Platform-centric vs. multi-party service failure: an examination of consumers' negative word of mouth about sharing economy platforms

PurposeThis paper aims to identify platform-centric versus multiparty service failure on sharing economy platforms via topic modeling analysis of consumers' negative online reviews. The authors also sought to understand consumers' reactions to these experiences by detecting negative discrete emotions. The authors then contrasted consumers' responses to platform-centric and multiparty service failure through the theoretical lens of failure controllability.Design/methodology/approachThe authors used a large-scale data set containing more than 81,000 negative app reviews on eight representative hospitality and tourism sharing economy platforms. Topic modeling coupled with emotion detection algorithms revealed 11 themes reflecting diverse forms of platform-centric versus multiparty service failure and their associations with negative discrete emotions based on regression analysis.FindingsThe 11 themes reflecting diverse forms of platform-centric versus multiparty service failure were as follows: app glitch, customer service, locating and pooling, account issues, transaction, offer redemption, interface challenges, intermediary inaction, service lateness and cancellation, incorrect order and fee structure. The analysis suggests that platform-centric service failure is more likely than multiparty service failure to elicit negative discrete emotions.Originality/valueThe research enriches the understanding of platform-related service failure beyond dyadic service interaction. In particular, the authors bring to light two forms of platform-related service failure that warrant scholarly attention: platform-centric versus multiparty service failure. By uncovering the distinct negative emotional associations of platform-centric versus multiparty service failure, the research adds novel empirical evidence to the service failure literature and the relevant attribution theory. Findings offer long-term implications for the sustainable development of sharing economies and platform businesses in contemporary hospitality.

Financial regulation in the age of the platform economy

Platform businesses allow for collaboration with nontraditional partners and bring together different categories of customers, in the financial context savers and investors or lenders and borrowers, creating large, scalable networks of users. Their entry into finance promises potential benefits to consumers in the form of new products, lower prices, wider choice, and enhanced consumer experience. At the same time, their new business models and technologies potentially threaten the dominant position of traditional financial services providers and create challenges for regulators. Platform businesses can use their preferential access to customer data to skim off high-quality loans, leaving only low-quality customers for other lenders. Their ability to offer complementary nonfinancial services that cannot be supplied by FinTech start-ups and banks can make it difficult or unattractive for customers to switch to alternative providers. This danger is especially acute when BigTech firms have monopoly power in other markets that complement financial services.

The stakeholder value proposition of digital platforms in an urban ecosystem

Using a mixed-method approach, we assess the conditions under which digital platforms can successfully deliver their stakeholder value propositions (SVP)—declarative statements that the digital platform makes about how it adds value or solves a problem for target stakeholders—in cities. We examine the popular digital platform Airbnb in the touristic city of Barcelona and analyze the extent to which it delivers its value proposition to guests, hosts, and the city. Evidence suggests that Airbnb in Barcelona closely resembles the existing hotel industry, reinforcing over-tourism and inequality, which explains the adverse reactions Airbnb has faced from the city. We contrast this with the case of a nearby non-touristic city, Igualada, where the platform has delivered on its SVP. Our findings suggest that, while complex and gradual, the process of joint value creation between the digital platform and its stakeholders is possible and can be beneficial under conditions of mutual adjustment and business model adaptation. We uncover the substantive, localized, and dynamic characteristics of the SVP design process and discuss the academic, policymaking, and managerial implications of adequate platform design.

Optimization of Information Security Sharing Mechanism of Online Education Platform based on Block Chain Technology

Under the ravages of the COVID-19, online education platform business has achieved rapid development, and excessive platform integration and the spread of paid knowledge have also spawned security problems of data sharing between platforms and users. Meanwhile, the development of Internet technology has also increased the difficulty of knowledge safeguarding rights on education platforms and cracking down on piracy. Based on the application characteristics of blockchain technology, this paper proposes a dual authentication mode of node + platform based on hash detection. Through the smart contract provided by Ethereum, data encryption linking and two-way verification between different platforms are realized. After linking to blockchain, data transmitted over the network can be protected from hacking and tampering. The research in this paper has an enlightening effect on promoting the integration development of blockchain technology and emerging industries, and also makes a specific judgment on the next integration development direction. © 2021 ACM.