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This paper aims at understanding the differences between user profiles in collaborative consumption (CC) platforms in order to improve their management approaches and set up customized strategies. Particularly, the authors investigate the emerging role of prosumers and their influence on the active participation and growth of CC platforms. Moreover, the authors study user experience to help promoting users' recommendation and offering intention.

The sample includes responses from 6,388 users of CC platforms across the EU. The data were collected through the European Commission's Flash Eurobarometer survey 467 and analyzed through a partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and a fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA).

The PLS-SEM findings suggest that prosumers are more likely than consumers to recommend and offer services through CC platforms. Furthermore, previous experience using platforms positively affects the switch from consumers to prosumers. The fsQCA suggests that only economic advantages affect the switchover decision.

This study deepens the hitherto unexplored prosumer role in CC platforms and its antecedents and drivers.

The main limitations concern the generalizability outside of the EU, the unbalanced coverage of sectors and the number of moderator variables.

Prosumers act as golden actors because they contribute to enlarge both the customer base (through recommendations) and the provider base (through offering intention). Hence, managers should focus on prosumers' experiences to increase the critical mass and positive externalities of CC platforms.

This study helps understand the importance of the role of prosumers in the growth of CC platforms. The study provides more robust results through a cross-country and mixed-method research.

This paper aims to investigate and formulate several business models (BM) for various energy communities (EC) members: prosumers, storage facilities, electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, aggregators and local markets.

One of the flexibility drivers is triggered by avoiding the cost and maximizing value that consists of delivering a service such as increasing generation or reducing consumption when it is valued most. The transition to greener economies led to the emergence of aggregators that aggregate bits of flexibility and handle the interest of their providers, e.g. small entities such as consumers, prosumers and other small service providers. On one hand, the research method consists of formulating six BM and implementing a BM that includes several consumers and an aggregator, namely, scheduling the household electricity consumption (downstream) and using flexibility to obtain revenue or avoid the cost. This is usually performed by reducing or shifting the consumption from peak to off-peak hours when the energy is cheaper. Thus, the role of aggregators in EC is significant as they intermediate small-scale energy threads and large entities' requirements, such as grid operators or retailers. On the other hand, in the proposed BM, the aggregators' strategy (upstream) will be to minimize the cost of electricity procurement using consumers’ flexibility. They set up markets to buy flexibility that is valued as long as their costs are reduced.

Interesting insights are revealed, such as when the flexibility price doubles, the deficit coverage increases from 62% to 91% and both parties, consumers and retailers obtain financial benefits from the local market.

One of the limitations of using the potential of flexibility is related to the high costs that are necessary to implement direct load control. Another issue is related to the data privacy aspects related to the breakdown of electricity consumption. Furthermore, data availability for scientific research is limited. However, this study expects that new BM for various EC members will emerge in the future largely depending on Information Communications and Technology developments.

An implementation of a local flexibility market (LFM) using 114 apartments with flexible loads is proposed, demonstrating the gains obtained from trading flexibility. For LFM simulation, this study considers exemplifying a BM using 114 apartments located in a multi-apartment building representing a small urban EC situated in the New England region in North America. Open data recorded in 2016 is provided by UMassTraceRepository.

As a novelty, six BM are proposed considering a bottom-up approach and including various EC members.

Blockchain for energy trading is a trending research area in the current context. However, a noticeable gap exists in the review articles focussing on solar energy trading with blockchain technology. Thus, this study aims to systematically examine and synthesise the existing research on implementing blockchain technology in sustainable solar energy trading.

The study pursued a systematic literature review to achieve its aim. The data extraction process focussed on the Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases, yielding an initial set of 129 articles. Subsequent screening and removal of duplicates led to 87 articles for bibliometric analysis, utilising VOSviewer software to discern evolutionary progress in the field. Following the establishment of inclusion and exclusion criteria, a manual content analysis was conducted on a subset of 19 articles.

The results indicated a rising interest in publications on solar energy trading with blockchain technology. Some studies are exploring the integration of new technologies like machine learning and artificial intelligence in this domain. However, challenges and limitations were identified, such as the absence of real-world solar energy trading projects.

This study offers a distinctive approach by integrating bibliometric and manual content analyses, a methodology seldom explored. It provides valuable recommendations for academia and industry, influencing future research and industry practices. Insights include integrating blockchain into solar energy trading and addressing knowledge gaps. These findings advance societal goals, such as transitioning to renewable energy sources (RES) and mitigating carbon emissions, fostering a sustainable future.

