Tech Firms Research Articles

How Major Tech Firms Used Illegal “No-Poach” Agreements to Control Workers’ Salaries

How Major Tech Firms Used Illegal “No-Poach” Agreements to Control Workers’ Salaries

Metaverse in Human Behavior: The Role of Telepresence and Flow Experience on Consumers’ Shopping Behavior in the Metaverse

Digital commerce is being raised to a new level by the growing Metaverse cosmos. Business tycoons are attempting to establish a presence in the metaverse, highlighting its possibilities for e-marketing, virtual commerce, banking, and social engagement. As a result, many well-known organizations and companies are entering into the metaverse. The elements affecting customers’ behaviors in the metaverse, however, are not well understood. Our proposed study model was theoretically underpinned by the Stimulus Organism Response (S-O-R) concept. We proposed two stimuli factors (technological and spatial) and two factors of organismic experience (telepresence and flow experience) to account for consumers’ metaverse shopping intentions. With the help of structural equation modeling, we examined the data from 317 respondents. According to the findings, telepresence is significantly influenced favorably by interaction and vividness. Consumers’ flow experiences which eventually improve their intent to shop in the metaverse are significantly influenced by perceived similarity and competence. This study is one of the few that added to the body of knowledge on the metaverse while providing useful advice for tech firms and other businesses, in general, to take advantage of the metaverse’s prospects.

Collaborative innovations in Artificial Intelligence (AI): Partnering with leading U.S. tech firms to combat human trafficking

This article reviews, integrates, and expands upon research initiatives that explore the development and implementation of advanced artificial intelligence (AI)–driven tools and methodologies. In exploring collaborations with leading U.S. AI technology firms, including Nvidia, Dataiku, DataRobot, and C3.ai, this study is specifically aimed at identifying, preventing, and combating human trafficking. This collaborative effort seeks to create a synergistic framework that capitalizes on the unique capabilities and resources of each firm. The overarching goal is to enhance the effectiveness of AI technologies in detecting trafficking activities, analyzing diverse data sources, and providing vital support to law enforcement and NGOs in rescue and prevention efforts. The comprehensive review delves into the multifaceted applications of AI, emphasizing its role in prevention through machine learning, data analytics, and natural language processing. It navigates through collaborative initiatives, presenting partnerships with prominent U.S. tech firms, accompanied by case studies that showcase successful collaborative projects. Challenges inherent in collaborative AI efforts are addressed, and the paper proposes strategic solutions to overcome these obstacles. The ethical and legal considerations section scrutinizes the implications of deploying AI in human trafficking prevention, exploring the delicate balance between innovation and safeguarding privacy and civil liberties. Furthermore, the final section anticipates future directions and recommendations, providing insights into emerging technologies that could enhance anti-trafficking efforts. Specific recommendations are offered for fortifying collaborations between AI developers and tech firms, and the paper discusses broader implications for policy, suggesting avenues for future research in the dynamic field of AI-driven human trafficking prevention. In essence, this comprehensive review not only synthesizes existing knowledge but also integrates a forward-looking research initiative, contributing significantly to the ongoing discourse on leveraging technology to combat human trafficking on a global scale.

An evolutionary game-theoretic approach for analysis of green innovation and environmental performance of tech firms under stakeholders’ policies based on system dynamics

An evolutionary game-theoretic approach for analysis of green innovation and environmental performance of tech firms under stakeholders’ policies based on system dynamics

As Hype Fades, LLMs Gaining Acceptance in Upstream as New Age Research and Coding Tool

