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The purpose of this paper is to elaborate the significance of safeguards in digital ecosystems and their role in generating trust among participants. This paper argues that the right mix and number of safeguards are crucial for an ecosystem’s growth and success. It offers ecosystem orchestrators concrete guidelines for how to implement and monitor safeguards.

This research is based on both consulting experience and publicly available information on several digital ecosystems.

This research conceptualizes safeguards as precautionary mechanisms that mandate or promote desirable behavior in an effort to engender trust among ecosystem participants. Safeguards can take various forms, including passwords, escrow, user privacy controls, ratings and reviews and policies and contracts. Striking the right balance of safeguards – neither too few nor too many – is crucial for ecosystem orchestrators. This paper identifies the factors that determine the optimal mix of safeguards, including the power asymmetry between sellers and buyers, the sophistication of participants, the nature of transactions, the cost of negative outcomes and the cost-benefit tradeoff.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to illuminate the relationship between safeguards and trust in the context of digital ecosystem. It is also one of the few attempts to provide managerial guidance for ecosystem designers trying to structure their platform for trust.

This study critically examines the transformative impact of the “North Sea TikTok” phenomenon on the marine tourism sector, emphasizing the role of employee training in fostering resilience and adaptability within marine economics and integrated marine systems. It delves into how viral social media trends influence marine tourism destinations, particularly the North Sea, affecting local economies, marine resource management and tourism strategies. By analyzing this trend, the paper seeks to uncover how marine tourism destinations can effectively respond to the challenges and opportunities presented by digital media-driven tourism.

Employing a multidisciplinary framework that merges insights from digital marketing, risk perception in tourism and human resource management, this paper provides a comprehensive qualitative analysis of the “North Sea TikTok” trend. Through a meticulous content analysis of viral videos and an examination of user engagement metrics, alongside a thorough review of contemporary literature in marine tourism and sustainability, the study unpacks the far-reaching implications of social media on marine tourism ecosystems.

The analysis reveals that the “North Sea TikTok” trend has markedly altered public perceptions of the North Sea, catalyzing a shift toward adventure and risk-taking tourism. This pivot promises economic rejuvenation for local tourism sectors and necessitates agile marine management strategies to accommodate the evolving demands. Implementing innovative employee training programs focusing on safety protocols, environmental conservation and digital engagement is central to managing these dynamics. The paper emphasizes integrating sustainable practices to ensure the equitable growth of marine tourism economies and environmental preservation.

This paper pioneers exploring the nexus between social media trends and their operational and strategic impacts on marine tourism management and economics. Synthesizing social media's viral dynamics with marine tourism development introduces groundbreaking insights into adapting marine tourism strategies in the digital age. It emphasizes the critical need for a skilled workforce capable of navigating the complexities of digital trend-driven tourism markets, proposing a novel model for employee training that aligns with the shifting paradigms of marine tourism engagement. This unique contribution advances academic discourse in marine economics and provides practical frameworks for stakeholders aiming to harness social media trends for sustainable tourism development.

Large-scale text-based data increasingly poses methodological challenges due to its size, scope and nature, requiring sophisticated methods for managing, visualizing, analyzing and interpreting such data. This paper aims to propose semantic network analysis (SemNA) as one possible solution to these challenges, showcasing its potential for consumer and marketing researchers through three application areas in phygital contexts.

This paper outlines three general application areas for SemNA in phygital contexts and presents specific use cases, data collection methodologies, analyses, findings and discussions for each application area.

The paper uncovers three application areas and use cases where SemNA holds promise for providing valuable insights and driving further adoption of the method: (1) Investigating phygital experiences and consumption phenomena; (2) Exploring phygital consumer and market discourse, trends and practices; and (3) Capturing phygital social constructs.

The limitations section highlights the specific challenges of the qualitative, interpretivist approach to SemNA, along with general methodological constraints.

Practical implications highlight SemNA as a pragmatic tool for managers to analyze and visualize company-/brand-related data, supporting strategic decision-making in physical, digital and phygital spaces.

This paper contributes to the expanding body of computational, tool-based methods by providing an overview of application areas for the qualitative, interpretivist approach to SemNA in consumer and marketing research. It emphasizes the diversity of research contexts and data, where the boundaries between physical and digital spaces have become increasingly intertwined with physical and digital elements closely integrated – a phenomenon known as phygital.

