The influence of community engagement on seller opportunistic behaviors in e-commerce platform

Jiaxin Wang, Shaohan Cai, Qinghong Xie () and Lili Chen
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Jiaxin Wang: Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
Shaohan Cai: Carleton University
Qinghong Xie: Southwestern University of Finance and Economics
Lili Chen: Southwestern University of Finance and Economics

Electronic Commerce Research, 2022, vol. 22, issue 4, No 14, 1377-1405

Abstract: Abstract Firms using e-commerce as platforms need to develop effective mechanisms to govern seller opportunism. This paper attempts to explore the effect of seller community engagement, as an informal mechanism of network governance, on seller opportunistic behaviors. In particular, we identify two types of the seller community established by the e-commerce platforms, which offers infrastructures supporting tightly and loosely coupled relationships among members, respectively. We find that engaging in both types of communities reduces seller opportunistic behaviors. We also show that the intensity of competition positively moderates the relationship between engagement in the communities with tight infrastructure and sellers’ opportunistic behaviors, while deterrence perception exerts a negative moderating effect on the relationship. In contrast, the intensity of competition negatively moderates the relationship between engagement in communities with loose infrastructure and opportunistic behaviors. The findings provide theoretical and managerial implications for opportunism governance in electronic markets.

Keywords: Community engagement; Seller opportunistic behaviors; Competitive intensity; Deterrence perception (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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DOI: 10.1007/s10660-021-09469-w

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