Affordance Perspective Research Articles

Algorithmic human resource management: toward a functional affordance perspective

PurposeOrganizations are increasingly deploying algorithmic human resource management (HRM) for decision-making. Despite algorithms beginning to permeate HRM practices, our understanding of how to interpret and leverage the functions of algorithmic HRM remains limited. This study aims to review the stock of knowledge in this field of algorithmic HRM and introduce a theoretical perspective of functional affordance to enhance the understanding of the value of algorithmic HRM.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was conducted in this study based on 283 articles. The articles are extracted from the Web of Science and Scopus. The content of the articles was then integrated to formulate the framework for this study.FindingsFunctional affordance highlights algorithmic HRM can be systematically embedded within the organizational environment, with its characteristics naturally suggesting the functionalities or actions available for HR managers to choose from. The findings of this study demonstrate five features of algorithmic HRM from the perspective of functional affordance: awareness of algorithmic HRM, alignment with business model design, action readiness, adaptation to business context and attribution to individuality.Originality/valueThis study provides a novel perspective for understanding the insufficiently theorized application of algorithmic HRM within organizations. It presents an integrated framework that elucidates the key features of algorithmic HRM and elaborates on how organizations can better develop algorithm-driven capabilities based on functional affordance.

A Study of the Influence Mechanism of Digital Technology Affordance on the Disruptive Innovation of Enterprises

In the context of increasingly fierce global competition, utilizing digital technology to realize disruptive innovation is an effective way for enterprises to gain access to the mainstream market and form long-term competitive advantages. From the perspective of affordance, this study classifies digital technology affordance into cumulative affordance and variant affordance and explores the influence mechanism of digital technology affordance on enterprise disruptive innovation according to three core innovation phases: “fuzzy front-end–development–commercialization”. Based on 241 data points from different industries and types of enterprises, this empirical study found that (1) cumulative affordance and variant affordance have a significant positive impact on disruptive innovation and its “fuzzy front-end—development—commercialization” phases; (2) dynamic capabilities play a mediating role between digital technology affordance and disruptive innovation; and (3) the three aspects of dynamic capabilities—sensing, seizing, and reconfiguring—are greatly enhanced by cumulative affordance and variable affordance. These findings contribute to the research on the relationship between digital technology affordance and disruptive innovation and provide a micro-level perspective on how firms realize disruptive innovation through digital technology affordance.

Interplay between Users and Social Media: “Pin” in WeChat Moments as an Example: From an Affordance Perspective

Interplay between Users and Social Media: “Pin” in WeChat Moments as an Example: From an Affordance Perspective

Business analytics affordances for supply chain value creation: A technology-organization-environment perspective

Despite the potential of business analytics (BA) in supply chains, many firms struggle to effectively integrate and leverage BA in their supply chains, leading to underutilized data and missed opportunities for optimization. Therefore, this study utilizes an affordance perspective to study the actualization of BA affordances within supply chains. We conduct a multiple case study analysis, interviewing 28 individuals across nine companies. Our investigation uncovers a hierarchy of intertwined affordances facilitating supply chain information management, cooperation, and customer-focused solutions. Significantly, we highlight the unique influence of technology, organization, and environmental (TOE) factors in shaping affordance actualization. As a result, we argue against generic prescriptions for BA affordance actualization, instead promoting a more tailored approach informed by specific TOE factors tied to each individual supply chain. Our work advances technology affordance research by explaining affordance actualization within supply chains and highlighting the dynamic interplay between TOE factors and BA affordance actualization. Subsequently, our research offers a nuanced understanding of BA implementation, demonstrating how tailored BA strategies can enhance supply chain optimization, cooperation, and customer-centric solutions, ultimately driving value creation for supply chains.

How to enhance consumers’ purchase intention in live commerce? An affordance perspective and the moderating role of age

Live commerce is a novel form of social commerce characterized by real-time interaction and synchronous visualization. Drawing upon affordance theory and the affective-cognitive framework, we propose a comprehensive research model that integrates three key dimensions of affordances of live commerce technology, namely utilitarian (visibility), social (social presence, interactivity, self-presentation), and hedonic affordances (entertainment), together with consumers’ cognitive and affective states (perceived diagnosticity and psychological distance). Furthermore, we explore age as an important contingency factor in understanding consumers’ purchase intention in live commerce. We collect data from 353 consumers who have live shopping experiences in China and analyze the research model with the structural equation model approach. Results indicate that visibility, social presence, and interactivity positively contribute to perceived diagnosticity, whereas entertainment and the three social affordances reduce psychological distance. Notably, the influence of perceived diagnosticity on purchase intention is more pronounced among older consumers, whereas the impact of psychological distance on purchase intention is stronger among younger consumers. This study not only advances the understanding of affordance theory within live commerce contexts but also offers practical insights for streamers and live commerce platforms.

