Electronic Markets - The International Journal on Networked Business

27/06/2025

New research: "A geospatial and big data exploration of tourism destinations: A case study of Busan, Republic of Korea" by Seieun Kim, Aura Lydia Riswanto, Angellie Williady, Reza Asriandi Ekaputra & Hak-Seon Kim.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00791-x

This study examines the factors that influence visitor satisfaction in Busan, a popular tourist destination in South Korea. Using GIS and big data analytics from online reviews, the study analyzes the spatial dimensions of visitor satisfaction.

The findings suggest that proximity has a significant positive impact on satisfaction, followed by visitor perception and attractions. However, hospitality services showed no significant effect in this study. The study identifies key attractions, such as Gamcheon Culture Village and the Busan National Science Museum, and examines how transportation accessibility and hospitality services influence the visitor experience.

The study emphasizes the vital role of proximity and accessibility in shaping visitor satisfaction, suggesting that well-connected transportation networks can enhance the overall tourism experience. By combining big data analytics with spatial analysis, the study provides new insights into the relationship between urban infrastructure, visitor perceptions, and attraction distribution, offering practical implications for tourism planning and destination management.

26/06/2025

We have published new research: "Setting the stage for a flourishing cultural data ecosystem: A spotlight on business models of cultural event platforms" by Maike Althaus, Christian Vorbohle, Michelle Müller & Dennis Kundisch, Universität Paderborn.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00790-y

This research explores the emergence of data ecosystems within the cultural event industry. It focuses on how cultural event platforms can align their business models to foster data-driven innovation. The paper presents a taxonomy of six archetypes of cultural event platform business models and examines the benefits and obstacles of their participation in data-sharing initiatives.

This work provides valuable insights into data-sharing business models and the development of data ecosystems in the cultural sector.

24/06/2025

We have published new research: "Augmenting the reality of decision-making: Comparing and combining product experiences’ influence on choice difficulty and mental imagery" by Maaike Ven, Lieve Doucé, Kim Willems, Felitsa Rademakers, Malaika Brengman & Philippine Loupiac.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00801-y

This research explores the impact of augmented reality (AR) on consumer decision-making, with a particular focus on choice overload. Titled 'Augmenting the reality of decision-making: Comparing and Combining Product Experiences' Influence on Choice Difficulty and Mental Imagery, this paper delves into how AR can shape consumer experiences and choices.

Drawing on cognitive load theory, the study compares AR with physical product samples to examine the relationships between mental imagery, choice difficulty, choice confidence and purchase intention. The findings suggest that AR, particularly static AR, enhances mental imagery, which plays a crucial role in influencing choice difficulty and confidence. Interestingly, the research also indicates that combining AR with traditional, indirect product experiences can further reduce choice difficulty.

This article offers valuable insights into the impact of AR's virtual experience on decision-making processes, contributing to the existing body of literature on choice overload and AR.

Companies are increasingly adopting augmented reality (AR) to provide new virtual product experiences for consumers. Despite practical and academic interest, AR’s potential to reduce the negative effects of choice overload remains largely unexplored. Drawing on cognitive load theory, this article ...

23/06/2025

We have published a new Call for Papers for the special issue on "Digital influence in the platform economy: Governance, value creation, and market dynamics".

The special issue is guest edited by Baidyanath Biswas, ABHISEK KUANR, Debasis Pradhan, Hongfei Liu, Rahul C., and Dušan Mladenović.

Submission deadline is: March 01, 2026. You can find more information on our website: https://link.springer.com/collections/caddcafehf

We look forward to receiving many interesting submissions!

23/06/2025

We have published a new research paper: "An iterative five-phase process model to successfully implement AI for cybersecurity in a corporate environment" by Sarah K. Lier, Tjelve M. Eppers, Jana Gerlach, Pascal Müller & Michael H. Breitner, Leibniz Universität Hannover
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00802-x

This research addresses the growing complexity of cyberattacks and the necessity of adaptive, proactive measures. Titled An Iterative Five-Phase Process Model to Successfully Implement AI for Cybersecurity in a Corporate Environment, the paper introduces a comprehensive framework for organizations.

The study presents a five-phase iterative process model with 19 detailed steps designed to guide the integration of AI applications and services into corporate cybersecurity strategies. The flexible model emphasizes iterative evaluations and early risk identification and considers critical aspects such as cost, functional requirements, and environmental impact.

Furthermore, the research deduces seven key performance indicators to support the quantitative assessment of AI's efficiency and effectiveness in cybersecurity. This facilitates benchmarking and the development of best practices.

This work provides valuable insights for companies looking to strengthen their defenses against evolving cyber threats.

While traditional cybersecurity approaches effectively address static or well-known threats, they often struggle to keep pace with the rapidly evolving threat landscape. New research highlights that increasing sophistication and dynamism in cyberattacks require adaptive and proactive measures, such....

20/06/2025

We have published a new research paper: "Dining with robots: An integrated perspective on functional, emotional and relational dimensions of customer experience" by Ezlika M. Ghazali, Dilip S. Mutum & Jia Jia Cheah.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00797-5

Have you ever wondered how your dining experience would change if robots were part of the service? Our latest publication takes an in-depth look at this interesting topic.

This study goes beyond basic adoption to explore how functional efficiency, emotional enjoyment, and relational aspects such as friendliness, trust, and rapport with non-humanoid, task-oriented robots in restaurants influence customer satisfaction and revisit intentions.

Using the S-O-R framework and the USUS model, the study reveals important insights into sustained customer engagement with robotic services. This includes the intriguing roles of rapport and individual novelty-seeking tendencies.

Whether you're interested in human-robot interaction, service marketing, or are simply curious about the future of hospitality, this paper offers valuable insights into designing customer-centric, socially acceptable, and operationally effective robot experiences.

