Institut für Marketing & Management

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Bringing light into the dark side of digitalization : consequences, antecedents, and mitigation mechanisms
(2023) Schmied, Fabian; Gimpel, Henner
As digital technologies permeate all aspects of our professional and private lives, digitalization causes profound changes for individuals, organizations, and societies. The use of digital technologies makes many activities easier, safer, faster, or more comfortable. In addition to many positive changes, digital technologies are also associated with numerous risks and side effects. The use of digital technologies might come along with severe negative consequences for individuals, organizations, and societies. The negative consequences can be triggered by various antecedents. In addition to identifying the negative consequences of digitalization and their antecedents, it is particularly important to develop appropriate mitigation mechanisms. This dissertation provides novel insights for IS researchers to better understand the negative consequences of using digital technologies. It contains a broad overview of the risks and side effects of digitalization and investigates related antecedents and mitigation mechanisms. To reach this goal, regarding research methods, this dissertation relies on the structured analysis of (scientific) literature and (expert) interviews as well as the analysis and interpretation of empirical data. Chapter 2 contributes to the research on the negative consequences of digitalization. Section 2.1 provides a comprehensive multi-level taxonomy of the risks and side effects of digitalization (RSEDs). Section 2.2 builds on Section 2.1 and is a substantial expansion and improvement of Section 2.1. The iterative taxonomy development process was complemented by four additional cycles. The final taxonomy comprises 11 RSEDs and their 39 subtypes. Both articles show that there is a wide range of risks and side effects of digitalization that need to be explored in more detail in the future. Chapter 3 focuses on the antecedents of digitalization’s negative consequences. Section 3.1 sheds light on individuals’ concerns towards automated decision-making. The concerns are derived from academic literature and semi-structured interviews with potential users of algorithm-based technologies. Section 3.2 focuses on the evaluation of specific mHealth app features by potential users in Germany and Denmark. The study draws on survey data from both countries analyzed using the Kano method. Further, it comprises a quartile-based sample split approach to identify the underlying relationships between users’ characteristics and their perceptions of the mHealth app features. The results show significant differences between Germans and Danes in the evaluation of the app features and demonstrate which of the user characteristics best explain these differences. Both articles shed light on possible antecedents of negative consequences (i.e., user dissatisfaction, non-use) and thus contribute to a better understanding of the occurrence of negative consequences. Chapter 4 shows exemplary mitigation mechanisms to cope with the negative consequences of digitalization. Section 4.1 takes an organizational perspective and identifies data privacy measures that can be implemented by organizations to protect the personal data of their customers and address their privacy concerns. These measures were evaluated by analyzing data from two independent online surveys with the help of the Kano method. Section 4.2 focuses on an individual perspective by presenting the concept of a privacy bot that contributes to strengthening the digital sovereignty of internet users. With the help of the privacy bot, page-long privacy statements can be checked against previously stored individual data protection preferences. Both articles provide appropriate mitigation mechanisms to cope with users’ privacy concerns. These two examples show that there are a variety of ways to counter the risks and side effects of digitalization. The research articles included in this dissertation identify various risks and side effects of digitalization that need to be explored in more detail in future research. The two articles on antecedents help to better understand the occurrence of negative consequences of digitalization. The development of appropriate countermeasures, two of which are exemplified in this dissertation, should result in the benefits of digital technologies outweighing their risks.
