Performance pay and worker cooperation: Evidence from an artefactual field experiment

We report the results of an artefactual field experiment with bicycle messengers in Switzerland and the United States. Messenger work is individualized enough that firms can choose to condition pay on it, but significant externalities in messenger behavior nonetheless give their on-the-job interactions the character of a social dilemma. Second-mover behavior in our sequential prisoner's dilemma allows us to characterize the cooperativeness of our participants. Among messengers, we find that employees at firms that pay for performance are significantly less cooperative than those at firms that pay hourly wages or who are members of cooperatives. To examine whether the difference is the result of treatment or selection we exploit the fact that firm type is location-specific in Switzerland and that entering messengers must work in performance pay firms in the U.S.     

Eliciting Willingness to Pay without Bias using Follow-up Certainty Statements: Comparisons between Probably/Definitely and a 10-point Certainty Scale

Correction for hypothetical bias using follow up certainty questions often takes one of two forms: (1) two options, “definitely sure” and “probably sure”, or (2) a 10-point scale with 10 very certain. While both have been successful in eliminating hypothetical bias from estimates of WTP by calibrating based on the certainty of yes responses, little is known about the relationship between the two. The purpose of this paper is to compare the two using data from three field experiments in a private good, dichotomous choice format. We compare four types of yes responses that differ in the criterion used to determine if there is sufficient certainty for a hypothetical yes response to be considered a true yes response. We make several comparisons, but focus on determining which values on the 10-point scale give the same estimates of WTP as “definitely sure” hypothetical yeses and real yeses (actual purchases). Values that produce equivalence are near 10 on the certainty scale.     

我国中小企业融资问题研究

改革开放以来,我国的中小企业得到迅猛的发展,已成为数量颇为庞大的企业群体,在我国国民经济和社会发展中具有举足轻重的地位和作用。但是,我国中小企业在发展过程中获得的资金支持,与其社会贡献程度不成正比,中小企业贸易融资难正日益限制着中小企业的发展。近年来,中国外贸发展很快,进出口贸易额大幅增长,其中出口量的印％来自于中小企业。但是,这些中小企业在参与国际贸易的过程中,都面临着市场开拓难、融资成瓶颈、收汇风险多等难题。这些难题严重困扰着中小企业的发展,影响中小企业经营规模的扩大,甚至威胁到企业的生存,同时也影响了中国对外贸易的发展。     

中国“国际热钱”的现状及对策研究

在我国对外来投机资本实施严格限制的情况下,“热钱”的流入采取了多样化、隐蔽的方式进行。如何有效遏止国际热钱流入和流动性过剩,需要从解决我国经济发展中的自身结构问题、调整人民币升值预期、完善国内经济体制政策和建立健全风险防范机制几个方面着手。     

中国农业发展的新天地——生态旅游农业

生态旅游农业是一种以保护自然生态环境为基础,以开发田园旅游资源为重点的新型艺术农业,它集生态效益、经济效益、社会效益和文化生活于一体,是一种高层次的农业。本文就生态旅游农业的概念、兴起、意义、特征、形式、应遵循的原则、发展政策和发展前景等问题进行探讨。     

Progress in field experimentation for environmentally sustainable tourism – A knowledge map and research agenda

The global aspiration to mitigate climate change puts substantial pressure on the tourism sector – one of the most polluting industries – to operate in more sustainable ways. This study reviews intervention experiments in tourism and hospitality aimed at making tourist behaviour more sustainable. The analysis of 53 field experiments reveals the most promising intervention strategies. The resulting knowledge map highlights that past intervention studies were limited to only a small number of relevant target behaviours and intervention types, pointing to many unexplored areas that require urgent attention in future.     

Virtual interviews vs. LinkedIn profiles: Effects on human resource managers’ initial hiring decisions

This study examined how human resource (HR) managers' assessments of a job candidate's performance in the first virtual interview and his/her LinkedIn profile affect their hiring decisions. Using field data with 44 HR managers' assessments of 400 job candidates' virtual interview performance (Time 1) and their LinkedIn profiles (Time 2), regression analyses reveal that managers' hiring decisions in Time 1 (before checking LinkedIn) is positively affected by interpersonal competence and leadership potential but negatively affected by virtual presence. Virtual presence reduces interpersonal competence's but strengthens leadership potential's positive effects on hiring decisions in Time 1. Having a LinkedIn profile could change managers' decisions. Their hiring decisions in Time 2 become stronger for candidates with a higher overall rating on their LinkedIn profiles but weaker for those with more spelling/grammatical errors. Such findings add to the relevant literature and provide meaningful implications for HR managers and job candidates.     

How Do Social Norms Influence Parents’ Food Choices for Their Children? The Role of Social Comparison and Implicit Self-Theories

Despite the proliferation of healthier side items for children at fast food restaurants, many parents still do not make healthy choices for their children in this setting. The goal of this research is to identify the parents most likely to do so and develop an intervention to nudge these parents toward making healthier choices in retail outlets. Across four field studies conducted in a retail environment (i.e., locations of a fast food restaurant chain), the authors predict and find that parents with a high tendency to engage in social comparison and a malleable view of the self are most likely to conform to the norm in their parental social network. Given that the norm in the population studied is to order a less healthy side item (e.g., fries) versus a healthy side item (e.g., fruit), conforming results in significantly less healthy orders for the children of these individuals. The authors demonstrate that a social norm-based intervention designed to set a new healthy norm in this retail environment succeeded in increasing the overall proportion of parents that chose a healthy side item by over 29% by increasing the choice of healthy sides specifically for these individuals. The authors conclude with a discussion of implications for theory, retail managers, and policy makers.     

How augmented reality affects advertising effectiveness: The mediating effects of curiosity and attention toward the ad

Many major consumer-driven companies have started to use augmented-reality (AR) technology and AR apps to enrich their customers' shopping experiences and engagement with their brands, and to ultimately increase sales. However, there is scant research discussing the application of AR in an advertising context. Thus, the major goal of this study is to explore how, why, and when augmented reality influences advertising effectiveness. A field experiment and two laboratory experiments demonstrate that an AR advertisement increases consumers’ attitude toward the ad through an increase in their curiosity toward the ad and attention toward the ad (i.e., measured by a physiological measure using eye-tracking). However, the effects only hold when consumers are unfamiliar with the AR ad technology. Overall, this study provides practical implications to advertisers who are considering integrating augmented reality technology in their advertising efforts.     

Do persistence and passion matter: Evidence from the educational testing service major field test in business

The authors examined the determinants of success on the Educational Testing Service Major Field Test in Business. The authors find that gender, SAT performance, and concentration are significant predictors of performance. Additionally, they derive proxies for student passion and persistence, and find that the greater the student's passion for business is, the higher the score is. The authors discover that students who demonstrate persistence, as measured by the extent to which they outperform their grade point average expectations, also score higher on the exam.