E-negotiation System Development: Using Negotiation Protocols to Manage Software Components

A major challenge in developing an e-negotiation system (ENS) is that the system should fit into the context which varies with negotiation cases. To mitigate context dependency, we propose to separate e-negotiation protocols from ENS and adopt a component-oriented approach. In this paper, we present a framework for e-negotiation protocols that implements this approach. The framework has been tested by developing several ENSs of which two had been tested in laboratory negotiation experiments with more than 100 participants.     

The Role of Emotion and Language in Dyadic E-negotiations

This paper examines the emotion and tone of language used by e-negotiation participants. Eight hundred e-negotiations of varying lengths were studied and significant differences between successful and unsuccessful e-negotiations were uncovered. Participants in successful e-negotiations expressed significantly more positive emotion and agreeable language, and significantly less negative language in their textual exchanges than participants in failed e-negotiations. Further, successful e-negotiations were shorter in elapsed time than unsuccessful e-negotiations. Logistic regression results indicate that use of agreeable language throughout the e-negotiation process is a significant predictor of e-negotiation success, while the use of negative language is only significant to e-negotiation success (failure) in the last half of the e-negotiation.     

Non-Libertarianism and Shareholder Theory: A Reply to Schaefer

Libertarianism and the shareholder model of corporate responsibility have long been thought of as natural bedfellows. In a recent contribution to the Journal of Business Ethics, Brian Schaefer goes so far as to suggest that a proponent of shareholder theory cannot coherently and consistently embrace any moral position other than philosophical libertarianism. The view that managers have a fiduciary obligation to advance the interests of shareholders exclusively is depicted as fundamentally incompatible with the acknowledgement of natural positive duties – duties to aid others that have not been acquired by some prior commitment or transaction. I argue that Schaefer is mistaken. Positive duties are incompatible with the shareholder model only if we must contribute to their fulfilment in the corporate context; only if we have some reason to think that it is not possible or not permissible to discharge these obligations entirely in our private lives or through our various other roles and capacities. But we have no good reason to accept this. I argue that individuals are presumptively free to decide how and when to discharge their positive duties, and that buying shares does not cause this presumption to lapse. Hence a non-libertarian moral theory can be held without incoherence by a proponent of the shareholder model.     

Configurable e-negotiation systems for large scale and transparent decision making

Participatory democracy is one of several conceptions of democracy which strives to create opportunities for all members of a group to contribute to the decision making process. Recent developments in information technologies in general and Internet technologies in particular are affecting the existing democratic mechanisms, hence enabling citizens and organizations to participate widely, efficiently and transparently in the decision making process and, most importantly, to arrive at better decisions faster, through negotiation. E-negotiation systems rely on such technologies to implement protocols ranging from motion raising and voting to auctions, and to make them available on the web for general use. E-negotiation systems can be used for political and societal decision making as well as business dealings within e-government and B2B settings. In order for these systems to fulfill their promise of bringing decision making opportunities to all, we need a structured approach and a configurable framework for designing, implementing and deploying them. The resulting systems should be web-based, easy to use, affordable, traceable, reliable, secure, flexible, efficient, and open for integration with other systems. This paper starts by examining leading research initiatives to devise such a framework and discussing the motivations behind them. We then introduce several design requirements derived from the expectations of e-negotiation systems providers and users. We argue that meeting these requirements fosters a more democratic and efficient decision making process. We also present our approach and vision of a configurable framework for designing, implementing and deploying e-negotiation systems.     

Trajectories for Driving the Diffusion of e-Negotiation Service Providers in Supply Chains: An Action Research Approach

ABSTRACT

The recent proliferation of online-based trade makes negotiations with service providers for global supply networks evermore challenging. The Internet is believed to be a viable means for enabling and facilitating these supply chain interactions. As such, commercial web-based services that support negotiation processes have emerged (i.e., e-negotiation services). Even though these services have promising benefits for supply chain participants, they have not been accepted by most business users. Current e-negotiation studies fail to capture the substantive reasons of this low acceptance as they typically ignore real-world aspects of commercial negotiations. As such, this study argues that an action research approach is a plausible means to study this issue, and to drive changes in the e-negotiations services market. Accordingly, a research plan is outlined with guidelines and recommendations for future action research projects.     

