online Rankings and Raising Revenue
When making online purchases, consumers often encounter a lengthy list of products whose quality they know little or nothing about, ranked by an unknown algorithm. Users often turn to others’ online reviews to estimate product quality—a process known as social learning. HKUST’s Dongwook Shin and colleagues shed light on the challenges that platforms face ... Read More
[ BizStudies ] [ Digital Platform: Design and Strategy ]
CONG, Ziwei
What Are You Looking At? How Others Influence our Choices Online
Online platforms attract hundreds of millions of users, who post regularly on many topics. However, the algorithms used to direct them to content have faced criticism. HKUST’s Jia Liu and a colleague examine the phenomenon of “popularity bias” in recommender systems, taking advantage of a quasi-experiment conducted by China’s biggest online knowledge-sharing ... Read More
[ BizStudies ] [ Digital Platform: Design and Strategy ]
VACCARI, Stefano
ZEEVI, Assaf
How Online Reviews Affect Dynamic Pricing Strategies
Online product review platforms have become popular places for consumers to share their opinions on and experiences of the products and services they buy. In online marketplaces, the quality of a new product or service is initially unknown, but reviews posted by buyers inform subsequent customers. By reducing uncertainty about product quality, this type of ... Read More
[ BizStudies ] [ Digital Platform: Design and Strategy ]
NG, Ka Chung
TANG, JIe
Social media platforms are investing millions in fighting “fake news,” but little is known about how effective their strategies are, say HKUST’s LEE Dong Won and colleagues. Offering much-needed guidance in today’s era of disinformation, the authors shed new light on the propagation of false and misleading news, identifying how it spreads and, critically ... Read More
[ BizStudies ] [ Digital Platform: Design and Strategy ]
KARAHANNA, Elena
XU, Sean Xin
ZHANG, Nan Andy
Meeting Needs through Social Media
Twitter has almost 200 million users. Facebook’s customer base is even bigger, approaching 3 billion. Yet despite the staggering popularity of social media applications, it remains unclear exactly why and how people use this technology. Taking a holistic view of social media use, HKUST’s Professor Yan Xu and co-researchers developed a pioneering theory-based ... Read More