Business Commons^™

The Epistemic Consumption Object And Postsocial Consumption: Expanding Consumer‐Object Theory In Consumer Research, Detlev Zwick, Nikhilesh Dholakia

College of Business Faculty Publications

We introduce the concept of the epistemic consumption object. Such consumption objects are characterized by two interrelated features. First, epistemic consumption objects reveal themselves progressively through interaction, observation, use, examination, and evaluation. Such layered revelation is accompanied by an increasing rather than a decline of the object’s complexity. Second, such objects demonstrate a propensity to change their “face‐in‐action” vis‐à‐vis consumers through the continuous addition or subtraction of properties. The epistemic consumption object is materially elusive and this lack of ontological stability turns the object into a continuous knowledge project for consumers. Via this ongoing cycle of revelation and discovery, consumers …

Mobility And Markets: Emerging Outlines Of M-Commerce, Ruby Roy Dholakia, Nikhilesh Dholakia

College of Business Faculty Publications

Mobile commerce—or m-commerce—is characterized by the emerging class of location-based commercial services delivered by a variety of handheld terminals such as mobile phones and palmtop devices. At the Conference on Telecommunications and Information Markets (COTIM)-2001, an international conference held in Karlsruhe, Germany, academic researchers and business practitioners shared their experiences and frameworks about m-commerce. Selected papers based on COTIM-2001 presentations are included in this Special Issue. This paper introduces the preconditions that led to the emergence of m-commerce, the main dimensions of m-commerce that distinguish it from e-commerce, and the key arguments from the contributions on m-commerce in this Special …

Cultural Contradictions Of The Anytime, Anywhere Economy: Reframing Communication Technology, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Detlev Zwick

College of Business Faculty Publications

Technology-aided ubiquity and instantaneity have emerged as major goals of most information technology providers and of certain classes of users such as “road warriors”. New mobile technologies promise genie-in-a-bottle type near-magical qualities with anytime, anywhere access to information and services. While the complex science, systems, and economics of such technologies receive considerable attention from industry executives and researchers, the social and cultural aspects of these technologies attract less attention. This paper explores the oft-contradictory promises and pitfalls of anytime, anywhere technologies from a cultural standpoint. It makes suggestions for reinterpreting these technologies for greater human good.

Online Qualitative Research In The Age Of E-Commerce: Data Sources And Approaches, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Dong Zhang

College of Business Faculty Publications

With the boom in E-commerce, practitioners and researchers are increasingly generating marketing and strategic insights by employing the Internet as an effective new tool for conducting well-established forms of qualitative research (TISCHLER 2004). The potential of Internet as a rich data source and an attractive arena for qualitative research in e-commerce settings—in other words cyberspace as a "field," in the ethnographic sense—has not received adequate attention. This paper explores qualitative research prospects in e-commerce arenas.

URN: urn:nbn:de:0114-fqs0402299

Privacy And Consumer Agency In The Information Age: Between Prying Profilers And Preening Webcams, Nikhilesh Dholakia, Detlev Zwick

College of Business Faculty Publications

This article is about the ability of the consumer to control his or her destiny in the new electronic marketspace. Two seemingly opposite phenomena – the need for privacy and the desire for exhibitionism and voyeurism – are vying for attention on the media landscape. We believe the simultaneous occurrence of privacy concerns and ultraexhibitionism is not coincidental. Indeed, exhibitionism and voyeurism seem to offer new tools for consumer resistance against the electronic surveillance systems in networked markets and are inextricably linked to consumers’ desire for control over their intimate personal information.