Jungsuk Oh

Adoption of new online services in the presence of network externalities and complementarities

A typical online user utilizes multiple services in the same service category concurrently due to the fact that many online service markets are characterized by the coexistence of multiple services offering complementary features. Along with an inherent network externality feature, this complementary nature among competing online services complicates predictions of adoption patterns in these markets. This paper extends the adoption function model of Arthur [W.B. Arthur, Competing technologies, increasing returns, and lock-in by historical events, The Economic Journal 99 (1989) 116-131] and applies it to the online service market in an attempt to explain various cases of adoption behavior. The proposed model predicts that there exists a first-movers advantage in this market. Specifically, when network externality is large enough, the follower is confined to a low market share, even though it provides the same level of service as that provided by the leader. However, this first-movers advantage can be overcome in cases where perturbations are caused by the heterogeneity of consumers or by service value uncertainty. In addition, a two-step punctuated equilibrium may exist: under specific conditions, market share distribution may be stable for a while at certain levels and then move into actual equilibrium.

Value appropriation between the platform provider and app developers in mobile platform mediated networks

The mobile ecosystem has recently experienced a transition in platform leadership from network operators to mobile operating system providers. In each system the platform provider exerts effort in order to attract other firms for generativity and profitability. In this paper, we identify and analyze the working mechanism of one business practice that significantly influences the ecosystem’s generativity and platform provider’s profitability via value appropriation. Revenue sharing has become a common practice in the mobile ecosystem following NTT DoCoMo’s radical revenue-sharing model contributing toward mobile service success in Japan. Studies further argue that offering a wide portfolio of services through an attractive or innovative revenue-sharing model is one of key success factors in the mobile ecosystem. However, app developers have continuously claimed that they do not receive their fair share and the press reports a substantial number of disputes concerning revenue sharing between the platform provider and app developers. We propose a new bargaining model, the modified apex game, that investigates how value is likely to be appropriated between the platform provider and app developers within a given mobile platform mediated network. We support our theoretical predictions using data collected from the early mobile ecosystem by a network operator as well as the iOS and Android mediated networks.

How does Efficiency in Service Business Influence Service Quality

In a service business, it is difficult to cope with all your customers’ needs. They come and go with various wants and when it comes to their own good there are complaining. Such variances in the service business interfere the operation resulting in inefficiency. To come against all those fluctuate wants, Frei is suggesting a new way how to cope with this customer variability in the service business: Low‐Cost accommodation and uncompromised reduction. However, his assertion that these solutions can reduce cost and enhance service quality at the same time is empirically not proved. Thus, the following research will be dedicated in the empirical proof whether the solutions mentioned above can enhance service quality while reducing cost by pursuing efficiency in the service business.

Factors Affecting on the Performance of Overseas R&D

Many companies are trying to acquire innovative technologies and relevant knowledge by sending R&D work overseas. Although recent research has been focusing on the aspects that motivate MNCs to establish offshore R&D facilities, such as cost reduction and market expansion, little is known about external or circumstantial factors influencing the performance of global R&D activities. Searching for enhancers of offshore R&D facilities, we investigated the relationships between the performance of offshore R&D and the technological capabilities of a parent company, its home country, and its R&D hosting country. Both patent data of EU and the EU R&D scoreboard of 134 overseas R&D labs from 46 MNCs, dating from the period of 2003 to 2005, are used in the analysis. The same time period is applied in calculating the RTA of each country. Regression analysis results support our main hypothesis that the technological capabilities of the parent company and the hosting country positively affect the performance of overs...

Customer Perceptions of Health Examination Service Quality: An Empirical Investigation in South Korea

With an increasing trend of extended life expectancy and consequential aging society, the demand for health examination is ever heightened. The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of health examination service quality and their influence on customer satisfaction and behavioral intention. We utilized a modified SERVPERF model, in which service quality consists of six factors of tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, and privacy. Using the structural equation model analysis, we found that six factors of SERVPERF are consolidated into five. Privacy loses its significance, responsiveness and assurance stay valid, and tangibles factor is split into two. Overall, reliability, empathy, and tangibles 1 are found to be the relatively influential to consumer satisfaction.

The moderation effects of mobile technology advancement and system barrier on m-commerce channel preference behavior

Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, has quickly become a powerful, indispensable approach for diverse business to consumer (B2C) industries to secure technology-oriented, risk-taking N-generation customers. However, their behavioral preferences have not been investigated in-depth, as most practitioners believe m-commerce consumers are merely a frontier group of e-commerce consumers, and not unique service consumers with distinct characteristics. This study examines m-commerce consumers’ unique behavioral aspects by conducting thorough theoretical research based on an integrated framework that includes the IS success, web satisfaction, and B2C channel preference models. We first construct an integrated model to analyze the fundamental roles of information system quality in an m-commerce context. A set of hypotheses are then tested and studied to verify the moderation effects of ubiquity, localization, personalization (mobile attributes), and cognitive effort (system barriers) on the newly established relationships. The statistical results are obtained using a survey data of 503 consumers with m-commerce service experiences in Korea, a leading m-commerce country. Finally, the results are analyzed and interpreted to identify m-commerce consumers’ perceived service quality levels, as well as their comparative differences against e-commerce consumers. We believe that both researchers and practitioners will benefit from this research, in that it not only isolates a prioritized list of key determinants of m-commerce success, but also highlights the necessity of continuous research effort regarding future market orientations.

A critical incident approach to consumer response in the smartphone market: product, service and contents

Multitudes of theory-based models have been developed and applied to identify drivers behind user behaviors in various information systems (IS) markets. Although these theory-based models have been successful in identifying and explaining consumer behavior, their fixed nature necessitates customization efforts when applied to a specific usage context. In this paper, we utilized critical incident technique (CIT) as a complementary approach to IS user behavior study to traditional theory-based models in the context of the smartphone market. Through a two-stage survey, both positive and negative critical incidents are collected, which are categorized into device, device-related services, network services and content services. Then, their impacts on user intention variables of loyalty and recommendation are derived by a structural equation analysis of 795 smartphone users’ responses. The results can be summarized as follows: Positive critical incidents improve user intentions whereas negative ones worsen them; among the positive incidents, the events related to network services are the most influential; Critical incidents related to application contents are the most influential among the negative; Mobile device manufacturers are the most strongly affected by critical incidents among the smartphone supply chain parties. Merits of CIT in IS user behavior study have been demonstrated: CIT’s flexible nature provides convenience in adapting to a particular IS usage context; Both positive and negative incidents are examined, yielding a complementary implication to other methods. We also revealed that a conventional wisdom of CIT to focus mainly on negative critical incidents might have to be adjusted since positive ones might be more influential depending on the particular context of IS usage.