2026-03-28
Jinho Kim et al.
Background: The role of information technology (IT) in influencing business performance has become increasingly pivotal in today’s business environment. While prior research has extensively explored the impact of IT capabilities on firm performance, the results have been mixed and often limited to static measures of IT investment. This study introduces the concept of superior IT capability retention and examines its influence on market performance over an extended period. Method: We employed a matched sample comparison group method to investigate the relationship between the degree of retaining superior IT capability and its impact on business performance. First, using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, we compared firms’ market performance with three levels of retaining superior IT capability and their matched control counterparts. Second, to examine how firms’ IT capability influences business performance over time, we employed panel data analysis. Results: The results suggest partial relationships between the extent of retaining IT capability and market performance. Our findings reveal a nonlinear relationship, with firms exhibiting medium levels of IT capability retention outperforming their counterparts, while those with low or high levels of retention show no significant returns. Conclusion: This study contributes to the literature by offering new insights into the dynamic nature of IT capabilities and their long-term effects on firm performance, highlighting the critical role of strategic IT management in maximizing organizational outcomes. From a theoretical perspective, this study advances IT capability research by shifting from a static to a dynamic perspective and uncovering a curvilinear relationship that helps reconcile mixed findings in prior literature. On the practical side, our findings suggest that maintaining a moderate yet consistent level of IT investment delivers the strongest market returns, providing clear guidance for strategic allocation of IT resources. These insights can inform strategic IT investment decisions and resource allocation in rapidly evolving technological environments.
2025-12-28
Jan-Niklas Meckenstock et al.
Background: Business value is a frequently debated topic in agile software development (ASD) research, yet which valuable aspects constitute this concept has not been systematically clarified, leading to a volatile conceptualization of business value in the context of ASD. In addition, the literature lacks a systematization of relationships between ASD practices and valuable aspects, causing a fragmented understanding of which practices yield which benefits. This study proposes a classification framework for the different aspects of the business value of ASD and assesses how ASD practices stimulate these valuable aspects to guide research and practice. Method: A qualitative systematic review of 137 articles systematizes valuable aspects associated with the business value of ASD, while it also examines relationships between 22 ASD practices, separated into project management (PM) and software engineering (SE) practices, and the valuable aspects they provide. Results: The study develops a classification framework to systematize the multidimensional ASD business value concept along 56 valuable aspects, grouped into 16 value categories, which are allocated to 5 dimensions of manifestation (product, process, team and developers, customers and financial dimension). It also highlights how ASD practices differ concerning their benefits, finding that SE practices primarily stimulate the process and the product, while PM practices aid the team and the relationship with customers. Conclusion: This study contributes a more unified understanding of the business value of ASD, enabling research to better grasp the concept and comprehend how ASD practices contribute to the spectrum of valuable aspects. It also fulfills a prerequisite for future research efforts to investigate the realization of outcomes with ASD, while providing a research agenda to guide these efforts. For practice, the study offers new perspectives to assess ASD business value and enables a more value-targeted application of ASD with the systematization of relationships between ASD practices and valuable aspects.
2025-12-28
Philipp Scharfe et al.
Background: Enabled by advances in digital technology, the adoption of non-ownership business models (NOBMs) has become a major business trend, particularly in the mechanical engineering industry. In an NOBM, machine builders retain ownership and only offer the use and/or performance of a machine as a service to their clients. While the literature discusses several individual factors that influence the decision to adopt an NOBM, little is known about their interplay and the impact thereof on the NOBM design. Method: Drawing on 21 interview-based cases and applying fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA), our study aims to identify configurations of five key antecedent conditions (market competition, market demand, machine standardization, Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) capabilities, and a high share of large clients) that lead to machine builders offering or not offering NOBMs. Furthermore, based on the interview insights, we aim to link the NOBM offering configurations to the resulting NOBM desig n. Results: Our fsQCA reveals two distinct configurations that lead to an NOBM offering and two resulting in a non-offering. Drawing on case interview insights, we explain the rationale behind these four identified configurations. Moreover, we relate the two identified NOBM offering configurations to two fundamental NOBM design types: light NOBMs and full-fledged NOBMs. Conclusion: Our results provide new and actionable insights into how multiple antecedent conditions, together with their respective benefits and risks for machine builders, lead to the offering (or non-offering) of NOBMs, which depends on whether an appropriate balance between these factors is achieved. Moreover, rather than focusing on individual antecedent conditions, we shift the focus from individual antecedent conditions to how their configurations shape the subsequent design of NOBMs. Machine builders can compare our configurations to their own situation and determine whether offering an NOBM is advisable and, if so, how it should be designed.
