What do Airbnb hosts reveal by posting photographs online and how does it affect their perceived trustworthiness?

The use of sellers' personal photographs online is ubiquitous in sharing economy platforms such as Airbnb. This paper addresses two questions. First, what type of personal photos do hosts choose to post on Airbnb? Second, which of the characteristics of their photos affects their perceived trustworthiness? We answer these questions by building a structural equation model of the relation between the characteristics of the photos and the perceived trustworthiness of the hosts. The antecedents of trust in this model were defined based on insights from psychology regarding first impressions. We found that the hosts' visual characteristics (e.g., gender) as revealed in their online photographs affect their perceived trustworthiness both directly and indirectly via attractiveness. We also found that image characteristics, which are not related directly to the traits of the host in the picture (e.g., photograph quality), play a significant role in trust inference. Interestingly, the hosts' choices of their personal photos suggest that they may not be aware of these effects.     

Binary choice and the supply of memory

In a binary choice experiment, the subject predicts on a series of trials whether a particular random event will or will not occur. The results of such experiments show systematic departures from expected value maximization, but to a degree that decreases as the reward for successful prediction increases. This paper proposes that the mechanism underlying these results involves the supply of memory. Subjects are influenced by the outcomes of recent trials, but tend to respond to the evidence in a larger number of trials as reward (and hence attention) are increased. Broader conceptual issues surrounding the notion of rational choice are also discussed.     

Market segmentation: A tactical approach

Segmentation “trees’ can be a useful way of analyzing markets for improved strategy. This article explains how, and shows some flaws in traditional segmentation methods.     

Attention allocation and input proportions

This paper presents an alternative to the standard microeconomic analysis of the effects of a change in relative input prices. Managers are portrayed as struggling to control costs. Because a rise in the price of a given input ‘promotes’ operations intensive in that input in the managerial attention priority list, it induces tighter control of such operations and thus a lower relative utilization of the input. The deterministic model analyzed is akin to stochastic models studied by Radner and Rothschild.     

Mean Reversion and Momentum: Another Look at the Price-Volume Correlation in the Real Estate Market

Based on behavioral finance and economics literature, we construct a theoretical framework in which consumers of newly constructed housing units perceive prices to follow a stochastic mean reversion pattern. Given this belief and the high carrying cost maintained by real estate developers, potential buyers opt to either exercise immediately or defer the purchase. We simulate the model within a real option framework by which we show that the optimal time to wait before exercising a purchase is positively related to the price level; hence, a negative (positive) correlation between transaction volume and price level (yield) emerges. Observing data on housing prices and new construction sales in Israel for the years 1998–2007, we apply an adaptive expectation regression model to test consumers’ belief in both mean reversion and momentum price patterns. The empirical evidence shows that while consumers’ demand pattern is simultaneously consistent with the belief in both momentum and mean reversion processes, the effect of the latter generally dominates. Moreover, while the data does not allow for testing the volume and price-level correlation, it does provide support to the positive volume-price yield correlation.     

Institutional logics and innovation in times of crisis: Telemedicine as digital ‘PPE’

How do crises shape digital innovation? In this paper we examine the rapid adoption of digital telemedicine technologies in an Israeli hospital with a focus on the role of the institutional logics held by the stakeholders responding to emerging events. With the onset of COVID-19, the need for social distancing and minimal physical contact challenged and interrupted hospital practices. In response, remote audio-visual functionality of digital technologies were appropriated in different ways, as stakeholders – state actors, managers, health professionals, and family members – sought to improvise and enhance the protection of persons concerned. We show how emerging practices were guided by the dominant institutional logics of stakeholders responding to the crisis. Acting for many as a digital form of ‘personal protective equipment’ (PPE), the technologies enabled diverse action possibilities to become manifest in practices. We add to understanding the role of institutional logics in directing the attention of stakeholders to shape digital innovation in times of crisis.     

Commemoration of the Great War on the Somme: exploring personal connections

This study was undertaken at two sites on the Somme, France, one of the main battlefields of the Great War (1914–1918). It used a quantitative method and sought to explore the relative strength of two bases of personal connection (family and nation) to interests in visiting the area. The impact of attendance at a commemorative event on visitors' battlefield interests was also explored. The sample at the Thiepval memorial was dominated by British visitors and by Australians at Villers-Bretonneux. The analysis indicated that people with close family connections to the war had higher levels of interest in seeing sites of their family's war-time involvement, desire to pay their respects and historical interest. Attendance at a major national event (Anzac Day) appeared to increase national interest in people who did not have family connections.