The role of interviewer encounters in panel responses on life satisfaction

This note examines a common explanation why participants of panel surveys may report declining life satisfaction over time. In line with the argument of developing trust relationships between interviewers and interviewees, the analysis reveals positive effects in reported life satisfaction when the person conducting the interview changes to an unfamiliar individual. Yet, the evidence also shows that the overall decline is determined by years in the panel, rather than by number of encounters with one specific interviewer.     

Users and radical innovation performance: the moderating role of the organisational context

This study investigates four key factors of the internal organisational context that moderate the relationship between connecting with users and radical innovation performance: performance management, autonomy, internal networking and organisation and culture to support innovation. These components define a firm's organisational context. A sample of Austrian- and Italian-based firms shows that the connecting with users–radical innovation performance relationship is amplified at higher levels of all the investigated elements of the organisational context. The authors discuss the study's implications as well as future research directions.     

Knowledge spillovers through FDI and trade: the moderating role of quality-adjusted human capital

The paper extends the findings of the Coe and Helpman (Eur Econ Rev 39(5):859-887, 1995) model of R&D spillovers by considering foreign direct investment (FDI) as a channel for knowledge spillovers in addition to imports. Deeper insights on the issue are provided by examining the inter-relationship between knowledge spillovers from imports and inward FDI. Furthermore, human capital is added to the discussion as one of the appropriability factors for knowledge spillovers, with special focus on its quality-content, using journal publications and patent applications. Applying cointegration estimation method on 20 European countries from 1995 to 2010, the direct effects of FDI-related as well as import-related spillovers on domestic productivity are confirmed. Furthermore, a strong complementary relationship is found between knowledge spillovers through the channels of imports and inward FDI. When considering quality-adjusted human capital, countries with better human capital are found to benefit not only from direct productivity effects, but also from absorption and transmission of international knowledge spillovers through imports and inward FDI. Finally, technological distance with the frontier does not appear to play a role in the absorption of import and FDI related knowledge spillovers.     

The moderating effects of gender on customer satisfaction and continuance intention in mobile commerce: a UTAUT-based perspective

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study is to investigate the moderating effects of gender on proposed model relationships. In order to test the moderating effects of gender on the relationships of the model developed, multi-group SEM was applied. Performance expectancy was found to be the strongest predictor of satisfaction and comparative value was identified as the main driver of continuance intention. In addition, significant difference in attitudes between women and men were confirmed in the case of three out of ten effects. The originality of the study is its measurement of the moderating effects of gender on user satisfaction in relation to m-commerce and continuance intentions.     

Growth and social security: the role of human capital

This paper studies the growth and efficiency effects of pay-as-you-go financed social security when human capital is the engine of growth. Employing a variant of the Lucas model [Lucas, R.E., 1988. On the mechanics of economic development. Journal of Monetary Economics 22, 3–42.] with overlapping generations, it is shown that a properly designed, unfunded social security system leads to higher output growth than a fully funded one. Furthermore, the economy with an unfunded social security is efficient, while the other one is not. These results stand in sharp contrast to those obtained in models where the reason for economic growth is physical capital accumulation.     

Valuing flood disasters using the life satisfaction approach

This paper argues that life satisfaction data can be used to value natural disasters. We discuss the strengths of this approach, compare it to traditional methods and apply it to estimate and monetize utility losses caused by floods in 16 European countries between 1973 and 1998. Using combined cross-section and time-series data, we find a negative impact of floods on life satisfaction that is sizeable, robust and significant. The estimates are comparable to price discounts found in housing markets. In an exploratory analysis, we find that risk transfer mechanisms such as mandatory insurance have large mitigating effects.     

Inventor cooperation network effects on technology diversification: the moderating role of intellectual property protection

ABSTRACT

Technological diversification can overcome the limitations imposed by an enterprise’s single technological capability and enables enterprises to recombine resources, thereby enhancing their competitive advantage. In-house inventor cooperation can improve the efficiency of the production factor combination and expand the scope of the enterprise’s technology base. This study empirically explores the effect of in-house inventor cooperation network on technology diversification. In addition, this study further investigates the moderating effect of intellectual property protection on the inventor cooperation network and on corporate technology diversification. An enterprise inventor cooperation network is embodied by its network location characteristics. Empirical results show that the difference in the location of the inventor cooperative network exhibits different effects on the diversification of enterprise technology. Moreover, intellectual property protection significantly weakens the incentive effect of the intermediary location of inventor cooperative network on corporate technology diversification.     