Individual information systems : design, use, and a negative outcome in the business and private domain
(2021) Lanzl, Julia; Gimpel, Henner
Digitalization increasingly changes individuals’ business and private lives. Today, individuals build and use ever more complex individual information systems (IIS) composed of privately-owned and business-owned components. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated this development since individuals were forced to work from home due to the social distancing measures associated with the pandemic. The ongoing digitalization comes with great opportunities for individuals, such as higher mobility and flexibility, as well as for organizations, such as lower costs and increased productivity. However, the increased use of IIS at the workplace also bears risks for individuals. Such risks include technostress, which refers to stress that is caused by digital technologies. Technostress, in turn, can lead to health-related issues, reduced productivity, and higher turnover intentions. Thus, to leverage the positive opportunities of digitalization while reducing its associated risk of technostress, a better understanding of IIS, their use, and its effect on technostress, and of individual resources that may affect this relationship is needed. The aim of this dissertation is threefold: First, to contribute to a better understanding of layers of IIS and their different components. Second, since a negative outcome of IIS use can be technostress, this dissertation seeks to advance knowledge on technostress creators and how they can be influenced by IIS use and by various IIS characteristics. Third, this dissertation aims to reveal which resources of individuals may help mitigate technostress. This dissertation uses quantitative methods, such as online surveys and structural equation modeling, and qualitative methods, such as literature analyses and semi-structured interviews. Thereby, the methodological focus lies on quantitative data collection and analysis, while some papers use a mixed-methods approach as a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Chapter 2 of this dissertation aims at providing a better understanding of IIS by investigating its various components. Therefore, Chapter 2.1 conceptualizes four layers of IIS: devices, digital identities, relationships, and information. It also considers that IIS have two more or less integrated subsystems: the business information systems with business-owned components and the private information systems with privately-owned components. An empirical validation supports this conceptualization as well as the definition of integration between the two sub-systems on each of the four layers. Chapter 2.2 studies IT consumerization, which refers to the use of private IIS components in the business domain and applies a risk-benefit consideration. The results imply that benefits of consumerization of IT services, such as better functionalities of a private IT service outweigh risks, such as the threat of sanctions for the use of private IT services. Chapter 3 focuses on technostress as a negative outcome of the increased IIS use. Chapter 3.1 analyzes how IT consumerization is related to the technostress creator unreliability of digital technologies. The results reveal a positive relationship between IT consumerization and unreliability and show that unreliability is perceived higher when the IT portfolio integration and the individual’s computer self-efficacy are low. Chapter 3.2 proceeds with studying characteristics of digital technologies and how these are related to technostress. It presents ten characteristics that are associated with at least one technostress creator. Chapter 3.3 extends the concept of technostress and introduces a framework of twelve different technostress creators, reveals four second-order factors underlying the twelve technostress creators, and brings them into relation with work- and health-related effects. Chapter 4 also deals with technostress and investigates resources to mitigate technostress. Chapter 4.1 focuses on organizational measures and finds different relationships of the investigated measures with different technostress creators. While some of the technostress creators can be inhibited by the implementation of organizational measures, others are found to be even intensified by the organizational measures. Chapter 4.2 focuses on social mechanisms that function as technostress inhibitors. Findings differ between technostress creators and the investigated social support dimensions. Furthermore, the results highlight the fact that some of the social support dimensions gain even greater importance in light of increasing telework. In summary, this dissertation provides new insights into IIS and their use, the emergence of technostress in digitalized workplaces, and organizational as well as social mechanisms that help mitigate technostress. Hence, this dissertation supports current efforts in both research and practice to reduce technostress while leveraging the positive opportunities of workplace digitalization.