The power of big data affordances to reshape anti-fraud strategies

This paper examines how the integration of big data in forensic accounting practices is reshaping fraud detection processes. To capture the effects of this integration we used the perspective of affordances enabled by big data, an approach derived from sociomateriality. The research adopts a qualitative approach based on seventeen semi-structured interviews with forensic accountants. This qualitative approach allows us to identify dispositional and relational affordances. Findings show that big data enables some significant affordances. As dispositional affordances, big data and big data analytics tools ensure a greater depth of the analysis. The power of visual analytics in fraud detection is highlighted in both dispositional and relational affordances.

How do unintended consequences emerge from EHR implementation? An affordance perspective

AbstractDrawing upon an affordance‐actualisation perspective, we aim to advance our knowledge of the emergence of unintended consequences from the implementation of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. Prior research has not yet deeply understood how these unintended consequences unfold. We investigate how the (non‐)actualisation of affordances produces unintended consequences. Our exploratory case study of an EHR system implemented in Italy reveals four types of actions (flexing, bypassing, avoiding, and reorganising) through which different types of unintended consequences occur with the (non‐)actualisation of affordances. We explain and theorise how interactions among technology features and psychosocial and organisational constraints/enablers contribute to users' perception of affordances and technological constraints. This, in turn, influences different types of user actions, leading to unintended consequences. Our findings and insights contribute to the literature on unintended consequences and help organisations better manage implementing new systems.

AI technologies affording the orchestration of ecosystem-based business models: the moderating role of AI knowledge spillover

Due to the extraordinary capacity of artificial intelligence (AI) to process rich information from various sources, an increasing number of enterprises are using AI for the development of ecosystem-based business models (EBMs) that require better orchestration of multiple stakeholders for a dynamic, sustainable balance among people, plant, and profit. However, given the nascency of relevant issues, there exists scarce empirical evidence. To fill this gap, this research follows the affordance perspective, considering AI technology as an object and the EBM as a use context, thereby exploring how and whether AI technologies afford the orchestration of EBMs. Based on data from Chinese A-share listed companies between the period from 2014 to 2021, our findings show an inverted U-shape quadratic relationship between AI and EBM, moderated by knowledge spillover. Our results enhance the understanding of the role of AI in configuring EBMs, thus providing novel insights into the mechanisms between AI and a specific business practice with societal concerns (i.e., EBM).

How brand live streaming affects brand attachment in social commerce: from the perspective of IT affordances

ABSTRACT While promoting the prosperity of China’s social commerce in recent years, celebrity live streaming has been criticized for not being conducive to establishing a strong emotional relationship between brands and consumers. Our study focuses on the non-celebrity live streaming held by brands, called brand live streaming. Our research regards brand live streaming as a new form of brand community. According to IT affordances, We construct a structural model to examine whether and how brand live streaming affects Chinese consumers’ brand attachment. We empirically test the model through the questionnaire distributed to brand live streaming viewers. Our results show that metavoicing affordance, guidance shopping affordance, and trading affordance positively affect consumers’ brand attachment, while visibility affordance does not affect consumers’ brand attachment. In addition, this paper also reveals that symbolic value and sense of community mediate the relationship between IT affordances and brand attachment in brand live streaming. Our study validates the importance of brand live streaming as a viable social commerce form and provides marketers with ways to build brand attachment.

Unveiling the intricate dynamics of user engagement in social media: the triad co-evolution through affordances and emotional attachment

ABSTRACT This study empirically examines the complex dynamics between social media entities, brands, and users, advancing user engagement and emotional attachment. It introduces a novel affordance perspective to dissect the symbiotic relationships that shape marketing and communication management. Analysing data from 424 U.S. social media users, this research explores the interplay between platform-user and brand-user affordances and their impact on reflective engagement and emotional attachment in digital environments. Findings affirm a substantial impact of affordances on emotional attachment to platforms, while also redefining the role of social influence, which contrasts with its conventional moderating role in user engagement literature. By moving beyond a functionalist affordance view to a relational one, this paper brings to the fore the triad of platform-user, brand-user, and user-reflection affordances, providing strategic insights for marketers and setting the stage for future research on user interaction dynamics.