After using ChatGPT-4 for more than a year, Clinton Lott has made familiarity with the large language model (LLM), a requirement for new software programming hires. The director of Houston-based Spotter Tech gave this reasoning: “Taking 2 hours to do something that ChatGPT can do in 15 seconds is unacceptable today.” It’s a line you’re likely to hear from the most ardent champions of LLMs which have simultaneously reignited the world’s interest in and ire for artificial intelligence (AI). And while Spotter Tech, a small hydraulic fracturing data specialist, may be an exception with its hiring practices, it is far from the only upstream company embracing the new technology. Both BP and Shell have recently given thousands of employees access to Microsoft’s new cloud service called Copilot, which at its core is powered by GPT-4, OpenAI’s latest and most capable LLM. Others including ExxonMobil have placed use of LLMs under lockdown while still signaling a long-term interest in their embrace. As chair of SPE’s Data Science & Engineering Analytics Technical Section, Pushpesh Sharma has spent the past several months speaking with peers in the industry about how and where LLMs are being used. The product manager for field automation firm Aspen Technology told JPT that it’s clear from those conversations that a good number of energy firms are interested in tailoring the technology to their needs, albeit many are doing so quietly as it remains early days. “The big focus right now is on what they call fine tuning,” he said. “You take an existing base model that one of the big tech companies have created and make it more of a fit for your business. It’s kind of like taking a graduate student and then letting them work on their PhD with very specific subject matter.” While OpenAI’s ChatGPT has become the popular symbol of LLMs, there are a growing number of alternatives in the mix. In February, Google introduced its latest model called Gemini 1.5 which seeks to rival GPT-4. There are also open source LLMs that oil and gas companies can use as templates for internal projects. Or they may turn to other big tech firms such as NVIDIA and Amazon Web Services (AWS) which are in the business of helping industrials build and train their own private, custom LLMs. SPE joined the trend after inking a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in October with AI firm i2k Connect and Aramco Americas. The collaboration is expected to result in a new domain-specific LLM that industry engineers and researchers can use to answer questions with more technical depth than can be done with the current slate of commercial offerings. One enabling aspect of this current phase of experimentation with LLM technology is retrieval-augmented generation (RAG). The method is considered essential for models to provide more-accurate and actionable responses by extending their scope beyond initial training datasets to include more authoritative and even real-time data.

Reading in the dark: Shifting governmentalities and the spatial dimensions of legible U.S. flood risk

Following the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927, U.S. private insurers abandoned flood coverage after deeming it incalculable, precipitating the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) in 1968. The NFIP continued to underwrite illegible risk in the public interest. For decades, hydraulic models were limited to simplified “one-dimensional” simulations ill-equipped to characterize uncertainty to the standard of market carriers. However, recent advancements in multidimensional characterization have galvanized the flood sector. The NFIP has licensed some of the most expansive 2-D models to date from eager tech firms; it has pledged to modernize its risk portfolio, invest in financing, and attract private carriers in order to “lift all boats” within the flood sector. This article intervenes by examining the “multidimensional turn” as a fix for “crises of calculation.” The article rejects teleological narratives crediting models for “changing how we think” about flood, and illustrates how underwriters enframe illegible floodplains as unruly problems. The incalculability of flood risk is an “insurantial logic” naturalized as a physical truth. Economic geographers have interrogated the materiality of such truths as integral to the production of nature under capitalism. The article examines how invested state and non-state actors operationalize impediments to legible risk to realize their financial interests. It further argues that FEMA’s costly efforts to realize an allusive market are undermined by intractable conflicts between pure-market and affordable coverage. The NFIP will likely continue to do the heavy lifting with respect to underwriting, and selective geographies of private coverage will mirror the drive for surplus value.

Learning along the Digital Silk Road? Technology transfer, power, and Chinese ICT corporations in North Africa

While much attention has been paid to how China’s rise as a digital superpower could threaten US hegemony over cyberspace, much less has been written on what the Digital Silk Road, or the presence of Chinese tech firms in developing countries more broadly, means for technological upgrading and development. This article contributes to filling this gap by investigating the technology spillovers emanating from two Chinese tech giants – Huawei and ZTE – in Algeria and Egypt. Using a political economy framework that combines insights from structuralist economic development and techno-politics and drawing on over 70 semi-structured interviews and field-observations, it argues that despite localizing activities that bear the promise of generating significant linkages, the two Chinese tech firms created no meaningful learning opportunities for domestic entities that contribute to technological upgrading. What could at first seem like developmental connections that promote technology transfers are found to be linkages diffusing Chinese infrastructures, hardware, software, processes, and standards that shape distinct digital systems. Without pro-active policies from host governments, the Digital Silk Road risks creating new technological dependencies; locking local ICT actors into activities and relationships captured and defined by Chinese tech giants.