Social and positive sustainability performance measurement : theories, conceptual frameworks, and empirical insights
(2018) Kühnen, Michael; Hahn, Rüdiger
Over 30 years have passed since the World Commission on Environment and Development published its famous Brundtland report including its definition of sustainable development. Since then, sustainability performance measurement looking beyond traditional financial performance measurement is becoming increasingly important in academia, business practice, and regulation to assess and ultimately manage economic, ecological, and social benefits and damages of organizational behavior along corporate supply chains and product life cycles. However, two overarching critical shortcomings prevent sustainability performance measurement from becoming a truly holistic and relevant decision-supporting instrument. First, the field is characterized by differing levels of maturity in terms of measuring performance of the three triple bottom line sustainability dimensions. Unlike established approaches for measuring ecological performance (e.g., with environmental life cycle assessment; ELCA) and economic performance (e.g., with life cycle costing; LCC), measuring social performance (e.g., with social life cycle assessment; SLCA) is still at a developmental stage, because the field is understudied and fragmented, and lacks empirical experience. Thus, the field of sustainability performance measurement is imbalanced in terms of the integrated assessment of the three sustainability dimensions. Second, the field is characterized by a negative perspective and a focus on becoming less unsustainable instead of making positive progress to sustainable development. Current sustainability performance measurement approaches primarily assess negative burdens or footprints and their reduction during product life cycles and in supply chains (e.g., accidents and fatalities, carbon dioxide emissions, or total cost of ownership) and neglect capturing positive benefits occurring throughout product life cycles and corporate supply chains. A critical reason is that research lacks a fundamental understanding of the general construct of positive sustainability performance. Thus, the field of sustainability performance measurement is incomplete because it fails to characterize and assess the important positive perspective of sustainability-related value creation and positive contributions to sustainable development. Triggered by the overarching critical shortcomings, this dissertation aims at advancing the level of maturity of social performance measurement and at advancing the understanding of positive sustainability performance measurement to promote a more balanced and complete assessment of contributions to sustainable development. To achieve these overarching aims, this dissertation builds on a multitude of research methods (especially, systematic reviews of research and corporate practice, an extensive Delphi study, and qualitative interviews), a resulting richness of empirical data, and various theoretical reflections. This dissertation comprises five studies (i.e., two systematic literature reviews and three empirical papers based on multiple research methods and data sets). Together, the five studies highlight the trends, coherences, inconsistencies, and gaps in social and positive sustainability performance measurement. Furthermore, the studies establish and explain the interrelation between social and positive sustainability performance measurement, advance their conceptual and theoretical foundation, promote standardization by prioritizing relevant indicators, and suggest an approach to measure and evaluate positive contributions to sustainable development. The individual studies presented in this dissertation offer valuable findings for research and managerial practice in the field. Together, the five studies highlight the trends, coherences, inconsistencies, and gaps in social and positive sustainability performance measurement. Furthermore, the studies establish and explain the interrelation between social and positive sustainability performance measurement, advance their conceptual and theoretical foundation, promote standardization by prioritizing relevant indicators, and suggest an approach to measure and evaluate positive contributions to sustainable development. Overall, this dissertation provides an important step to measure and ultimately manage social and positive sustainability performance. Thus, it establishes a foundation for the development of sustainable business practices that go beyond merely counteracting negative business outcomes toward actually delivering positive sustainability benefits for business and society.
Sustainable interaction with digital technologies : fostering pro-environmental behavior and maintaining mental health
(2023) Berger, Michelle; Gimpel, Henner
One of the most essential challenges of the twenty-first century is to realize sustainability in everyday behavior. Daily, partly unconscious decisions influence environmental sustainability. Such everyday choices are increasingly shifted toward digital environments, as digital technologies are ubiquitous in a wide variety of everyday contexts. This yields the great potential to positively influence the users’ behavior toward more environmental sustainability when interacting with digital technologies, for example, through the use of digital nudging. But besides these benefits, research indicates that interacting with digital technologies can lead to a specific form of stress, also known as technostress, that can cause adverse health outcomes. Individuals increasingly suffer from – or are at risk of – mental health issues like depression or burnout. This demonstrates that it is essential to ensure a sustainable interaction with digital technologies that is both environmentally friendly and healthy, especially for the mind. Addressing individuals’ interaction with digital technologies requires a broad understanding from all perspectives. The Human-Computer-Interaction (HCI) framework represents a guiding structure for studying the interaction of humans with digital technologies. Along with the guiding structure of the HCI framework, the seven research articles included in this dissertation aim to contribute to sustainable interaction with digital technologies. The focus is on two outcomes resulting from the interaction: First, fostering pro-environmental behavior and, second, maintaining mental health. After an introductory first chapter, Chapter 2 focuses on the outcome of