Green and gamified! An investigation of consumer participation in green last-mile from a gamification affordance perspective

As a recent phenomenon, gamification designs have gained increasing prominence in encouraging consumer participation in green logistics. The primary focus of this study is to investigate how gamification affects customer participation in green last-mile via e-commerce delivery platforms. Adopting an integrated perspective that combines gamification affordances and technology acceptance, this research explores both the utilitarian and hedonic motivations underlying green logistics. A survey questionnaire is designed for data collection (n = 387) and structural equation modelling is applied for data analysis. Our findings suggest gamification affordances of competition, achievement, self-expression, and interactivity as the factors that directly or indirectly influence consumers' intention to engage in green logistics behaviour. This influence is mediated through perceived enjoyment, ease of use, and perceived usefulness. Furthermore, we find that consumers may prioritise social factors such as interactivity affordance over competition and achievement affordances in the gamified green logistics behaviour. These insights not only contribute to a better understanding of consumers' green logistics behaviours but also provide valuable guidance for logistics providers seeking to promote environmentally friendly practices among e-commerce and logistics users.

The Effect of Live Streaming on Impulse Buying from an Affordance Perspective on Tiktok Platform

This research aims to examine the effect of live streaming (visibility, trading, and meta voicing) on impulse buying through immersion from an affordance perspective on the TikTok platform. The data used in this research is primary data. This research is included quantitative research with a purposive sampling technique. The population of this research consists of all individuals who have made purchases through live streaming on TikTok, with a total of 200 respondents. This research uses SEM-PLS version 4.0. The results of this research show that trading and meta voicing significant effect on immersion and impulse buying. Then immersion is able to mediate the trading and meta voicing with impulse buying. Meanwhile, visibility has no significant effect on immersion and impulse buying, and immersion is also unable to mediate the relationship between visibility and impulse buying.

Critical analysis of the technological affordances, challenges and future directions of Generative AI in education: a systematic review

ABSTRACT Generative artificial intelligence has been regarded as a transformative tool. While responsible and ethical applications could bring opportunities to education, their misuse could pose demanding challenges. It is necessary to clarify the technological affordances and challenges in a normative way to lay the foundation for future development. This study addressed the dearth of literature by performing a systematic review, aiming to (i) explore the utility and availability from the technological affordances perspective; (ii) summarize the current challenges in risks prevention; and (iii) propose possible directions for future research and practice. A total of 27 academic articles published in core journals between 2020 and 2023 were analyzed, and the inductive grounded approach was used to categorize the coding schemes. The findings revealed four technological affordances: accessibility, personalization, automation, and interactivity; and five challenges: academic integrity risk, response errors and bias, over-dependence risk, the widening digital divide, and privacy and security. We propose future directions, encourage educational organizations to formulate guidelines for the ethical use of AI in education, call on educators to embrace future trends in AI education instead of shunning its use, and guide students to treat it as a thought aid and reference, rather than relying on it entirely.

Picasso, Schlemmer and beyond: Scenography and costume design from a critical disability studies lens

This article proposes a joint reading of the scenography and costume designs of Cubist artist Pablo Picasso and Bauhaus member Oskar Schlemmer, arguing that they share a common project of re-articulating the body and its movements that echoes contemporary concerns about how notions of normalcy govern the relationships between bodies and space. We propose that Picasso’s ballet Parade (1917) and Schlemmer’s Das Triadische Ballett (1922) can be productively read through the prism of critical disability studies (CDS), specifically in relation to Rosemarie Garland-Thompson’s feminist disability studies and her key concept of misfitting, enriched through the perspective of ecological affordances, as understood by James Gibson. This approach proposes to see disability from an ecological perspective that foregrounds the relationship between the body and space, as well as the affordances that are created and re-negotiated in the process of moving. By connecting Picasso and Schlemmer with CDS, this article puts forward a novel hermeneutic line from the artists’ work to the practice of contemporary artists Marco Donnarumma and Sandie Yi who share a relational conception of body, space and costume when designing in the field of crip couture, dance and AI prosthesis. This article proposes a CDS lens through which to re-evaluate the stage work of Schlemmer and Picasso, and their connection to contemporary artists’ interests, in order to open new paths of experimentation for contemporary artists and designers, as well as suggestive conceptual tools for both CDS and costume design scholars.

