In the emerging platform economy, blockchain technologies are reshaping the digital economy. Moreover, disintermediation and decentralization have broken new ground for platform organizations and ...management mechanisms and instigated the concept of a DAO (Decentralized Autonomous Organization). Recent literature on operations management has called for further research on governance issues related to DAOs. In response to this call, we explore the relationship between DAO management efforts and platform performance in this study. Specifically, we propose and theoretically articulate decentralized voting tasks in DAOs as a new form of organizing. Harnessing both online and on‐chain data from seven sources, we empirically examine how voting task division, task allocation, reward distribution, and information provision affect platform performance in the context of MakerDAO (an Ethereum‐based stablecoin issuance platform). Our findings reveal that strategic decisions arrived at through voting have a positive impact on platform operational performance under certain conditions, whereas operational decisions resulting from voting have a negative impact. Moreover, we elucidate the moderating effects of voting task execution characteristics on the relationship between completed decision tasks and operational performance. These findings have important implications from both theoretical and practical perspectives. We also share all the raw data we use to promote the development of blockchain‐related empirical research.
Highlights
We developed a flowchart to describe the process of DAO performing voting tasks.
We found that strategic decisions via DAO voting have a positive impact on platform operational performance under certain conditions, whereas operational decisions resulting via DAO voting have a negative impact.
We found that task allocation, reward distribution, and information provision moderate the relationship between DAO management efforts and platform operational performance.
Digital Twins (DTs) are a conventional and well known concept, proposed in 70s, that are popular in a broad spectrum of sciences, industry innovations, and consortium alliances. However, in the last ...few years, the growth of digital assets and online communications has attracted attention to DTs as highly accurate twins of physical objects. Metaverse, as a digital world, is a concept proposed in 1992 and has also become a popular paradigm and hot topic in public where DTs can play critical roles. This study first presents definitions, applications, and general challenges of DT and Metaverse. It then offers a three-layer architecture linking the physical world to the Metaverse through a user interface. Further, it investigates the security and privacy challenges of using DTs in Metaverse. Finally, a conclusion, including possible solutions for mentioned challenges and future works, will be provided.
Abstract Over the last half-century, consumer research has often depicted scarcity as a dominant factor increasing price. But should we assume that scarcity’s upward pressure on price remains intact, ...in a world where novel forms of digital products proliferate? In this article, we propose that blockchain-encrypted digital goods, in particular, non-fungible tokens (NFTs), offer good reason to revisit this assumption. In this context, we argue and find that social value can outweigh intrinsic value as a determinant of willingness-to-pay. As a result, when scarcity threatens access to high levels of social value, its effect on price can be negative rather than positive—an inversion of a pattern typically observed for offline collectibles. Secondary data taken from the NFT platform Opensea and a set of experimental studies support this social value-based lens. Given these findings, we propose a research agenda to ground future work in this area. We also suggest that NFTs offer a laboratory in which past theories related to social value, scarcity, and price can be reconsidered and future theories developed, hopefully allowing consumer researchers to lead knowledge development in these domains over the next 50 years.
The nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace spiked in the recent past. The concept originated initially as a token standard of Ethereum, an open-source blockchain with smart contract functionality, where ...each token is characterized by distinguishable signs. These types of tokens have unique digital properties that allow their distinct identification. NFTs, with their distinct qualities, can be fluidly traded with customized values according to their ages, rarity, and liquidity. The trading of NFTs has heavily influenced the growth of the decentralized application (dApp) marketplace, as exponential returns (thousand folds from their original value) on its ever-expanding market are being observed, leading to worldwide attention. However, the NFT ecosystem is in its nascence, and the associated technologies are still in their infancy. New researchers might be fascinated with the exponential, yet nebulous evolution of NFTs; however, this novelty has contributed to the paucity of systematic and conclusive published research work on this topic. This review portrays the NFT ecosystem multidimensionally, wherein the paper commences with an overview of state-of-the-art NFT technology and furnishes summary standards and desired properties. Finally, the study concludes with an elaborate discussion of the future outlook for and prime challenges faced by NFTs.
•This study reviews the current body of knowledge related to NFTs.•This study reviews the key challenges in NFT ecosystems.•NFTs for decentralization and a commons economic management•NFTs for consumer behaviour on digital ownership
Creators have long strived to secure royalties for their works but with little success. In the digital realm, monetization presents an even greater challenge, as traditional digital assets frequently ...suffer from piracy issues, primarily due to the lack of verifiable ownership. Recently, non-fungible token (NFT), a blockchain-enabled tradable digital asset, has aroused great public attention for its potential to address this long-standing issue. Specifically, NFTs empower creators by enabling them to earn resale royalties from post-primary-sale transactions and by providing verifiable ownership that facilitates consumer trading in a secondary market. In this paper, we employ a two-stage game-theoretic model to examine this innovative business model. Here, an NFT creator makes optimal pricing and royalty rate decisions, while consumers make their purchase and resale decisions accordingly. Our study reveals that the creator inevitably reduces the selling price when a secondary market is introduced, even without imposing royalties. Moreover, contrary to conventional wisdom that NFT-enabled royalties always benefit creators, our research uncovers that the introduction of a secondary market leads to unintended revenue loss for the creator, particularly when most consumers only engage in secondary transactions. Furthermore, we find that the platform's profitability diminishes with the introduction of a secondary market, especially when most consumers are uninformed and the platform relies primarily on the primary market for commission collection. Finally, we find that the introduction of a secondary market may leave consumers worse off, despite the resale opportunities it offers. Our findings carry crucial managerial implications for platforms, creators, consumers, and policymakers.
•A new conceptualization of the metaverse that contains four distinct dimensions.•The authors introduce the concept of transitory metaverses.•Review of the current state of research on topics related ...to the metaverse.•27 future research directions identified in the evolving world of the metaverse.
Due to rapid technological developments, the metaverse is quickly garnering attention from all areas of retailing. With a projected market of $800 billion by 2024, the metaverse is expected to radically reshape retailing in the digital world. However, very little is known about the metaverse from a customer, retailer, or brand perspective.
This article summarizes how the metaverse has been conceptualized thus far in the literature and the popular press. The authors offer a new conceptualization of the metaverse that contains four distinct dimensions: online collaboration, high consumer immersion, unique digital assets, and digital personas.
Considering that the technologies currently used to provide high consumer immersion (e.g., augmented reality, virtual reality) and unique digital assets (e.g., blockchain technology) are not fully developed or commercialized, the authors also propose the concept of a transitory metaverse to understand the current stage of metaverse development better.
The authors conclude by providing 27 directions for future research based on a full factorial of how the metaverse dimensions amplify three customer touchpoints in the digital experience (digital economic exchange, complex social relationships, direct environment interaction) for the three main stakeholders of any retailing exchange (consumers, retailers, brands) along the entire customer journey (pre-purchase, purchase, post-purchase).
Display omitted
Abstract This research shows that although the used and unused versions of a digital good (e.g., virtual apparel) are identical in every pixel and functionality, consumers tend to prefer the unused ...version. This “genesis effect” occurs because consumers tend to perceive used (vs. unused) digital goods as virtually contaminated and because being permanently listed as the first (vs. subsequent) owner in the ownership record can confer a greater sense of status. Specifically, in study 1, analyses of large-scale field data on purchases of digital goods in the metaverse showed that consumers paid substantially more to acquire the unused (vs. used) version of the same good. Studies 2–4 causally demonstrated the genesis effect and its underlying mechanism across metaverse product categories—participants were less likely to purchase digital goods described as used (vs. unused). Virtual contamination and virtual status jointly mediated the effect. Furthermore, being the first—at the genesis of a digital product’s usage history—was particularly special, such that participants were less sensitive to increases in the number of prior owners after the first one. Finally, showing participants that a used good had been digitally reconstituted attenuated the genesis effect. These findings add to the literature on consumer behavior in the metaverse and offer managerial insights on digital goods marketing.
Background
The K‐beauty industry has entered the global market and encompasses the global economy. In the future, it is necessary to recognize the need for rapid recognition and application of ...digital technologies such as non‐fungible token (NFT) in a continuously changing and shared society.
Objectives
This literature review presents various examples of ways to increase the value of beauty brands according to the latest digital trends. The potential value of blockchain technology was reviewed while understanding the current usage status of NFT.
Methods
As of July 2022, NFT's brand application cases can be confirmed, and comparisons and cases can be applied to how much it can contribute to the rise in the value of beauty brands in the future. The 41 references were finally selected using PRISMA flow diagram.
Results
In a rapidly changing time, the beauty industry pays attention to the NFT market that can develop economically. Therefore, the parts that various industries are preemptively trying were prepared by confirming the cases.
Conclusion
The beauty industry should pay attention to the NFT market, which is an issue, and by creating a brand with scarcity value, it can apply economic activities in the beauty industry to the trend by releasing products that both consumers and sellers can satisfy.
Using sales data for the non-fungible token (NFT) collection titled ‘CryptoPunks’ (June 2017–October 2021, n=18, 883), we examine whether certain skin tones of the artworks trade at different prices. ...Results indicate that CryptoPunks with lighter skin tones (Albino and Light), trade at significantly higher prices. CryptoPunks with Dark skin trade at lower prices, even after controlling for rarity and market conditions.
•We examine price differences relating to skin tone in one of the oldest non-fungible token (NFT) collections, CryptoPunks.•Hedonic pricing models are estimated with time fixed-effects.•CryptoPunks with ‘Light’ or ‘Albino’ skin trade at higher prices, after controlling for rarity.•CryptoPunks with ‘Dark’ skin trade at significantly lower prices, even though they are rarer than ‘Light’-skin CryptoPunks.
The use of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) in AAA games is a very controversial topic, which leads to negative reactions from the gamer community. The objective of this article is to relate some of these ...cases that presented visibility in the press and to analyze the reactions this theme generates. To achieve this, we present some cases that had more relevance in the specialized press and, in the sequence, we present a discussion about the main problems pointed out, such as the state of the art of blockchains, energy efficiency, frauds, and currency evasions. Finally, we present some hypotheses to glimpse how NFTs, and their use in games, may happen in the near future.