fostering pro-environmental behavior when interacting with digital technologies using digital nudging. Chapter 2.1 contributes to a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of DNEs in different behavioral contexts (HCI perspective context) that influence the individuals’ pro-environmental behavior (e.g., e-commerce shopping behavior). Chapters 2.2 and 2.3 zoom in on two of the behavioral contexts described in Chapter 2.1 to investigate and test the design and effectiveness of specific DNEs in an e-commerce shop and a smart home app (HCI perspective technology) through online experiments. While prior research concentrated on the effectiveness of different “feedback nudge features” (FNFs) (e.g., different update frequencies), Chapter 2.4 investigates the influence of 25 identified FNFs on user satisfaction in a smart home app through a card sorting approach followed by an online survey based on the Kano model (HCI perspective human). Chapter 3 puts focuses on the outcome of maintaining mental health when interacting with digital technologies, thus avoiding technostress. Chapter 3.1 concentrates on the role of the organization in preventing technostress among their employees (HCI perspective context). It introduces and characterizes 24 primary and secondary technostress prevention measures and determines the relevance of primary prevention measures in reducing different sources of technostress (technostress creators). Out of the 24 technostress prevention measures, two specific measures (“adopt a stress-sensitive digital workplace design” and “use gamification”) are addressed in Chapters 3.2 and 3.3. Through a large-scale online survey, Chapter 3.2 derives an understanding of the characteristic profiles of technologies used at the digital workplace, their interplay, and how they influence technostress (HCI perspective technology). Chapter 3.3 focuses on the individual’s appraisal (HCI perspective human) of a demanding situation when interacting with digital technologies. After conducting an online experiment, Chapter 3.3 finds that the integration of gamification elements (e.g., points or levels) in digital technologies can reduce the individual’s threat appraisal. Lastly, Chapter 4 discusses the results of the seven included research articles and provides an outlook for future research. In summary, this dissertation aims to provide research and practice with new insights into creating a sustainable interaction with digital technologies to foster pro-environmental behavior and maintain mental health.
Understanding social-psychological determinants and effects of collaborative consumption
(2017) Roos, Daniel; Hahn, Rüdiger
This doctoral thesis aims to define collaborative consumption and advance the understanding of its social-psychological determinants and effects. In order to achieve these aims, the thesis presents three studies, each of which has been accepted at scientific conferences and developed further based on feedback from experts and reviewers. Two of the studies have been published in peer-reviewed journals. The introduction provides an overview of collaborative consumption as a comparably sustainable consumption practice. Moreover, three research deficits are identified that are the motivation for the subsequent studies. First, it is shown that the basic idea and the scope of collaborative consumption remain unclear. Second, it is found that understanding of determinants is limited to isolated variables leaving relative strengths of and interdependencies between variables untapped Finally, it is assessed that actual effects of collaborative consumption on consumers’ mindsets are not well understood. The first study titled “Prototypical collaborative consumption behaviors and their relations: A conceptual review and empirical study” examines consumer behaviors that are comprised by the term “collaborative consumption” and the relations between these behaviors. In order to identify prototypical collaborative consumption behaviors, original definitions of collaborative consumption in the literature are reviewed. To derive hypotheses on the relationships between the prototypical behaviors, the study draws on theoretical foundations from the field of consumer lifestyles and behavioral spillover. The second study titled “Understanding collaborative consumption: An extension of the theory of planned behavior with value-based personal norms” aims to understand which social-psychological variables and underlying values and beliefs determine actual collaborative consumption. The theory of planned behavior is used as the primary theoretical framework, as it is a well-established model that has been shown to explain a wide range of consumer behaviors. However, reviews and meta-analyses have found the theory’s ability to account for normative motives to perform a behavior is weak and have called for further theory development. As normative motives are expected to be particularly important in the context of collaborative consumption, the theory is extended with a value-based personal norm variable. The third study titled “Does collaborative consumption affect consumers’ values, attitudes, and norms? A panel study” examines the nature of causality between collaborative consumption and behavioral factors in order to determine whether collaborative consumption affects consumers’ values, attitudes, and norms over time. The study primarily builds on the theory of planned behavior, value theory, and the value-belief-norm theory to determine the theoretical framework linking collaborative consumption, values, attitudes, and norms over time. The theoretical framework is tested based on a two-wave panel over a time period of nine months using survey data from 168 consumers. In conclusion, the thesis contributes to the literature in six ways. First, the thesis conceptually defines collaborative consumption, a term that was used ambiguously so far. Second, it empirically advances the understanding of social-psychological determinants of collaborative consumption. Third, it explains social-psychological effects of collaborative consumption on consumers over time, something that has not been done in the literature before. Fourth, the thesis identifies and examines the relationships between five prototypical collaborative consumption behaviors. Fifth, it argues for the extension of the theory of planned behavior by a value-based personal norm variable and provides supporting empirical evidence. Finally, it advances knowledge on the causal relationship between values, attitudes, norms, and behavior.
