Testing inter-group ranking heterogeneity: do patient characteristics matter for prioritization of quality improvements in healthcare service?

In many research contexts, such as social science, marketing, education, psychology and medicine, it is frequently of interest to compare two or more groups of subjects (e.g. people of different gender, age or nationality), who are asked to rank a set of alternatives according to their personal liking or opinion, for investigating the presence of group effect. The common investigation aim is to detect customers with homogeneous preferences (or priorities) in order to serve each group as properly as possible. Several approaches have been proposed in the literature for testing ranking heterogeneity among groups of subjects. This paper focuses on an approach considering diversity as a generalization of the notion of variation and investigates the performance of a testing procedure for ranking heterogeneity based on the index of segregation power. The performance of the testing procedure has been investigated via a Monte Carlo simulation study under several scenarios, differing for group size, number of ranked alternatives and system of hypothesis. Furthermore, using a real data set, the testing procedure is exploited for investigating whether patient age and gender matter for patient prioritization of quality improvement in healthcare service.     

Residential preferences,neighborhood filtering and neighborhood change

The structure of households' residential preferences are investigated employing sale prices as a preference ranking over “bundles” of housing characteristics including structural, neighborhood, and local public sector characteristics. Neighborhood characteristics, in particular income class, are found to have a significant influence on preference rankings. However, the results also suggest that short run changes in rank are significantly affected by racial change.     

Priority-driven behaviors under the Boston mechanism

We study school choice markets where the non-strategy-proof Boston mechanism is used to assign students to schools. Inspired by previous field and experimental evidence, we analyze a type of behavior called priority-driven: students have a common ranking over the schools and then give a bonus in their submitted preferences to those schools for which they have high priority. We first prove that under this behavior, there is a unique stable and efficient matching, which is the outcome of the Boston mechanism. Second, we show that the three most prominent mechanisms on school choice (Boston, deferred acceptance, and top trading cycles) coincide when students’ submitted preferences are priority-driven. Finally, we run some computational simulations to show that the assumption of priority-driven preferences can be relaxed by introducing an idiosyncratic preference component, and our qualitative results carry over to a more general model of preferences.     

Multiple ranking tasks in a semantic domain: An investigation of task order effects

The possibility of task order effects has not been studied previously for some types of multiple rating/ranking tasks commonly used in the social sciences. Data from two studies that employed multiple ranking tasks in a semantic domain were examined for evidence of task order effects. In general, multiple ranking tasks appeared to be free of order effects, although respondents may display less agreement in later tasks than in earlier tasks when data is collected in circumstances that do not promote the full attention and motivation of respondents.     

Efficiency Gains in Rank‐ordered Multinomial Logit Models

This paper considers estimation of discrete choice models when agents report their ranking of the alternatives (or some of them) rather than just the utility maximizing alternative. We investigate the parametric conditional rank‐ordered Logit model. We show that conditions for identification do not change even if we observe ranking. Moreover, we fill a gap in the literature and show analytically and by Monte Carlo simulations that efficiency increases as we use additional information on the ranking.     

Testing for overconfidence statistically: A moment inequality approach

We propose a moment inequality approach to test for the presence of overconfidence using data from ranking experiments where subjects rank themselves relative to other experimental participants. Although a ranking experiment is a typical way to collect data for the analysis of overconfidence, recent studies show that the resulting data may apparently indicate overconfidence even if participants are purely rational Bayesian updaters, in which case a set of inequalities hold. We apply state-of-the-art tests of moment inequalities to test such a set of inequalities. We examine the data from a traditional ranking experiment as well as those from more sophisticated designs.     

交叉效率评价方法中一种改进的新单元导入保序性方法

针对交叉效率方法在评估排序时所存在的局限性,即在导入新的决策单元时,可能会使原先的决策单元(DMU)排序发生变化,本文通过建立二次权重集结交叉效率保序性模型对各DMU的权重进行二次分配,进而对交叉效率矩阵进行集结以得到最终的均衡交叉效率值。利用该均衡交叉效率值进行排序时可以消除导入新DMU时所产生的逆序现象。算例说明了该方法有效,计算结果较纳什讨价还价交叉效率保序性模型有所改进,综合计算量更小,各DMU权重更加合理,与一般交叉效率模型的效率值差异更小。     

Employee reactions to voice and choice in the workplace: the influence of culture

The present study investigated the effect of culture on a much-prescribed management practice, that of employee participation in decision making. A survey was conducted among employees from two countries culturally distinct in the dimensions of power distance and individualism, namely Canada and the Philippines. Given eight decision-making scenarios that varied in terms of whether voice and/or choice was given to the employee and in terms of the importance of the outcomes, the respondents were asked about their perceptions of fairness of the procedures and outcomes, satisfaction with the procedures and outcomes, and preference for the decision-making procedures. Results show a highly significant country decision-making mode outcome importance interaction effect, but not in the directions expected. Overall, the Philippine sample registered more positive reactions to participation in decision making, although the Philippines' higher rank in power distance and lower rank in individualism than Canada seem to indicate otherwise. The results, together with a previous study conducted in high power distance-low individualism Mexico, forcefully suggest that employee participation in decision making may be successfully transferred.     

