The research strategy in management of technological innovation

The increasing importance of technology in the application world has imposed high demand on the research community for insightful and useful principles about “management of technological innovation” (MTI). This paper examines the academic legacy in terms of conceptual categories, causal relationships and taxonomy of relevant systems, and asserts from a system perspective that MTI as an applied science is still in its infancy.Based on methodological argument, this paper warns of the danger of hasty compromise of strategically important topics to “popular” definition of “researchability,” and suggests several research guidelines and approaches for this young interdisciplinary discipline:

1. (1)To explore new frontiers, use “proximate variables,” consider contextual factors and causation in broad terms, conceptualize “independently,” and pay more attention to case study method.

2. (2)To understand driving forces, be aware of practice, and focus on internal dynamics.

3. (3)To transcend complexity, adopt a hierarchical structure perspective and state-and-flow concept, and condense findings into configurations.

Finally, this paper urges the formation of an overall research strategy to accelerate the accumulation of MTI grounded knowledge.     

Systematic acceleration of radical discovery and innovation in science and technology

A systematic two-component approach (front-end component, back-end component) to bridging unconnected disciplines and accelerating potentially radical discovery and innovation (based wholly or partially on text mining procedures) is presented. The front-end component has similar objectives to those in the classical literature-based discovery (LBD) approach, although it is different mechanistically and operationally. The front-end component will systematically identify technical disciplines (and their associated leading experts) that are directly or indirectly-related to solving technical problems of high interest. The back-end component is actually a family of back-end techniques, only one of which shares the strictly literature-based analysis of the classical LBD approach. The non-LBD back-end techniques (literature-assisted discovery) make use of the human experts associated with the disparate literatures (disciplines) uncovered in the front-end to generate radical discovery and innovation.Specifically, in the literature-assisted discovery operational mode, these disparate discipline experts could be used as:

1. Recipients of solicitation announcements (BAA, SBIR, MURI, journal Special Issue calls for papers, etc.),

2. Participants in Workshops, Advisory Panels, Review Panels, Roadmaps, and War Games,

3. Points of Contact for Field Science Advisors, Foreign Field Offices, Program Officer site visits, and potential transitions.

身份与信任*——基于干部身份的实验证据

本文设计了由中国大学生被试作为委托人和受托人的投资实验,通过在实验中“泄露”不同完备和对称程度的信息,检验了在“无信息”、“单向信息”和“双向信息”三种不同的环境下,“学生干部”这一社会身份对“信任”和“值得信任”水平的影响。研究发现：首先,多数中国学生被试之间存在着彼此信任和值得信任,这使得双方实现了“双赢”。其次,受托人的干部身份,招致了委托人更高的可信任度;但干部在其身份信息不公开时,并不比无信息状态下的受托人更值得信任。再次,双向信息的干部身份可以显著提升干部的互利性,使得他们比无信息状态下的受托人有着更高的值得信任的水平。     

Socio-ecological explanations for crowding-out effects from economic field experiments in southern Africa

Economic and psychological literature mentions three conditions under which the crowding-out effect of pro-social behaviour is likely to occur and to crowd out citizens' moral obligations to behave co-operatively. I use a framed field experiment on joint extraction from a common-pool resource (CPR) where the crowding-out effect has already been reported before in combination with the trust game carried out in farming communities of Namibia and South Africa to replicate these conditions. The research design and the cross-cultural setting enable to explicitly control for these effects. The results of the experiments support that the crowding-out effect depends on:

•

The nature of the external intervention (controlling vs. supportive external intervention)

•

The degree of participants self-determination (high vs. low self-determination in the group)

•

A society's norms of trust and reciprocity (high vs. low trust within the society)

The results imply that outside regulations aiming to conserve natural resources risk worsening the situation when neglecting democratic legitimization as well as local community norms.     

