Asean International Sandbox Conference

Editor's Note

2026-05-11T08:55:14SE Asia Daylight Time

E-Marketplace Competition and Digital Economic Sustainability in Thailand: An Oligopoly Analysis with Policy Benchmarking from ASEAN Countries

2026-05-11T08:37:41SE Asia Daylight Time

This study examines the competitive structure and economic effects of Thailand's E-Marketplace, using the Structure-Conduct-Performance (SCP) framework as the primary analytical framework, supported by Two-sided Market Theory, Transaction Cost Theory, and Platform Economy concepts. The analysis shows that Thailand's E-Marketplace market is oligopolistic, dominated by foreign platforms that hold about 95–100% of the market. This results in two economic effects: positive impacts, such as increased consumer surplus, creation of digital jobs, and cross-border export opportunities for SMEs via E-commerce; and negative impacts, including risks of market dominance, fee hikes, barriers to entry, concerns over imported product quality, unfair competition, and issues related to technology dependence and data security. The study also conducts a policy benchmarking analysis across four ASEAN countries—Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines— chosen through policy diversity criteria and purposive sampling. Based on these findings and the broader SCP analysis, five policy recommendations are proposed to enhance Thailand’s sustainable cross-border digital trade and its participation in the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA): imposing import taxes on small-parcel trade; regulating platform market dominance and unilateral fee increases; establishing an Online Sellers Association; regulating platform data usage and algorithm transparency, including Data Localization considerations; and supporting Thai SMEs in accessing AI tools, digital marketing, and content creation on global platforms, using E-Marketplace as an export channel.

Digital Dopamine: The Awareness-Behavior Paradox in Social Media Usage

2026-05-11T08:37:42SE Asia Daylight Time

Social media platforms have become ingrained in daily life in recent years, especially among young adults and college students. Although these platforms provide chances for communication, amusement, and information exchange, worries about excessive screen time and its behavioral and psychological effects are becoming more widespread. Despite this growing awareness, there is a paradox between knowledge and behavior because many users continue to use social media obsessively despite widespread awareness of these possible risks. This study examines this phenomenon, commonly referred to as the awareness–behavior paradox in social media usage, where users possess cognitive awareness of the harmful effects of excessive screen time yet remain unable to reduce their consumption. Through a quantitative survey of 500 university students, this study examines how specific platform design features exploit dopaminergic reward pathways to create habit loops that override conscious intent. Utilizing the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework, our findings reveal that infinite scroll (r=0.478, p<0.001) and auto-play features (r=0.432, p<0.001) significantly correlate with habit automaticity. Notably, 38.2% of respondents exhibited the core paradox: high awareness coupled with continued compulsive use. Furthermore, social validation metrics (r=0.543, p<0.001) emerged as powerful drivers of habit formation, confirming that variable reward mechanisms successfully override rational risk assessment. A positive correlation between user awareness and paradoxical behavior (r=0.624, p<0.001) demonstrates that cognitive knowledge alone is insufficient to alter digital habits. The research finding concludes by suggesting that mitigating social media addiction requires a shift from user-level self-regulation to structural platform interventions, advocating for the integration of ethical friction in application design.