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PurposeThe sale of NFTs and the interest in them has “exploded” recently. While there is a lot of information on them, it is not clear what final form they will take. There are several reasons to be uneasy, such as the prevalence of scams, but there are also reasons for optimism and confidence in NFTs. First, they solve the problem of how to own digital assets. Additionally, some of the more reliable and proven cryptoasset exchanges are offering them. However, this innovation will have difficulties reaching a wider audience until more clarity is achieved on two main issues. Therefore, this study aims to clarify what the NFT business models are, and how do they build trust.Design/methodology/approachThis research attempts to identify the NFT business models with case study analysis in three stages. The first stage is a focus group, followed by 16 short case vignettes and finally four longer case studies.FindingsThe findings show that there are four NFT business models: (1) NFT creator; (2) NFT marketplace, selling creators’ NFTs; (3) company offering their own NFT (fan token) and (4) computer game with NFT sales.Originality/valueThis research brings the literature on business models and NFTs together to offer clarity on the proven NFT business models.

Ransomware (RW) attacks’ effectiveness has increased causing far reaching consequences that are not fully understood. The ability to disrupt core services, the global reach, extended duration and the repetition has increased their ability to harm an organization. One aspect that needs to be understood better is the effect on the user. The user in the current environment is exposed to new technologies that might be adopted but there are also habits of using existing systems. The habits have developed over time with trust increasing in the organization in contact directly and the institutions supporting it. This research explores whether the global, extended and repeated RW attacks reduce the trust and inertia sufficiently to change long held habits in using information systems. The model tested measures the effect of the RW attack on the e-commerce status quo to evaluate if it is significant enough to overcome the user’s resistance to change.

Product country-of-origin (COO) is now playing a central role in consumers’ purchase behavior. Previous studies have investigated several factors that impact COO. However, little attention has been paid to the impact of COO on consumers’ product evaluation on Chinese products, especially in the cross-border e-commerce context. Using a multi-methods design, this study first unearthed the antecedents of COO image towards Chinese products from the qualitative data in Study 1 by drawing on the legitimacy theory and then develops a contextual model of consumers’ product evaluation and purchase intention, integrating the role of a product with a different level of involvement. Using quantitative survey data from 252 foreign consumers, the study tests the research model in Study 2. The findings provide empirical evidence to support the model and highlight the importance of COO cues on foreign consumers’ purchase intention towards Chinese products. The results also enhance our understanding of consumers’ purchase decision in cross-border e-commerce.

Artificial intelligence and related technologies are creating new opportunities and challenges for organizations across the insurance value chain. Incumbents are adopting AI-driven automation at different speeds, and new entrants are attempting to use AI to gain an advantage over the incumbents. This research explored four case studies of insurers' digital transformation. The findings suggest that a technology focused perspective on insurance business models is necessary and that the transformation is at a stage where we can identify the prevailing approaches. The findings identify the prevailing five insurance business models that utilize AI: (1) focus and disaggregation, (2) absorbing AI into existing model, (3) incumbent expanding beyond model, (4) dedicated insurance disruptor, and (5) tech company disruptor.

PurposeArtificial intelligence (AI)-based chatbots have brought unprecedented business potential. This study aims to explore consumers' trust and response to a text-based chatbot in e-commerce, involving the moderating effects of task complexity and chatbot identity disclosure.Design/methodology/approachA survey method with 299 useable responses was conducted in this research. This study adopted the ordinary least squares regression to test the hypotheses.FindingsFirst, the consumers' perception of both the empathy and friendliness of the chatbot positively impacts their trust in it. Second, task complexity negatively moderates the relationship between friendliness and consumers' trust. Third, disclosure of the text-based chatbot negatively moderates the relationship between empathy and consumers' trust, while it positively moderates the relationship between friendliness and consumers' trust. Fourth, consumers' trust in the chatbot increases their reliance on the chatbot and decreases their resistance to the chatbot in future interactions.Research limitations/implicationsAdopting the stimulus–organism–response (SOR) framework, this study provides important insights on consumers' perception and response to the text-based chatbot. The findings of this research also make suggestions that can increase consumers' positive responses to text-based chatbots.Originality/valueExtant studies have investigated the effects of automated bots' attributes on consumers' perceptions. However, the boundary conditions of these effects are largely ignored. This research is one of the first attempts to provide a deep understanding of consumers' responses to a chatbot.

AI and data technologies are a catalyst for fundamental changes to insurance business models. The current upheaval is seeing some incumbent insurers trying to do the same more effectively, while others evolve to fully utilize the new capabilities and users these new technologies bring. At the same time, technologically advanced organizations from outside the sector are entering and disrupting it. Within this upheaval however, there are signs of a convergence towards an ideal and prevailing business model. This research identifies one exemplar incumbent and one disruptor and evaluates whether their models are converging and will become similar eventually. The findings support a high degree of convergence, but some differences are likely to remain even after this transitionary period. The differences identified are firstly in the evaluation of risk and secondly that traditional insurers prioritize revenue generation from what is their primary activity, while new entrants prioritize expanding their user base.