The ancient town of Lijiang is a representative place of ethnic minorities in China’s southwest border area jointly built by many ethnic groups. Its rich and diversified history, culture and architecture as well as its artistic and spiritual values need to be better retained and explored.

The protection and inheritance of Lijiang’s cultural heritage will be improved through the construction of digital memory resources. To guide Lijiang’s digital memory construction, this study explores strategies of digital memory construction by analyzing four case studies of well-known memory projects from China and America.

From the case studies analysis, factors of digital memory construction were identified and compared. Factors led to the discussion of strategies for constructing the digital memory of Lijiang within its design, construction and service phases.

The ancient town of Lijiang is a famous historical and cultural city in China, and it is also a representative place of ethnic minorities in the border area jointly built by many ethnic groups. The rich culture should be preserved and digitalized to offer better use for the whole nation.

Firms embedded in networks of relations are theorized through Gnyawali and Madhavan’s (2001) (G&M) structural embeddedness model to gain competitive advantage from topological characteristics. Empirical studies to support their theory have never been executed in full. Our study provided a full empirical test of their model in a digital trading network to achieve a higher degree of certainty that those network structural characteristics can have a major impact on the degree to which certain firms lead to competitiveness in a digital trading network environment.

To examine how firms respond in competitive situations, we chose the hyper-active digital trading network, eBay as our empirical context. We used eBay auction data to analyze how the network characteristics of eBay resellers impact their competitive behaviors.

Our study found strong support for the G&M model of competitiveness. We offer explanations for where support was not as strong as the Gynawali and Madavan theory proposes.

Our research is limited by our chosen context and findings in support of part of G&M model. Future studies in other digital contexts are needed to enhance the modeling of network topologies and further study the impacts of network density and structural autonomy on competitive action.

Our study suggests that managers proceed cautiously in forming partnerships, weighing circumstances where the firm can find itself with increased information power and avoiding, to the greatest extent possible, situations where the playing field is roughly equal.

Theory-making in this domain has begun as well as initial empirical testing. Much more needs to be accomplished, though, before embeddedness modeling can be thought of as being well established.

The G& M Model of competitiveness is an SNA explanation of why some competitive units succeed and others do not. Our study is the first, full blown empirical analysis of the theory.

Online food delivery applications (OFDAs) provide an expedient platform, and consumers’ access to food has been drastically altered, especially during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to completely explore the attributes that influence consumers' purchase intention and how an app's aesthetics can evoke feelings that predict continuous usage intentions for OFDAs. The food industry, especially restaurants, heavily relies on mobile technology to facilitate critical online food delivery during the pandemic crisis.

The data for this study are gathered from 477 food consumers located in the federal capital territory (FCT) of Islamabad, Pakistan, through convenient sampling by developing a self-administrated online survey. SmartPLS is used for structural equation modeling to test the proposed research model and perform bootstrapping and algorithmic analysis.

Our findings revealed that perceived value positively predicted consumers’ purchase intentions. Moreover, perceived value mediates the association of information quality, familiarity, time-saving, usability and reputation with purchase intentions and fear of COVID-19 moderates the relationship between perceived value and purchase intention.

This research work has significant implications for researchers, web developers, app designers, delivery services, restaurants and other enterprises as it demonstrates the importance of aesthetically pleasing OFDAs in eliciting positive emotions and bolstering consumers’ intentions to continue using the app for efficient food delivery services.

This study expanded the application of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and attention, interest, desire and action (AIDA) by examining consumers’ purchase intentions in the context of OFDAs. Further, the successful utilization of TAM enhanced the understanding of consumer perceptions and behavioral intentions about the usage of OFDAs.

The study aspires to enhance comprehension of the intricate interplay between supply chain management (SCM) and resilience in family businesses, thereby offering valuable insights to managers and policymakers endeavouring to foster resilience in uncertain environments.

Commencing from the premise that family businesses (FBs) prioritize the preservation of socio-emotional wealth (SEW) when formulating strategic decisions, this study endeavours to advance understanding of supply chain practices adopted by FBs and their direct impact on resilience during crisis situations or economically challenging periods. Through an exploratory case study of nine FBs, the present research reveals four pivotal strategies in SCM that contribute to their resilience: (i) reorganization of inventory management; (ii) cultivating close relationships with suppliers; (iii) emphasizing product quality and customer retention; and (iv) implementing cost reduction measures to bolster resilience. The aim of the study is to provide an in-depth understanding of the intricate interplay between SCM and resilience in FBs, thereby offering valuable insights to managers and policymakers endeavouring to foster resilience in uncertain environments.

