Digital exchange compromises: Teetering priorities of consumers and organizations at the iron triangle

Abstract

Societal well-being is challenged by the complexity and intangibility of the compromises inherent in digital exchanges. Increasingly these exchanges rely on technology, with competing priorities that challenge cooperation and communication among key parties involved. The authors examine the factors that drive tensions between consumers and organizations in digital exchanges, as well as how and why interest groups, lawmakers, and bureaucrats (also known as the "iron triangle") try to mediate these exchanges through policy and regulation. By explicating the nature of these relationships, the authors illustrate various trade-offs faced by all parties and depict a novel, comprehensive framework to facilitate holistic assessment of the factors underlying these ubiquitous but complex digital relationships with vague ethical stewardship. This framework serves as a lens to help guide business and

Compulsory technology adoption and adaptation in education: A looming student privacy problem

“…We believe the priorities in K‐12 schools and districts must include efforts to educate stakeholders about digital data literacy, improve privacy‐security measures in technology adoption decisions, and reduce socially transmitted data. The challenge is that innovations in EdTech may force trade‐offs at the expense of student privacy and security (LaBarge et al, 2022). Continuing to adapt to technology without a privacy perspective and privacy protection action plan poses concerns about data that may be collected, bought, and sold by third parties in the commercial marketplaces at students' long‐term expense.…”

How do we measure the intangible? Overcoming the measurement challenge in services

“…Despite recent debates related to the IHIP paradigm, intangibility continues to be researched as a core aspect of services, as evident from recent scholarly work (Alhoqail & Floyd, 2021; Choi & Leon, 2020; Fay et al, 2022; Heller et al, 2019; Mishra & Anning‐Dorson, 2022; Zhou & Mao, 2021). Scholars have investigated how the complexity and intangibility of the compromises present in digital interactions pose a threat to societal well‐being (LaBarge et al, 2022), the impact of intangibility in the case of luxury services (Wirtz et al, 2020), how the intangibility of foodservice influences the perception of service fairness for consumers (Kim et al, 2018), how consumers' perceptions of intangibility impact their prepurchase, usage, and postpurchase experiences (Hellén & Gummerus, 2013), the influence of intangibility in the case of online consumer behavior (Mazaheri et al, 2014), and overcoming the challenges due to intangibility in the context of online retailing (Heller et al, 2019; Mishra et al, 2021), among others.…”