Partnerships to address social determinants of health

Social determinants and intractable health disparities among different populations rank at the top of challenges for health care leaders. Community-academic partnerships offer a unique blend of resources and skills that may mitigate the consequences of social determinants on the community's health. Nursing leaders should consider seeking partnerships from a variety of sources. Partnering with local academic organizations might be particularly helpful if the program is developed in a manner which is respectful of the community and works for common goals.     

Life beyond the Washington Consensus: An Introduction to Pro-poor Macroeconomic Policies

Abstract

This paper develops a rationale for the recession-induced inflation hypothesis. Within a conflicting claims framework we present a model in which both price leaders and organized workers set their nominal prices on the basis of a desired profit rate and a real wage target respectively. We argue that an absolute cost advantage in concentrated industries (for instance in fixed costs) may provide oligopolistic leaders sufficient margin to raise prices and restore a desired level of profitability during a recession. The resultizng unstable income distribution will set off an inflationary spiral if the firm's advantage in selling its output imparts an upward bias to the flexibility of input prices (specifically wages). Taking into consideration different scenarios for workers' bargaining power we present a simple simulation experiment to analyze the inflation and real wage paths of the economy after a negative output shock. When we endogenize output, we show that for a high degree of the bargaining power, output is likely to converge to a higher steady-state value.     

Evolutionary economics and economic geography

This article attempts to explore how key notions from Evolutionary Economics, such as selection, path-dependency, chance and increasing returns, may be applied to two key topics in Economic Geography. The first issue is the problem of how to specify the (potential) impact of the spatial environment on new variety in terms of technological change. Evolutionary thinking may be useful to describe and explain: (1) the process of localized `collective' learning in a regional context, (2) the adjustment problems that regions may be confronted with in a world of increasing variation, and (3) the spatial formation of newly emerging industries as an evolutionary process, in which the spatial connotation of increasing returns (that is, agglomeration economies) may result in a spatial lock-in. The second issue is the problem of how new variety may affect the long-term evolution of the spatial system. We distinguish three approaches that, each in a different way, apply evolutionary notions to the nature of spatial evolution. This is strongly related to the issue whether mechanisms of chance and increasing returns, rather than selection and path-dependency, lay at the root of the spatial evolution of new technology.     

That Pesky Problem of Persistent Gender Bias

This article provides a brief overview of the way that economists think about and measure gender pay gaps and labour market discrimination. Recent Australian evidence is then presented which highlights the relationship between the gender pay gap and both statistical and self‐assessed discrimination measures. Finally, the policy implications of these relationships are considered. In particular, it is argued that public policy needs to be targeted towards addressing the issue of gender bias more broadly, rather than focusing narrowly on the issue of gender pay gaps alone. This includes addressing the issue of sexual harassment.     

Identity,homophily and in-group bias

Many instances of social interaction display either or both of the following well-documented phenomena. People tend to interact with similar others (homophily). They also tend to treat others of shared social identity more favorably (in-group bias). While both phenomena involve some degree of discrimination towards others, a systematic study of their relations and interplay is yet missing. In this paper we report the findings of an experiment designed to address this issue. Participants are exogenously and randomly assigned to one of two groups. Subsequently they play a sequence of eight games with either an in-group or an out-group member. In treatment EXO in- and out-group matches are formed exogenously, while in ENDO participants can choose between in- and out-group matches. We find strong evidence of in-group bias in EXO, and strong evidence of homophily in ENDO. In-group biases, however, either decrease or disappear altogether under endogenous matching. We show that self-selection of homophilous agents into in-group matches cannot explain this fact. We also find that homophily is strongly correlated with risk aversion, and we build on this evidence to derive a rationale for both the existence of homophily and the disappearance of in-group biases under endogenous matching.     

