Self-regulation,Co-regulation and the Audio-Visual Media Services Directive

This paper criticises the use of the concepts of self-regulation and command and control regulation as simplistic and often having a political function. They neglect the fact that there is a continuum of different types of regulation; they represent extremes rarely found in the real world. Moreover, regulatory regimes will be comprised of a cocktail of different regulatory approaches. The developing concept of co-regulation is likely to be more productive. It is unhelpful to attempt to draw up restrictive definitions of different types of regulation; it is much more important to assess them through the application of normative principles, including those relating to procedures, accountability, and enforcement of rights. The drafting of the Audio-Visual Media Services Directive initially made the mistake of using the narrow definitions of co- and self-regulation contained in the Interinstitutional Agreement on Better Law-Making, but amendments during the Parliamentary process have resulted in a more flexible approach better adopted to the recognition of existing co-regulatory regimes.

Managing moral distress: A strategy for resolving ethical dilemmas

Conflicts of interest. The boundaries of confidentiality. Right v. right dilemmas. Matters of duty, responsibility, character, and consequence. Ethical issues pervade professional life, and the moral distress they can create requires thoughtful reflection that moves beyond gut intuitions and knee-jerk reactions. This article presents a practical framework for assessing and resolving ethical dilemmas in a sophisticated manner, guided by a circumspect and reflective analysis able to withstand the scrutiny of others and minimize the potential for personal regrets. Central to the analysis set forth in this article's strategy are ‘interrogation questions’—a series of inquiries that draw from the richness of moral philosophy and ethical traditions, while reflecting the practical concerns of contemporary business practices—which guide the decision maker through a comprehensive review of primary considerations. Additionally, the article highlights myriad obstacles that may challenge one's awareness of a moral dilemma, a necessary precondition to employing the strategies of careful analysis and reflective judgment that this article outlines.     

Contracting, signaling, and moral hazard: a model of entrepreneurs, ‘angels,’ and venture capitalists

Investment by wealthy individuals, known as ‘angels,’ in startup firms is quite significant and has taken off in the last few years. Angels invest in the company at an earlier stage than venture capitalists (VCs) do. This paper examines the relationship between an entrepreneur, an angel, and a VC from the seed investment made by the angel to the exit stage. The study characterizes the equilibrium contracts among the players and provides insights into the related institutional arrangements. Next, the study examines the signaling aspects of the game. The paper also analyzes the moral hazard problems of the entrepreneur and the VC. It shows that the outcome in a startup firm is not efficient because of the free-rider phenomenon.     

Institutions and moral hazard in open economies

I investigate the interaction between international trade and national institutional development in an environment characterized by heterogeneous individuals choosing their education levels to maximize their utilities; and institutions alleviating moral hazard by allowing managers to better observe and verify the productive efforts of workers. Liberalized trade allows institutions to serve as independent sources of comparative advantage. In this setting, I examine the effect of trade liberalization on the distribution of income in institutionally developed and underdeveloped nations. Trade affects income via a direct effect on prices and an indirect effect on the incentives to invest in education.     

创业自我效能与企业家认知及创业行为关系研究

在对社会认知理论在创业研究领域应用新趋势及成果总结的基础上,对创业自我效能形成的认知因素及与创业行为的关联机制进行分析。提出了综合研究模型,提出沿着新创企业起源和发展历程中企业文化形成的脉络来考察创业自我效能对创业期企业家认知及创业行为的影响的研究思路,以及未来的研究趋势、研究重点与分析要点,为进一步深入到领导与学习过程,探索在此过程中企业家的认知发展,以及对创业绩效的影响奠定了理论基础。     

Consumer ethics: moral ideologies and ethical beliefs of a micro-culture in the US

This study explores the ethical ideologies and ethical beliefs of African American consumers using the Forsyth ethical position questionnaire (EPQ) and the Muncy–Vitell consumer ethics questionnaire (MVQ). The two dimensions of the EPQ (i.e. idealism and relativism), and gender were the independent variables and the four dimensions of the MVQ (i.e. illegal, active, passive and no harm) were the dependent variables. A sample of 283 students from a historically black university was used to explore the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Findings suggested that consumers who scored higher on the idealism scale and lower on the relativism scale were more likely to reject questionable activities. On average, females expressed more willingness to reject questionable activities than males.     