19/06/2025

We have published new research: "Fine-tuning image-to-text models on Liechtenstein tourist attractions" by Pejman Ebrahimi & Johannes Schneider, Universität Liechtenstein.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00806-7

This paper explores the important topic of adapting pre-trained AI models to solve specific business problems, particularly when domain-specific data is scarce.

The authors systematically investigate the effectiveness of fine-tuning two state-of-the-art image-to-text models, Generative Image-to-Text (GIT) and Florence-2, using Liechtenstein tourism attraction datasets. Their findings reveal an intriguing relationship between model architecture and data efficiency.

✅ On a small dataset, GIT demonstrated superior performance (BLEU score: 0.71 versus 0.03 for Florence-2).
✅ However, with a larger dataset, Florence-2 dramatically surpassed GIT by 33–37% in BLEU scores and achieved significant improvements in CIDEr scores (0.97 for GIT and 0.95 for Florence-2, up from 0.00 and 0.33, respectively).

This research underscores the critical importance of data volume and thoughtful architecture selection for achieving optimal fine-tuning outcomes. The results suggest that fine-tuned models can generate highly accurate captions for tourist attractions, capturing architectural, historical, and geographical nuances. Importantly, their methodology is computationally efficient, requiring less than 3 GB of GPU memory. This makes these powerful AI approaches accessible to organizations with limited resources.

This study offers valuable theoretical insights into model scaling properties and practical guidance for selecting appropriate architectures based on data availability. It is a must-read for anyone interested in AI applications in cultural heritage, education, and beyond!

16/06/2025

We have published new research: "How privacy calculus builds user engagement through trust in AI medical consultation" by Yumei Luo, Suxin Li, Qiongwei Ye & Jialiang Zheng.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00795-7

This study explores ways to enhance user engagement in AI medical consultations. The researchers examine how perceived benefits and risks influence function-based and institution-based trust, as well as how these forms of trust impact different dimensions of user engagement.

Key findings from a sample of 449 AI medical consultation users reveal that both types of trust significantly predict attitudinal and behavioral engagement. Interestingly, only institution-based trust is linked to informational engagement. The study also emphasizes the critical role of convenience in developing both types of trust. However, privacy invasion is solely associated with institution-based trust, misdiagnosis with function-based trust, and personalization with neither.

This research has significant theoretical and practical implications for designing and implementing effective AI medical consultation services.

13/06/2025

We have published a new Fundamental: "Distributed ledger technology" by Rainer Alt & Max Gräser, UNIVERSITÄT LEIPZIG.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00784-w

Distributed ledger technology (DLT) has evolved well beyond cryptocurrencies, offering incredible potential for decentralization, data integrity, and trust in various industries. Although it has seen notable successes in areas such as decentralized finance (DeFi) and non-fungible tokens (NFTs), its full potential is still unfolding.

This foundational paper provides a business-oriented framework for understanding and evaluating DLT-based solutions. It offers a unified definition of DLT, outlines its key characteristics, and analyzes its opportunities and challenges using a multidimensional interaction framework.

11/06/2025

We have published a new research paper: "Does platform dependence always reduce the fairness perception of seller?" by Chunhua Ju, Qi Guo, Hui Jiang & Yong Wang.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00787-7

Drawing on social exchange theory and conservation of resources theory, this research explores the intricate, potentially nonlinear relationship between sellers’ platform dependence and their perceptions of fairness in platform-based e-commerce.

Key findings reveal a fascinating U-shaped relationship between seller platform dependence and fairness perception and voice behavior. The study also emphasizes the critical role of seller voice behavior and how platform incentives and seller reputation have contrasting moderating effects. Interestingly, these effects are more pronounced on emerging platforms and among larger sellers.

This paper makes significant contributions to enterprise dependence literature by revealing its dual nature and providing theoretical insights for fostering fair and sustainable platform-seller relationships.

10/06/2025

We have published new research: "Managing disinformation on social media platforms" by Eric K. Clemons, Maximilian Schreieck & Ravi V. Waran .
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00796-6

This timely research explores the complex world of online disinformation campaigns. It highlights how these campaigns differ from traditional deception tactics and explains why new counteracting mechanisms are crucial. The authors explain how modern disinformation campaigns exploit personal information to craft manipulative narratives that target susceptible readers while avoiding those who might expose the deception.

These campaigns undermine individual agency and human dignity, polarizing societies and destroying societal cohesion. This is why disinformation campaigns have been called an existential threat to human civilization.

The study addresses the challenges of limiting the harm caused by disinformation while preserving free speech, avoiding bias, and navigating the resistance of social media platforms that profit from such campaigns. Using simulation modeling, the researchers explore the effectiveness of various mechanisms to curb the spread of disinformation, offering valuable guidance for regulators.

05/06/2025

We have published a new research paper: "Adoption drivers and barriers of digital freight transport platforms - An intermodal case study" by Paul Bossong, Anne Reinhardt & Ralf Elbert, Technische Universität Darmstadt.
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-025-00780-0

This timely research delves into how digital platforms can facilitate the decarbonization of supply chains via intermodal freight transport (IFT). IFT combines the ecological benefits of rail with the flexibility of road transportation, but it also introduces complexity. Digital platforms offer a solution for automation. What drives or hinders their adoption?
The authors provide context for the technology-organization-environment (TOE) framework and use a multiple-case study approach to examine the adoption of IFT platforms by users. They identified 30 adoption factors, revealing a fascinating dynamic.
Sellers of IFT services are wary of increased market transparency and interface standardization via platforms.
However, demanders of IFT services actually favor these attributes.
This study provides a nuanced understanding of the rationales behind decisions from the perspectives of both platform users and providers. The study also provides nine actionable strategies to increase platform adoption and, consequently, supply chain automation.


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