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Sustainability in E-Business

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2018) | Viewed by 207348

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Miriam Jankalová

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Guest Editor
Associate Professor, University of Žilina, Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, Department of Communications, Slovakia
Interests: sustainability; corporate social responsibility; business excellence; quality management; accounting
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Tatiana Čorejová

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Guest Editor
The Faculty of Operation and Economics of Transport and Communications, University of Žilina, Univerzitná 8215, 010 026 Žilina, Slovakia
Interests: sustainable innovations systems; economics of networks; regional economics; localization theory; transfer technology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Sustainable business, or green business, is an enterprise that has minimal negative impact on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy (Cooney, 2009). In other words, sustainable business means a business with dynamic balance among three mutually interdependent elements: (i) protection of ecosystems and natural resources; (ii) economic efficiency; and (iii) consideration of social wellbeing such as jobs, housing, education, medical care and cultural opportunities (Bell and Morse, 2009). E-Business is the point where economic value creation and information technology come together (Akkermans, 2001). Sustainability in E-Business can be defined as the activities within the E-Business domain to minimize the negative impacts and maximize the positive impacts on the society and the environment through the design, production, application, operation, and disposal of information technology and information technology enabled products and services throughout their life cycle (Dewan, Chowdhury and Quaddus, 2014).

This Special Issue aims to discuss the link between sustainability and E-Business, from theoretical, methodological and disciplinary perspectives. We invite you to contribute to this issue by submitting comprehensive reviews, case studies or research articles. Papers selected for this Special Issue are subject to a rigorous peer review procedure, with the aim of rapid and wide dissemination of research results, developments, and applications.

Prof. Miriam Jankalová
Prof. Tatiana Čorejová
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • sustainable e-business
  • sustainable business practices
  • sustainable e-business model
  • e-business modelling
  • green marketing
  • sustainable strategy
  • incorporating business ethics into strategy
  • sustainable business awards

Published Papers (22 papers)

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Research

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18 pages, 1719 KiB  
Article
The Relationships between Corporate Credibility, Service Convenience, and Consumers’ Use Intentions: Toward Ticketing Apps for Low-Cost Carriers
by Kaung-Hwa Chen, Feng-Hsiang Chang, Yu-Ling Chen and Pei-Ming Chen
Sustainability 2019, 11(3), 810; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11030810 - 04 Feb 2019
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 3686
Abstract
This study explored behavioral models based on low-cost carrier customers’ use of a ticketing app. Technology readiness, service convenience, and corporate credibility were evaluated in the model. A total of 815 valid responses were collected from customers of Tigerair, Taiwan, who had flown [...] Read more.
This study explored behavioral models based on low-cost carrier customers’ use of a ticketing app. Technology readiness, service convenience, and corporate credibility were evaluated in the model. A total of 815 valid responses were collected from customers of Tigerair, Taiwan, who had flown from one of the two major international airports in Taiwan. With technology readiness regarded as the grouping variable, the results indicated that corporate credibility significantly affected customers’ intentions to use the app, whereas the effects of service convenience on the technology exploration, technology contradiction, and the technology insecurity groups varied. Finally, this paper presents a discussion of management implications and suggestions for future studies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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18 pages, 316 KiB  
Article
E-Commerce Liability and Security Breaches in Mobile Payment for e-Business Sustainability
by Se-Hak Chun
Sustainability 2019, 11(3), 715; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11030715 - 29 Jan 2019
Cited by 28 | Viewed by 9117
Abstract
This study investigates liability issues in electronic transactions when security or privacy breaches occur. As data is transferred using various devices, such as PCs, mobile phones, tablets, sensors, smart meters, and cars, and various architecture, such as the cloud, IoT, as well as [...] Read more.
