Location
Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii
Event Website
https://hicss.hawaii.edu/
Start Date
3-1-2024 12:00 AM
End Date
6-1-2024 12:00 AM
Description
Due to new technologies, providers of digital goods and services collect an ever-increasing amount of personal data. Although the GDPR mandates that providers must inform their customers about the handling of their data, past privacy scandals have shown that customers lack information. In this study, we adopt a qualitative-exploratory approach to develop a rich understanding of the practices about which customers are not fully informed. We rely on agency theory to understand hidden actions as an informational advantage of providers. By conducting focus groups, we identify perceptions of three key hidden actions of smart product customers in B2C service ecosystems. Building on the hidden actions, we understand the relationship between customer and provider in smart service ecosystems characterized by information asymmetries. With our research, we provide the first steps towards understanding the nature and role of hidden actions in the context of smart service ecosystems. For practitioners, we provide guidance on how to effectively reduce information asymmetries.
Recommended Citation
Schwinghammer, Ronja, "Groping in the dark? Exploring customer perception of hidden actions in smart service ecosystems through the lens of agency theory" (2024). Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences 2024 (HICSS-57). 5.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-57/in/data_ecosystems/5
Groping in the dark? Exploring customer perception of hidden actions in smart service ecosystems through the lens of agency theory
Hilton Hawaiian Village, Honolulu, Hawaii
Due to new technologies, providers of digital goods and services collect an ever-increasing amount of personal data. Although the GDPR mandates that providers must inform their customers about the handling of their data, past privacy scandals have shown that customers lack information. In this study, we adopt a qualitative-exploratory approach to develop a rich understanding of the practices about which customers are not fully informed. We rely on agency theory to understand hidden actions as an informational advantage of providers. By conducting focus groups, we identify perceptions of three key hidden actions of smart product customers in B2C service ecosystems. Building on the hidden actions, we understand the relationship between customer and provider in smart service ecosystems characterized by information asymmetries. With our research, we provide the first steps towards understanding the nature and role of hidden actions in the context of smart service ecosystems. For practitioners, we provide guidance on how to effectively reduce information asymmetries.
https://aisel.aisnet.org/hicss-57/in/data_ecosystems/5