• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.16 no.9
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• pp.359-364
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• 2018

The purpose of this study is to investigate the phenomenon of users' experience of O2O transportation service - focus on the Kakao taxi. As a research method, first case study investigated characteristics of taxi app service in Korea and overseas O2O transportation service. Secondly, we conducted an in - depth interview with eight Kakao taxi users to understand the experience of using the taxi. As a result, we were able to derive two points that needed improvement. Firstly, the imbalance between supply and demand should be improved. Secondly, users should not be disadvantaged by the location disclosure. It is significant that this study suggests ways to improve domestic O2O transportation service through a taxi. It is expected that the follow up study will help improve the domestic O2O transportation service and improve the user experience.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.141-154
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• 2016

Mobile application is growing explosively with the advent of a new technology: smartphones. Mobile application is a new marketing channel and performs as a start-up platform. This study examines the effect of mobile application on the off-line market. Despite the continuous declining demand for taxi service, paradoxically, the supply of taxi service has increased. The taxi industry can be categorized into general taxi and call taxi. General taxi is accidental and inefficient because it has to search for its own passenger. As call taxi takes the request of a passenger, it is more efficient than general taxi. However, the current defective passenger-taxi driver matching system and insufficient taxi driver management hinder the development of the call taxi market. Differences in differences (DID) is an econometrical methodology that examines whether or not an event has meaningful influence. This research uses DID to investigate the effect of the Kakao taxi application on the call taxi industry. Furthermore, it examines the effect of major companies' reckless diversification, which is considered unethical behavior. The passengers of call taxi data from August 2014 to July 2015 and those of designated driving service data of the same period were collected as the control group.

• International Journal of Internet, Broadcasting and Communication
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.44-58
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• 2017

The purpose of this study is to prove the Korean Internet company, Kakao's resilience capacity. For it, this paper reviews the previous literatures regarding Kakao's business models and discusses 'resilience' theory. Then, it organizes the research questions based on the theoretical background and explains the research methodology. It investigates the case of Kakao's business and organization. The case analysis shows that five levers of resilience are a good indicator for a successful platform business evolution. The five levers are composed of coordination, cooperation, clout, capability, and connection: First lever, coordination that makes the company to restructure its silo governance in order to respond to actual business flow starting from the basic asset like game and music content; second lever, cooperation where the firm provides creative people with playground for startups such as KakaoPage; third lever, clout where the company shares its data by opening its API of AI and chatbot to $3^{rd}$ party developers; fourth lever, capability where the firm establishes AI R&D center, KakaoBrain as the function of multi-domain generalist for developing diverse platforms tackling customer needs; and the last fifth lever, connection where the firm continues to expand its platform business to the peripheries, O2O businesses such as KakaoTaxi, KakaoOrder, KakaoPay, and KakaoBank. In conclusion, this study proposes Internet companies to be a resilient platform utilizing those five levers of resilience in order to form successful platform. This study contributes to the agile innovation of Internet platform with ecological sense.

• Knowledge Management Research
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.175-195
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• 2020

The development of platform service based on the information and communication technology has revolutionized patterns of commercial transactions, driving the growth of global economy. Furthermore, the radical advancement of artificial intelligence(AI) presents the huge potential to innovate almost all the industrial and economic activities. Given these technological developments, the goal of this paper is to investigate AI's impact on the platform service innovation as well as its influence on the business performance. For the goal, this paper presents the review of the types of service innovation, the nature of platform services, and technological characteristics of leading AI technologies, such as chatbot and recommendation system. As an empirical study, this paper performs a multiple case study of Kakao Group which is the leading mobile platform service with the most advanced AI in Korea. To understand the role and effect of AI on Kakao platform service, this study investigated three cases, including chatbot agent of Kakao Bank, Smart Call service of Kakao Taxi, and music recommendation system of Kakao Mellon. The analysis results of the case study show that AI initiated innovations in platform service concepts, service delivery, and customer interface, all of which lead to a significant decrease in the transaction costs and the personalization of services. Finally, for the successful development of AI, this research emphasizes the significance of the accumulation of customer and operational data, the AI human capital, and the design of R&D organization.