This study investigates liability issues in electronic transactions when security or privacy breaches occur. As data is transferred using various devices, such as PCs, mobile phones, tablets, sensors, smart meters, and cars, and various architecture, such as the cloud, IoT, as well as in well-defined network structures in electronic commerce, privacy and security breaches happen. These have become a major hindrance to the development and use of commercial activities on the Internet. There have been many security breach cases, such as those of Target Corporation’s security and payment system (2013), eBay’s cyberattack (2014), Uber’s hacking incident (2016), Facebook’s personal data use and privacy breach (2018), and many others. Therefore, when a dispute regarding electronic transactions arises between a customer and a firm, the allocation of liability is very important for the sustainability of e-businesses. Many cases show that firms are held liable for those incidents. However, the liability allocation rule tends to vary slightly from country to country depending on the application areas. EU countries seem to favor customers. In the United States, there are actually no uniform federal laws relating to business cybersecurity. Also, in the case of cryptocurrency, liability tends to lie with customers. Why is the ruling different? In this regard, this paper analyses the legal framework for security and privacy breaches for sustainable e-businesses. In particular, this paper focuses on the optimal liability in terms of enhancing social welfare when considering both sides—the customer and the firm (or service provider). This paper shows that liability can be generally imposed on the firm’s side when the possibility of security or privacy breaches is high, and the customer’s loss is relatively large. However, the liability depends on the customer’s attitude towards risk, customer’s losses, and the efficiency of security investment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
18 pages, 289 KiB  
Article
Sustainability and Corporate Social Responsibility in the Text of Annual Reports—The Case of the IT Services Industry
by Renáta Myšková and Petr Hájek
Sustainability 2018, 10(11), 4119; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114119 - 09 Nov 2018
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 7000
Abstract
Annual reports are an important source of qualitative information about a company’s strategic areas, including sustainability. However, previous work on sustainability assessment has been limited to quantitative indicators that are difficult to obtain. Here, we address this issue by analyzing a company’s strategic [...] Read more.
Annual reports are an important source of qualitative information about a company’s strategic areas, including sustainability. However, previous work on sustainability assessment has been limited to quantitative indicators that are difficult to obtain. Here, we address this issue by analyzing a company’s strategic documents, with the specific aim of demonstrating the role of sustainability and social responsibility in the text of the annual reports of companies in the IT services industry. We demonstrate that this information is a significant determinant of future economic outcomes. Specifically, here we evaluate sentiment in managerial communication in the area of sustainable business by using collocation analysis of topic and sentiment word lists. Several domain-specific word lists were used for each category monitored. Specifically, Loughran and McDonald’s word list was used to measure sentiment in the context of corporate social responsibility and sustainability. The word list that was developed by Pencle and Malaescu was used for CSR, while novel word lists are proposed for sustainability topics. The results of experiments show that the sentiment of sustainability topics (environmental and social in particular) in the annual reports may be a significant indicator of future profitability and thus represent an important information for corporate stakeholders. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
24 pages, 1349 KiB  
Article
Constituents and Consequences of Online-Shopping in Sustainable E-Business: An Experimental Study of Online-Shopping Malls
by Muhammad Fazal Ijaz and Jongtae Rhee
Sustainability 2018, 10(10), 3756; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103756 - 18 Oct 2018
Cited by 44 | Viewed by 12252
Abstract
With the growth of the internet, electronic (online) business has become an important trend in the economy. This study investigates how retailers could enhance their shopping processes and hence help sustain their e-business development. Therefore, we propose a unified information system-consumer behavior (IS-CB) [...] Read more.
With the growth of the internet, electronic (online) business has become an important trend in the economy. This study investigates how retailers could enhance their shopping processes and hence help sustain their e-business development. Therefore, we propose a unified information system-consumer behavior (IS-CB) model for online shopping to analyze factors that impact online shopping. We used an online survey to gather data from 633 online customers to test the theoretical model, matching differences using structural equation modeling. Highly influencing factors for the IS-CB online shopping model included perceived value (PV), perceived risk (PR), social factors (SF), perceived ease of use (PEOU), perceived usefulness (PU), online shopping intention, trust, online shopping experience, actual online shopping purchases, entertainment gratification (EG), website irritation (WI), information design (ID), visual design (VD), and navigation design (ND). This study provides important theoretical and practical implications. PV and trust in online shopping can nurture positive attitudes and shopping intentions among online customers. Well-designed websites produce higher levels of trust and reduced WI. Similarly, online shopping sites with better ID, ND, and VD also reduce WI and increase trust. This study fills gaps in previous studies relating to IS and CB and provides explanations for IS and CB constituent impacts on acceptance and use of online shopping. The proposed unified IS-CB explains consumer online shopping patterns for a sustainable e-business. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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23 pages, 656 KiB  
Article
Responsible Decision making for Sustainable Motivation
by Martina Blašková, Irena Figurska, Ruta Adamoniene, Kristína Poláčková and Rudolf Blaško
Sustainability 2018, 10(10), 3393; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10103393 - 23 Sep 2018
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 5268
Abstract
This article examines motivation and the quality of decision making’s effect on motivation as important preconditions for organizational sustainability. The article is focused on an examination of the content and intensity of perceived motivation, and the forms of decisions that were made while [...] Read more.
