Improving the response rate and quality in Web-based surveys through the personalization and frequency of reminder mailings

Internet shares some characteristics of survey making with traditional media, especially postal mail. However, there are considerable differences that justify a different focus on administration and make existing knowledge of the traditional media not directly applicable to Internet. Research is therefore necessary to discover how Web-based surveys operate under different conditioning factors, so that general behavioral patterns can be established in order to improve the administration and results of such surveys. This study thus centers on two of the parameters that can influence responses to Web-based surveys, which are personalization and the frequency of reminder mailings distributed among the sample population. The results obtained show a positive influence of personalized e-mail messages on response rate and the need to use a lower frequency for studies aiming at increasing the response rate in the shortest possible time; and longer frequency (and personalized) when the aim is to have the respondents complete the full questionnaire.     

Why internet service provider and content provider do not collaborate via monitoring of digital piracy

Internet service providers (ISPs) and content providers (CPs) have a symbiosis relationship in the Internet business ecosystem. In this paper, we investigate the possibility of and the conditions for their revenue sharing by means of on-line content piracy monitoring. CPs can benefit from the efforts of ISPs to monitor illegal content consumers, and can have the incentives to collaborate with ISPs. We suggest that if the quality degradation of a pirated content is low as in real world, there may not be a successful collaboration because CPs have little incentives to share their revenues with ISPs. We also investigated the impacts of ISP's piracy monitoring cost level, the value of contents, and CP's access fee per traffic on the possibility of their collaboration.     

Study on the contract characteristics of Internet architecture

The importance of Internet architecture goes beyond the technical aspects. The architecture of Internet has a profound influence on the Internet-based economy in term of how the profits are shared by different market participants (Internet Server Provider, Internet Content Provider), since it is the physical foundation upon which the profit-sharing contracts are derived. In order to facilitate the continuing growth of the Internet, it is necessary to systematically study factors that curtail the Internet-based economy including the existing Internet architecture. In this paper, we used transaction cost economics and contract economics as new tools to analyse the contracts derived from the current Internet architecture. This study sheds light on how the macro characteristics of Internet architecture effect the microeconomical decisions of market participants. Based on the existing Internet architecture, we discuss the possibility of promoting Internet-based economy by encouraging user to connect their private stub network to the Internet and giving the user more right of self-governing.     

Mail survey abroad with an alternative web survey

The large decline in cooperation in surveys experienced in the first decade of the twenty first century has placed representative surveys in a veritable quagmire, although numerous researchers have shown that the decline in the total nonresponse has been much higher in administered surveys (face-to-face and telephone) than in self-administered (mail and web surveys). The move from the “traditional” mail survey to the internet survey has brought important changes, but, at the same time, new challenges have arisen related to the lower coverage and the reduced visibility, the need for certain skills to fill out a questionnaire, changes in response rates, etc. This is a self-administered survey that informs the addressees by mail that they have been selected to participate in a research survey to which they can respond either by using the paper questionnaire (in the letter there is a prepaid envelope), by means of a web questionnaire (accessing a link and using a password), or by telephone (the respondent provided a contact time telephone number via a prepaid envelope or by calling an answering machine). The respondents themselves, therefore, choose the mode of response. An analysis of the responses achieved by each modality shows that the majority of the questionnaires were received by ordinary mail (83.6 %), 359 by internet (14.4 %), and 51 were answered by telephone (2.0 %).     

Offshoring knowledge and service work: A conceptual model and research agenda

This paper presents two complementary conceptual models that help shed light on the complexities of offshoring service and knowledge work. In developing the model, we draw upon existing literature in the realm of service operations and delivery and build on insights from allied areas such as management and practice. The models offer a simple yet powerful way to conceptualize offshoring of knowledge and service work and to identify the inherent challenges that such strategies entail. The evolutionary model of offshoring parallels well-established work in the manufacturing literature to present a sequential view of building organizational competence in offshoring. The implications of the conceptual models have been discussed in a range of propositions that can be viewed as foundations for new inquiry in this research stream.     

企业知识型员工薪酬激励效用评价模型研究

针对企业知识型员工薪酬激励效用这个问题,研究提出了由6类、20项要素构成的薪酬激励效用评价模型,并进行了频率统计的实证分析.还利用SPSS17.0对相关数据进行了单因素方差分析,确定知1识型员工个人特征对薪酬激励效用的评价没有显著性影响.     