2025-06-29
Chenwei Li et al.
Social media, enabled by various digital technologies, e.g., data analytics, blockchain, artificial intelligence, and augmented or virtual reality, has increasingly played a central role of monitoring, responding, optimizing, and influencing consumer behavior in digital business (Chou et al., 2025; Do et al., 2025). Since 2017, the immediate popularity of Douyin in China and later TikTok in the world brought the new paradigm of social media platforms by leveling down the threshold of video production and directing platform competition from celebrity/content centric to algorithm centric. Such a paradigm shift suggests new challenges and opportunities in digital business, i.e., constructing sustainable relationships among “content producers -- content consumers/customers -- businesses/brands”. The latest development of AI technologies also magnifies the significance of algorithms in content production, social medial platform competition and digital business models constructed over such platforms. Companies, brands and influencers are thus under huge pressure to understand the unique challenges and ecosystem of emerging social media platforms (Benbya et al., 2020) and to stay ahead of this powerful digital movement (Xie et al., 2022). This special section address the timely issues associated with emerging social media platforms and deepens the understanding of the latest opportunities and challenges for digital business and consumer insights in the Pacific Asia region (Jiang et al., 2019), by offering theoretical frameworks and practical strategies that bridge academic research with industry needs.
2025-06-29
Mingqian Sun et al.
Background: With the increasing importance of user-generated video platforms for marketing, sponsorship is crucial for the monetization of user-generated content, which may go against the need to cultivate emotional bonds with followers and maintain channel authenticity. To mitigate the negative effects associated with sponsorship disclosure, this study focuses on the exploration of appropriate disclosure timing and examines the impact of disclosure timing on endorsement effectiveness for user-generated videos. Method: A nchored in a ttribution t heory , w e employed a scenario-based survey method involving 355 valid responses to investigate the impact of sponsorship disclosure timing (prior, concurrent, and post) on endorsement effectiveness and the possible moderating role of emotional attachment. Results: The results indicate that only concurrent sponsorship disclosure positively impacts consumers' attitudes and subsequent endorsement effectiveness, while prior and post sponsorship disclosure exert negative impacts. The moderating role of emotional attachment was not supported by the current empirical evidence. Conclusion: Our study advances the research on sponsorship disclosure by providing an in-depth understanding of disclosure timing, exploring new methods compatible with the current trends in user-generated video platforms and providing valuable guidance for marketers to optimize the use of sponsored content.
2025-06-29
Syrios Siyao Li et al.
Background: The cost-effectiveness and brand impact of viral marketing have driven extensive research across disciplines. With the proliferation of online social networks over the past decade, viral marketing in online social networks (OSNVM) has emerged as a transformative yet fragmented research domain. Method: We integrate the socio-technical systems (STS) perspective to categorize these studies into two streams: behavioral and data science, and use thematic analysis to analyze the articles further. The behavioral stream focuses on the behavioral aspects of marketing content, senders, receivers, and their impact on the effectiveness of viral marketing campaigns. The data science stream views viral marketing campaigns from a data network perspective, focusing mainly on network structure, scope, algorithms and pattern of dissemination. Results: Although both streams are potentially complementary and can benefit from each other, prior studies tend to take a blinkered perspective, drawing mainly from one or the other research tradition, thus missing opportunities for synergy and a better understanding of the phenomenon of interest. This study develops an integrative framework bridging these paradigms through thematic analysis, specifically identifying research gaps and future directions for information systems scholarship. Conclusion: This study bridges the disciplinary divide through a thematic framework enabling integrated OSNVM analysis. The framework systematically integrates behavioral and data science perspectives, enhancing conceptual clarity while establishing interdisciplinary connections. It identifies critical research gaps at this intersection, guiding future model development. Practically, it equips marketers with dual optimization strategies combining behavioral insights and data science analytics. These dual advances bridge theoretical and applied domains, establishing new standards for evidence-based campaign design.