This article examines motivation and the quality of decision making’s effect on motivation as important preconditions for organizational sustainability. The article is focused on an examination of the content and intensity of perceived motivation, and the forms of decisions that were made while motivating people. Motivation (from a theoretical and empirical point of view) is related to crucial processes of human potential development and motivation. The analysis, synthesis and generalization of knowledge related to sustainability, motivation and decision making in human potential motivation are presented in the theoretical part of the article. The empirical part presents the results of sociological questionnaire, focusing on the area of decision making in motivation that was carried out on sample of respondents in the Slovak Republic (n = 500), Poland (n = 390) and Lithuania (n = 226). The results confirm a strong correlation between the level of the motivation and the quality of key processes of development of human potential (leadership, appraisal, communication, and the creation of an atmosphere of trust). In all examined countries and processes, the calculated values of the chi-square test were significantly higher than the table value (level of significance = 0.05). The section describing the results contains a proposed content-componential model of decision making in affecting and building sustainable motivation. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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23 pages, 574 KiB  
Article
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Investment in Human Capital in E-Business Enterprise in the Context of Sustainability
by Alžbeta Kucharčíková, Martin Mičiak and Miloš Hitka
Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3211; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093211 - 07 Sep 2018
Cited by 38 | Viewed by 9162
Abstract
The enterprises operating in the e-business area represent an example of a sustainable entrepreneurship. These enterprises belong to those for which the people are the most valuable assets. Human capital management (HCM) represents a modern concept of people management that is based on [...] Read more.
The enterprises operating in the e-business area represent an example of a sustainable entrepreneurship. These enterprises belong to those for which the people are the most valuable assets. Human capital management (HCM) represents a modern concept of people management that is based on the business strategy. Via measurement and assessment of the effectiveness of the utilization of human capital and effectiveness of investment in its development, this concept leads to the increase of performance and competitiveness of the enterprise within the context of sustainability. As part of the questionnaire survey, we found that enterprises in Slovakia have little use of the HCM concept. Despite the fact that they consider investing in education or training as the main form of investment in human capital, they do not evaluate the effectiveness of this investment in practice. By analyzing foreign studies, we have found that e-business enterprises consider IT education to be very important for their performance, competitiveness, and sustainability. The aim of the article is to explain the nature of HCM and to propose an approach to assess the effectiveness of investment in education as a part of the HCM process. Implementation of the approach was implemented in a fast-growing medium-sized IT and e-business enterprise where education is mainly implemented in the IT field. We also used an internal enterprise data analysis. The proposed example of HCM implementation in the part of evaluating the effectiveness of investment in education and the article can serve as a theoretical and practical aid to human resources managers in implementing the HCM concept. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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12 pages, 214 KiB  
Article
Fraud, Economic versus Social-Psychological Losses, and Sustainable E-Auction
by Xiaobing Zhang, Fu-Sheng Tsai, Chih-Chen Lin, Ya-Fang Cheng and Kun-Hwa Lu
Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3130; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093130 - 03 Sep 2018
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3497
Abstract
As compared to the economic losses, social and psychological losses are of equal importance in discussing the losses when encountering fraud. Taking advantage of a perspective paper form (i.e., free writing style with a mix of description, analysis, and comments) with in-depth discussions [...] Read more.
As compared to the economic losses, social and psychological losses are of equal importance in discussing the losses when encountering fraud. Taking advantage of a perspective paper form (i.e., free writing style with a mix of description, analysis, and comments) with in-depth discussions and well-developed propositions, we combine considerations from the knowledge gap, platform quality, and risk management to discuss the comparative seriousness of different fraud-caused losses. The conceptual model mainly articulates on a series of relationships among different degrees of knowledge gap, platform quality, and risk management in predicting the various combinative losses in the economic, social, and psychological aspects. Propositions follow. First, when the knowledge gap is higher, the economic losses of being cheated on the internet will be higher, while lower in social and psychological losses. Second, when perceived platform quality is higher, the economic losses of being cheated on the internet will be lower, while higher in social and psychological losses. Third, when platform risk management is better, all aspects of being cheated on the internet will be lower. Based on the assumption of network externality, we also argue that the multiple dimensions of fraud-caused losses may damage e-auction sustainability. Theoretical and practical implications will be discussed. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
12 pages, 1742 KiB  
Article
Car vs. Packaging—A First, Simple (Environmental) Sustainability Assessment of Our Changing Shopping Behaviour
by Roland Hischier
Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3061; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093061 - 28 Aug 2018
Cited by 32 | Viewed by 7514
Abstract
Which way of purchasing your clothes results in the lowest environmental impacts: “running” into the next big city to “plunder” the various clothing stores, or searching through a plethora of online shops and ordering your next shirt directly to you at home? So [...] Read more.