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Warfare: A New Warfighting Paradigm

The article introduces ‘DIY warfare’, a paradigm where soldiers utilize advanced commercial technologies with support from private tech firms, and civilians contribute technologically, often near conflict zones. This convergence blurs traditional combatant-non-combatant lines, challenging existing warfare doctrines. Employing a ‘3Cs’ analytical framework—compute, compatibility, and collaboration—it explores the shift towards a decentralized, technology-driven conflict, highlighting the potential for increased operational flexibility alongside the complexities of civilian-military integration and reliance on private entities. This article suggests DIY warfare could significantly alter military engagement at the tactical level in the digital era.

FinTech and Climate Action, and Affordable and Clean Energy

In this study we analyse FinTech (financial technology) tools and their role in achieving sustainable development. FinTech strives to improve and streamline the provision of financial services. As a modern technology, it can significantly contribute to the sustainable development and it has a capacity to foster a more inclusive and more equitable society. FinTech promotes sustainable development by ensuring green finance, reducing costs and informational inequities, promoting efficiency, appreciating the value of nature's assets, and promoting realistic sustainable lifestyles. Bibliometric analysis shows growing importance and extensive use of the financial technology in achieving SDGs, especially in SDG 13 Climate Action. Green FinTech is focused on emerging trends that are associated with protecting the environment and impacts of climate change. Green finance is supporting environmentally friendly investments and advancing low-carbon technologies, projects and businesses.In accelerating the sustainable development several FinTech tools have been recognized: robo-advisors for environmentally friendly expenditures, payment tokens to be used for peer-to-peer power associations, and blockchain technologies for environmentally conscious supply chains and financial inventiveness. FinTech advances financial inclusion, sustainable finance, and sustainable investment while harnessing innovations in technology and financial services. Governments, legislators, financial institutions, and tech firms must work together to establish a supportive climate that takes advantage of the FinTech while assuring that it is used responsibly.

The Societal Impacts of Generative Artificial Intelligence: A Balanced Perspective

The discourse surrounding the societal impacts of generative artificial intelligence (GAI), exemplified by technologies like ChatGPT, often oscillates between extremes: utopian visions of unprecedented productivity and dystopian fears of humanity’s demise. This polarized perspective neglects the nuanced, pragmatic manifestation of GAI. In general, extreme views oversimplify the technology itself or its potential to address societal issues. The authors suggest a more balanced analysis, acknowledging that GAI’s impacts will unfold dynamically over time as diverse implementations interact with human stakeholders and contextual factors. While Big Tech firms dominate GAI’s supply, its demand is expected to evolve through experimentation and use cases. The authors argue that GAI’s societal impact depends on identifiable contingencies, emphasizing three broad factors: the balance between automation and augmentation, the congruence of physical and digital realities, and the retention of human bounded rationality. These contingencies represent trade-offs arising from GAI instantiations, shaped by technological advancements, stakeholder dynamics, and contextual factors, including societal responses and regulations. Predicting long-term societal effects remains challenging due to unforeseeable discontinuities in the technology’s trajectory. The authors anticipate a continuous interplay between GAI initiatives, technological advances, learning experiences, and societal responses, with outcomes depending on the above contingencies.