Unlocking the power of generative AI models and systems such asGPT-4 and ChatGPT for higher education
(2023) Vandrik, Steffen; Urbach, Nils; Gimpel, Henner; Hall, Kristina; Decker, Stefan; Eymann, Torsten; Lämmermann, Luis; Mädche, Alexander; Röglinger, Maximilian; Ruiner, Caroline; Schoch, Manfred; Schoop, Mareike
Generative AI technologies, such as large language models, have the potential to revolutionize much of our higher education teaching and learning. ChatGPT is an impressive, easy-to-use, publicly accessible system demonstrating the power of large language models such as GPT-4. Other compa- rable generative models are available for text processing, images, audio, video, and other outputs – and we expect a massive further performance increase, integration in larger software systems, and diffusion in the coming years. This technological development triggers substantial uncertainty and change in university-level teaching and learning. Students ask questions like: How can ChatGPT or other artificial intelligence tools support me? Am I allowed to use ChatGPT for a seminar or final paper, or is that cheating? How exactly do I use ChatGPT best? Are there other ways to access models such as GPT-4? Given that such tools are here to stay, what skills should I acquire, and what is obsolete? Lecturers ask similar questions from a different perspective: What skills should I teach? How can I test students’ competencies rather than their ability to prompt generative AI models? How can I use ChatGPT and other systems based on generative AI to increase my efficiency or even improve my students’ learning experience and outcomes? Even if the current discussion revolves around ChatGPT and GPT-4, these are only the forerunners of what we can expect from future generative AI-based models and tools. So even if you think ChatGPT is not yet technically mature, it is worth looking into its impact on higher education. This is where this whitepaper comes in. It looks at ChatGPT as a contemporary example of a conversational user interface that leverages large language models. The whitepaper looks at ChatGPT from the perspective of students and lecturers. It focuses on everyday areas of higher education: teaching courses, learning for an exam, crafting seminar papers and theses, and assessing students’ learning outcomes and performance. For this purpose, we consider the chances and concrete application possibilities, the limits and risks of ChatGPT, and the underlying large language models. This serves two purposes: • First, we aim to provide concrete examples and guidance for individual students and lecturers to find their way of dealing with ChatGPT and similar tools. • Second, this whitepaper shall inform the more extensive organizational sensemaking processes on embracing and enclosing large language models or related tools in higher education. We wrote this whitepaper based on our experience in information systems, computer science, management, and sociology. We have hands-on experience in using generative AI tools. As professors, postdocs, doctoral candidates, and students, we constantly innovate our teaching and learning. Fully embracing the chances and challenges of generative AI requires adding further perspectives from scholars in various other disciplines (focusing on didactics of higher education and legal aspects), university administrations, and broader student groups. Overall, we have a positive picture of generative AI models and tools such as GPT-4 and ChatGPT. As always, there is light and dark, and change is difficult. However, if we issue clear guidelines on the part of the universities, faculties, and individual lecturers, and if lecturers and students use such systems efficiently and responsibly, our higher education system may improve. We see a greatchance for that if we embrace and manage the change appropriately.

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