Artificial intelligence: Building blocks and an innovation typology

The range of topics and the opinions expressed on artificial intelligence (AI) are so broad that clarity is needed on the the field’s central tenets, the opportunities AI presents, and the challenges it poses. To that end, we provide an overview of the six building blocks of artificial intelligence: structured data, unstructured data, preprocesses, main processes, a knowledge base, and value-added information outputs. We then develop a typology to serve as an analytic tool for managers grappling with AI’s influence on their industries. The typology considers the effects of AI-enabled innovations on two dimensions: the innovations’ boundaries and their effects on organizational competencies. The typology’s first dimension distinguishes between product-facing innovations, which influence a firm’s offerings, and process-facing innovations, which influence a firm’s operations. The typology’s second dimension describes innovations as either competence-enhancing or competence-destroying; the former enhances current knowledge and skills, whereas the latter renders existing skills and knowledge obsolete. This framework lets managers evaluate their markets, the opportunities within them, and the threats arising from them, providing valuable background and structure to important strategic decisions.     

Managers and their not-so rational decisions

Today's corporate environment requires managers to be excellent decision makers. Their ability to make fast, widely-supported, and effective decisions will, in large part, shape the performance of their firms. In this article, we describe two cognitive systems that influence decision making. System 1 refers to a process that is fast, effortless, and intuitive. System 2 is a slow, controlled, and rule-governed decision-making process. Both are important to a wide variety of managerial decisions, and they interact with each other. There are, however, a number of forces at work that hinder the effectiveness of these processes. For example, we know from prospect theory that managers are unwilling to incur loss, so much so that they often make irrational decisions based on a small probability that they could avoid such loss. Another example, the escalation of commitment, explains why managers may continue to dedicate resources to failed projects. We describe these and other biases, with a view toward helping managers better understand the problems of decision making and improve the effectiveness of their decisions.     

Seat belt utilisation and awareness in UAE

Seat belts (SBs) are effective devices for reducing injury risk due to traffic accidents. Seat belt wearing was made compulsory in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in January 1999 for drivers and front seat passengers (FSPs). No comprehensive study has ever assessed SB wearing rates across the country. Also, little is known on drivers' awareness of the importance of wearing seatbelts and how human factors affect wearing habits. This study aims to determine SB wearing rates for drivers and FSPs in UAE through an observational field study. It also aims to investigate perceptions and behaviour of drivers on this issue as well as human factors that affect wearing rate through a randomly distributed questionnaire. The results of the field study show that the overall SB wearing rate across the country was 61% for drivers and 43.4% for FSPs and that there were significant differences between the seven emirates that constitute the country. The questionnaire results show that age, education level, gender, marital status and nationality of drivers affect wearing habits and perceptions. Future implications in terms of improving traffic safety awareness are discussed.     

Market Share Overestimation and the Noncomplementarity Effect

Recent research indicates that people tend to overestimate the likelihood of an alternative, particularly when an alternative is considered in isolation rather than as part of a set of alternatives. The present experiment shows that subjective market share overestimation and noncomplementary market share estimates are more likely to be observed for individuals who are high (vs. low) in concern about cognitive closure or when a small (vs. large) set of alternatives is considered. Implications of the results for understanding managerial decision making are discussed.     

Social capital of entrepreneurs and small firm performance: A meta-analysis of contextual and methodological moderators

Despite a surge of studies examining the role of social capital in the entrepreneurial process, no quantitative assessments exist of the empirical evidence to date. To resolve seemingly conflicting results, we conducted a meta-analysis of the link between entrepreneurs' personal networks and small firm performance and identify new moderators affecting this relationship. Analyses of 61 independent samples indicated that the social capital–performance link was positive and significant (r_c = .211). Effect sizes of weak ties were smaller than those of structural holes, while network diversity had the largest positive effect on performance. Results also showed that the social capital–performance link depends on the age of small firms, the industry and institutional contexts in which they operate, and on the specific network or performance measures used. Based on these findings, we develop recommendations for future research on the contingent value of social capital for small firms.     

Good directors and bad behavior

Because financial frauds are not uncommon, and CEOs and/or CFOs are most often directly involved in them, directors of public corporations should be constantly concerned with monitoring their officers’ legal and ethical behavior. This is the case for three primary reasons. First, due to a variety of organizational pressures and decision making missteps, even people who wish to be ‘good’—as most corporate officers presumably do—often make serious ethical mistakes. Second, top corporate officers are particularly susceptible to making several of these errors. And third, for various psychological reasons, corporate directors often find it difficult to adequately police those officers. This installment of Business Law & Ethics Corner explores the issue of good directors and bad behavior.     

Using informal learning for business decision making and knowledge management

The process of making decisions in business requires, among other things, the efficient management of information to do with employee competencies. Dealing solely with competencies that employees learn in institutional contexts, however, is insufficient, as employees also acquire competencies through informal learning activities outside the organization. If an organization is to make well-informed decisions, the entity must gather information about the external activities of its employees that contribute to their competency development. This paper proposes a methodology to facilitate the identification and recognition of an employee's informal learning instances, which receives support from a technological framework. To validate the methodology, a pan-European project implements the framework, and a panel of experts evaluates its modus operandi. The main findings from this study suggest that, although making decisions on the basis of instances of informal learning is possible, both the methodology and the tools behind the gathering of this information should be flexible enough to satisfy the needs of the organization.     

