Adoption Dynamics in Buyer-Side Exchanges

The purpose of this paper is to understand buyer/seller adoption dynamics in independent, buyer-side B2B exchanges. In a stylized model, we assume that the main role of the exchange is to reduce search costs for buyers. Buyers and sellers enter or exit the exchange based on the relative economic surplus (loss) they receive inside vs. outside the exchange. We contrast two situations: one where participants' switching cost to join the institution is negligible and another, in which it is significant. In an extension, we also explore the impact of buyer/seller heterogeneity on adoption dynamics. We have three key findings with relevant implications for practice. First, we find that the general view that demand and supply (so-called liquidity) either grows or shrinks in the marketplace may not hold. In the presence of switching costs, the exchange can evolve to a stable state with only partial market participation. Second, our results suggest that the exchange is better off subsidizing buyers as opposed to sellers in order to achieve the so-called critical mass, beyond which there is full participation. Finally, we find that while in general, minor buyers of the industry have more incentive joining the exchange, when the fixed participation fee of the exchange is high, it is major buyers who are likely to join first. For sellers, this is not the case: minor sellers are always more keen in participating in a buyer-side exchange.     

A Tale of Two Cities: Case Studies of Group Support Systems Transition

Research shows that, under certain circumstances, people using GSS can be substantially more productive than people who do not. However GSS has been slow to transition into the workplace. This paper argues that the Technology Transition Model (TTM) may be a useful way to explain this seeming paradox. The paper presents a case study of GSS transition in two organizations – one where a self-sustaining and growing community of users emerged, and one where it did not. Following TTM, it explores the frequency with which users perceived cognitive, economic, affective, political, social, and physical value from using the system. Comparison of the cases reveals differences in perceptions of value along several of these dimensions that are consistent with TTM. The findings suggest the model may be a useful way to explain the transition of collaboration technology, but more research will be required to test the model more rigorously.     

A Micromodel of New Product Adoption with Heterogeneous and Forward-Looking Consumers: Application to the Digital Camera Category

We develop an empirical model for the adoption process of a new durable product that accounts for consumer heterogeneity as well as consumers forward-looking behavior. Accounting for heterogeneity is important for two reasons. As the mix of consumers with different preferences and price sensitivities could change over time, firms need to update their marketing strategies. Further, it allows for a variety of shapes for the aggregate adoption process over time. As prices for durable and technology products fall over time with firms continually introducing enhanced products, consumers may anticipate these prices and improvements and delay their purchases in the product category. Forward-looking consumers optimize purchase timing by trading off their utilities from buying the product and their expectations on future prices, quality levels, and brand availability. Such forward-looking behavior will result in price dynamics in the marketplace as price changes today influence future purchases. And it results in different shapes of the new product sales pattern over time by influencing the time to take-off. We show how the parameters of our model can be estimated using aggregate data on the sales, prices, and attributes of brands in a product category. We apply our model to market data from the digital camera category. Our data are consistent with the presence of both heterogeneity and forward looking behavior among consumers. At the product category level, we are able to decompose the effects of the entry of Sony into primary demand expansion and switching from other brands. At the brand level, we find that there exist several segments in the market with different preferences for the brands and different price sensitivities leading to differences in adoption timing and brand choice across segments. For a given brand, we show how the changing customer mix over time has implications for that brands pricing strategies. We characterize how price effects vary across brands and over time and how price changes in a given time period influence sales in subsequent periods. Model comparison and validation results are also provided.     