Trust and privacy have emerged as significant concerns in online transactions. Sharing information on health is especially sensitive but it is necessary for purchasing and utilizing health insuranc...

Cross-border e-commerce has developed rapidly integrating the global economy. Research has presented some solutions for the challenges and barriers in cross-border e-commerce from the perspective of the enterprise. However, little is known about the requirements of cross-border e-commerce talents and how to train them. In this paper, we firstly conducted semi-structured interviews to acquire the requirements of cross-border e-commerce talents. Business and market knowledge, technical skills, analytical ability and business practical ability were found to be the four core requirements. Then, we integrated problem-based learning and social media to design a talents training model for cross-border e-commerce and did a program to evaluate effectiveness of the model. Finally, its effectiveness was evaluated from the four evaluation dimensions of attitude, perceived enjoyment, concentration and work intention. The talents training model was improved according to the suggestions.

Although the approach of social constructivism is not new (its origins are dated back to the pre-World War II era), it can be used along with novel learning strategies to facilitate quality online learning. The progress of technology, learning platforms and digital resources, together with certain social constructivism techniques, enable engineering practitioners to study in postgraduate management programs that replicate face-to-face environments. In this chapter, the authors introduce certain metrics (objectives, critical success factors, key performance indicators, and targets) along with a handful of constructivism techniques, namely, ‘peer interaction', ‘forum activities', ‘learning by doing', and ‘systematic feedback'. Linking the constructs of social constructivism with quantification enables us to develop a rational model of performance measurement, serving as a navigation instrument for instructors, instructional designers, and learners.

Online learning has been expanding for some time but the forced move to it due to the outbreak of COVID-19 has created new issues. This study set out to investigate the impact mechanism of online learning user satisfaction from the perspective of cognitive load in the era of COVID-19 and explore ways to optimize cognitive load in teaching practice. Semi-structured interviews were conducted for the empirical analysis. The coding process of the interviews yielded several antecedents of cognitive load in the online learning process. We also proposed a theoretical model based on the literature review and data analysis. Findings of the qualitative analysis indicate that the antecedents of cognitive load are multi-dimensional and the user's satisfaction with the online learning platform mainly consists of the expected confirmation of the information system and the perceived usefulness. These findings can help us think backward about optimizing user satisfaction with online learning in the context of COVID-19 breakout. © 2021 IEEE Computer Society. All rights reserved.

This article proposes a transferable model for online learning, based on the principles of social constructivism. The findings have been collected through ‘end-of-course feedback surveys’, and concern a student-sample of 170 nationalities, residing in 154 countries. All students were registered in cohorts of the same postgraduate programme over a period of four years. The findings throw light on learners' difficulties in different parts of the world; along with practical implications for University decision-makers and instructors. The article's contribution is encapsulated in an eight-pillar learning model, aiming to facilitate educational inclusion, quality enhancement, and promote the benefit of learners.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between individual trust of students in computer supported semi-virtual collaboration groups and student’s performance in school. Design/methodology/approach Longitudinal questionnaires and interviews are conducted during the case study. By analyzing the data from the questionnaires and the grade earned by the students, the sample students are ranked with respect to the trust level and individual performance. Furthermore, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test is used to compare individual trust level and performance in the computer supported semi-virtual collaborative environment. Findings The distribution of an individual’s trust level is roughly consistent with the distribution of the individual’s performance in the collaboration. Besides, the relationship between a student’s trust level and the student’s performance is positively correlated. Research limitations/implications This study integrates the issues of trust, school performance, and collaboration in an educational context. Furthermore, the conclusions drawn from this paper extend the literature of multiple disciplines including education, management, and psychology. Practical implications The conclusions could apply in the fields of education and management since the analysis revealed the relationship between an individual’s trust level and their performance. Originality/value This study contributes to the field of trust and collaboration research with a link to trust development and performance. The study also provides an insight into how to successfully improve the performance of student semi-virtual collaboration groups.

This study aims to investigate individual's trust development for semi-virtual collaboration teams with multicultural and unicultural background. We aim to explore whether the trust levels in multicultural and unicultural semi-virtual groups will be the same, how trust develops over time and what the corresponding factors to the trust development are. In order to answer the questions, a longitudinal case study was conducted in unicultural and multicultural teams. We have taken survey for 144 participants over three stages, as well as interviewed 64 participants. Results of the analysis of the survey data firstly show that no significant difference exists between multicultural and unicultural groups. Then, two factors, collaboration process and clear task help explain this phenomenon. However, the trust development of multicultural groups shows instability and keeps decreasing over time, while unicultural groups behave differently. We found that language, values and habitual behavior lead to the differences in these two types of groups. We investigate individual trust development in semi-virtual teams.We compare the multicultural and unicultural teams.A longitudinal case study of semi-virtual teams is conducted.We find some factors leading to the instability of the multicultural teams.It provides clues for future research for trust development in multicultural teams.