How Ephemerality Features Affect User Engagement with Social Media Platforms

User engagement, a key factor in the success of social media platforms, has long been based on permanent content. A recent paradigm shift in platform design has led large social media providers to implement ephemerality features that by default make shared content disappear after a certain amount of time. However, very little is known about how ephemerality features affect user engagement and behavior in social media. Drawing upon the technology affordance perspective, we conducted a qualitative multimethod study involving individual interviews and focus groups. Our findings show that the affordances arising from features with varying degrees of ephemerality (i.e., snaps and stories) differ from those of permanent content features in terms of self-presentation, browsing others’ content, and communication. Adopting a multidimensional conceptualization of user engagement, we show the positive (e.g., more content sharing) and negative (e.g., cognitive burden from context loss) effects for snaps and stories that should be cautiously considered by social media platforms aiming to introduce such features. Finally, we reveal new user behaviors that relate to sharing snapshots of fleeting value as snaps or experiences of transient value as stories.

Ai in e-learning: the affordance perspective

ABSTRACT The AI-enabled intelligent learning system (AEILS) is able to provide personalised and intelligent tutoring and is more capable of meeting individuals’ need. Nevertheless, limited studies focused on the effect of AI-specific factors on user behaviour. To fill this research gap, we identified the AEILS-specific affordances (i.e. interactivity, personalisation, competition, convenience) and explored their effect on user engagement and foreign language speaking anxiety (FLSA). In this paper, we integrate quantitative and qualitative studies to explore user behaviour in AEILS. Survey data was collected from 457 respondents and analysed using structural equation modelling with the smart-PLS software. The results showed that AEILS-specific affordances significantly affect flow experience and self-expansion, thus facilitating user engagement and alleviating FLSA. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to corroborate the findings of the quantitative study. These findings highlighted the importance of technology affordance in AEILS. This study contributed to the literature on IS and education by incorporating context-specific factors into account.

Exploring social media use for healthcare professionals

This concise paper introduces the importance of Healthcare Professionals (HCP) voice on Social Media Platforms (SMP) to combat widespread mis/disinformation around health issues that is now prevalent on these platforms. While HCPs actions have been acknowledged as effective in dispelling myths surrounding health topics, the specific strategies employed by HCPs on different SMPs to address these issues remain largely unexplored. Employing a technology affordance perspective, this paper outlines a proposed research methodology aimed at investigating the strategies employed by HCPs for correcting misinformation across various SMPs and offers guidance in this area.

The impact of Game-Based Learning (GBL) strategy on cultivating learners' computational thinking

This paper focuses on the graphical programming field and what effects would be brought to computational thinking by the utilization of game-based learning strategies. Through rewiewing related and newly published literature it occurs that there has been a wide range of solid proofs for its efficiency. Additionally, researcher also widen paths not only from literature review but also from the perspective of affordances to discuss the advantages of GBL strategy. Computational thinking may be used in STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) area since nowadays people with inter-disciplinary talent are greatly needed. And as technology develops in a fast pace, computational thinking is developing into an essential part of the age of artificial intelligence for us to use, recognize, and evaluate AI-based technologies.

Capturing the self-others dichotomy of social media use: Affordances-actualizations-outcomes model

Focusing on the passive use of Instagram, we apply the affordance perspective to deeply explore its use and use-related outcomes. In the qualitative study, we uncover the affordances of focal social media features. Two distinct groups of affordances (self- and others-oriented) emerge. Following the grounded theory methodology, we develop the affordances-actualizations-outcomes model, explaining how immediate goals associated with features translate into outcomes. In the quantitative study, we test the model by applying structural equation modeling. Our findings confirm that actualizations of self- and others-oriented affordances are associated with distinct outcomes: social connectedness, positive affect, and overall satisfaction with Instagram experience.

What is There to Fear? Understanding Multi-Dimensional Fear of AI from a Technological Affordance Perspective

Fear of artificial intelligence (AI) has become a predominant term in users’ perceptions of emerging AI technologies. Yet we have limited knowledge about how end users perceive different types of fear of AI (e.g., fear of artificial consciousness, fear of job replacement) and what affordances of AI technologies may induce such fears. We conducted a survey (N = 717) and found that while synchronicity generally helps reduce all types of fear of AI, perceived AI control increases all types of AI fear. We also found that perceived bandwidth was positively associated with fear of artificial consciousness, but negatively associated with fear of learning about AI, among other findings. Our study provides theoretical implications by adopting a multi-dimensional fear of AI framework and analyzing the unique effects of perceived affordances of AI applications on each type of fear. We also provide practical suggestions on how fear of AI might be reduced via user experience design.