基于彼得原理的领导者特质探析——成功领导者特质的人物分析法研究

彼得原理是关于组织中不胜任领导或管理者的理论,后来帕金森对它加以发展,提出了帕金森定律.通过对彼得原理和帕金森定律的分析可看出,它们所说的不称职的领导者或管理者具有定位不准确、不敢也不愿承认自己的不胜任或能力差甚至无能、喜欢用比自己还无能的人、不敢承认自己会出错或易犯错误、不接纳他人尤其是下属意见、重程序或形式而不重目标等.若反过来理解和推论,成功领导者应具备恰当定位能力、自知之明(认识到并勇于承认自己的不足)的能力与勇气、认错与纠错能力和勇气、向下属认错和道歉的胆识、积极接纳他人意见、注重目标而不重视程式或形式等素质.这说明,对领导者称职与否的分析是弄清成功领导者或管理者特质的重要途径,人物分析法是揭示成功者特质的重要方法     

Norm,virtue and information: the just price and individual behaviour in Thomas Aquinas' Summa Theologiae

This paper aims at putting forward the analytical stake of the few passages that Thomas Aquinas devotes to prices and exchange, mainly in the Summa Theologiae. His objective – to enlighten a confessor vis-à-vis his penitent, or the judge in an ecclesiastical tribunal – leads the author to a complex construction, which involves establishing a referential norm – the just price – to which the transaction price should be compared.

It is recalled here that resorting to the just price avoids any consideration of individual behaviour. However, this last comes to the forefront when the issue dealt with is to explain the reasons why such a transaction price is equal to, or on the contrary departs from the just price. Thomas Aquinas' treatment of this issue allows one to acknowledge (a) that individual behaviour is characterized by virtue or by vice in various informational contexts, and (b) that the making of a transaction price is the result of a negotiation process between buyer and seller. In a context of correct information, where the partners are both virtuous, Thomas Aquinas explains why the transaction price is equal to the just price – in the exchange in se – or could differ from it – in the exchange per accidens. But focusing on the exchange in se, both an asymmetry of information and the vice of at least one of the partners give rise to deception strategies leading to transaction prices, presented as just by the party who knows it is not, and agreed upon as just by the deceived party. Lastly, the possibility of retaining information during the negotiation process paves the way for the opportunity for the virtuous seller to protect himself against the higher power of negotiation of a possible vicious partner.

Although aiming at a different goal, Thomas Aquinas thus provides a complete theory, not only of the just price, but more generally of exchange, in which ethical considerations become decisive in determining transaction prices.     

Positional learning with noise

We propose (and test experimentally) a model of observational learning in which players have social preferences. To this end, we design an experiment–based on a classic parlor game known as the Chinos Game–in which we vary (by way of an exogenous iid stochastic process) the probability of getting the prize in the event of a correct guess. By this design, we are able to estimate more efficiently players’ sensitivity to difference in payoffs (and how this sensitivity affects information decoding along the sequence). We also condition our estimates upon additional information on subjects’ socio-demographics, risk attitudes and cognitive reflection by way of a questionnaire that we collect at the end of each session.     

Clarence E. Ayres and the Socialist Planning Debate

This article argues that two different manifestations of rational behavior can coexist and collide in a relatively homogeneous society. In the Ticuna community of Arara in the Colombian Amazon; on the one hand, the majority of villagers tend to reach relatively lower levels of material wealth, following Polanyi’s idea of the pre-modern man (1968a; 1968b; 1968c), and also Sahlins’ (1972) idea of the original affluent man. On the other hand, community leaders and schoolteachers tend to accumulate material wealth, following Polanyi’s idea of modern-man (1968a; 1968b). These behavioral frameworks help explain the limited success of certain types of development programs in the Ticuna community.     