Which way of purchasing your clothes results in the lowest environmental impacts: “running” into the next big city to “plunder” the various clothing stores, or searching through a plethora of online shops and ordering your next shirt directly to you at home? So far, no such comparison has been published. The aim of this study is to get a first basic idea of which of these two consumer choices is the more environmentally sustainable by assessing the potential environmental impacts related to one person’s annual purchases of clothing through a simplified life cycle assessment. The study shows that going to a nearby city for shopping is not necessarily worse compared to online purchasing. When a person uses their own car, travel from home to the city and back is responsible for a sizeable amount of the potential impacts. However, the potential impacts of travel are heavily influenced by the means of transport (i.e., use of public transport rather than personal car) and the frequency of shopping excursions over the year. Overall, the potential impacts per single clothing item purchased could be in a similar range for both means of purchase. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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20 pages, 673 KiB  
Article
Do Online Comments Affect Environmental Management? Identifying Factors Related to Environmental Management and Sustainability of Hotels
by Jose Ramon Saura, Ana Reyes-Menendez and Cesar Alvarez-Alonso
Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 3016; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10093016 - 24 Aug 2018
Cited by 53 | Viewed by 7355
Abstract
The main aim of this study was to identify the key indicators related to environmental management and sustainability of hotels as perceived by travelers during their trips. The methodology used was a sentiment analysis with an algorithm developed in Python trained with data [...] Read more.
The main aim of this study was to identify the key indicators related to environmental management and sustainability of hotels as perceived by travelers during their trips. The methodology used was a sentiment analysis with an algorithm developed in Python trained with data mining and machine learning, with the MonkeyLearn library in the hotel industry sector under the eWOM model (e-Word of Mouth). The results with negative, positive and neutral feelings were submitted to a textual analysis with the qualitative analysis software Nvivo Pro 12. The sample consisted of the 25 best hotels in Switzerland according to Traveler’s Choice from TripAdvisor ranking 2018 that draws from more than 500,000 reviews. For data extraction, we connected to the TripAdvisor API, obtaining a sample of n = 8331 reviews of the hotels that made up the ranking. The results of the study highlight the key factors related to environmental management detected by travelers during their stay in hotels and can be meaningfully used by managers or hotel managers to improve their services and enhance the value provided by their policies of sustainability and respect for the environment. The limitations of the present study relate to the size of the sample and the number of hotels included in the present analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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14 pages, 1788 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Innovation Approach for Wood Quality Evaluation in Green Business
by Marek Potkány, Miloš Gejdoš and Marek Debnár
Sustainability 2018, 10(9), 2984; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10092984 - 22 Aug 2018
Cited by 34 | Viewed by 4229
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for the optimization of raw wood for the timber construction industry that would meet the green business and sustainable development requirements within the concept of corporate social responsibility. The methodology conceptually applied the [...] Read more.
The purpose of this paper is to propose a method for the optimization of raw wood for the timber construction industry that would meet the green business and sustainable development requirements within the concept of corporate social responsibility. The methodology conceptually applied the ImageJ software in the process of spruce-timber valuation using 100 log specimens according to the standard STN 480055. The impact of timber structure on the environment compared to silicate buildings was assessed via selected environmental criteria of life-cycle assessment. The methodology was applied according to the standards within the monitored phase of the life-cycle cradle to a gate based on the available environmental products declaration. The overall difference in the assortment value when using the ImageJ software as the evaluation method reached €426.68 (+6.7%). The individual construction elements creating the composition of perimeter walls of the evaluated alternatives showed a positive impact of the following indicators: global warning potential, primary energy input for production, ozone depletion potential, and photochemical ozone creation potential of the reference timber structure. The findings presented in this study clearly confirm the ecological approach toward building a wood-based structure while meeting the requirements of sustainable development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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21 pages, 4111 KiB  
Article
An E-Commerce Platform for Industrialized Construction Procurement Based on BIM and Linked Data
by Dandan He, Zhongfu Li, Chunlin Wu and Xin Ning
Sustainability 2018, 10(8), 2613; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10082613 - 25 Jul 2018
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 6148
Abstract
Industrialized construction has raised the requirements of procurement methods used in the construction industry. The rapid development of e-commerce offers efficient and effective solutions, however the large number of participants in the construction industry means that the data involved are complex, and problems [...] Read more.