Governance and control in distributed ledgers: Understanding the challenges facing blockchain technology in financial services

As blockchain platforms are becoming increasingly noticeable in financial services and beyond, questions arise regarding their suitability to compete with or replace existing payment systems and marketplaces and redesign the financial infrastructures of the future. Prominent among these concerns are issues around governance and control in distributed ledgers: How are distributed ledger technologies governed? Can blockchains address complex administration problems? What key issues of note for practitioners and academics have emerged thus far? In this paper we aim to review the existing governance practices of established or popular blockchain and decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) systems with a view to understanding how they hold up in times of crises. What questions are raised when they are compromised or faced consensus challenges in coordinating action especially around control and accountability? We use a translational process, generating focal insights about present concerns from the reference point of completed academic studies and extensive practitioner consultation. Rather than adopting a declarative approach attempting to provide all the answers, we draw insights from the IT platform governance literature to offer a critical perspective for asking the right questions around key governance issues in financial infrastructure such as decision rights, control mechanisms, and incentives.     

Environmental influences on corporate entrepreneurship: executive perspectives on the internet

This paper focuses on the likelihood of firms adopting corporate entrepreneurship in response to the challenges and opportunities presented by a change in their business environment shaped by the growth of the Internet. We further examined if firms are willing to modify their existing systems in response to such a change. We also investigated the paths or modes of entrepreneurship that firms would adopt when they perceive being entrepreneurial to be a viable response in light of a specific change in their business environment. Finally, we identified the impediments that firms may need to overcome when adopting corporate entrepreneurship. Results based on the data from senior executives lend support to our hypotheses. Managerial implications of the results are discussed.     

林业可视化技术推广路径选择研究

林业可视化技术推广是一个系统工程。林业可视化技术推广过程中主要存在:操作环节复杂、推广成本高,技术成熟度低、实用性与可行性差,准公共物品属性未能得到充分认识,市场需求还未被激发出来,融资渠道偏少等问题。培育林业可视化技术创造、发明主体,扶持技术创新领先企业,促进林业组织变革,激发林业可视化技术在企业间扩散,注重管理创新,促进产业内扩散等是我国林业可视化技术推广的有效路径。     

Stable R&D Cooperation with Spillovers

The literature on the incentives for R & D cooperation with spillovers typically deals only with the factors affecting cooperative profits. This paper focuses on the incentives to cheat and the stability of such cooperative agreements in a repeated game framework. It is shown that the stability of cooperation is influenced by the nature and magnitude of spillovers, relative to the nature and degree of product market competition. While cooperative profits are higher with large positive (exogenous, unintended) know-how spillovers, such as in fundamental research, our anslysis shows that it may be easier to sustain cooperation in areas with lower spillovers, such as applied research, because of the smaller incenfives to cheat on the initial agreement, at least when firms produce substitutes. Alternatively, the possibility of technology sharing (i.e., intended or endogenous spillovers), besides R&D coordination, not only increases cooperative profits but also reduces the incentives to defect from a cooperative equilibrium.     

Governance of complex procurements in the oil and gas industry

This study focuses on the use of contracts and governance mechanisms for handling complex procurements involving several actors. We develop a contractual framework arguing that different combinations of incentives, authority and trust should be used to govern such procurements. The framework is applied to two complex procurement cases in the Norwegian oil and gas industry. The empirical findings show that incentives, authority and trust complement each other, and furthermore, that there is a complex interplay between the specific uses of the different mechanisms. We denote this interplay a multiplier effect. Multiplier effects have not previously been addressed in the literature, and this study contributes to our knowledge about inter-firm governance by showing that governance mechanisms affect each other. Proper use of one mechanism improves the use of other mechanisms, while inadequate use of one mechanism hampers the use of other mechanisms.     

基于知识经济的学习型企业的构建

在知识经济时代,以创造性人才为核心的智力资源是各国企业争夺的焦点,智力资源的多寡、智力资源开发和利用程度的高低决定着一个国家或企业面向未来的竞争优势。正因智力资源对经济发展具有特殊作用,现在世界各国都致力于智力资源的开发,甚至把企业看成＂学习型组织＂,要求员工不断接受教育培训,更新知识结构,最大限度地发挥个人智力。     

Robust results on the sharing of firm-specific information: Incentives and welfare effects

Contrary to much of the existing literature, we obtain robust and clear-cut results for the incentives and welfare effects of information sharing when information is firm-specific. We show that firms’ incentives to share this type of information are aligned with social welfare. Whenever revealing information is the dominant strategy (such as for Cournot firms revealing costs or Cournot and Bertrand firms revealing demand), it is socially beneficial. Only cost information in Bertrand competition will not be revealed but this is socially desirable, too. These findings are independent of distributional assumptions on random shocks and signals and hold for general asymmetric oligopoly with any mixture of substitute, complementary and independent goods.     