Weighted distances between preferences

Individual disagreements are assumed to be reflected in the preferences. Distance functions, e.g., the well-known Kemeny (1959) metric, are used to measure these disagreements. However, a disagreement on how to rank the top two alternatives may be perceived more (or less) than a disagreement on how to rank the bottom two alternatives. We propose two conditions on functions which characterize a class of weighted semi-metric functions. This class of semi-metrics allows to quantify disagreements according to where they occur in preferences. It turns out one of these functions, “the path minimizing function”, is the only metric which generalizes the Kemeny metric.     

The Decision Usefulness of Financial Accounting Measurement Concepts: Evidence from an Online Survey of Professional Investors and their Advisors

In their current framework project, the IASB and the FASB identify decision usefulness as the objective of financial reporting. Unfortunately, accounting research has neither yet come up with an undisputed measure of decision usefulness, nor with a satisfying method to rank competing measurement concepts, such as fair value or historical cost, with regard to their relative decision usefulness. Thus, assessing the decision usefulness of different accounting measurement concepts ultimately poses an empirical question. We provide evidence to this question by surveying an important user group, namely professional investors and their advisors, about their opinions on the decision usefulness of different accounting measurement concepts. We find that our respondents clearly differentiate between mark-to-market and mark-to-model fair values. While they consistently rank mark-to-market fair values as most decision-useful, they generally rank mark-to-model fair values as least decision-useful. In addition, the ranking differs across asset classes.     

Right answers and right-wrong answers: Sources of information influencing knowledge of nuclear-related information

Surveys in 2008 and 2009 asked almost 6000 United States residents to indicate their knowledge about the use of nuclear and other sources of energy, and the disposition of nuclear waste. Less than 10% of respondents knew where spent commercial nuclear fuel is stored. With regard to knowledge about fuel for electrical energy, respondents overestimated solar and wind use and underestimated coal use. These responses are consistent with mass media coverage of these issues. The mass media were the source of information for the vast majority of respondents. However, the likelihood of right answers to our questions increased as reliance on the mass media decreased, and it increased with use of books, magazines, personal contacts and the web. Educated affluent white males with strong preferences for nuclear energy disproportionately were knowledgeable. These observations demonstrate the daunting challenge of providing information about subjects that are largely distant and disconnected from the public’s lives. The Department of Energy, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, state and local health, environmental and energy agencies, and facility owners and operators have huge domestic political, national security and economic stakes in improving the factual grounding of public reactions to energy production and waste management choices.     

Of songs and men: a model for multiple choice with herding

We propose a generic model for multiple choice situations in the presence of herding and compare it with recent empirical results from a Web-based music market experiment. The model predicts a phase transition between a weak imitation phase and a strong imitation, ‘fashion’ phase, where choices are driven by peer pressure and the ranking of individual preferences is strongly distorted at the aggregate level. The model can be calibrated to reproduce the main experimental results of Salganik et al. (Science, 311, 854–856 (2006)); we show in particular that the value of the social influence parameter can be estimated from the data. In one of the experimental situation, this value is found to be close to the critical value of the model.     

Do Danes and Italians Rate Life Satisfaction in the Same Way? Using Vignettes to Correct for Individual‐Specific Scale Biases

Self‐reported life satisfaction is highly heterogeneous across similar countries, a phenomenon that may be explained by the different scales and benchmarks that people use to evaluate themselves. This study uses cross‐sectional data gathered from older populations in ten European countries to compare estimates from a model that assumes reporting styles are constant across respondents against estimates from a model in which anchoring vignettes help correct for individual‐specific scale biases. Variations in response scales explain much of the difference in the raw data. Moreover, the cross‐country ranking in life satisfaction depends significantly on scale biases.     

Performance appraisal and culture: practice and attitudes in Hong Kong and Great Britain

This article compares the practice of and attitudes towards performance appraisal for managerial and professional staff in Hong Kong and Britain, and considers the extent to which actual practice and employee preferences are in alignment. Findings suggest that appraisal may be more widespread in Hong Kong than in Britain. However, British appraisal tends to be more participative and to place greater emphasis on discussing objectives, development and career plans. Hong Kong appraisals appear to be more directive and Hong Kong respondents perceive a higher level of 'negative' appraiser behaviour. In spite of this, Hong Kong respondents show if anything slightly more confidence in the utility of appraisal than do British respondents. They show stronger support for appraisal's use for reward and punishment and less support for the objectives-setting and training and development uses than do the British sample. Hong Kong respondents are more likely than their British counterparts to favour involving a more senior manager in appraisal, and they are less likely to prefer more frequent appraisals. There was little evidence that Hong Kong respondents had a stronger preference for group-based appraisal criteria, although they did show more support than the British sample for the use of personality as a basis for appraisal. Overall, the suggestion is that appraisal has been adopted in Hong Kong organizations but that the practice of appraisal has been adapted to suit the cultural characteristics of the society.     