Industrialized construction has raised the requirements of procurement methods used in the construction industry. The rapid development of e-commerce offers efficient and effective solutions, however the large number of participants in the construction industry means that the data involved are complex, and problems arise related to volume, heterogeneity, and fragmentation. Thus, the sector lags behind others in the adoption of e-commerce. In particular, data integration has become a barrier preventing further development. Traditional e-commerce platform, which considered data integration for common product data, cannot meet the requirements of construction product data integration. This study aimed to build an information-integrated e-commerce platform for industrialized construction procurement (ICP) to overcome some of the shortcomings existing platforms. We proposed a platform based on Building Information Modelling (BIM) and linked data, taking an innovative approach to data integration. It uses industrialized construction technology to support product standardization, BIM to support procurement process, and linked data to connect different data sources. The platform was validated using a case study. With the development of an e-commerce ontology, industrialized construction component information was extracted from BIM models and converted to Resource Description Framework (RDF) format. Related information from different data sources was also converted to RDF format, and Simple Protocol and Resource Description Framework Query Language (SPARQL) queries were implemented. The platform provides a solution for the development of e-commerce platform in the construction industry. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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16 pages, 4062 KiB  
Article
Economic Sustainability in a Wider Context: Case Study of Considerable ICT Sector Sub-Divisions
by Emilia Madudova, Tatiana Čorejova and Marek Valica
Sustainability 2018, 10(7), 2511; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072511 - 18 Jul 2018
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 3536
Abstract
This paper situates the process of economic sustainability in the wider context of regional specialization and geographic concentration. The main object is to analyze the implications of increasing importance of sustainable development. In this context, the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is at [...] Read more.
This paper situates the process of economic sustainability in the wider context of regional specialization and geographic concentration. The main object is to analyze the implications of increasing importance of sustainable development. In this context, the ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is at the same time a part of the problem and solution. The focus of this paper is also the ICT firms themselves. This research aimed to explore the ICT firms operating in the ICT sector and focused more on the ICT firms’ sustainability in connection with industry geographic concentration and regional specialization. The economic sustainability (evaluated by sustainability sub-index) and geographical and regional analysis were studied for 62 Computer Programming and 63 Information Services sub-divisions of the ICT sector. The results confirm a strong correlation between economic sustainability and firm geographic concentration. Results show that a worsening value of economic sustainability does not always lead to the worsening conditions in the industry and there is a strong relationship between the economic sustainability and regional analysis. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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15 pages, 281 KiB  
Article
Financial Aspects of Sustainability: An Evidence from Slovak Companies
by Lucia Maciková, Marián Smorada, Peter Dorčák, Benjamin Beug and Peter Markovič
Sustainability 2018, 10(7), 2274; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10072274 - 02 Jul 2018
Cited by 19 | Viewed by 4541
Abstract
Business sustainability has been one of the leading topics of the financial management of Slovak companies since the beginning of the millennium. The initially relatively strict link only to environmental aspects has been supplemented by the economic and social dimensions in recent years, [...] Read more.
Business sustainability has been one of the leading topics of the financial management of Slovak companies since the beginning of the millennium. The initially relatively strict link only to environmental aspects has been supplemented by the economic and social dimensions in recent years, under the pressure of the business environment. Examining the link between a company’s financial performance and sustainability is addressed in this paper by the financial ratios method and the correlation and linear regression analysis methods. The subjects of investigation are enterprises from three selected sectors, with the selection criterion for the sample being determined based on the share of sales of the enterprises in the sectoral sales such that the sample includes enterprises with a total share of more than 50%. The aim was to design an integral indicator of business sustainability and linking it to the identified economic performance indicator, Economic Value Added, whereby it insists on economic pillar of sustainability exclusively. The research results show a strong direct dependence of the financial performance to the IUUP (Integral business sustainability indicator) in the supply of “Supply of electricity, gas, steam and cold air” and the independence of the IUUP in the “Information and communication” and “Industrial production” sectors. Further research should go beyond the borders of the Slovak Republic and should be aimed at proposing changes and amendments in IUUP, applying more comprehensive evaluation procedures, while respecting the public availability of input information. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
15 pages, 517 KiB  
Article
Enhancement of E-Commerce Websites with Semantic Web Technologies
by Sabina-Cristiana Necula, Vasile-Daniel Păvăloaia, Cătălin Strîmbei and Octavian Dospinescu
Sustainability 2018, 10(6), 1955; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061955 - 11 Jun 2018
Cited by 22 | Viewed by 5778
Abstract
This paper analyses the potential enhancement of e-commerce websites with Semantic web technologies from the consumers’ informational perceived satisfaction point of view. Information quality is a central preoccupation in the field of business information systems’ discipline and it relates to the semantic interoperability [...] Read more.