Information Sensitivity Typology: Mapping the Degree and Type of Risk Consumers Perceive in Personal Data Sharing

Surveys show significant public concern regarding information privacy. To better understand how consumer concerns vary by type of personal data, the authors created a typology of information types based on perceived associated risks. In a national consumer survey, 52 information types were analyzed along four perceived risk categories (physical, psychological, monetary, and social), consumers' overall sensitivity regarding the information, and their willingness to provide it. This resulted in six highly distinctive clusters—Basic Demographics, Personal Preferences, Contact Information, Community Interaction, Financial Information, and Secure Identifiers—organized around similarities in perceived risk profile. Additionally, consumer segmentation analysis shows rank order of cluster risk perceptions to be stable, even when perceived magnitude and overall risk propensities change by segment. This research advances the conversation from an outdated PII/non‐PII framework to a more meaningful, consumer‐based understanding of the perceived risks associated with different types of personal information.     

Credit risk pricing in a consumption-based equilibrium framework with incomplete accounting information

We present a consumption-based equilibrium framework for credit risk pricing based on the Epstein–Zin (EZ) preferences where the default time is modeled as the first hitting time of a default boundary and bond investors have imperfect/partial information about the firm value. The imperfect information is generated by the underlying observed state variables and a noisy observation process of the firm value. In addition, the consumption, the volatility, and the firm value process are modeled to follow affine diffusion processes. Using the EZ equilibrium solution as the pricing kernel, we provide an equivalent pricing measure to compute the prices of financial derivatives as discounted values of the future payoffs given the incomplete information. The price of a zero-coupon bond is represented in terms of the solutions of a stochastic partial differential equation (SPDE) and a deterministic PDE; the self-contained proofs are provided for both this representation and the well-posedness of the involved SPDE. Furthermore, this SPDE is numerically solved, which yields some insights into the relationship between the structure of the yield spreads and the model parameters.     

Negotiation Support and E-negotiation Systems: An Overview

With negotiation being an often difficult process involving complex problems, computer-based support has been employed in its various phases and tasks. This article provides a historical overview of software used to support negotiations, aid negotiators, and automate one or more negotiation activities. First, it presents several system classifications, including implemented models, system architectures, and configurations of various systems interacting with human negotiators. Then, it focuses on NSSs (negotiation support systems) and related systems introduced in the early 1980s and on ENSs (e-negotiation systems), which are deployed on the web. These broad categories are discussed from four perspectives: real-life applications, systems used in research and training, research results, and research frameworks.     

Information Asymmetries as Antecedents of Opportunism in Buyer-Supplier Relationships: Testing Principal-Agent Theory

ABSTRACT

Purpose: A severe problem in supplier selection refers to moral hazard: suppliers not behaving in the expected way once contracted. Principal-agent theory could provide insights on how to reduce this problem. Because buyer–supplier relationships can be interpreted as principal-agent situations, the application of agency theory should facilitate improved supplier selection. Although theoretically compelling, empirical tests verifying this assumption are not prevalent. Regarding the advancement of theory, this paper tests whether both ex ante and ex post information asymmetries influence moral hazard. In particular, in the context of a globalizing economy with a subsequent increase in information asymmetries as a problem in supplier selection, this conceptual approach may be contributive.

Design/methodology/approach: The authors use a set of 87 buyer–supplier relationships to conduct a test, applying a partial least squares model with latent variables. A particularity of the data set is that it contains information on ongoing as well as on discontinued relationships.

Findings: The analysis indicated that both ex ante information asymmetries (operationalized by a reputation variable) and ex post asymmetries (operationalized by a monitoring variable) have shown to be significant and strong antecedents explaining the occurrence of moral hazard. Interestingly, and opposed to the common assumption, the length of a relationship and the amount of direct meetings have not revealed any explanatory significance. Buyer dependency hardly showed influence on supplier opportunism.

Research limitations/implications: Data were collected from a multitude of buyer–supplier relationships from a single firm in the chemical-pharmaceutical industry. Generalizations to other industries still need to be tested. Socially desirable answering behavior cannot fully be excluded because relationship discontinuation is not a desirable situation. In terms of theory implications, this research adds to the notion that both hidden action and hidden intention can lead to moral hazard.

Practical implications: An agency-based analysis can be operationalized with the help of an agency-based supplier classification portfolio. It might be of particular value to firms to discuss those suppliers that scored high in risk of opportunism but did not (yet) reveal any signs of moral hazard. Finally, the strong explanatory power

of reputation alerts buyers to pay more attention to behavioral information on the (potential) supplier available in the market.

Originality/value: Analyzing the occurrence of moral hazard and including terminated relationships adds to the emerging stream of literature on relationship discontinuation in B2B markets. Further, the strong empirical results may encourage researchers to elaborate on principal-agent theory-based assumptions, adding another layer of explanation to buyer–supplier relationships. Findings show that reputation is unduly neglected as supplier selection criterion in current theory and practice.     