The contrasting interaction effects of improvisational behavior with entrepreneurial self-efficacy on new venture performance and entrepreneur work satisfaction

Although improvisation is often considered to be an elemental component of entrepreneurship, little work has been done to evaluate factors that influence the relationship of entrepreneur improvisational behavior with important outcome variables. In an attempt to partly fill this gap, the current study examines the moderating effect of entrepreneurial self-efficacy on the relationship of founders' improvisational behavior with both the performance of their startups and their individual level of work satisfaction using a national (United States) random sample of 159 entrepreneurs. In alignment with our predictions, improvisational behavior was found to have a positive relationship with new venture performance (i.e., sales growth) when exhibited by founders who were high in entrepreneurial self-efficacy, whereas improvisational behavior was found to have a negative relationship with new venture performance when exhibited by founders who were low in entrepreneurial self-efficacy. Contrary to our expectations, entrepreneurial self-efficacy was found to have a negative moderating effect on the relationship between entrepreneur improvisational behavior and work satisfaction.     

Angel investor network pitch meetings: The pull and push of peer opinion

The angel investing space has transformed as investors have moved from individual deal seeking to more collaborative models of investing. Angel networks are formal investor organizations that pursue investment deals with entrepreneurs, assist with deal screening, and coordinate due diligence. These coordination activities have clear benefits for angel network members, but they also give rise to a dynamic of reliant judgment in which the espoused opinions of network peers are taken as evidence that weighs heavily on the investment decision. In this article, we provide evidence from an experiment set in an angel investment pitch meeting that reveals the positive bias an angel investor shows toward peer opinions. By revealing these potentially hidden forces in angel network deliberations, we raise awareness and, by extension, offer response strategies for angels and angel network directors to properly manage the influence of peer opinion in angel network discussions.     

How brand awareness relates to market outcome, brand equity, and the marketing mix

Combining survey data with real-market data, this research investigates brand awareness from three perspectives. This study examines the relation between brand awareness and market outcome and explores the relation between brand awareness and brand equity. The study also investigates the effects of marketing mix elements on brand awareness. Results reveal consumers' brand usage experiences contribute to brand awareness, implying experience precedes awareness in some contexts. The results also confirm positive association between brand awareness and brand equity. Lastly, the current work demonstrates the importance of distribution and price promotion in building brand awareness in a consumer-packaged goods category.     

Cognition, Persuasion and Decision Making in Older Consumers

Older adults constitute a rapidly growing demographic segment, but relatively little is known about them within consumer contexts: how they process information, respond to persuasive messages, and make decisions. We discuss extant findings from consumer behavior and related disciplines (e.g., cognitive psychology, neuroscience, social psychology, gerontology) as they pertain to the effects of aging on consumer memory, persuasion and decision The first two authors co-chaired the workshop at the Choice Symposium and made major and equal contributions to this article. The remaining authors were participants in the workshop. They also contributed to this article and are listed in alphabetical order. We wish to thank the editor and Cathy Cole for their helpful comments on the paper. The article, including a more complete list of references, was shortened to meet the page-length constraints of the special issue. The longer version is available upon request from the senior authors.     

Simple Decision Aids and Consumer Decision Making

To help consumers deal with increasing amounts of information, many online retailers offer simple decision aids, such as the ability to sort on a particular attribute or eliminate undesired alternatives. The authors propose that consumers use simple decision aids as substitutes for cognitive effort, potentially with adverse consequences for decision making. An experimental study shows that providing unrestricted sorting increases decision quality only when choice conflict is low; beyond a certain point, greater use of the decision aid is associated with declines in decision quality. A second study shows that that allowing consumers to sort alternatives only one time enhances decision quality and, when choice conflict is high, reduces decision effort. A third study shows that providing elimination as well as sorting tools helps mitigate the negative effects of simple decision aids. Although the availability of sorting alone hurts decision quality when choice conflict is high, decision quality under choice conflict is improved when both sorting and elimination tools are provided. Implications for retail practice are discussed.     

The effect of advertising on brand awareness and perceived quality: An empirical investigation using panel data

We use a panel data set that combines annual brand-level advertising expenditures for over three hundred brands with measures of brand awareness and perceived quality from a large-scale consumer survey to study the effect of advertising. Advertising is modeled as a dynamic investment in a brand’s stocks of awareness and perceived quality and we ask how such an investment changes brand awareness and quality perceptions. Our panel data allow us to control for unobserved heterogeneity across brands and to identify the effect of advertising from the time-series variation within brands. They also allow us to account for the endogeneity of advertising through recently developed dynamic panel data estimation techniques. We find that advertising has consistently a significant positive effect on brand awareness but no significant effect on perceived quality.