Term limits and pork barrel politics

We develop a dynamic model of democratic politics in which both potential office holders and the electorate have heterogeneous ideologies. Voters have incomplete information about candidate ideologies, so they must use information from previous positions taken in office to make informed re-election decisions. We characterize the effects of term limits on the evolution over time of the ideological positions taken by office holders and derive the implications for voter choice and welfare. Contributions of our paper include:

•

We detail how pork provision by more senior incumbents interacts with term limits to affect electoral outcomes. Pork provision—transfers of resources from districts with junior legislators to districts with more senior legislators—induces voters to be more forgiving of extreme location by incumbents, especially incumbents in small or poor districts. Pork provision can explain why re-election probabilities in Congress exceed those for governors.

-

Term limits reduce voter welfare when all that matters are the ideological positions taken by the office holder.

-

Term limits may be advantageous when senior incumbents can extract benefits for their constituencies at the expense of districts with more junior representatives. Large or rich districts especially value term limits when there is substantial pork provision.

•

We characterize the welfare of all voters, not just the median voter.

     

A new methodology for anticipating STEEP surprises

In technological forecasting and futures research on social change, the term wild card (a.k.a. disruptor or STEEP surprise), traditionally refers to a plausible future event that is estimated to have low probability but high impact should it occur.This article introduces:

1.

A Type II Wild Card, defined as having high probability and high impact as seen by experts if present trends continue, but low credibility for non-expert stakeholders of importance.

2.

A four-level typology of wild cards, leading to a systematic methodology for monitoring the emerging awareness and credibility of high probability disruptors and for assessment of stakeholder-specific views about them.

An informal pilot test of the methodology both indicated that the approach has practical value, and highlighted the importance of highly plausible tipping points which could rapidly lead to massive disruption, either toward collapse or reformation in the complex adaptive systems (CAS) making up human civilization.For reasons of historical continuity, wild card-related nomenclature is used throughout the majority of this article although the term STEEP Surprise is advocated for further work. (STEEP being a frequently used acronym denoting five conceptual sectors of importance.)Suggestions for further work include:

•

Research on how to diminish the discounting of Type II phenomena by institutional leaders

•

Monitoring of transitions in the perceived credibility of critical Type II STEEP Surprises by thought leaders

•

A Snowball Survey of wisdom leaders having multidisciplinary expertise from all walks of life to identify specific Type II possibilities (especially positive ones), they see as having greatest importance

•

A Cooperative Clearinghouse on STEEP Surprises for sharing of intelligence on highly probable/highly disruptive events, together with plausible impacts and proactive policies.

     

Making a difference matters: Impact unlocks the emotional benefits of prosocial spending

When does giving lead to happiness? Here, we present two studies demonstrating that the emotional benefits of spending money on others (prosocial spending) are unleashed when givers are aware of their positive impact. In Study 1, an experiment using real charitable appeals, giving more money to charity led to higher levels of happiness only when participants gave to causes that explained how these funds are used to make a difference in the life of a recipient. In Study 2, participants were asked to reflect upon a time they spent money on themselves or on others in a way that either had a positive impact or had no impact. Participants who recalled a time they spent on others that had a positive impact were happiest. Together, these results suggest that highlighting the impact of prosocial spending can increase the emotional rewards of giving.     

The conjoint community resiliency assessment measure as a baseline for profiling and predicting community resilience for emergencies

Community resilience is a term that describes the community's ability to function amidst crises or disruptions. Community resilience is perceived as a fundamental element in emergency preparedness and as a mean of ensuring social stability in the face of crises, including disasters. However, there is a paucity of empiric evidence for this conjecture. This paper demonstrates the use of the Conjoint Community Resilience Assessment Measurement (CCRAM) for estimating the ability of a community to be resilient in the face of disaster. Six factors of community resilience were identified based on a study conducted in nine small to medium size towns (N = 886): Leadership, collective efficacy, preparedness, place attachment, social trust and social relationship. Multiple logistic regressions yielded the CCRAM protective factors for perceived community resilience. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analysis confirmed the quality of the CCRAM as a diagnostic tool for perceived community resilience. The CCRAM tool is presented as a potential provider of information for authorities and decision makers as an aid for foreseeing and planning towards the challenges present during emergency times.