Rebooting Amsterdam for the age of Big Tech: Platform capitalism, reintermediation, and financial-center change

The platformization of finance and the financial inroads made by tech firms large and small raises questions about the extent to which financial centers and their incumbent inhabitants retain their positions as key intermediaries in financial(ized) intermediation. Focusing on cloud adoption and digital payments in post-2008 Amsterdam, we study how and to what extent financial platformization entails the ‘rebooting’ of the Amsterdam financial center, by investigating (i) the changing composition and spatial structure of its inhabitants; (ii) the platformization of incumbent financial institutions and the rise of new intermediaries, and (iii) deepening interdependencies between financial institutions and Big Tech. We find that platform companies have come to inhabit both the city center and the Zuidas financial district at the expense of incumbent finance and other advanced producer services (APS). Along with the growing footprint of resident platform companies, typically relying on Big Tech cloud services, we identify growing interdependencies between finance and tech, as illustrated by the adoption of Big Tech cloud services among financial institutions old and new. To illuminate patterns of competition and collaboration between incumbent finance, Fintech and Big Tech, we foreground incumbent bank ING and Fintech Adyen, a payments services provider (PSP), and analyze their relations with tech giant Amazon. In the payments domain, we see new intermediaries like Adyen assume functions at the expense of incumbent APS intermediaries, including banks. In sum, we conclude that the rise of platform capitalism is progressively giving way to financial reintermediation and financial-center change, with tech companies forming an increasingly dominant sector within a platformizing para-financial APS complex, and with Big Tech assuming a growing yet uneven infrastructural role.

Turbulence in the Relationships Between Governments and High Tech Firms

"The turbulent times governments all over the world are facing include the transition towards the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) in which the confluence of new technological developments result in major challenges for national as well as local governments. The confluence of the newly developed technologies is only possible if huge amounts of data can be stored and transmitted at high speed in, among others, hyperscale data centers (HDCs). This paper focuses on the complex relation that arises between local governments - on whose soil the HDCs are built - and the high tech companies planning and building the HDCs. This relationship is characterized by an unequal playing field with local governments being no match for the high tech industry. The latter sometimes have annual turnovers 1000 times higher than those of local governments and impose rather different demands on decision making processes than governments do. They impose restrictions on the decision-making process that result in processes running counter to principles of good governance and, if exposed, result in a deterioration of institutional trust among the population. This is illustrated through a case study in which a small municipality in the Netherlands was faced with an offer from Meta to make a huge investment in a hyperscale data center, provided the whole process towards the permits and the approval of the building would remain secretive. Shown is an imposed secrecy by the high tech firm and information revealed about the process afterward through the Freedom of Information Act disclosing many irregularities. This changed the existing trust in the municipality into complete distrust at the end of the process and eventually forced the High Tech company to withdraw. The relevance of this paper for this special issue is that the case study shows that the new developments towards the 4IR require capacitated, knowledgeable and decisive local governments, which momentarily are not even present in a developed country like the Netherlands."

Transcending Borders? Horizons and Challenges of Global Tech Worker Solidarity

While the reach of tech firms has become planetary, the counterpower of their workforces often remains local. The article explores the challenges and opportunities to transnational solidarity among tech workers, the higher-paid employee strata of tech companies. Based on three recent cases of transnational organizing, I argue that three markers stick out in the efforts: informal organizing instead of institutional power-building, the importance of labour migration and the surprising lack of using structural power to this date. The articles concludes that tech worker organizing can learn from the conflicts of lower paid gig workers in the industry and institutional developments geared toward transnational worker representation.

Analyzing the Impact of Financial News Sentiments on Stock Prices—A Wavelet Correlation

This study investigates the complex interplay between public sentiment, as captured through news titles and descriptions, and the stock prices of three major tech companies: Microsoft (MSFT), Tesla (TSLA), and Apple (AAPL). Leveraging advanced analytical methods including Pearson correlation, wavelet coherence, and regression analysis, this research probes the degree to which stock-price fluctuations can be attributed to the polarity of media sentiment. The methodology combines statistical techniques to assess sentiment’s predictive power for stock opening and closing prices, while wavelet coherence analysis unveils the temporal dynamics of these relationships. The results demonstrate a significant correlation between sentiment polarity and stock prices, with description polarity affecting Microsoft’s opening prices, title polarity influencing Tesla’s opening prices, and a positive impact of title polarity on Apple’s closing prices. However, Tesla’s stock showed no significant coherence, indicating a potential divergence in how sentiment affects stock behavior across companies. The study highlights the importance of sentiment analysis in forecasting stock-market trends, revealing not only direct correlations but also lagged influences on stock prices. Despite its focus on large-cap tech firms, this research provides a foundational understanding of sentiment’s financial implications, suggesting further investigation into smaller firms and other market sectors.

The Open Prison of the Big Data Revolution: False Consciousness, Faustian Bargains, and Digital Entrapment

Although some scholars raise alarm about societal harm emerging from Big Data practices, critical social theory (CST) Information Systems research on the structures and dynamics driving Big Data practices is rare. In this research commentary, we interrogate how tech firms use social practices and platform design to strategically manipulate individuals into accepting datafication and data assetization that accrue positive data network effects for themselves and mostly negative data network effects (economic loss, social and privacy harm) for individuals. We draw on the ideas of Heidegger and Marcuse to critically question the Big Data paradigm in order to develop better understanding of the social implications for individuals and society. Using the concepts of false consciousness, digital entrapment, and Faustian bargains, we critically inquire into the Big Data practices that keep us tethered to digital platforms. Specifically, we interrogate sociomaterial structures that socially condition individuals into a digital habitus and to identify themselves as homo digitalis, who view all their “relations” (social and economic) as digital. This social conditioning reproduces a false consciousness that constricts our worldview, undermines our rational choices, and enables the risky compromises we make with tech companies that manipulate and exploit us with their increasingly oppressive Big Data practices and related dark patterns. We critically analyze the case of Microsoft Viva to provide an illustration of how mundane digital tools can condition our reality and entrap us into an open prison. We argue that if we do not critically interrogate our false consciousness of the digital and understand how digital giants colonize our social systems by structurally embedding Big Data practices, we will continue to be susceptible to manipulation and digital entrapment. Ongoing risky compromises with tech firms will erode the very foundations of the “good life,” freedom, liberty, and personal privacy, and they will institutionalize the open prison. The CST explanation we propose and the research agenda we outline are meant to encourage research into solutions to the digital entrapment problem.History: Suprateek Sarker, Senior Editor; Robert Gregory, Associate Editor.Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2020.0588 .

In defence of judicial review: the established UK appeal standard is the best approach for a dynamic digital economy

The Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill seeks to create a new regulatory framework for firms with ‘strategic market status’ (SMS). The Digital Markets Unit (DMU), which will be part of the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), will have the power to designate tech firms such as Google and Apple as having SMS for certain activities. It will be able to impose wide-ranging conduct requirements on those firms and will also have the power to make pro-competitive interventions. These are powerful tools. The DMU will be able to make significant changes to the SMS firms’ business models with the objective of opening up their ecosystems and levelling the playing field for challenger firms. This article considers the standard of review that should apply in determining challenges to decisions of the DMU under this regime. In particular, we consider arguments that have been made against the use of the proposed ‘judicial review’ standard and in favour of an ‘on the merits’ appeal. As part of our analysis we consider consistency with analogous CMA regimes, forward looking assessments and the need for speed, expert opinions and consistency across different jurisdictions.

Accounting for the “harms” of social media firms: dialogic accountability and discursive contestation in public hearings

PurposeExisting literature has begun to identify the agonistic and contested aspects of the ongoing development of accountability systems. These “contests” are particularly important during periods of change when an accountability “deficit” has been identified, that is, when existing accountability systems are deemed inadequate and requiring revision. The purpose of this paper is to explore one such set of contests in the case of large technology and social media firms: the so-called “big tech”. The authors focus specifically on “big tech” because of increasing societal concerns about the harms associated with their products, services and business practices.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analysed four US Congressional hearings, in which the CEO of Facebook was held to account for the company's alleged breaches and harms. The authors conducted a discourse analysis of the dialogue between the account giver (Mark Zuckerberg) and account holders (Members of Congress) in the oral testimony at the four hearings.FindingsTwo areas of contestation in the dialogue between the account giver and account holders are identified. “Epistemic contests” involved contestation about the “facts” concerning the harms the company had allegedly caused. “Responsibility contests” involved contestation about who (or what) should be held responsible for these harms and according to what standards or criteria.Originality/valueThe study advances critical dialogical accountability literature by identifying two areas of contestation during periods of change in accountability systems. In so doing, they advanced the theory by conceptualising the process of change as underpinned by discursive contests in which multiple actors construct and contest the “problem” with existing accountability systems. The outcomes of these contests are significant, the authors suggest, because they inform the development of reforms to the accountability system governing big tech firms and other industries undergoing similar periods of contestation and change.

