From now to next – Three essays on consumer responses to innovative technology-driven business models
Over the last decades, ongoing advancements in information technology (i.e., Internet and mobile devices) have expanded a firm’s ability to communicate and interact with consumers and hence, create the potential of building sustainable relationships. Tailoring offerings through (1) consumer-initiated customization and (2) firm-initiated personalization is considered a key driver of long-term consumer relationships. As technologies continue to evolve, the opportunities for tailored marketing expand and enable new technology-driven business models that help to leverage customization and personalization and strengthen customer relationships in the era of the digital economy. Across three independent essays, the purpose of this dissertation is to answer the overarching research question of how innovative technology-driven business models versus traditional business models in the domains of customization and personalization influence consumer behavior. Thereby, this dissertation contributes to an understanding of challenges and opportunities of innovative customization and personalization business models with the ultimate goal of enabling their successful diffusion in the marketplace. Specifically, in Essay 1 and Essay 2, I investigate an innovative business model located in the realm of customization, that is, internal product upgrades (i.e., offering fee-based access to originally built-in, but deliberately restricted, optional features). Using a conceptual approach, Essay 1 provides a framework for understanding how internal product upgrades will likely influence consumers’ responses. As such, it outlines evolving challenges and opportunities of internal product upgrades and derives questions for future research. In Essay 2, I use an empirical approach to examine pitfalls of internal product upgrades in the product usage phase. Drawing on research on normative expectations and perceived ownership, this essay reveals that consumers respond less favorably to internal (vs. external) product upgrades and investigates managerially relevant boundary conditions. Finally, Essay 3 creates novel insights into a business model in the domain of personalization. This essay examines how the increasingly prevalent data disclosure practice of firms engaging in a network with other firms to exchange consumer data, which we denote as Business Network Data Exchange (BNDE), influences consumers’ privacy-related decision-making. In particular, this essay shows that consumers are less likely to disclose personal data in BNDE (vs. traditional dyadic) data exchange settings and that immediate affective reactions are crucial in explaining consumers’ privacy-related decision-making. Within this dissertation, I make substantial contributions at a more general level to literature on customization and personalization by comparing innovative business models to established ones. At the individual essay level, I extend existing research in the domains of product feature modifications, norm violations, and privacy-related decision making. Moreover, this dissertation provides actionable implications for managers who are facing the decision to transform their established business model into an innovative technology-driven one.
technology-driven business models, consumer behavior, customization, personalization
Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations