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Business performance and purchase intentions in cross-border e-commerce

Cross-border e-commerce is flourishing worldwide and is particularly intriguing because it allows sellers and buyers to regularly cross national borders to distant and distinct countries via the Internet. Marketers need to understand the challenges retailers and consumers may face to develop effective marketing strategies, attract foreign consumers to retailers’ websites, and convert their visits into actual purchases. This dissertation contributes to the growing literature on cross-border e-commerce by examining how e-retailers can shape their marketing strategy to reach foreign consumers who may make a purchase and what drives consumers’ perceptions and preferences before making thatpurchase. To this end, study 1 examines how and to what extent small e-retailers can shape their marketing strategies to increase their use of digital marketing tactics and thereby improve their performance in foreign markets by comparing e-retailers originating from developed and emerging e-commerce markets. Study 2 focuses on how store values and country stereotype perceptions leadto higher trust between consumers and retailers in foreign e-stores, and how this differs for European consumers shopping at U.S. and Chinese e-stores. The thirdstudy addresses why consumers buy from foreign e-stores when they can buy domestically. It examines three different categories of determinants across generational cohorts: e-store characteristics, domain-specific values, and human values. Overall, this dissertation demonstrates the drivers of small retailers’ business performance and consumers’ purchase intentions in cross-bordere-commerce while showing that neither e-retailers nor consumers should be considered uniform or generalizable.

La construcción del mensaje perfecto en un entorno digital.

(English below)Esta investigación estudia las características de los comentarios que logran más impacto en un entorno digital. Se emplea una metodología cualitativa que analiza los 50 mensajes con más likes del foro de una noticia, publicada en Marca.com, en la que el jugador del Real Madrid Vinicius Junior denuncia los episodios racistas sufridos en los estadios de fútbol españoles. Se tienen en cuenta las emociones expresadas por los autores, así como las estrategias retóricas y argumentales utilizadas en los comentarios. Se concluye que los mensajes escritos con empatía, aunque estén en contra de la opinión mayoritaria, pueden tener cierto impacto si formulan un argumento dual que reconoce las opiniones contrarias como valiosas en algún punto, incluso sin validarlas. En el análisis de la eficacia de los mensajes se observa que lo distinto se premia, como aportar un dato inesperado de forma inteligente (ironía) o presentar una opinión contraria a lo que se espera por pertenecer a un determinado grupo (afiliación):en este último caso el comentario resulta más auténtico y, por lo tanto, es más impactante. Se demuestra también que la percepción de los mensajes es compleja y que algunos elementos o rasgos que habitualmente se consideran eficaces pueden no serlo. Así sucede con los comentarios breves, que no siempre tienen trascendencia y pueden aparecer como inconsistentes si no incluyen una argumentación. Tampoco la diversidad o la acumulación de argumentos es positiva en cualquier circunstancia: compensa más usar los argumentos por separado para no distraer del objetivo persuasivo. This research examines the characteristics of comments that achieve the greatest impact in a digital environment. A qualitative methodology is used to analyse the 50 most liked messages in the forum discussion prompted by a news article published on the Spanish sports newspaper Marca.com. The article focuses on Real Madrid player Vinicius Junior’s denunciation of racist incidents in Spanish football stadiums. This study considers the emotions expressed by the authors, as well as the rhetorical and argumentative strategies employed in the comments. The findings suggest that messages written with empathy, even when opposing the opinion of the majority, can have a significant impact if they present a dual argument that acknowledges opposing views as valuable in some respects, even without validating them. The analysis reveals that originality is rewarded, such as introducing an unexpected fact in an intelligent manner (e.g., irony) or expressing an opinion contrary to expectations based on group belonging (affiliation). In the latter case, the comment appears more authentic and, therefore, more impactful. The study also demonstrates that the perception of messages is complex, and some elements traditionally considered effective may not always be so. For example, brief comments do not always carry weight and can come across as inconsistent if they lack sufficient argumentation. Similarly, the diversity or accumulation of arguments is not universally positive; it is often more effective to present arguments separately to avoid distracting from the persuasive objective.

Who supplies digital surveillance technologies to African governments?

African citizens are increasingly being surveilled, profiled, and targeted online in ways that violate their rights. African governments frequently use pandemic or terrorism-related security risks to grant themselves additional surveillance rights and significantly increase their collection of monitoring apparatus and technologies while spending billions of dollars to conduct surveillance (Roberts et al. 2023). Surveillance is a prominent strategy African governments use to limit civic space (Roberts and Mohamed Ali 2021). Digital technologies are not the root of surveillance in Africa because surveillance practices predate the digital age (Munoriyarwa and Mare 2023). Surveillance practices were first used by colonial governments, continued by post-colonial governments, and are currently being digitalized and accelerated by African countries. Throughout history, surveillance has been passed down from colonizers to liberators, and some African leaders have now automated it (Roberts et al. 2023). Many studies have been conducted on illegal state surveillance in the United States, China, and Europe (Feldstein 2019; Feldstein 2021). Less is known about the supply of surveillance technologies to Africa. With a population of almost 1.5 billion people, Africa is a continent where many citizens face surveillance with malicious intent. As mentioned in previous chapters, documenting the dimensions and drivers of digital surveillance in Africa is

Internet on the outstation

Internet on the Outstation provides a new take on the digital divide. Why do whole communities choose to go without the internet when the infrastructure for access is in place? Through an in-depth exploration of the digital practices occurring in Aboriginal households in remote central Australia, the authors address both the dynamics of internet adoption and the benefits that flow from its use. The book challenges us to think beyond the standard explanations for the digital divide, arguing that digital exclusion is not just another symptom of social exclusion. At its heart, Internet on the Outstation is a compelling examination of equality and difference in the digital age, asking: Can internet access help resolve the disadvantages associated with remote living?Internet on the Outstation is the result of a multi-year research collaboration, which included a trial of internet infrastructure, training and maintenance in three small Aboriginal communities (known as outstations). During the research phase, Ellie Rennie, Eleanor Hogan and Julian Thomas were based at the Swinburne Institute for Social Research in Melbourne. Robin Gregory and Andrew Crouch worked at the Centre for Appropriate Technology, an Indigenous-owned research and training organization in Alice Springs. Alyson Wright worked for the Central Land Council, the representative body for traditional owners of the central Australia region.

State of the art

Optimist by Nature, Pessimist by Design

This conversation between Geert Lovink and Nikita Lin reflects upon our inner experiences within the global networked digital cultures. It explores the tactics, aesthetic and political, in response to the breakdowns brought by digital platforms and the possibility of creating new beginnings through persistent engagement in writing and publishing. Since 2004 Lovink is heading the Institute of Network Cultures at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences and is Art and Network Cultures Professor of Art and Network Cultures at University of Amsterdam’s Art History Department. The conversation takes as point of departure Lovink’s three recent books: Sad by Design: On Platform Nihilism, Stuck on the Platform: Reclaiming the Internet, and Extinction Internet: Our Inconvenient Truth Moment. Over the past 30 years, Lovink has been experimenting with the networks and the internet in his writing by developing a distinct style that dig into essays, interviews, aphorisms, sloganisms, and memes. This includes critical concepts that he has developed-such as ‘tactical media,’ ‘net criticism,' ‘sad by design,’ and ‘internet extinction’ – that people recognize, find useful and ready to apply to their own activities. For Geert Lovink, the fascinating question with writing is how to capture fast-changing real-time phenomena which means not only documenting but also leaving room for anticipation.