Virtual Shareholder Meetings

We examine determinants and consequences of virtual shareholder meetings (VSMs) using a sample of voluntary (precoronavirus disease 2019) and forced (i.e., because of coronavirus disease 2019) VSM adopters. Voluntary adopters are tech firms and firms traditionally more engaged with shareholders, consistent with the stated objective to increase shareholder participation. In contrast, we do not find that firms choose the virtual format to avoid shareholders’ scrutiny. Textual analysis of transcripts suggests that in VSMs, business presentations by management are less frequent, shorter, and more generic but only among voluntary adopters, suggesting that these properties reflect a firm’s choice rather than are a by-product of the virtual format per se. VSMs are more likely to exhibit no questions during the question and answer period, but conditioned upon having one question, they exhibit the same number of questions; such questions are more negative in tone, inconsistent with managers using the virtual format to filter out hostile questions. Finally, there is some evidence of greater abnormal absolute returns around VSMs, supporting the notion that greater attendance translates into greater information content. Overall, VSMs exhibit less activity on average, consistent with critics’ concerns, but such reduced activity does not appear to cause a loss in information content nor does it appear to reflect an attempt to avoid scrutiny. This paper was accepted by Suraj Srinivasan, accounting. Supplemental Material: The data files are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2023.4946 .

Digital Revolution, Institutional Coevolution, and Legal Innovations

The digital transformation “revolutionizes” entire economies and societies in a Schumpeterian sense. This paper analyzes three current policy debates with respect to the question, whether and to what extent also radical legal innovations might be necessary for ensuring a proper coevolution of the legal and regulatory framework with respect to the disruptive technological and economic change on digital markets. These discussions encompass (1) the new challenges for competition policy through the large tech firms with far-reaching reforms, e.g., the EU Digital Markets Act, (2) the new huge threats to privacy, and the serious concerns whether the data protection law instrument of “consent” can deal with this problem effectively, and (3) entirely new questions about the governance of data (data access/sharing etc.) with the development of a new (so far not existing) field of data law. In all three of these policy fields traditional legal and regulatory concepts do not seem to be sufficient any more, leading to the conclusion of the need for developing new concepts and policy approaches for ensuring a proper coevolution of the institutional framework for the economy and society. Digitisation, digital platforms, Big Tech, market power, competition, privacy, data protection, data governance, legal innovation, legal evolution

Trusting tech firms’ big data for political microtargeting? A qualitative analysis of parties’ communication managers risk and trust perceptions

ABSTRACT Parties use political microtargeting (PMT) to address voter subsegments individually. Due to limited resources and legal restrictions, parties often rely on Meta’s platforms and advertising ecosystem for PMT. However, using these external infrastructures and big data analyses might be risky for parties, since big data are criticized for their validity, robustness, representativeness, and usefulness. A mechanism to tolerate risks is trust. With the theoretical background of trust in technology, this study investigates the extent to which parties’ communication managers perceive risks in their strategic use of PMT on Meta’s platforms and how they evaluate big data’s trustworthiness. Based on in-depth expert interviews with German parties’ communication managers on state level, the results show that parties’ communication managers perceive various risks in relying on Meta’s platforms and are ambivalent about PMT’s big data analytics in terms of quality and reliability. To minimize risk perceptions, parties adopt strategies such as inputting their own data or creating own target audiences. Parties’ risk perceptions only partially influence their trust in big data and Meta. Despite varying degrees of trust, PMT is still used in campaigns as it has become too common and necessary to compete with other parties.