This paper analyses the potential enhancement of e-commerce websites with Semantic web technologies from the consumers’ informational perceived satisfaction point of view. Information quality is a central preoccupation in the field of business information systems’ discipline and it relates to the semantic interoperability field of research. The purpose of our study is to investigate the relationship between the enhancement of product text descriptions with semantic annotations and the perceived consumers’ satisfaction. We conducted and analyzed a survey questionnaire addressed to e-commerce consumers who bought online products. We found that consumers are interested in finding products with synonym names or that belong to different categories, not necessarily from the same category of products. In addition, consumers are interested about additional text descriptions on different product characteristics and on information about the importance of product characteristics. The main conclusion is that the perceived satisfaction of the online consumers is influenced by an enhanced user experience that relates to specific Semantic web technologies. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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20 pages, 3219 KiB  
Article
Predicting the Helpfulness of Online Customer Reviews across Different Product Types
by Yoon-Joo Park
Sustainability 2018, 10(6), 1735; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061735 - 25 May 2018
Cited by 45 | Viewed by 6257
Abstract
Online customer reviews are a sustainable form of word of mouth (WOM) which play an increasingly important role in e-commerce. However, low quality reviews can often cause inconvenience to review readers. The purpose of this paper is to automatically predict the helpfulness of [...] Read more.
Online customer reviews are a sustainable form of word of mouth (WOM) which play an increasingly important role in e-commerce. However, low quality reviews can often cause inconvenience to review readers. The purpose of this paper is to automatically predict the helpfulness of reviews. This paper analyzes the characteristics embedded in product reviews across five different product types and explores their effects on review helpfulness. Furthermore, four data mining methods were examined to determine the one that best predicts review helpfulness for each product type using five real-life review datasets obtained from Amazon.com. The results show that reviews for different product types have different psychological and linguistic characteristics and the factors affecting the review helpfulness of them are also different. Our findings also indicate that the support vector regression method predicts review helpfulness most accurately among the four methods for all five datasets. This study contributes to improving efficient utilization of online reviews. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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17 pages, 676 KiB  
Article
Corporate Sustainability in the Process of Employee Recruitment through Social Networks in Conditions of Slovak Small and Medium Enterprises
by Milota Vetráková, Miloš Hitka, Marek Potkány, Silvia Lorincová and Lukáš Smerek
Sustainability 2018, 10(5), 1670; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051670 - 21 May 2018
Cited by 36 | Viewed by 8339
Abstract
Recruitment strategy and policy are significantly affected by both the internal conditions of the enterprise and the external environment. It is important to anticipate and react to changes in the labor market in a timely manner, to eliminate potential threats and take advantage [...] Read more.
Recruitment strategy and policy are significantly affected by both the internal conditions of the enterprise and the external environment. It is important to anticipate and react to changes in the labor market in a timely manner, to eliminate potential threats and take advantage of opportunities to continuous staffing of current and future needs of the enterprise. The role of managers in deciding on possible techniques for recruiting employees is to respect the principles of sustainability both economically and socially. Due to the use of information technology, this trend is easier to apply in practice, as enterprises can present themselves and get information about potential job seekers. The success of the recruitment process is increasing if public awareness about the employer is positive. Designing the survey methodology was based on the axiom that traditional ways of recruiting employees are being replaced by techniques using the Internet and social networks. The aim of the paper is to present the views of domestic and foreign experts on the recruitment of employees using social networks. We compare the theoretical knowledge with the results of social networking research in SMEs in Slovakia and especially their use in the process of recruiting employees. A total of 324 enterprises with domestic and foreign capital share participated in the sociological questionnaire. The results have shown that enterprises with foreign capital share are more progressive in using the Internet to offer jobs and in gaining information on jobseekers through social networks. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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15 pages, 827 KiB  
Article
An Extended HITS Algorithm on Bipartite Network for Features Extraction of Online Customer Reviews
by Chen Liu, Li Tang and Wei Shan
Sustainability 2018, 10(5), 1425; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10051425 - 04 May 2018
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 2956
Abstract
How to acquire useful information intelligently in the age of information explosion has become an important issue. In this context, sentiment analysis emerges with the growth of the need of information extraction. One of the most important tasks of sentiment analysis is feature [...] Read more.
