Modeling aggregate air-travel itinerary shares: logit model development at a major US airline

This study reports the results of aggregate air-travel itinerary share models estimated at the city-pair level for all city-pairs in the US. These models determine the factors that influence airline ridership at the itinerary level and support carrier decision-making. The models are estimated using aggregate multinomial logit methodology and use comprehensive data. Independent variables for the models measure various itinerary service characteristics: level-of-service, connection quality, carrier, carrier market presence, fares, aircraft size and type, and time of day. The results are intuitive, and validation tests indicate that the models outperform existing methods. Finally, the impacts of changing various itinerary service attributes on carrier market share are discussed.     

Individualism/collectivism and attitudes towards human resource systems: a comparative study of American,Irish and Indian MBA students

In this study, we collected data from 180 MBA students from the USA, Ireland and India on their individualism/collectivism (IC) orientations and their preferences for human resource management (HRM) practices. Contrary to expectations, the Indian sample tended to be more individualistic than the American or Irish sample. While there were no differences on the preferences for progressive HRM practices across sample, the Americans exhibited a greater preference for paternalistic practices than the Indians and the Irish. Further, the Americans also showed a greater preference for equality in rewards than the Irish and fairness in appraisals/rewards than the Indians. At the individual level, controlling for nationality, age and gender, higher individualism scores on the supremacy of individual goals and self-reliance dimensions were positively related to progressive HRM practices. Higher individualism on supremacy of individual goals was also positively related to procedural fairness in appraisals/rewards and negatively related to paternalistic HRM practices. A higher preference for working alone was negatively related to progressive HRM practices. Further, higher individualism on the supremacy of individual interest dimension was negatively related to progressive HRM practices and positively related to paternalistic HRM practices. Implications are discussed.     

Estimating exchange rate responsiveness to shocks

The goal of this paper is to examine the importance of permanent and transitory shocks using a more efficient trend-cycle decomposition of the real exchange rate series. Our main contribution is that in measuring the impact of shocks, we not only impose common trend restrictions but also common cycle restrictions. We later confirm, through a post sample forecasting exercise, the efficiency gains from imposing common cycle restrictions. Our results indicate that permanent shocks are responsible for the bulk of the real exchange rate variations for Japan, Italy, Germany, France, and the UK vis-à-vis the US dollar over short horizons. For Canada, however, transitory shocks are dominant over the short horizon. In sum, while for Japan, France, and Italy, around 15% of the variation in real exchange rate is due to transitory shocks, for Canada, Germany and the UK, over 25% of the variations over the short horizon are due to transitory shocks. Thus, we claim that the role of transitory shocks should not be ignored.     

PRICE DISPERSION,INFLATION, AND WELFARE*

We examine the implications of inflation for both price dispersion and welfare in a monetary search economy. In our economy, if the degree of buyers' incomplete information about prices is fixed, both price dispersion and real prices are increasing in inflation. As the inflation rate approaches the Friedman rule, both price dispersion and welfare losses vanish. If households choose the number of prices to observe, then the optimal inflation rate may exceed the Friedman rule as inflation induces search and, up to a point, raises welfare by eroding market power.     

The calling of a creative transdisciplinarity

A relational approach to the problem of interdisciplinary studies is presented and arguments made for rethinking our disciplinary identity from our experiential and aspirational vantage point of transdiciplinary participation. But transdisciplinary participation requires overcoming our disciplinary chauvinism and an openness to the perspectives of other disciplines. In transdisciplinary participation, the other perspective, the other disciplines, need recognition and invitation into the hard core of the disciplinary self and for this the method and weltanschauung of the conventional interdisciplinary research is not enough. Interdisciplinary research now calls for a transdiciplinary interrogation, opening and enrichment which transforms the pious hopes and waiting for interdisciplinarity into a calling of transdiciplinary striving.     

Do market characteristics impact the relationship between retailer characteristics and online prices?

We propose that market characteristics interact with retailer characteristics to determine online prices. The retailer characteristics examined include—service quality of a retailer, channels of transaction provided by a retailer and the size of a retailer. The market characteristics capture the level and nature of competition, and the price level of a product. We utilize a Hierarchical Linear Model (HLM) framework for capturing and testing the proposed interactions. The better fit between the model and the online market structure is reflected by a twenty-five percent increase in explainable price dispersion over results from comparable studies. Our study demonstrates that while retailer characteristics do impact online prices, this influence is significantly enhanced or diminished by the accompanying market characteristics.     

Online information search termination patterns across product categories and consumer demographics

While accessing information online, consumers exhibit differences in their patterns of search, that is, time spent per search episode and search frequency. The search patterns vary across both consumer characteristics and product categories. We empirically investigate consumer online information search termination patterns, and relate the differences to product categories and consumer characteristics. Findings of such an empirical study would be useful for planning communication strategies, website design, etc. The model is calibrated on empirical data collected through online surveys. We find that consumer learning occurs when consumers search across search goods, but not when they search across experience goods.     

Economics, Psychology, and Social Dynamics of Consumer Bidding in Auctions

With increasing numbers of consumers in auction marketplaces, we highlight some recent approaches that bring additional economic, social, and psychological factors to bear on existing economic theory to better understand and explain consumers' behavior in auctions. We also highlight specific research streams that could contribute towards enriching existing economic models of bidding behavior in emerging market mechanisms. This paper is based on the special session at the 6th Triennial Invitational Choice Symposium, University of Colorado Boulder, June 2004 (co-chaired by the first two authors).     

Marketers' Norms and Personal Values: An Empirical Study of Marketing Professionals

This study explores the relationships among marketers' deontological norms and their personal values. Based on the review of theoretical works in the area of marketing, hypotheses concerning the relationships among marketers' norms and their personal values were developed and tested. Data were collected from 249 marketing professionals. Results from canonical correlation analysis generally indicate that marketers' norms can be partly explained by personal values. Marketers' pricing and distribution norms, information and contract norms, and norms pertaining to marketers' honesty and integrity were significantly related to the personal values emphasizing "excitement," "warm relationships with others," "fun and enjoyment in life," and "a sense of accomplishment."     

Consumer ethical beliefs and personality traits: An exploratory analysis

The present study examines the relationships between consumers' ethical beliefs and personality traits. Based on a survey of 295 undergraduate business students, the authors found that individuals with high needs for autonomy, innovation, and aggression, as well as individuals with a high propensity for taking risks tend to have “less ethical” beliefs concerning possible consumer actions. Individuals with a high need for social desirability and individuals with a strong problem solving coping style tend to have “more ethical” beliefs concerning possible consumer actions. The needs for achievement, affiliation, complexity and an emotion solving coping style were not significantly correlated with consumer ethical beliefs.