Exploring usage continuance of e-negotiation systems: expectation and disconfirmation approach

Online negotiation is becoming increasingly popular and important due to the rapid growth of global e-business, with the factors determining the continuance of e-negotiation systems (ENSs) usage––rather than the mere acceptance of their use––receiving more attention. This study used the expectation-disconfirmation theory to investigate the factors influencing the intention of ENS usage continuance. Using two Web-based ENSs, data were collected from 170 negotiators who participated in an e-negotiation experiment lasting 17 days. A structural-equation modeling technique was adopted to examine the research model and hypotheses. The obtained research results provide novel insights into ENS usage continuance for ENS researchers, developers, and managers. They indicate that positive disconfirmation (i.e., where the actual experience or perceived performance is better than the expectation) plays a crucial role in shaping the intentions of users to continue using an ENS. Therefore, researchers should consider postusage factors when attempting to elucidate the decision-making processes that underlie the continued use of an ENS. Similarly, the development of a successful ENS requires its developers to consider the expectations of users when designing the system specification. To ensure ENS usage continuance, IS managers should continuously monitor the users’ expectation-disconfirmation status to ensure their satisfaction with the ENS.     

Framing Effects in Risk Perceptions of Aids

This paper examines a boundary condition of the ease-of-retrieval effect shown to affect risk perceptions of AIDS (Raghubir and Menon 1998; R&M). R&M had shown that when AIDS-related behaviors were difficult (vs. easy) to recall, people reduced their estimates of contracting AIDS, based on an inference that the more difficult an item was to recall, the smaller the population of behavioral experiences in memory, from which it was drawn. In this paper, we show that when people can attribute recall difficulty to task contingencies (i.e., the difficulty is not informative about their own behavioral experience), the content of the information recalled from memory, rather than the ease with which such information was recalled, affects judgments. In such a scenario, framing the recall task as one that causes AIDS leads to perceptions of higher risk versus one that prevents AIDS. Theoretically, these results show that the use of information accessibility as a cue is based on inferences about the population from which the information is drawn. Managerially, the results suggest that risk perceptions are based on contextual cues that affect content and accessibility of memory-based information.     

Environmental Ethics and Information Asymmetry among Organizational Stakeholders

This paper addresses the conflicting environmental interests of a firm and the community, an important stakeholder. The short-term profit maximization objective of a firm may stand in contrast with what the community wants – a "safe and clean environment". This paper argues that the information regarding the environmental impact of a firm's products, processes, and waste may be asymmetrically distributed between the firm and the community. The resultant information asymmetry may influence the probability of a firm acting opportunistically, and ultimately, a firm's ethical behavior. The paper identifies information asymmetry between a firm and community, as well as that within the community. The perceived information asymmetry across various community segments may perhaps be a determinant of environmental discrimination. The paper further contends that information asymmetry may diminish in the long run. Finally it examines the implications of information asymmetry for firms and government policy.     

Hot Versus Cool Behavioural Styles in Electronic Negotiations: The Impact of Communication Mode

In this paper, we study the effects of synchronous and asynchronous communication mode on electronic negotiations. By applying content analysis, we compare the negotiation processes of two e-negotiation simulations conducted in a synchronous and an asynchronous setting. Our results show significant differences in communication behaviour of subjects. Synchronous negotiation mode leads to less friendly, more affective, and more competitive negotiation behaviour. In the asynchronous communication mode, negotiators exchange more private and task-oriented information and are friendlier. These results suggest that negotiators in the asynchronous mode, who have more time to reflect, cool down and control emotions better while negotiators, who communicate synchronously engage more in emotional and competitive “hot” debates. In addition, negotiators in the asynchronous mode are more satisfied with the process and outcome of the negotiation. We conclude that de-individuation and escalating effects might be caused by communication mode rather than by the ability of the media to transmit social cues.     

Informatics and society: Will there be an ‘information revolution’?

The claim that an information revolution is underway is scrutinized in this paper. Particular attention is given to the notions that new information technology will radically increase human choice and rationality in decision-making. The literature on informatics and technology is selectively reviewed in order to determine whether (1) the present use of technology seems to predict an increased choice and rationality in the future; (2) earlier technologies have had this effect; and (3) past social predictions of this type have proven generally correct. We reach a mixed or negative conclusion in every case. Although the possibility of an information revolution cannot be dismissed, neither can it be readily accepted at this point unless we significantly diminish what is normally meant by a ‘revolution’. Lorne Tepperman is Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His most important publications are:Social Mobility in Canada (1975);Crime Control: The Urge Toward Authority (1977);The Roots of Disunity (1979), with David Ball. Originally presented at a symposium on “Computers and Society”, held at Ryerson Polytechnical Institute, Toronto, on January 30, 1984.     