How to acquire useful information intelligently in the age of information explosion has become an important issue. In this context, sentiment analysis emerges with the growth of the need of information extraction. One of the most important tasks of sentiment analysis is feature extraction of entities in consumer reviews. This paper first constitutes a directed bipartite feature-sentiment relation network with a set of candidate features-sentiment pairs that is extracted by dependency syntax analysis from consumer reviews. Then, a novel method called MHITS which combines PMI with weighted HITS algorithm is proposed to rank these candidate product features to find out real product features. Empirical experiments indicate the effectiveness of our approach across different kinds and various data sizes of product. In addition, the effect of the proposed algorithm is not the same for the corpus with different proportions of the word pair that includes the “bad”, “good”, “poor”, “pretty good”, “not bad” these general collocation words. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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14 pages, 1272 KiB  
Article
Evaluation of Advertising Campaigns on Social Media Networks
by Jurgita Raudeliūnienė, Vida Davidavičienė, Manuela Tvaronavičienė and Laimonas Jonuška
Sustainability 2018, 10(4), 973; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10040973 - 27 Mar 2018
Cited by 37 | Viewed by 22154
Abstract
As the virtual environment is constantly changing, not only users’ informational and knowledge needs but also the means and channels of communication with customers applied by organizations change. There is a noticeable trend to move more and more advertising campaigns to social media [...] Read more.
As the virtual environment is constantly changing, not only users’ informational and knowledge needs but also the means and channels of communication with customers applied by organizations change. There is a noticeable trend to move more and more advertising campaigns to social media networks because of the opportunities they provide to organizations and users, which results in the ever-increasing popularity of social media networks and a number of their users. Such a transition is explained by one of the main objectives organizations have: to inform their customers in an appropriate way and receive feedback on social media networks, which is difficult when traditional advertising channels and means are applied. Since advertising campaigns on social media networks are evolving rapidly, their assessment factors and methods, which receive controversial opinions in both scientific literature and practice, change too. Researchers assess and interpret the factors that influence the effectiveness of advertising campaigns on social media networks differently. Thus, a problem arises: how should we evaluate which approach is more capable of accurately and fully reflecting and conveying reality? In this research, this problem is studied by connecting approaches of different researchers. These approaches are linked to the effectiveness assessment of advertising campaigns on social media network aspects. To achieve the objective of this study, such research methods as analysis of scientific literature, multiple criteria and expert assessment (a structured survey and an interview) were applied. During the study, out of 39 primary assessment factors, eight primary factors that influence the effectiveness of advertising campaigns on social media networks were identified: sales, content reach, traffic to website, impressions, frequency, relevance score, leads and audience growth. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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11 pages, 238 KiB  
Article
An Optimal Strategic Business Model for Small Businesses Using Online Platforms
by Hana Kim, Daeho Lee and Min Ho Ryu
Sustainability 2018, 10(3), 579; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10030579 - 26 Feb 2018
Cited by 15 | Viewed by 6729
Abstract
As ecommerce continues to grow, small businesses are using a variety of platforms to secure potential consumers. However, it is important for small business owners to choose an efficient business model because of constraints such as technical problems. In this study, based on [...] Read more.
As ecommerce continues to grow, small businesses are using a variety of platforms to secure potential consumers. However, it is important for small business owners to choose an efficient business model because of constraints such as technical problems. In this study, based on platform characteristics we divide online shopping platforms into different types as follows: (1) information brokerage services; (2) online malls; and (3) omni-channel platforms. The efficiency of each group is measured by stochastic frontier analysis, and the efficiency comparison between the groups is made using meta-frontier analysis. As a result of the study, it is found that the efficiency of small business owners increases as functional integration increases, satisfying utilitarian motivations. However, a platform with greater integration that has a social presence satisfying hedonic motivations improves the efficiency of all small businesses using the platform instead of just the efficiency of a marginal number of small business owners. This study, based on the dynamic capabilities viewpoint, suggests that the omni-channel platform represents the most sustainable approach for small business owners undergoing difficulties such as technological and organizational changes. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
545 KiB  
Article
Towards Sustainability in Viral Marketing with User Engaging Supporting Campaigns
by Jarosław Jankowski, Magdalena Zioło, Artur Karczmarczyk and Jarosław Wątróbski
Sustainability 2018, 10(1), 15; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10010015 - 22 Dec 2017
Cited by 16 | Viewed by 5666
Abstract
While viral marketing has captured substantial academic and professional interest, the processes that underpin successful viral marketing campaigns remain poorly understood. High competition and pressure for successful campaigns lead to strategies based on persuasion, unsolicited messages, and other techniques that negatively affect brand [...] Read more.