Information technology-mediated interruptions have become widespread and ubiquitous in the workplace. However, our understanding of how these interruptions and individuals’ interruption processing mechanism impact individuals’ performance, especially psychological performance, is still limited. Leveraging Conservation of Resources Theory, this study focused on two types of IT-mediated information interruptions (congruent and incongruent) and examined the moderating effects of different process mechanisms on the relationship between information interruptions and individuals’ interruption overload. A multi-methods research design was conducted in this study: a qualitative study with 20 interviews in Study 1 and a quantitative study with 345 surveys in Study 2. The results show a positive indirect effect of IT-mediated information interruption on emotional exhaustion through interruption overload. Results also review the moderation effects of different processing mechanisms. The findings of this study advance the current understanding of the “dark side” of online information behavior. Additionally, this study provides practical and theoretical implications for both employers and employees on how to process IT-mediated information interruptions in the workplace.

This paper offers an overview of collaborative consumption (CC), the related business models (BM), the value added (VA) from the consumer's perspective and the role of trust. CC is expanding but it is unclear what opportunities it offers and what the challenges will be. This research evaluates the current CC BMs and identifies 13 ways they add value from the consumer's perspective. This research further explores whether CC BMs fall into two categories in terms of what the consumer values. In the first category, the CC BMs require a low level of trust while in the second category of CC BMs a higher level of trust is necessary. It was found that 13 VA by CC BMs could be grouped into personal interest, communal interest and trust building. It is important for organisations to acknowledge how their CC BM relates to these dimensions.

This research models and investigates individual trust development over time in computer mediated collaboration. Risk, benefit, utility value, effort, power and interest are six factors that influence individual trust development. This paper introduces two new approaches, the scale balance model and the trust spider diagram, to help model and investigate individual trust development over time. A 2 year longitudinal case study is used to investigate individual trust development based on a yearlong student project. 16 student groups participated in the computer mediated collaboration. Survey data were collected at three points throughout the project year and the results are analyzed using the two approaches. Interviews were also conducted at the end of the project. In this research, interesting findings, such as some dynamic features, are revealed by using the methods. Each approach to analyzing individual trust development has its strengths and weaknesses, and using the two together has the benefit of mitigating some weaknesses and combining the strengths. Analyzing trust development over time contributes to enhance computer mediated collaboration in both theoretical research and practical application.

This research applies theories of trust from e-commerce to digital currencies. In particular trust in business to consumer transactions carried out using digital currencies such as Bitcoin is explored. A model of online trust is considered to be valid in this different transaction context but the significance of each construct changes and some extensions are necessary. In particular the role of institutional trust in transactions has differences that are explored and new constructs are suggested. These are incorporated into a new digital currency enabled transactions trust model.

Individual trust development is vital to online collaboration in teams. A semi-virtual case study, which is composed of eight collaborative student groups using Web based computer support, is tracked by the authors over one year. Surveys, interviews and documentation are applied in the data collection. A scale balance model and trust spider diagram are used to analyze the data for all three stages of this case study. A sample group is analyzed in this paper. This research offers insight into how individual trust develops over time in computer mediated collaboration. The results of each group in this case are discussed. Some new trust factors which may be important to individual trust development are also presented in this paper.

Facilitated group collaboration is evolving into a new generation in Web 2.0 using new technology such as online group systems. Building trust is vital to group collaboration. Risk, benefit, utility value, power and interest are six factors that influence individual trust development. This paper further develops the Scale Balance Model based on the Individual Trust Development Model in order to investigate individual trust development in facilitated group collaboration. There is a two stage investigation using a survey from face-to-face student groups with Web based group system support. The model is used to analyse the individual trust development in the sample. The results of applying the improved model can help give feedback and advice for future collaboration research.

On the one hand, a growing amount of research discusses support for improving online collaborative learning quality, and many indicators are focused to assess its success. On the other hand, thinkLets for designing reputable and valuable collaborative processes have been developed for more than ten years. However, few studies try to apply thinkLets to online collaborative learning. This paper introduces thinkLets to online collaborative learning and experimentally tests its effectiveness with participants responces on their satisfaction. Yield Shift Theory (YST), a causal theory explaining inner satisfaction, is adopted. In the experiment, 113 students from Universities in Beijing, China are chosen as a sample. They were divided into two groups, collaborating online in a simulated class. Then, YST in student groups under online collaborative learning is validated, comparison study of online collaborative learning with and without thinkLets is implemented and satisfaction response of participants are analyzed. As a result of this comparison, YST is proved applicable in this context, and satisfaction is higher in online collaborative learning with thinkLets.