Modeling e-Negotiation Processes for a Service Oriented Architecture

Most of today's e-marketplaces support a single negotiation protocol. The protocol is usually built into the e-marketplace infrastructure, therefore if a new one is introduced then a time consuming and complex process of implementing it takes place. Moreover, participants in the e-marketplace need to adapt their interfaces to the new protocol, especially if they use automated tools to interact with the e-marketplace. This paper reports on a model-driven approach and a framework for rapid and user-friendly development of configurable service oriented e-negotiation systems. We believe that a formal specification of negotiation protocols and their separation from the market infrastructure that implements them is a step towards configurable e-negotiation systems. The protocols are graphically designed for the e-marketplace then mapped into web service orchestrations. Participants use automated negotiation systems to interact with the e-marketplace. These systems are generated based on the negotiation protocol implemented on the e-marketplace. A declarative language is used to specify negotiation strategies and tactics. We propose an algorithm to map Statechart models of negotiation protocols into web service orchestrations and we report on the current implementation of our framework.     

Multi-bilateral Multi-issue E-negotiation in E-commerce with a Tit-for-Tat Computer Agent

We discuss multi-bilateral multi-issue electronic negotiation (e-negotiation) in the context of an e-commerce marketplace system in which multiple players – buyers and sellers – conduct bilateral (pair-wise) multi-attribute negotiations followed optionally by an auction. Negotiators both make and request specific concessions. The concept of a tit-for-tat concession strategy is developed and implemented by a computer agent. The work is related to the Evolutionary Systems Design (ESD) framework for formal modeling/design of Purposeful Complex Adaptive Systems (PCAS).     

Resolving Impasses in e-Negotiation: Does e-Mediation Work?

In this article we evaluate the performance of an e-mediation system, referred to as VienNA, in an e-negotiation environment. A set of hypotheses drawn from the mediation and e-mediation literatures are explored. Bargaining processes, outcomes, and perceptions are compared for bargainers that have access to the VienNA system with those that do not have access during negotiation. Supporting several of the hypotheses, bargainers with access to the system were more flexible during the process, showed more concession reciprocation, sent more messages dealing with relationships and related sources of conflict, and were more satisfied with both the process and outcome. Early use of the system produced more flexible bargaining and better outcomes than later use, a finding that supports research on mediation in international conflicts. More balanced agreements occurred when bargainers consulted a form of advice known as fairness norms. Implications of these results for theory and practice are discussed along with suggestions for further research.     

Increasing Intellectual Bandwidth: Generating Value from Intellectual Capital with Information Technology

An organization's Intellectual Bandwidth (IB) is its capacity to transform External Domain Knowledge (EDK) into Intellectual Capital (IC), and to convert IC into Applied Knowledge (AK), from which a task team can create value. An organization's IB is an upper boundary on its ability to solve complex problems. To create value, members of an organization must search for knowledge, share it, and, bring it to bear on the issue at hand. The Intellectual Bandwidth of an organization must therefore be, to a certain extent, a function of the ability of its members to access data, information, and knowledge that is relevant in the context of the task at hand in order to understand the causes and consequences of their problem. They must reason about possible solutions and their potential consequences. Throughout the task they must communicate with other stakeholders and subject matter experts as they make a joint effort toward their goal. This paper develops a model of IB based on these and other concepts. It posits that IB is the product of a Hierarchy of Understanding and a Hierarchy of Collaboration. The paper suggests that the model may be useful for analyzing and deploying IT in ways that reduce the cognitive load of bringing EDK and IC to bear on the task at hand. Future research must focus on refining and validating constructs and developing measures of IB, and using those measures to find ways to increase the value derived from EDK and IC.     

Cultural and Ethical Effects on Managerial Decisions: Examined in a Throughput Model

Financial and cost accounting information is processed by decision-makers guided by their particular need to support decisions. Recent technological advances impacting on information as well as organizations such as the European Community mandating financial reporting requirements for many countries is rapidly changing the landscape for decision making using accounting information. Hence, the importance of individuals' decision making is more important than it was previously. These decisions are also influenced by individuals' ethical beliefs. The Throughput Modeling approach to cultural and ethical concerns provides a way of dealing with accounting information processed through various pathways by decision-makers. This modeling approach captures different philosophical perspectives from which to understand what is involved in "thinking scientifically." In the Throughput Modeling approach, pathways highlight the importance of how different philosophical perspectives may be used by individuals in arriving at a decision. This paper highlights key concepts involved in rethinking the basis of moral decision making in terms of an underlying process, rather than focusing on the application of principles or the development of a virtuous character. Examples are provided from both English and Spanish settings to help emphasize the importance of modeling ethical decision making globally.