Sports leagues have stood out in the entertainment industry due to their great economic value and cultural impact. This is the case of the American sports leagues, with emphasis on the National Basketball Association (NBA), whose largest Latin American market lies on Brazil. The aforementioned league’s audience is constantly growing, a fact that can be partially explained by the encouragement provided for its viewers to interact through social media, in a phenomenon called social TV. Accordingly, the aim of the present study is to investigate how social TV works as a means for Brazilian fans to coproduce their NBA broadcasting enjoyment through social media interactions.

The authors conducted a netnography on the community of fans engaged in Twitter hashtag #NBAnaESPN, which was released by ESPN to promote audience integration during NBA games' broadcasting.

A theorization about the role played by social TV in the way fan culture articulates through social media to enjoy broadcasting media products was herein presented. The findings of this study have evidenced three categories concerning the role played by television broadcasting, social media and the fandom in NBA consumption by Brazilian fans. Based on these findings, the authors got to the conclusion that social TV establishes a mediatized environment where fan culture can be articulated through social media to enable interactions about television broadcasting.

The study was limited to members of the Brazilian NBA audience who engage in the official social media of the league’s broadcasting.

The study heads toward a theoretical generalization based on the research results.

In this study, the authors propose a confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to create a tenable measurement model and identify the factors that have the potential to enhance awareness of pro-environmental measures. The successful implementation of demand response (DR) programs and their required infrastructure is significant for moving towards green energy communities and a better environment for living. Not only can renewable energy capacities contribute to this desideratum, but also electricity consumers who, until the last decade, have played a passive role.

To answer these questions, a complex data set of 243 post-trial questions created by the Irish CER are analyzed using first-order and hierarchical CFA models with several SAS procedures (PROC CALIS, MIANALYZE). The questionnaire was launched to over 3,000 electricity consumers from Ireland that were participants to a trial program after the installation of smart metering systems and implementation of DR programs.

The effect of five latent factors – positive attitude, negative attitude, perceived impact of own actions, price- and incentive-DR programs – is measured. With a bi-factor CFA measurement model, the authors assess that they significantly influence the electricity consumers' awareness.

However, these findings have to be backed up by relevant information and simulations showing consumers benefits in exchange to their efforts. They have research implications on the design of the business models and DR programs pointing out the importance of benefits and fairness of value sharing mechanisms within energy communities.

Thus, the electricity consumers may change their consumption behavior as they positively perceive the implementation of DR programs.

This paper fulfills an identified need to study post-trial questionnaire and reveal latent factors that make electricity consumer change their behavior.

In recent years, crowdsourcing – an open and innovative model for outsourcing tasks to a crowd – has become popular for production processes, allowing organizations and firms in different industries to access external skills and expertise efficiently. Companies have opened their innovation processes to crowds outside their boundaries, and users and customers are often involved in developing products in line with market needs. This work aims to investigate the link between crowdsourcing, production and quality to better understand this new interesting phenomenon.

An explicit and systematic method for reviewing the literature was used. Through the selection and analysis of the relevant articles in the field, this paper presents a comprehensive overview of the pros and cons, risks and opportunities, disadvantages, or concerns, as addressed in the literature, for the adoption of crowdsourcing in the production processes.

It identifies where, how and to what extent crowdsourcing can be applied profitably within the production of products and services, highlighting how crowdsourcing could affect product and process quality. Finally, some directions for future research are outlined from the analysis conducted.

This work applied the systematic literature review to investigate and evaluate the actual use and impact of crowdsourcing on the production process, focusing on quality enhancement contribution.

The study aims to shed light on the concepts most addressed in scientific research, which blockchain topics are of most interest, how relevant are these tools for academia, and how relevant are they?

The authors have developed a bibliometric study of scientific publications on blockchain made since 2016. For the analysis, the VOSViewer software version 1.6.19 has been used, which allows a statistical analysis of scientific publications on the subject.

The study manifest the relevance of Initial Coin Offering, growth of research interest in this field and the relevance of blockchain technology in the development of entrepreneurial projects.

This study provides a complete and updated picture of the scientific research on blockchain for the subsequent transfer of knowledge to the business world.

The purpose of this paper is to emphasize the needs to understand the barrier and determinant factors in knowledge sharing (KS), to find the common ones and subsequently to build a general framework that can be referred to in designing a KS tool that addresses the common factors.