The impact of climate on life satisfaction

We analyse the influence of climate on average life satisfaction in 79 countries using data from the World Values Survey. Climate is described in terms of ‘degree-months’ calculated as the cumulated monthly deviations from a base temperature of 65 °F (18.3 °C). Our results suggest that countries with climates characterised by a large number of degree-months enjoy significantly lower levels of life satisfaction. This finding is robust to a wide variety of model specifications. Using our results to analyse a particular climate change scenario associated with the IPCC A2 emissions scenario points to major losses for African countries, but modest gains for Northern Europe.     

The effect of external partner heterogeneity on open innovation: the moderating role of the technological regime

There is widespread agreement that open innovation (OI) is strongly influenced by external partner heterogeneity. While previous studies have examined partner heterogeneity using quantitative analysis, the implications of a weighted assignment using an external partner heterogeneity index have received less attention. The purpose of this study is to develop a modified partner heterogeneity model. Specifically, using a questionnaire survey of Chinese firms, we develop a new method to measure partner organisational heterogeneity (POH). Then, the moderating factors of an industry's technological environment, termed the technological regime, are introduced. The empirical analysis shows that the technological regime is positively correlated with POH and OI performance. Hence, an advanced technological regime improves POH and OI performance by incorporating external resources and increasing innovation potential.     

Consumption over the life cycle: The role of annuities

We explore the quantitative implications of uncertainty about the length of life and a lack of annuity markets for life cycle consumption in a general equilibrium overlapping generations model in which markets are otherwise complete. Empirical studies find that consumption displays a hump shape over the life cycle. Our model exhibits life cycle consumption that is consistent with this pattern. Our calibrated model, which includes an unfunded social security system, displays a hump shape but the peak occurs later in the life cycle than in the data. Adding a bequest motive causes this decline to begin at a younger age.     

Disease and development: The role of life expectancy reconsidered

This note estimates the causal effect of life expectancy on per capita income and tests the hypothesis of a non-monotonic effect using finite mixture models. The results confirm the hypothesis and qualify recent evidence for a negative effect by Acemoglu and Johnson (2007).     

The role of social support on relationship quality and social commerce

Empowered by social media, individuals are active content creators in social networking sites. This has brought new changes in business environment, of which social commerce is one of them. Social commerce, a new stream in e-commerce, highlights the role of technological advancements to develop a new social commerce era. In social commerce era, individuals share their knowledge, experiences, and information about the products and services with peers, providing a supportive environment in an online context. Drawn from social support theory, relationship quality, and social media concept this research proposes a model to investigate the role of social factors that impact on relationship quality and social commerce intention. A survey conducted on Facebook, a popular social networking site, and PLS-SEM method was applied to empirically test the proposed model. The results offer a valuable picture of social factors that influence relationship quality and social commerce intention. Towards these ends, the study highlights a new picture of consumers' behaviour in social commerce era. It provides a new theory in the area of research — social commerce. Practical implications of the research also highlight new technological changes in e-commerce platform and provide new strategies to firms to adopt these new technological advancements.     

A life cycle analysis of social security

Summary We develop an applied general equilibrium model to examine the optimal social security replacement rate and the welfare benefits associated with it. Our setup consists of overlapping generations of 65-period lived individuals facing mortality risk and individual income risk. Private credit markets, including markets for private annuities, are closed by assumption. Unlike previous analyses, we find that an unfunded social security system may well enhance economic welfare. In our benchmark economy, the optimal social security replacement rate is 30%, and an empirically more plausible replacement rate of 60% raises welfare compared with an economy with no social security system.We would like to thank Andy Atkeson, V. V. Chari, Steve Davis, Paul Evans, Lars Hansen, Tim Kehoe, Nobu Kiyotaki, Ed Prescott, José-Victor Ríos-Rull, Richard Rogerson, Tom Sargent, Nancy Stokey, Dick Sweeney, Robert Townsend, and the participants of the NBER Economic Fluctuations Small Group Workshop on Micro and Macro Perspectives on the Aggregate Labor Market in Palo Alto, the NBER General Equilibrium Theory Conference in Minneapolis, the Money and Banking Workshop at the University of Chicago, and the NBER Summer Institute. An earlier version of this paper was titled A Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium Analysis of Social Security. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. SES-9210291. We also thank the Minnesota and San Diego Supercomputer Centers for their support.     

