Choice and the Internet: From Clickstream to Research Stream

The authors discuss research progress and future opportunities for modeling consumer choice on the Internet using clickstream data (the electronic records of Internet usage recorded by company web servers and syndicated data services). The authors compare the nature of Internet choice (as captured by clickstream data) with supermarket choice (as captured by UPC scanner panel data), highlighting the differences relevant to choice modelers. Though the application of choice models to clickstream data is relatively new, the authors review existing early work and provide a two-by-two categorization of the applications studied to date (delineating search versus purchase on the one hand and within-site versus across-site choices on the other). The paper offers directions for further research in these areas and discusses additional opportunities afforded by clickstream information, including personalization, data mining, automation, and customer valuation. Notwithstanding the numerous challenges associated with clickstream data research, the authors conclude that the detailed nature of the information tracked about Internet usage and e-commerce transactions presents an enormous opportunity for empirical modelers to enhance the understanding and prediction of choice behavior.     

Doing Unto Others: The Reciprocity of Helping Behavior in Organizations

Reciprocity is a fundamental aspect of social life, and a phenomenon studied from a wide variety of philosophical, theological, and social scientific perspectives. In this study, we use social exchange theory to investigate why employees help other employees. We hypothesize, based on the norm of reciprocity (Gouldner, 1960), that a significant cause of an employee's helping behavior is how much organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) the employee has received from coworkers. To provide evidence of the discriminant validity of OCB received as an antecedent of helping behavior, we also assess its effects on another form of extra-role behavior, voice, as well as in-role performance. We found, in a sample of 157 employee-supervisor dyads, that OCB received was related to helping behavior after controlling for several antecedents of helping behavior identified in past research, and was less related to voice and in-role behavior, as hypothesized. Implications for theory and practice are presented.     

Attribute Identities Matter: Subjective Perceptions of Attribute Characteristics

Recent research indicates that attributes vary along multiple dimensions with implications for how trade-offs are resolved during choice. We present an exploratory study of the dimensionality underlying naïve subjects ratings of attributes on the characteristics commonly discussed in the literature on tradeoff resolution and decision difficulty. Factor analysis of attribute characteristic assessments indicates that subjects view decision attributes in a multi-dimensional fashion, including an importance/loss aversion dimension, an emotional potential/protection from tradeoffs dimension, and a cognitive difficulty dimension. These results suggest that a one-dimensional measure of attribute characteristics, such as a standard attribute importance rating, may obscure some factors determining individual responses to attributes during decision processing. However, the results also suggest that developing a relatively succinct set of scales in order to characterize the dimensions along with subjects response to attributes is a viable goal for future research.     

Hierarchical Bayesian conjoint models incorporating measurement uncertainty

The authors explore situations where consumers supplement their judgments with a measurement of uncertainty about their own preferences, either implicitly or explicitly, and develop two sets of hierarchical Bayesian conjoint models incorporating such measurements. The first set of models uses the relative location of a rating to determine the importance or weight given to the rating, in a regression setting. The second set uses interval judgment as a dependent variable in a regression setting. After specifying the models, the authors perform a theoretical comparison with a basic Bayesian regression model. They show that, under different conditions, the proposed models will yield more precise individual-level partworth estimates. Two simulated data examples and data from a conjoint study are used to illustrate the gains that could be obtained from modeling uncertainty. In the empirical application, the authors show that model fit improves when ratings for items that respondents do not like are given more weight compared to ratings for items that they do like. Electronic Supplementary Material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Advertising effects on consumer welfare: Prices paid and liking for brands selected

The effect of advertising on consumer welfare has been the subject of dispute among economists, arising largely from disagreement among scholars regarding the persuasive versus the informative role of advertising. This paper reports two experiments that explore the welfare implications of advertising effects. Experiment 1 shows that the same advertisements can either increase or decrease prices paid for selected brands, depending on the degree to which the choice situation requires brands to be recalled in order to be considered. However, an increase in prices paid caused by advertising does not necessarily imply detrimental effects on consumer welfare. Experiment 2 shows that, even under circumstances in which differentiating advertising leads consumers to select brands with higher average prices, it can provide useful information to consumers that allows them to make purchases that are more in line with their personal tastes than are the choices of consumers not exposed to the advertisements.     

Modeling the relationship between networking and firm performance

Network theory suggests that successful business ownership might depend on the ability of owners to gain access to resources not under their control in a cost effective way through networking. To date, however, there has been little empirical support for this proposition, particularly for established firms. The results of this study, based on a large longitudinal database, indicate a significant positive relationship between networking (particularly with formal networks such as external accountants) and both firm survival and, to a lesser extent, growth, but not ROE. Further, network intensity is found to be associated with survival, and network range with growth.     

Failure Rates for Female‐Controlled Businesses: Are They Any Different?

Previous research has found that female-owned businesses generally underperform male-owned businesses on a variety of measures such as revenue, profit, growth, and discontinuance (failure) rates. It has been suggested that this finding might be the result of systematic differences between male- and female-owned businesses, particularly industry differences. This paper analyzes data from a representative sample of 8,375 small and medium-sized Australian enterprises that originally were surveyed in 1994–95, with follow-up surveys in each of the subsequent three years for a subsample of businesses. The aim was to determine whether female-owned businesses exhibit higher failure rates than male-owned businesses and, if so, whether this finding persists after controlling for industry differences. The results suggest that while female-owned businesses do have higher failure rates compared to male-owned businesses, the difference is not significant after controlling for the effects of industry.     

Foreign direct investment: A strategic move toward sustainable free enterprise and economic development in Saudi Arabia

Foreign direct investment (FDI) has been viewed in many circles as one of the key drivers for economic development. Irrespective of their ideological differences, most countries around the world have been competing to attract FDI. China, for example, is a country formally characterized by communist ideology. It has been highly proactive in formulating policies amenable to FDI so much so that in 2003, China overtook the United States as the biggest recipient of FDI, having attracted U.S. $53 billion from Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development (OECD) countries and elsewhere. In this article, an attempt is made to critically examine aspects of FDI, especially with reference to economic development in Saudi Arabia. The research study in this article reports new research findings based on a survey of Saudi managers/enterprises that highlight the current status of FDI in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. In particular, the study finds that while Saudi managers generally welcome FDI into the country, at the same time, they do retain ambivalent attitudes toward its perceived benefits.     

Access (Not) Denied: The Impact of Financial, Human, and Cultural Capital on Entrepreneurial Entryin the United States

Entrepreneurship contributes to business dynamics in all economies, and the individual benefits of starting a business are clear. Nonetheless, access to business start-ups may not be available to all people because of resource constraints. Using a unique new data set for the United States, we examine the relative importance of three forms of resources in pursuing start-up ventures: financial, human, and cultural capital. Our analysis of the Panel Study of Entrepreneurial Dynamics shows that neither financial nor cultural capital resources are necessary conditions for entrepreneurial entry. By contrast, potential entrepreneurs gain significant advantages if they possess high levels of human capital. Specifically, advanced education and managerial experience are significantly positively associated with entrepreneurial entry. Our findings suggest that attempts at entering entrepreneurship, at least in the short-term, may be increasing, as opportunities to acquire human capital are becoming more widespread.