While viral marketing has captured substantial academic and professional interest, the processes that underpin successful viral marketing campaigns remain poorly understood. High competition and pressure for successful campaigns lead to strategies based on persuasion, unsolicited messages, and other techniques that negatively affect brand perception. The need for more sustainable strategies with a limited negative impact on web users is observed. Therefore, the current study examines the effectiveness of viral marketing and a supporting campaign, where the main goal was to increase user engagement and overall campaign performance. Supporting campaigns were evaluated, to determine whether they enhanced viral activity, but without the need for high persuasion or intrusive techniques. Results showed that supporting actions could be integrated with lower performing campaigns to increase their effectiveness. Apart from the main scientific goal that is presented, the study demonstrates how virtual worlds can provide a laboratory-like environment for identifying the processes that underpin viral marketing. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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340 KiB  
Article
Green Marketing as the Source of the Competitive Advantage of the Business
by Dominika Moravcikova, Anna Krizanova, Jana Kliestikova and Martina Rypakova
Sustainability 2017, 9(12), 2218; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9122218 - 30 Nov 2017
Cited by 92 | Viewed by 29920
Abstract
In this work we focused on summarizing the principles of green marketing and the concepts related to it. The aim of this contribution was to prove the relationship between the implementation of green marketing principles and sustainable competitive company position on the market. [...] Read more.
In this work we focused on summarizing the principles of green marketing and the concepts related to it. The aim of this contribution was to prove the relationship between the implementation of green marketing principles and sustainable competitive company position on the market. In order to prove the relationship between the implementation of green marketing principles and the competitive market position of companies, we used a multiple regression method to reveal the relationship, despite many variables. This was preceded by a factor analysis that helped us to select the main factors of influence. In order to meet this goal, we have drawn from the surveys conducted by PwC (Bratislava, Slovakia), the Automobile Industry Association and the Slovak Automobile Institute to identify key factors and future expected development in the auto industry supplier segment and our marketing research, conducted from December 2015 to February 2016. Based on the results of marketing surveys, research responses and the study of available resources, we concluded that there is no comprehensive green marketing implementation model linking environmental consumer behavior with a link to the company’s marketing strategy. The contribution could help the Automotive Industry Union to present requirements to the government and help create incentives for the alternative vehicle market, and our findings could be incorporated into the creation of companies’ strategy. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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Review

Jump to: Research

22 pages, 528 KiB  
Review
Achieving Sustainable E-Commerce in Environmental, Social and Economic Dimensions by Taking Possible Trade-Offs
by Judit Oláh, Nicodemus Kitukutha, Hossam Haddad, Miklós Pakurár, Domicián Máté and József Popp
Sustainability 2019, 11(1), 89; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11010089 - 24 Dec 2018
Cited by 135 | Viewed by 34370
Abstract
The Internet revolution has led to the advancement of online business all over the world. The environmental, social, and economic aspects are significant to the e-commerce sector, on both the retailer and consumer sides. It cannot be over-emphasized how important the sustainability of [...] Read more.
The Internet revolution has led to the advancement of online business all over the world. The environmental, social, and economic aspects are significant to the e-commerce sector, on both the retailer and consumer sides. It cannot be over-emphasized how important the sustainability of e-commerce in all three dimensions is. E-commerce will allow consumers to shop online easily, at any hour of the day, using secure payment systems; furthermore, trust in retailers’ websites is of paramount importance to consumers. This calls our attention to the gap in previous studies, and consequently, the purpose of this study is to fill the gap, to ensure sustainable e-commerce in three dimensions; environmental, social, and economic. The question and aim under investigation are: How to integrate three dimensions into e-commerce to ensure that sustainability is achieved now and for future generations, while thriving as an industry? Collaboration is required, and all stakeholders in the virtual market must take appropriate responsibility. The methodology adopted is a review of previous studies done on each individual dimension of sustainability, since no joint studies have been carried out and integrated into the same literature framework. Furthermore, a case study involving companies in Kenya and Jordan is used in order to collect empirical data. The findings of the study show that: First, integration is essential for the sustainability of e-commerce in its three dimensions; second, trade-offs must be taken in the various dimensions in order for companies to realize sustainable e-commerce. This will go in hand with the realization of the maximum benefits of integrating the three dimensions in e-commerce to make it more sustainable. In conclusion, by applying these aspects of sustainability in e-commerce, it is clear that everyone wins. This is achieved by improving and safeguarding the quality of life by protecting the environment, preserving natural resources, and maintaining and sustaining the economy. The implications of the study are that, in order to make e-commerce more sustainable, to make decisions and take action, social/environmental/economic aspects must be considered as a fundamental element, and must be treated as a group and not separately as in previous studies. In this way, we can realize greater benefits, not only in online business sustainability, but also in policy-making and environmental protection, while companies will create economic value as well as avoiding labor unrest. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in E-Business)
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