社会网络和同伴效应视角下农户农业绿色技术采用研究综述

[目的]农业绿色技术的推广和应用有助于促进农业集约经营、实现农业生态良性循环、推动农业由“量”到“质”转变。文章旨在对社会网络、同伴效应与农户技术采用之间关系进行系统阐述与分析,发现现有研究不足,提出进一步研究方向。[方法]采用文献研究法和总结归纳法,以社会网络、同伴效应与农户技术采用之间关系研究的主要内容为主线,从农业技术采用、社会网络与农户技术采用、个体行为与同伴效应识别、同伴效应形成机制四个方面对现有研究进行梳理、概括和评价。[结果]目前政府和学界对农户绿色技术采用行为展开了大量研究,但大多强调农户自身特征或决策对绿色技术采用行为的影响,在很大程度上忽略了社会网络,以及同伴效应对农户绿色技术采用所起的作用。[结论]未来应深化社会网络、同伴效应对农户技术采用的影响机制的定量及动态研究;应进一步探索社会网络和同伴效应的“中国特色”;应丰富和改进研究方法和实验技术。     

设施蔬菜绿色生产技术采纳影响因素与经济效益研究——以河北省定兴县为例

[目的]农业资源环境是农业产品质量保障的基础,农业科技创新有力支撑农业产业发展,探究农业绿色生产技术的影响因素与经济效益,对保障农业产业绿色发展,提高农户绿色生产积极性具有重要意义。[方法]文章基于2020年河北省定兴县实地调研所得的219份农户数据,通过二元Logistic模型分析农户采纳绿色生产技术的影响因素,在此基础上运用倾向得分匹配方法研究技术采纳对农户家庭经济效益的作用水平。[结果]（1）虽然定兴县绿色生产技术推广取得一定成效,共有67.58%的农户采纳一种或多种绿色生产技术,但采纳程度有待提高。（2）农户的年龄、受教育程度、大棚类型、是否加入合作社、是否接受技术培训以及政府是否给予指导显著影响农户技术采纳决策。（3）采纳绿色生产技术的农户与未采纳组相比每公顷年均收入增加28.44%;测土配方技术、病虫害绿色防控技术分别带来26.52%和14.90%的增收效应,并分别在1%和5%的水平上显著,节水灌溉技术和废弃物循环利用技术增收效果不显著。[结论]绿色生产技术能显著提高农户收入,因此政府要加强对绿色生产技术的推广,通过技术培训、经济激励、构建技术推广体系等措施提高农户绿色生产...     

技术环境对菜农有机肥技术采纳行为的影响——以河南省设施菜农为例

目的 现阶段,我国化肥低效、过量施用的现象较为普遍,不仅增加农作物种植成本,还会对农业生态环境造成严重负面影响。因此,优化施肥结构,推广有机肥替代化肥对于加快实现农业绿色高质量发展具有重要意义。文章以设施蔬菜为例,从技术环境视角出发,以技术创新扩散理论为基础,分析了菜农有机肥技术采纳行为的影响因素。方法 基于河南省440份设施菜农的调研数据,利用Heckman两阶段模型分析了技术环境对菜农是否采纳有机肥技术和采纳程度的影响,并运用Logit模型和断尾回归模型进行稳健性检验。结果 研究结果表明,大多数设施菜农都采纳了有机肥技术,但采纳程度较低。有机肥使用成本、家庭务农数量、农产品畅销度、农产品价值认可度、参加技术培训和有机肥补贴政策对菜农是否采纳有机肥技术具有显著影响,而有机肥购买成本、有机肥使用成本、家庭务农数量、蔬菜种植规模、农产品价值认可度和有机肥补贴政策对菜农有机肥技术采纳程度具有显著影响。结论 政府部门可以采用多元化培训、跟踪式咨询服务、社群型学习小组等方式创新菜农有机肥技术培训模式,同时,通过加大有机肥补贴范围和力度、加快有机肥施用机械设备研发等措施降低菜农有机肥替代成本,从而提高菜农有机肥技术采纳行为。     

