Anthropomorphizing makes material goods as happiness-inducing as experiences

Prior research suggests that material goods (e.g., electronic gadgets) often provide less happiness than do experiences (e.g., movies). As a boundary condition, the present research proposes a theory-based yet actionable solution to overcome the happiness disadvantage of material goods. Three studies show that when material goods are anthropomorphized (i.e., imbued with humanlike characteristics), consumers gain enhanced feelings of consumption sociality and, in turn, derive a boost in happiness such that they gain as much happiness from these material goods as from experiences. With mediation and moderation approaches, we provide process evidence for these enhanced feelings of consumption sociality that are typically lacking with material purchases, which are prone to being consumed alone rather than with other people. Thus, the present research suggests that even in the absence of other people, consumers can gain greater happiness from their material goods by perceiving them as human.

     

Talk of the Network: A Complex Systems Look at the Underlying Process of Word-of-Mouth

Though word-of-mouth (w-o-m) communications is a pervasive and intriguing phenomenon, little is known on its underlying process of personal communications. Moreover as marketers are getting more interested in harnessing the power of w-o-m, for e-business and other net related activities, the effects of the different communications types on macro level marketing is becoming critical. In particular we are interested in the breakdown of the personal communication between closer and stronger communications that are within an individual's own personal group (strong ties) and weaker and less personal communications that an individual makes with a wide set of other acquaintances and colleagues (weak ties).We use a technique borrowed from Complex Systems Analysis called stochastic cellular automata in order to generate data and analyze the results so that answers to our main research issues could be ascertained. The following summarizes the impact of strong and weak ties on the speed of acceptance of a new product:The influence of weak ties is at least as strong as the influence of strong ties. Despite the relative inferiority of the weak tie parameter in the model's assumptions, their effect approximates or exceeds that of strong ties, in all stages of the product life cycle.External marketing efforts (e.g., advertising) are effective. However, beyond a relatively early stage of the growth cycle of the new product, their efficacy quickly diminishes and strong and weak ties become the main forces propelling growth. The results clearly indicate that information dissemination is dominated by both weak and strong w-o-m, rather than by advertising.The effect of strong ties diminishes as personal network size decreases. Market attributes were also found to mediate the effects of weak and strong ties. When personal networks are small, weak ties were found to have a stronger impact on information dissemination than strong ties.     

Payout policy,financial flexibility,and agency costs of free cash flow

This paper explains how firms choose between dividends and open-market repurchase programs, the prevailing method that firms use to disburse cash today. While earlier theories about payout policy are motivated by signaling, the motivation for payout in this paper is to prevent the waste of free cash by self-interested insiders. In the model, dividends prevent free cash waste by forcing cash out, but result in underinvestment if the cash paid out is later needed for operations. Open-market programs stimulate payout by providing personal gains to informed insiders that are associated with the firm's repurchase trade. Yet, they also avoid the underinvestment problem by leaving insiders the option to cancel the payout. Because their execution is optional, however, open-market programs only partially prevent the waste of free cash. The model provides testable predictions that are generally consistent with the empirical evidence.     

Political constraints and currency crises in emerging markets and less developed economies

Review of World Economics - Political institutions may directly affect the likelihood of currency crises by influencing market confidence. They may indirectly affect the likelihood of currency...     

A systematic literature review of crowdfunding and sustainability: highlighting what really matters

Management Review Quarterly - This article systematically reviews literature at the intersection of crowdfunding and sustainability. It analyzes the extent to which the current research foci in...     

Price cap regulation and water quality

Journal of Regulatory Economics - A number of studies suggest that price cap regulation may reduce the quality of the regulated good. This paper analyzes the impact on drinking water quality of a...     

THE WAR ON DRUGS 2.0: DARKNET FENTANYL'S RISE AND THE EFFECTS OF REGULATORY AND LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTION

U.S. overdose deaths attributed to synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, have increased from under 3,000 in 2013 to nearly 20,000 in 2016, making up half of all opioid‐related overdose deaths. Using web scrapes of darknet markets from 2014 to 2016, I provide historical prices for fentanyl and its most popular analogues and find that fentanyl vendors priced fentanyl in 2014 at a 90% discount compared to an equivalent dose of heroin. Using regression discontinuity, I evaluate the effects of two major law enforcement and regulatory events. I find minimal lasting effects of U.S. legal actions intended to disrupt darknet markets, but there are statistically significant indications of a price increase corresponding with regulatory action in China. Despite these indications of some regulatory success, fentanyl prices remained approximately 90% cheaper than heroin. (JEL I18, K42)     

Criteria for contracting-out decisions when contractors can deceive

This paper presents a decision rule for contracting out that explicitly takes into account the possibility of contractor deception. In the model presented here, the contracting agency opts to contract out only when the production savings exceeds the sum of its optimal monitoring expenses, optimal fine collection costs, and the expected loss stemming from undetected cheating. Furthermore, in awarding contracts, the contracting agency explicitly takes into account the risk aversion of the contractor. The analysis suggests that effective contracts must consider the contractor's attitude toward risk and permit the contractor to retain some positive rent, conclusions that give rise to a number of nonintuitive policy implications.     

Types of technological scanning in manufacturing SMEs: an empirical analysis of patterns and determinants

As the component of environmental scanning that is concerned with science and technology, products, production processes, hardware and information systems, the concept of technological scanning, especially in small business, has received little empirical attention in the past. This paper aims to better define the different technological scanning practices of small and mediumsized enterprises (SMEs) and identify the main factors that determine these differences. This is done without relation to organizational effectiveness as technological scanning is but one of many potential influences on business performance. Using data obtained from a mail survey on the scanning practices of 324 SMEs, the study hopes to increase our understanding of how various entrepreneurs confront various environments in practice. The research model used is based on the notion that, to define different technological scanning practices in small business, four aspects must be considered: strategic orientation (objectives pursued); types of information sought (on technologies and their costs, human resources necessary, etc.); sources used (customers, fairs, specialized publications, suppliers, research centres, etc.); and scanning management practices (methods used, staff involved, level of formalization, and integration of activities). These aspects are contingent upon four factors: the managers' profile; their perception of the environment; their firm's characteristics; and their information network. A cluster analysis reveals that the sampled firms can be grouped into four separate categories, according to the intensity of their technological scanning activities and the type of strategy used. In the first category, where scanning is most developed, the SMEs emphasize cost reduction and control, followed by improvements in competitiveness; they seek mainly financial and human resource information, and use their own internal resources to obtain it. A second category, where scanning is least developed, puts the emphasis on increasing production capacity and flexibility; these SMEs seek very diverse information from many sources. Of the two intermediate groups, one aims to diversify and increase the quality of products and services; marketing information is obtained through customers, suppliers and subcontractors. The other, whose scanning is better organized, favours increasing production capacity through innovation and market information with the help of governmental and financial institutions. This research concludes that there is no ‘one best way’ to environmental scanning in manufacturing SMEs, and that it all depends upon the organization, its objectives and its environmental pressures.