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A.G.J. Kuijpers

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A Game-Based Assessment in the Transport & Logistics Sector

Doctoral thesis (2025) - A.G.J. Kuijpers, A. Verbraeck, H.K. Lukosch, C. van Daalen
Platform technologies permeate Business-to-Business (B2B) environments, including the transport and logistics sector. For example, in the transport and logistics sector, a shipper can use a booking platform for transportation of goods allowing them to collaborate with many different known or unknown organizations. Platforms can be seen as networks where supply and demand come together, where interactions occur, and where parties collaborate in an impersonal environment. In this context, trust is essential to reduce risks and uncertainties arising from the impersonal nature of platforms.

When using platforms, organizations often find it challenging to obtain complete and reliable information about another party, interpret their behaviour, and verify the identity of the other organizations. Trust supports collaboration by ensuring that mutual expectations are met. This trust can stem from past experiences or available information about a party.

With the rise of platforms and potential information asymmetry, it is crucial to investigate how trust contributes to collaboration on platforms. This study focuses on the influence of trust and how platform-mediated collaboration can be enhanced. The main research question is as follows: How does inter-organizational trust influence collaborations mediated by platforms in the transport and logistics sector? Through in-depth interviews with stakeholders and the design of the simulation game FreightBooking the main research question is answered. The objective of this study is to formulate suggestions for users of a platform on how to deal with trust when collaborating through a platform. Based on a literature review, interviews, and a game experiment, findings suggest when organizations collaborate through a platform, organizations should be aware that trust in the other organization is strongly connected to trust in the platform, the platform organization, and the platform community. Subsequently, experience plays a crucial role, both in assessing the overall trustworthiness of the community (i.e., is the overall community trustworthy?) and in evaluating a specific organization's trustworthiness (i.e. is the organization with whom I want to collaborate trustworthy?).
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The influence of Trust on Collaboration in the light of Technological Innovations

Conference paper (2021) - Anique Kuijpers, Heide Lukosch, Alexander Verbraeck
Adopting innovations is key for organizations to compete in a complex system, such as the transportation system. In a complex system where social (e.g. organizations) and technical (e.g. information systems) interact with each other, collaboration can be challenging. One of the barriers identified that hampers collaboration is trust. To understand the influence of trust on collaboration, enabled by technological innovations, simulation games in our perspective are a suitable method for our study. First, we introduce the results of a literature study that was carried out to identify related work regarding trust and simulation games. Subsequently, a case from the transport sector is defined to serve as a basis for the trust game. To conclude, we illustrate our simulation gaming approach and discuss the first initial results of a playtest session with the Trust Game. ...
Conference paper (2019) - Anique Kuijpers, Heide Lukosch, Alexander Verbraeck
In this paper we explore the possibilities to combine two research methods we regard as being very useful when interacting with stakeholders in complex systems. We discuss a mixed research methods approach, based on the Q methodology and a simulation game. In a game design process, translating the real or reference system into the game design is an intricate process and rather challenging due to the complexity of today’s societal systems. As shown by various studies, different data techniques are proposed in order to translate reality aspects. One of the proposed data gathering techniques in combination with simulation games is Q methodology. Q methodology is a suitable method to retrieve social perspectives of stakeholders on a particular topic. Yet it is still elusive how the results of a Q methodology can be used in a game design process. In this paper, we explore the possibilities how to combine the two methods and how to translate the results of the Q analysis into a game design concept. In the context of a case within the domain of transport and logistics, we discuss how such mixed research methods approach could look like. We conclude with a future outlook on our research. ...
The complexity of the worldwide transportation of goods leads to a high demand of innovation in the field. Yet, there are certain barriers against innovation in this highly competitive market. One of these barriers is the lack of trust, both with regard to a new technology as well as in relation to other parties. A second important hurdle that has to be overcome is the lack of situational awareness, or understanding of the actors within the transportation system about the interdependencies within the transportation system. In our work, we propose gaming as a method to increase the situational awareness of actors, as well as to explain the role of trust in innovation processes in the domain. Main aspects of the field and its challenges are already translated into game elements. ...