A critical test of the choice questionnaire for collecting informed public opinions

In the Choice Questionnaire (Neijens et al. 1992) respondents have to choose between several policy options. Within this questionnaire they are provided with information about the consequences of each option. Until now, only indirect evidence as to whether or not respondents base their preferences on the information provided was available and plausible alternative explanations for the Choice Questionnaire's effect could not be ruled out. In the present study, we demonstrate that Choice Questionnaire respondents do base their preferences on the information provided: different information resulted in significantly different choices.     

Impact factor as a metric to assess journals where OM research is published

This paper investigates impact factor as a metric for ranking the quality of journal outlets for operations management (OM) research. We review all prior studies that assessed journal outlets for OM research and compare all previous OM journal quality rankings to rankings based on impact factors. We find that rankings based on impact factors that use data from different time periods are highly correlated and provide similar rankings of journals using either two-year or five-year assessment periods, either with or without self-citations. However, some individual journals have large rank changes using different impact factor specifications. We also find that OM journal rankings based on impact factors are only moderately correlated with journal quality rankings previously determined using other methods, and the agreement among these other methods in ranking the quality of OM journals is relatively modest. Thus, impact factor rankings alone are not a replacement for the assessment methods used in previous studies, but rather they evaluate OM journals from another perspective.     

模糊评判法在库存管理ABC分级中的应用

把模糊评判的方法,应用在库存管理的ＡＢＣ分级中,克服了传统分级方法的片面性和局限性,可对不同的库存产品相对于管理的重要性强弱作出明确的排序,使分级变得更加合理、科学、全面     

Bayesian Estimation of Willingness‐to‐pay Where Respondents Mis‐report Their Preferences*

We introduce a modified conditional logit model that takes account of uncertainty associated with mis‐reporting in revealed preference experiments estimating willingness‐to‐pay (WTP). Like Hausman et al. [Journal of Econometrics (1988) Vol. 87, pp. 239–269], our model captures the extent and direction of uncertainty by respondents. Using a Bayesian methodology, we apply our model to a choice modelling (CM) data set examining UK consumer preferences for non‐pesticide food. We compare the results of our model with the Hausman model. WTP estimates are produced for different groups of consumers and we find that modified estimates of WTP, that take account of mis‐reporting, are substantially revised downwards. We find a significant proportion of respondents mis‐reporting in favour of the non‐pesticide option. Finally, with this data set, Bayes factors suggest that our model is preferred to the Hausman model.     

What motivates employees? A comparison of US and Chinese responses

Differences in culture, history, economy, and political and management systems may lead to differences in employee job attribute preferences across countries. To the extent that this is true, managers and designers of motivation systems must understand the preferences of local employees. This study provides information on the job attribute preferences of Chinese employees at a major international hotel in Shanghai. Employee preference data were compared to published results from other nations. The pattern of preferences in China was unique compared to Russia, Taiwan and the United States. Chinese employees felt that good wages were most important, followed by good working conditions and personal loyalty from the boss and organization. Interesting work was relatively unimportant, especially to older employees, and 'being in on things' was not at all important. Supervisors at the hotel also provided information on the preferences which they believed characterized their subordinates. Unlike US managers who often badly misperceive the preferences of their US subordinates, Chinese supervisors accurately reported their subordinates' preferences. Expatriates in the hotel were much less accurate in ranking local subordinate preferences. Implications for motivating and managing Chinese employees are discussed.     

Methods of soliciting self-reported chronic conditions in population surveys: don’t ask,don’t report?

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to compare the self-reported prevalence of chronic conditions when respondents are simply asked to list all chronic conditions (recall method) versus when respondents are asked explicitly about the presence of specific conditions (recognition method). Using data from two Canadian population surveys, 17 separate logistic regression models were used to estimate the effect of method on the odds of reporting any chronic condition, and each of 16 specific conditions. Respondents exposed to the recognition method were nearly four times more likely to report any chronic condition than those exposed to the recall method. The effect of method varied widely across conditions, with those exposed to the recognition method 25 times more likely to report urinary incontinence, but only 1.3 times more likely to report diabetes, compared to those exposed to the recall method. In short, the estimates of chronic conditions obtained using the recall method will be different from those gathered via the recognition method, and the extent of this difference will vary by condition. Both survey designers and survey analysts must make the decision of which method is appropriate, given the goals of the survey or analysis.