Our approach offers a theoretical framework for SCM aligned with prior research on the interplay between characteristics of family businesses and resilience strategies. Furthermore, this paper illustrates how factors such as the emphasis on high-quality products and services by family businesses contribute to achieving non-economic objectives that owners adopt to reconcile family and business needs, creating intrinsic added value for the company. It reveals various challenges in SCM, including inventory organization changes, supplier closures and the significance of customer retention. Family businesses are implementing product and technology enhancements and leveraging digitization to enhance supply chain processes.

This paper contributes significantly to the field of FBs by highlighting the crucial role of SCM in enhancing business resilience during crises. It empirically examines how the SEW characteristics of FBs influence the reconfiguration of their supply chains to enhance resilience, presenting a theoretical model for this context. Our theoretical framework employs an SEW perspective to elucidate how FBs respond to the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic by adapting their SCM processes to safeguard their social and emotional legitimacy, organizational visibility and reputation. These adaptations gain particular relevance during crises or turbulent conditions, potentially leading to alterations in how FBs formulate their supply chain strategies and manage supply chain-related processes.

The purpose of the article is to explore the perceptions of Brazilian game developers about the power relations between them and the sponsors of digital game platforms. It also aims to identify forms of collective action that developers can use to counteract the asymmetry of power.

The research employed an abductive approach, seeking empirical evidence that would challenge consolidated theory. To achieve this, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 25 Brazilian developers. The data were analyzed qualitatively using NVivo software. The aim was to resolve theoretical ambiguities identified in the literature review and to explore unexpected findings.

The study explores Brazilian game developers' perceptions through interviews, revealing their experiences within the industry’s concentrated structure and their use of collective action to navigate power dynamics.

The study's focus on Brazil limits the generalizability of its findings to the broader game development industry.

The study suggests Brazilian game devs can leverage collective action to counteract power imbalance with platforms, collaborate through events and projects and facilitate internationalization of their games.

The study suggests collective action could empower developers to challenge platform dominance and foster a stronger community among Brazilian game developers.

The article’s value lies in examining Brazilian devs' experiences within their specific industry context and highlighting collective action as a potential strategy for developers.

The present article aims to examine the development of the theoretical framework surrounding collaborative consumption (CC) standards in recent years regarding European short-stay accommodation booking platforms. The sharing economy has significantly impacted the tourist accommodation market in recent years. Starting with the use of experimental data on CCs published on Eurostat in 2019, this article analyzes the correlation between choices of CCs for short-stay accommodation, employment and the economic crisis.

A vector autoregressive panel approach was applied to investigate the correlation between CC short-stay accommodation choices using panel organization data from 561 EU regions between 2018 and 2021.

Analyzing the connection between the main data panel variables, a positive correlation was found, followed by an increasing trend in CC use. A self-multiplying effect is generated; that is, the more people use CC, the more electronic captures occur. Consequently, the improvement of CC use and knowledge-intensive activities in short-stay accommodation is strongly linked with employment and GDP.

The originality of the investigation is to examine with a cross-sectional panel data overview the reasons that can push stakeholders to adopt CC and to clearly define a new perimeter of research in terms of the endpoint of CC in short-stay accommodation. Furthermore, the study seeks to assess the end-point congruence to utilize CC as a new gamble to accelerate digital knowledge in the hospitality sector.

This conceptual work examines how, in times of post-COVID-19 paradigm shift, the employee performance management (PM) process can help multinational corporations (MNCs) strengthen their talent management and, at the same time, meet their future needs.

We take a conceptual approach and present our perspective on what we see as the most critical trends shaping PM and talent management. Contingency theory and Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity (VUCA) theory provide a sound theoretical framework for understanding and responding to the complex and rapidly changing business context post-COVID-19.

Drawing on these theories, we create a framework providing a means of understanding why and how MNCs can maintain talent and, at the same time, develop new talent through the PM process.

Importantly, our study emphasizes the critical role that project management and talent management techniques play for both practitioners and scholars. In order to gain and sustain a competitive edge in the ever-changing VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, and Ambiguity) landscape, these processes necessitate ongoing reassessment and adaptation. As Plato eloquently stated, “Our Need Will Be the Real Creator,” encapsulating our vision for the proactive and dynamic nature of effective project management and talent management practices.

The study establishes the benefits of an agile and flexible PM approach to help develop talent and pave the way for future research in this increasingly critical area