The moderating role of power asymmetry on the relationships between alliance and innovative performance in the high-tech industry

This study outlines a model of why and how the respective influence of alliance learning and alliance experience on innovative performance is likely to be moderated by the level of power asymmetry. The results are based on a sample of 316 high technology firms' alliances. By testing our model using hierarchical regression, the results generally support the proposed hypotheses, in that power asymmetry has a significant negative moderating effect on the impact of alliance learning on innovative performance. In contrast, we find that power asymmetry has a significant positive moderating effect on the impact of alliance experience on innovative performance. Implications for management theory and practice are discussed.     

Asymmetric memory recall of positive and negative events in social interactions

Previous studies have suggested that negative emotion can enhance memory accuracy. However, they were not conducted in the context of social interactions using the methodology of experimental economics. Based on the present study, we find that in such a context, individuals’ memory recall accuracy depends on the kindness of acts and who performed them, and negative emotion may lower memory accuracy. A victim of an unkind act is more likely to forget than someone who benefited from a kind act. This result supports the hypothesis that individuals may strategically manipulate their memory by forgetting an unpleasant experience. We also find that individuals who committed an unkind act tend to perceive it as less unkind as time moves on. They also tend to believe that a higher percentage of players have also committed the unkind act. Overall, the results support the hypothesis that individuals strategically manipulate their memory and beliefs to maintain self-esteem or feel less guilty.     

Making the risk of job loss a way of life: Does it affect job satisfaction?

This study investigates the relationship between job satisfaction and job security in European countries. In doing so, it attempts to take into account the endogenous nature of the job security–job satisfaction relationship after controlling for the various economic and personal characteristics. The results show that workers in jobs with low likelihood of job termination derive higher utility from work compared to the workers in insecure jobs. This holds even after controlling for endogeneity by using both a conventional IV approach and a selection model. This appears to be the case for both men and women.     

Knowledge sharing and firm performance: the role of social networking site and innovation capability

This study developed a framework to explore SNSs' capability as a strategic platform from which firms can overcome environmental turbulence and develop higher level knowledge sharing and firm performance output. The moderating effects of two types of innovation capability, product development capability and operational capability, were taken into consideration. We propose that SNSs' capability paired with strong product development capability is the key to improving knowledge sharing performance. SNSs' capability paired with strong operational capability can improve firm performance by advancing incremental innovation processes. Drawing upon the literature regarding information systems, knowledge management, and firm innovation, we propose a conceptual model adopted from the environment-strategy-performance framework to explore how these key factors interact to determine the fate of a firm.     

The causal effect of income on life satisfaction and the implications for valuing non-market goods

Employing the life satisfaction approach to value physical health, this paper illustrates the use of a subset of windfall income (restricted windfall income) as a substitute for the more conventional household income monetary measure. Results provide no evidence against the exogeneity of restricted windfall income and indicate that the causal effect of income on life satisfaction is substantially higher (and willingness-to-pay estimates substantially lower) when restricted windfall income is used. Further research should be devoted to looking into the presence and size of measurement errors in restricted windfall income. If this bias is large, then the quest for valid and strong instruments will continue.     

On the coexistence of money and higher-return assets and its social role

This paper adopts mechanism design to investigate the coexistence of fiat money and higher-return assets. We consider an economy with pairwise meetings where fiat money and risk-free capital compete as means of payment, as in [28]. The trading mechanism in pairwise meetings is chosen among all individually rational, renegotiation-proof mechanisms to maximize society?s welfare. We show that in any stationary monetary equilibrium capital commands a higher rate of return than fiat money.