• Journal of Information Technology Services
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.49-67
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• 2020

On-Demand services have emerged as one of the core business strategies for delivering new experiential values by providing customized services in different user-needs nowadays. Based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (S-O-R) framework, this paper focuses on the factors of environmental stimulation and emotional states of the demand-side that induce continuous intention of use from the On-Demand services. The study defines 'Informativeness', 'Fulfillment', 'Trust', and 'Convenience' as the properties of the On-Demand services and considers 'Playfulness', 'Customer Return on Investment (CROI)', and 'Service Excellence' as the aspects of the experiential values. The research shows that 'Fulfillment', 'Trust' and 'Convenience' affected the experiential value in 'Kakao Taxi (On-Demand transportation service)' while 'Informativeness', 'Fulfillment', 'Trust of platform', and 'Convenience' are represented as the related factors to the experiential value in 'Baedal Minjok (On-Demand food delivery service)'. The experiential value factors, 'CROI' and 'Service Excellence', are shown directly related to the continuous intention of use in both services. A partial mediation relationship is, furthermore, observed between the aspects of 'CROI' and 'Service Excellence' in Kakao Taxi and its 'Convenience' and 'Continuous intention of use.' In Baedal Minjok, a partial mediation relationship is found between the 'CROI' with its aspects of 'Trust of the platform', 'Convenience', and 'Continuous intention of use' as well. The results of this study may contribute a comprehensive understanding of the purpose of On-Demand services and its needs from the demand-side thus can be helpful for the supply-side.

• Journal of Digital Convergence
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• v.17 no.7
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• pp.351-357
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• 2019

A number of case studies and type analyzes have been conducted on mobility platform services that are rapidly evolving around the world. However, since the actual user experience is important for the development of the mobility service, research on the user side is needed. In the mobility platform service, only the car-hailing was used, and the preference factors were analyzed through the questionnaire in seven aspects of the user experience. Studies have shown significant differences according to gender. While the safety of the woman, the comfort and the kindness of the vehicle have a great influence on the satisfaction, the male affirms that the familiarity is the factor affecting the satisfaction. This study focused on the customer experience as a real user and identified key factors of selecting mobility platform service, so it is expected that it will contribute to the development of mobility platform service in the future.

• Information Systems Review
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.103-125
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• 2021

Mobility services are rapidly developing along with information and communication technology (ICT) innovation. Recently, the on-demand mobility platform market is growing, and an environment is provided in which users can call services more conveniently and check the connection status in real time using smartphones. This study investigates the current status of users' perceptions and experiences of car-hailing mobility services such as KAKAO Taxi and UT Taxi, and it analyzes the factors affecting the intention to continuously use the car-hailing service, focusing on environmental and instrumental benefits and trust in driver and platform. In particular, this study examines whether the significance of the relationship between influencing factors and continuous use intention could vary depending on the degree of innovativeness and ICT utilization. The results of this study showed that perceived benefits (environmental benefits and convenience and economic instrumental benefits) and trust in driver had significant effects on increasing trust in platform. It was analyzed that the higher the trust in platform, the higher the intention to continuously use the car-hailing service. Furthermore, the influence of perceived environmental benefits and economic benefits on the trust in platform was different depending on the degree of individual innovativeness, and the influence of convenience and economic benefits on the trust in platform varied depending on the degree of ICT utilization. Referring to the results of this study, mobility service providers can better understand the current status of users' perceptions and trust for car-hailing services, and implement service promotion strategies suitable for individual characteristics.

• The Journal of Society for e-Business Studies
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.137-150
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• 2016

A variety of O2O (Online to Offline) services such as Uber, Airbnb, and KakaoTaxi that create new values by connecting offline and online have emerged in the world. O2O services support the convenience of online services and the real-life capability of offline services simultaneously. Thanks to the development of ICTs such as mobility, IoT (Internet of Things), Fin-tech, and big data technologies, the market size of O2O industry is growing very rapidly. This paper reviews various O2O services and industry trends in Korea. In addition, important issues on O2O services and industry promotion are reviewed and presented. Specifically, legislative issues regulating the O2O industry in Korea, interest conflicts between new O2O platform providers and existing traditional offline service providers, current technology infrastructures for O2O services, and negative or side effects of O2O services are reviewed and summarized. Finally, comprehensive policy directions are proposed based on these reviewed issues. It is expected that the proposed policy directions would be adopted by the government and this research could consequently contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of the O2O industry in Korea.