E-Tailers Facing Cyberattacks: Impacts of Risk Attitudes
研究了供应商与风险敏感型网络零售商组成的供应链中，零售商的风险态度（风险寻求、中性或规避）如何影响其网络安全投资及消费者福利，并分析了政府惩罚的作用。
Cyber-security plays a critical role in e-commerce operations; however, the influence of e-tailer's risk preference on the strategic response to cyber-security challenges remains underexplored. This study aims to contribute to this underexplored area by examining a supply chain consisting of a supplier and a risk-sensitive e-tailer, whose risk preference may be risk-seeking, risk-neutral, or risk-averse. We examine the equilibrium outcomes under two scenarios: one with and one without the government penalty on the e-tailer for failing to defend against cyber-attacks. Interestingly, risk aversion of the e-tailer tends to hurt consumers, whereas a risk-seeking attitude could benefit consumers. More importantly, increased risk sensitivity of the e-tailer can lead to higher consumer surplus. However, compared to a risk-seeking e-tailer, a risk-averse e-tailer tends to generate greater social welfare. When the government penalty is implemented, it proves beneficial to consumers irrespective of the e-tailer's risk attitude. Counter intuitively, we also find that with or without the government penalty, the risk-seeking e-tailer invests more in cyber-security than the risk-averse e-tailer. To test the robustness of our main models, we extend the analysis to consider blockchain adoption and alliances among supply chain members. Our research provides valuable insights for policymakers and platforms in enhancing e-commerce platform security management by taking into account the e-tailer's risk attitude.