Assessing the implementation of sustainable public procurement using quantitative text-analysis tools: A large-scale analysis of Belgian public procurement notices

Public organizations are using sustainable public procurement (SPP) as a policy tool to address societal and environmental issues. Having a policy on SPP however does not guarantee implementation. Several barriers have for example been identified that prevent public procurers from implementing SPP in their procurement projects, such as financial constraints, lack of knowledge or motivation. The question therefore arises how much SPP public organizations actually implement in their procurement projects. However, existing studies often focus on the environmental part of SPP and often rely on using interviews or surveys to assess the perceived degree of SPP (which have been accused of being subject to social desirability bias and low response rates). Little is therefore known about what SPP is in practice, and how frequently it is implemented. In this study, we therefore provide a detailed operationalization of SPP that encompasses the full concept. We subsequently assess the implementation of SPP in practice using text mining techniques to analyse over 140.000 Belgian public procurement notices that were published between 2011 and 2016. The research shows that in more than 70% of the notices (with an annex) SPP is implemented, but there appears to be a downward trend. It seems that SPP is implemented less over time, rather than more. Environmentally friendly procurement was, relative to other types of SPP, prevalent over time and across regions. For SPP to live up to its potential there are thus still barriers to be overcome.     

I give at the office: A review of workplace giving research,theory, and practice

Workplace giving is a widely used philanthropic tool. Although it may have great unmet potential, it is also facing a number of challenges, including competition from informal crowdfunding campaigns. In the face of such challenges, we take stock of the extant research to better understand the value and future of workplace giving, emphasizing employee actions and preferences in our review. Workplace giving studies can also augment knowledge about contextual giving or bounded settings for exploring basic philanthropic questions (e.g., donor control or gift elasticity). We use a three‐part conceptual framework to synthesize and discuss research on individual workplace giving in the context of broader giving behaviors. We address what researchers know, do not know, and need to know on the topic of workplace giving.     

建设项目成本加酬金合同的激励效用研究

成本加酬金合同是一种常用的建设工程合同类型,应研究其不同激励形式对业主和承包商产生的不同效用.本文基于业主和承包商期望效用,应用委托-代理理论建立了有限责任合同、按固定份额分成合同、按约定公式分成合同等三类合同模式的激励模型.采用规划方法求出模型最优解、并讨论分析激励的实施效用.通过测算各种情况下各模式对业主和承包商的效用,经过求解不等式,可比较出各效用的大小,并可推广到固定总价合同模式.通过建立合同激励模型可进行效用测算,能帮助业主设计既能吸引承包商参与又能扩大业主自身效用的合同模式;也能帮助承包商识别并参与对自身效用较大的合同.     

TOWARDS SOUND MONETARY INSTITUTIONS

Most people see money and central banking as shrouded by an impenetrable veil of mystery, as matters that ought to be delegated to expert economists in central banks. Yet the actual performance of central banks has been less than stellar. And there are good reasons to expect unchecked, discretionary monetary policy by central bankers to produce less‐than‐perfect results. Not only do central bankers not have the right incentives and knowledge to make beneficial discretionary decisions, but the economy does not always behave in a predictable fashion, reacting as an automaton to discretionary policy shifts. A market‐based monetary arrangement – such as Friedrich von Hayek's free banking proposal – would be preferable to a national or supranational monopoly on the issue of money. If such an arrangement is not attainable, then it is desirable, at the very least, that the behaviour of central bankers is constrained by rules, such as nominal income growth targets.     

Determinants of Intercountry Internet Diffusion Rates

This article employs cross-sectional data from 100 countries to analyze the main determinants of intercountry Internet diffusion rates. We set up an empirical model based on strong theoretical foundations, in which we regress Internet usage on variables that capture social, economic, and political differences between these countries. Our results support past findings that economic strength, infrastructure, and knowledge of the English language positively affect Internet connectivity. In addition to these indicators, the openness of a country, tertiary enrollment, and income equality are found to also have a significant positive effect on Internet diffusion.     

Mobile Labor, Multiple Tax Instruments, and Tax Competition

The tax competition literature shows that local governments keep property tax rates inefficiently low to prevent capital outflows, thereby underproviding local public goods. This paper adds mobile labor and an alternative tax instrument to the model. Jurisdictions have access to a property tax levied on land and capital, plus either a head tax or a labor tax. Scale economies in public good provision create incentives to use the property tax, but these incentives are not accompanied by increased incentives to underprovide public goods. In contrast, underprovision is associated with the use of a distortionary labor tax.     

Incentives and selection in cyclical absenteeism

Procyclical absenteeism might be due to the higher sick rates of marginal workers or a consequence of procyclical incentives to report sick. These hypotheses predict opposite signs for the correlation between sick rates and shares of temporary contracts. Workers on temporary contracts are associated with lower job security in comparison with workers on time-unlimited contracts, implying that temporary employees run the highest risk of lay-off and are expected to have stronger incentives for job attendance. Using industry–region panel data, we find a stable negative correlation between sick rates and shares of temporary contracts implying that procyclical sick rates are compatible with the idea that incentives to report sick are also procyclical.