The approach comprises of two major steps which are to survey the past literature to determine the most common barriers and determinant factors from various unique KS domains and to qualify the factor as the common one based on its presence in at least three to five KS domains. The grounded theory is used to analyze the past literature and to perform categorization.

This paper helps in the summarization of categories and subcategories of barriers and determinants and demonstration on the mapping between them.

This paper has not proved the actual use of the framework in building a KS tool based on the framework.

The common factors are based on at least 60 references of KS implementation such that it is useful for large area of application domains that require building KS tools.

This paper presents the understanding on the common factors and association between the barriers and determinants in building the general framework in which the application of the framework is demonstrated using actor network theory.

This paper aims to show the possibilities of implementing the idea of sustainability in the context of energy transformation using the concept of an industrial cluster. The implementation of the idea of sustainability is of particular importance from the perspective of the functioning of the meta-organisations involved in the implementation and promotion of decarbonisation processes. Industrial clusters, as collective actors initiating collective actions and providing complex governance structures, seem to have a great fit with regard to the needs of disseminating and implementing the idea of sustainable development, also in conjunction with energy development.

Empirical evidence is derived from a case study of Mazovia Clustes ICT (MC ICT). Based on the experience of this cluster, this study wants to show the evolution of the industrial cluster through the prism of its growing activity in supporting energy transition. The authors conducted the research in the period 2022–2023 using in-depth personal interviews and an analysis of the secondary data. The primary technique for data analysis and interpretation was conventional qualitative content analysis.

As a result of this study, the authors have distinguished three main areas of cluster activity covering the strategic, operational/project and institutional levels. Within the first area, the cluster’s efforts focused on the development of a strategy and involvement in lobbying and co-legislating. The second area refers to the cluster’s activity in the carrying out of national and transnational projects on the creation and implementation of various energy solutions. The activities undertaken in the third area include support for the development of start-ups in the field of energy and involvement in the launch of an energy cluster and the development of distributed energy in Poland. Although the strategic and operational/project levels are characterised by a commonality of activities and goals, there is additionally a commonality of interests at the institutional level.

This paper has its limitations, which primarily relate to the small research sample (the choice of a case study as the main research strategy) and the methods used (qualitative research). Therefore, it is impossible to generalise the results to the entire population of clusters.

This paper has considerable practical value, as the results of this study may be relevant for public authorities interested in implementing energy transition through industrial clusters. The activities described can also be a source of inspiration for other clusters interested in shaping pro-environmental attitudes.

The cluster’s activities are closely linked to the three pillars of sustainable development, including the social pillar. The solutions developed within the cluster in the context of energy development are aimed not only at increasing energy efficiency and protecting the environment but also at broader social welfare.

This paper makes an additional contribution to the state-of-the-art of the industrial cluster concept by linking it to the idea of sustainable development, in the context of energy transformation. In addition, it sheds new light on issues related to cluster co-operation, combining the case of the industrial cluster with the very fresh and as yet poorly described idea of the energy cluster.

This study aims to explore how a postmodern tribe enacts and re-interprets ideologies as a part of consumers’ collective experience, to enhance our understanding of consumer communities in conjunction with ideological capacities.

The community of “presenteers” is conceptualized as a self-organized tribe with heterogeneous components that generate capacities to act. Netnographic observation was conducted on 18 presenteer accounts and lasted around six months. Real-time data were collected by taking screenshots of the posts and stories that these users created and publicly shared. Data were analysed by adopting assemblage theory, combining inductive and deductive approaches. Firstly, a qualitative visual-textual content analysis of the tribe’s defining components was conducted. Then, the process continued with the thematic analysis of the ideological underpinnings of the tribe’s enactments.

Findings shed light on the ways in which consumer communities interpret the entanglement of religious, political, and cultural ideologies in shaping their experiences. In the case of the presenteers tribe, findings reflect a novel ideological interplay between neo-Ottomanism, post-feminism and consumerism.

The study offers a deep dive into a unique tribe that is being organized around the consumer-created practice of “presenteering” and investigates consumer communalization in alignment with the ideological turn in culture-oriented interpretative research on consumers, consumption, and markets. This exploration helps to bridge the research on the communalization of consumers with the recent discussions of ideology in the postmodern market.

The study offers a deep dive into a unique tribe that is being organized around the consumer-created practice of “presenteering” and investigates consumer communalization in alignment with the ideological turn in culture-oriented interpretative research on consumers, consumption, and markets. This exploration helps to bridge the research on the communalization of consumers with the recent discussions of ideology in the postmodern market.