社会信任、感知价值对农户秸秆还田技术采纳意愿的影响——基于鄂豫两省样本农户的实证

目的 研究揭示社会信任、感知价值对农户秸秆还田技术采纳意愿的影响机制和效应。方法 文章基于社会嵌入理论和感知价值理论,以秸秆还田为例,利用湖北、河南1 776份农户调查数据,采用结构方程模型（SEM）实证分析社会信任、感知价值对农户秸秆还田技术采纳意愿的影响,并探讨不同分化水平下农户采纳意愿的差异性。结果 （1）社会信任、感知利益对农户采纳意愿具有显著正向影响,而感知风险具有显著负向影响;（2）社会信任主要通过感知利益间接作用于农户秸秆还田技术采纳意愿,感知风险的中介作用不显著,其中介效应分为别为0.165和0.001;（3）从多群组分析结果来看,低水平分化和高垂直分化农户的社会信任对其秸秆还田技术采纳意愿的影响更强烈。结论 政府应构建农户高度信任的外部环境,提高农户多维度价值感知,针对不同分化水平的农户制定差异化宣传策略,以切实增强农户采纳秸秆还田技术的积极意愿,实现秸秆综合利用与生态保护的双重目标。     

农户采纳稻虾共作模式的邻里效应研究

[目的]稻虾共作生态农业模式在长江中下游地区发展迅速,对于这一生态农业模式的扩散机理研究,有助于推动其他生态农业模式发展。[方法]文章基于湖北省、湖南省和安徽省农户调研数据,采用二元Probit计量方法分析了农户采纳稻虾共作模式的邻里效应,并采用工具变量法对基准回归结果的内生性进行检验及计算出社会乘数效应。[结果]（1）农户的稻虾共作模式采纳行为存在显著的邻里效应,同村邻里农户采纳行为均值每提高一个单位,个体农户采纳稻虾共作模式的概率将提高26.5%;邻里农户采纳行为的社会乘数效应为1.69。（2）农户的稻虾共作模式采纳行为还存在显著的情景效应;加入合作社可以显著提高农户稻虾共作模式采纳行为。[结论]在生态农业模式采纳比较少的行政村内,可以采取适当的激励政策引导部分农户采纳生态农业模式,再通过邻里互动效应作用,间接影响其他农户,从而提高整体采纳水平,形成规模效应。优先采纳的农户通过技术示范、经济收益示范,影响和带动其他农户采纳;充分发挥合作社的辐射带动作用,促进农户生态农业模式采纳行为。     

Measuring agricultural knowledge and adoption

Understanding the tradeoffs in improving the precision of agricultural measures through survey design is crucial. Yet, standard indicators used to determine program effectiveness may be flawed, and at a differential rate for men and women. We use a household survey from Mozambique to estimate the measurement error from male and female self‐reports of their adoption and knowledge of three practices: intercropping, mulching, and strip tillage. Despite clear differences in human and physical capital, there are no obvious differences in the knowledge, adoption, and error in self‐reporting between men and women. Having received training unanimously lowers knowledge misreports and increases adoption misreports. Other determinants of reporting error differ by gender. Misreporting is positively associated with a greater number of plots for men. Recall decay on measures of knowledge appears prominent among men but not women. Findings from regression and cost‐effectiveness analyses always favor the collection of objective measures of knowledge. Given the lowest rate of accuracy for adoption was around 80%, costlier objective adoption measures are recommended for a subsample in regions with heterogeneous farm sizes.     

Reply to the Discussion Note on the “The Effect of IFRS Adoption Conditional Upon the Level of Pre-adoption Divergence”

Pathak (2014) has raised both conceptual and methodological questions about Cai, Rahman, and Courtenay (2014). In this reply, we attempt to address the questions. The discussion arising from these questions suggests that IFRS adoption and the implications of IFRS are complex issues. Cai et al. (2014) try to illustrate that IFRS adoption is not a single-step solution. It has various stages. Some countries take gradual steps towards IFRS adoption and others embrace IFRS in one big step. Cai et al. (2014) also explain that IFRS adoption is associated with other institutional arrangements within a country. The issue of the manner in which IFRS is adopted across countries needs further investigation to better assess the country level impediments of IFRS adoption and how IFRS adoption affects market efficiency.