The influence of reference knowledge on the digital service quality and incentive mechanism

In the digital service supply chain, digital service providers undertake the marketing platform development programs with satisfying digital service quality (DSQ) to help traditional retail enterprises (TREs) achieve digital technologies and merchandizing innovation. To illustrate the influence of external reference knowledge on principals' feeling on DSQ and improvements, this study develops a novel framework to assess TREs' perceived DSQ and design incentive strategies concerning differential cooperation scenarios. The study integrates the prospect theory and the principal-agent model to reveal the DSQ incentive strategies influenced by external references. Its contributions include (1) proposing DSQ appraisal indicator system and standardized computation process, (2) revealing the influence of external referencing knowledge on psychological utility in DSQ cooperation, and (3) exploring the incentive framework and equilibrium of DSQ utility in the differential degrees of information asymmetry. The managerial implications can assist the TREs in selecting digital marketing KPIs, determining proper benchmarks, confirming the dynamical dominance of external references, reducing the degree of information asymmetry, and implementing effective incentives.