International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management

Purpose: Recently, there has been enthusiasm for the relatively new technology, the metaverse. One technology related to and important for the metaverse is the Avatar, which is the graphical representation of users. Avatar has been studied for many years and is beginning to be used as a marketing tool. Although we think that there are three streams of avatar marketing (i.e. Virtual Social and Game World (VSGW) Avatar Marketing; Model Avatar and Virtual Fitting Room Marketing (MAVFR) Marketing; Virtual Assistant Marketing), little research has summarized them. This absence of categorization of three types of avatar marketing results in a disorder of research findings and makes it difficult for researchers and marketers to conduct avatar marketing research and best practices. This paper aims to explore the potential, specific examples, and challenges of each of the three types of avatar marketing.

Approach and Contributions: In this narrative review paper, the authors first explore the definition and brief history of each type of avatar marketing. Then, the authors explore the potential, specific examples, and challenges of each type of avatar marketing by reviewing and referencing research papers, websites, newspaper articles, and books. Related to this, this paper discusses the importance of understanding each kind of avatar marketing in the developed future virtual worlds.

Originality: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first review paper that covers three streams of avatar marketing that will inspire practitioners and researchers about the challenges and opportunities of the three types of avatar marketing with specific examples.

The coordination and organization of economic activity has always been one of the greatest challenges of humanity. For a long time, centralized models have been the dominant approach, but the emergence of technologies such as the internet, open-source software, peer-to-peer and ubiquitous computing, smart contracts and blockchain is leading to a shift toward decentralization. This trend is now culminating with a new phase of innovation called Decentralized Autonomous Organization (“DAO”). DAOs offer the potential to empower communities, promote decentralization and reliable coordination, and increase transparency and meritocracy in corporate governance using the institutional technology that is blockchain. In this paper, we present a systematic literature review of 195 academic publications on the DAO phenomenon using the PRISMA methodology. We aim to answer the following research questions: What are the characteristics of DAOs? What topics related to DAOs were researched by whom? Why do DAOs show great potential? When do DAOs face limitations? Where can solutions be found for the identified limitation? We also propose a research agenda and suggest future research directions.

This study presents a crowdsourcing IT platform and working model intended to support knowledge management processes and systems change to help public service organizations fulfill their purpose and perform their tasks in a rapidly changing environment. The tool brings together tacit and explicit knowledge regarding organizational processes in one database and provides an AI-assisted platform for knowledge processing. Additionally, it allows for disseminating refined data to grassroots-level actors, enables the implementation of initiatives, and monitors their effectiveness. By utilizing crowdsourcing, the tool leverages the collective intelligence of actors across organizational boundaries, thereby promoting collective, knowledge-based learning and organizational self-renewal.

This study explored the criteria for evaluating human–chatbot collaboration in customer service using the socio-technical systems theory. Interviews with 28 customer service managers, conversational designers, and human agents revealed their evaluation criteria diverged. Managers prioritized the chatbot’s technical capabilities and preferred a standalone customer service chatbot, while conversational designers prioritized the social aspect, focusing on the chatbot as a support tool for human agents and customers. Human agents mainly evaluated the chatbot as a means to increase job satisfaction. These distinct criteria highlight the importance of an aligned approach in human–chatbot collaboration. To improve this collaboration, integrating the chatbot into customer data systems was suggested.

In the face of increasing digitization, companies must make significant changes to their offerings and operations to remain competitive. This digital transformation of organizations includes a digital transformation of the workplace, which is often met with resistance from employees. While it is recognized that reducing employee resistance is crucial for organizations, there is a limited understanding of the antecedents of employee resistance in the context of digital transformation, different resistance behaviors, and potential countermeasures. Drawing on technostress and employee resistance theories, we address these research gaps. Results from two empirical studies support our central prediction that digital transformation of the workplace causes technostress, which in turn promotes passive and active resistance behaviors among employees. Additionally, we highlight that organizations can use digital literacy facilitation to reduce employee technostress and resistance.

This study contributes to determining key attributes of the physical internet (PI) in circular economy (CE) as prior studies failed to explore the interrelationships among these attributes. The perspective of a CE is suitable to adopt the PI with an objective of obtaining global logistics networks formed on physical, digital and operational interconnectivity. This study attempts to propose a set of attributes in CE which is usually with qualitative analysis. The research results reveal multidisciplinary collaboration and technological advancement influence digital interoperability and physical infrastructure. Top criteria include Internet of Things, central orchestrator, alignment of resources, big data and blockchain.

Technological innovation has played a fundamental role in the economic prosperity of firms and countries. Despite several studies on their effects on firms and markets, it is still necessary to assess how introducing technological innovation as innovative products, processes, and services will face extant market forces and transform them. This paper introduces a model for evaluating the potential economic effects of technological innovations based on three dimensions: technological paradigm, market value, and impact on extant industries. Based on the combination of these three dimensions, eight configurations of technological innovations are presented from an intertemporal perspective, considering their impact on the economy. This model has been validated by assessing several academic patents and helps evaluate the market potential of new technologies.

Purpose: After the pandemic digital technologies have increasingly become the focus of companies’ innovation management processes. This trend has led to a rapid expansion of the field, with a growing number of research papers on various facets of this topic being published in academic journals. However, the proliferation of literature in the field has complicated the ease with which practitioners and academics can stay up to date with the latest developments and build on recent findings in their respective work. In order to succeed within the field of digital innovation management a strong grasp of the newest trends is required to not fall behind competitors, and to be able to develop cutting edge research. To address this challenge, this paper aims to answer the research question: What are the most common themes in post-pandemic digital innovation management literature? Design/methodology/approach: To answer this question, this study conducted a systematic literature review of 148 academic papers published between 2020 and 2023. The identified trends were subsequently organized into a framework that provides a comprehensive understanding of the field. Findings: The identified trends can be classified as either catalysts or new opportunities. Catalysts are trends that companies can implement to make their digital innovation management more efficient. The four identified catalysts are: the use of artificial intelligence as a vital part of innovating, educating leaders and employees, incorporating digital knowledge management practices, and collaborating with innovation networks. The articles also point to three trends classified as new opportunities that digital innovation management can enable, such as more sustainable initiatives, better foreign aid, and a transition to platformization. Originality: This study summarizes the research direction of digital innovation management and synthesizes important key developments leading up to the year 2023, which researchers and practitioners should be aware of.

There is no consensus in the literature on how to apply Lean Product Development (LPD) successfully. This paper presents a literature review aiming to fill this gap. The key success factors in and barriers to successful implementation of LPD were gathered and categorized by means of a thematic reading. The question of the context’s influence on these factors is also posed, and a proposition is made to prioritize the notion of configurations rather than frameworks. From an academic perspective, this research gives an overview of the LPD implementation’s key factors and opens up a discussion on the pertinence of the notion of framework in this field. On the practitioner side, this paper helps organizations to reflect on the main factors to consider when implementing LPD.

The machine economy (ME) is an emergent phenomenon that combines multiple emerging digital technologies, such as Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), or blockchain, enabling economically autonomous acting machines. We investigate this phenomenon by combining a literature review and a qualitative interview study across different industries to derive propositions about the ME. Finally, we develop a five-layer model of the ME from our propositions that helps academia and practice explore this emerging phenomenon further. Our results indicate that the ME builds on several emerging digital technologies and becomes increasingly relevant for practice and academia.