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Small-to-medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in e-commerce often invest in information technology (IT) to stay competitive. However, whether and how IT capability (ITC) translates into financial performance requires further research. This paper examines the role of ITC in enabling value proposition innovation (VPI) as an important mechanism that improves financial performance for Chinese e-commerce SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that ITC is critical for enabling innovation because it elevates SMEs’ understanding of changing customer needs, especially when SMEs operate on multiple e-commerce platforms (multihome).

We used partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) and tested the hypotheses that ITC mediated by VPI and moderated by multihoming increases the financial performance of e-commerce SMEs through a survey among 206 Chinese SMEs operating on Taobao.

We find that not only higher levels of ITC lead to better financial performance, but also that the effect is fully mediated by VPI. Moreover, the effect of ITC on innovation is enhanced when vendors operate on multiple platforms.

The study identifies VPI as an important mechanism through which SMEs can leverage their ITC to adapt, innovate and thrive in competition. Our work suggests that using technology to develop innovative ideas and identify opportunities (which are reflected in VPI) is key to success and that doing so is more likely when vendors multihome. Thus, this study contributes to the innovation literature by explicating a concrete link between ITC, multihoming, VPI and increased financial performance. Different e-commerce stakeholders, including SME owners, IT and service providers and e-commerce platforms, can benefit from the findings of this work.

In the aftermath of data breaches, many firms offer compensation to affected customers to recover from damaged customer sentiments. To understand the effectiveness of such compensation offerings, Goode et al. (2017) examined the effects of compensation offered by Sony following the PlayStation Network breach in 2011. Although Goode et al. (2017) present key insights on data breach compensation, it is unclear whether their findings generalize beyond the context of subscription-based gaming platforms whose customers are young and experience substantial switching costs. To address this issue, we conducted a methodological replication in a retail context with low switching costs.

In our replication, we examine the effects of compensation offered by Home Depot in the aftermath of its data breach in 2014. Home Depot is the largest home improvement retailer in the US and presents a substantially different context. Data were collected from 901 participants using surveys.

Our results were consistent with the original study. We found that in retail breaches, effective compensation needs to meet customers' expectations because overcompensation or undercompensation leads to negative outcomes, such as decreased repurchase intention.

Our study provides insights into the effectiveness of compensation in the retail context and confirms the findings of Goode et al. (2017).

Consumer adoption of online shopping continues to increase each year. At the same time, online retailers face intense competition and few are profitable. This suggests that businesses and researchers still have much to learn regarding key antecedents of online shopping adoption and success. Based on extensive past research that has focused on the importance of various online shopping antecedents, this work seeks to provide an integrative, comprehensive nomological network.

The authors employ a mixed-methods approach to develop a comprehensive model of consumers online shopping behavior. To that end, in addition to a literature review, qualitative data are collected to identify a broad array of possible antecedents. Then, using a longitudinal survey, the model of consumer shopping intentions and behaviors is validated among 9,992 consumers.

The authors identified antecedents to online shopping related to culture, demographics, economics, technology and personal psychology. Our quantitative analysis showed that the main drivers of online shopping were congruence, impulse buying behavior, value consciousness, risk, local shopping, shopping enjoyment, and browsing enjoyment.

The validated model provides a rich explanation of the phenomenon of online shopping that integrates and extends prior work by incorporating new antecedents.

This study aims to identify the determinants of housing affordability in an effort to inform policy.

The authors use econometric analysis to determine variables that impact housing affordability in the USA.

The authors find that affordability depends on a number of demographic factors as well as physical characteristics of properties, including average age of homeowner, family size and average dwelling square footage. The authors also find that vacancy rates, increase in house price and median family income also have a significant impact on housing affordability. Additionally, the authors find that households with high-cost burdens are more vulnerable to mortgage rates and property taxes than those with moderate-cost burdens. As a result, changes in economic or policy variables tend to have a disproportionate impact on high-cost-burdened households, and they are more vulnerable to economic and policy shocks.

To date, the literature has not done a systematic investigation of housing affordability using detailed census data.

Although supply chain collaboration (SCC) theoretically boosts the adoption of supply chain finance (SCF) through information sharing and cost savings, many companies with good supply chain partnerships still hesitate to engage in SCF. To disentangle this puzzle, this study aims to explore how two dimensions of information transparency (i.e. information quantity and information quality) and two types of transaction dependence (i.e. dependence on suppliers and dependence on customers) influence the relationship between SCC and SCF adoption.

This study uses secondary survey data from a Chinese bank, including 464 Chinese companies that have adopted SCF to varying degrees. This study then performs the logistic regression analysis to test the hypotheses.

This study empirically confirms that SCC shows a positive relationship with SCF adoption. More interestingly, information quantity negatively moderates this positive relationship, whereas information quality positively moderates this positive relationship. Most surprisingly, dependence on customers rather than dependence on suppliers strengthens this positive relationship.

This study makes theoretical contributions to the SCF literature by demonstrating the distinct moderating mechanisms regarding the relationship between SCC and SCF adoption. The findings also help companies reexamine their interactions with supply chain members.