Strategies and language trends in learning success and failure of negotiation

In negotiation by electronic means, language is an important deal-making tool which helps realize negotiation strategies. Negotiators may use language to request information, exchange offers, persuade, threaten, as well as reach a compromise or find prospective partners. All this is recorded in texts exchanged by negotiators. We explore the language signals of strategies—argumentation, persuasion, negation, proposition. Leech and Svartvik’s approach to language in communication gives our study the necessary systematic background. It combines pragmatics, the communicative grammar and the meaning of English verbs. Language signals become features in the task of classifying those texts. We employ Statistical Natural Language Processing and Machine Learning techniques to find general trends that negotiation texts exhibit. Our hypothesis is that language signals help predict negotiation outcomes. We run experiments on the Inspire data. The electronic negotiation support system Inspire was gathering data for several years. The data include text messages which negotiators may exchange while trading offers. We conduct a series of Machine Learning experiments to predict the negotiation outcome from the texts associated with first halves of negotiations. We compare the results with the classification of complete negotiations. We conclude the paper with an analysis of the results and a list of suggestions for future work.     

The multidimensionality of anthropomorphism in advertising: the moderating roles of cognitive busyness and assertive language

Anthropomorphized brands or products in advertisements are known to affect consumers’ attitudes in a positive direction. However, most research treats anthropomorphized stimuli as the same in both its design and effects. We explore the multidimensional nature of anthropomorphism in advertising by investigating two degrees of humanization (i.e. subtle vs. overt) that generate different outcomes in terms of advertising performance. For example, we find that consumers prefer ads that use overt humanization (compared to subtle and no humanization) when an ad uses assertive language (i.e. Buy NOW!); however, they prefer ads that use subtle humanization when coupled with ads that do not include assertive language. We find a similar pattern when consumers are cognitively busy. Managerial and theoretical implications are discussed.     

Differentiated goods in a dynamic Cournot duopoly with emission charges on output

We extend the dynamic Cournot duopoly framework with emission charges on output by Mamada and Perrings (Econ Anal Policy 66:370–380, 2020), which encompassed homogeneous products in its original formulation, to the more general case of differentiated goods, in order to highlight the richness in its static and dynamic outcomes. Each firm is taxed proportionally to its own emission only and charge functions are quadratic. Moreover, due to an adjustment capacity constraint, firms partially modify their output level toward the best response. Like in Mamada and Perrings (Econ Anal Policy 66:370–380, 2020), the only steady state coincides with the Nash equilibrium, and it will be considered admissible when it guarantees the positivity of the marginal emission charge. We find that the full efficacy of the environmental policy, which applies to an equilibrium that is globally asymptotically stable anytime it is admissible, is achieved in the case of independent goods, as well as with a low good interdependence degree in absolute value, independently of being substitutes or complements. When goods are substitutes and their interdependence degree is high, the considered environmental policy is still able to reduce pollution at the equilibrium, but the latter is stable just when the policy intensity degree is large enough. When instead goods are complements and their interdependence degree is high in absolute value, the considered environmental policy produces detrimental effects on the pollution level and the unique equilibrium is always unstable, when admissible. This highlights that, from the static viewpoint, even in the absence of free riding possibilities, the choice of the mechanism to implement has to be carefully pondered, according to the features of the considered economy.

     

Entrepreneurial decision-making perspectives in transition economies – tendencies towards risky/rational decision-making

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - This paper assesses the ways in which the characteristics of entrepreneurs from transition economies, and the extent to which they...     

BARGAINING OVER TAXES AND ENTITLEMENTS IN THE ERA OF UNEQUAL GROWTH

Entitlements have become an increasing component of total government spending in the United States over the last six decades. Using a political-economy model where parties bargain over taxes and entitlements, we argue that such dynamics can be explained by two factors: “unequal growth,” where top earners became richer while the income of the bottom 50% stagnated, and budget rules that provide bargaining power to low-income earners through a “status quo effect.” In a model calibrated to the United States, we show that sustained bargaining power by a party representing the poor results in a rising share of entitlements consistent with the data.     

The persistence of economic sentiment: a trip down memory lane

Journal of Economic Interaction and Coordination - Although various indicators of economic sentiment are often assessed in macroeconomic studies, the generating process of economic sentiment itself...     

The effect of competitive intensity on the relationship between strategic entrepreneurship and organizational results

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal - Although the field of strategic entrepreneurship has received much attention in recent years, the relationship of strategic entrepreneurship...     

Quantifying Brexit: from ex post to ex ante using structural gravity

Review of World Economics - Exploiting changes in the geography of economic integration in Europe, this paper quantifies the effects of Brexit from ex post to ex ante using structural gravity. By...     

Talent management in English universities during the coronavirus pandemic

This article reports a longitudinal study exploring talent management, through narratives provided by a group of managers of doctoral programmes in eight UK universities during the 2020 coronavirus outbreak. These managers were also academics, researchers and doctoral supervisors and their perspectives were gathered before and during “lockdown,” and then into the subsequent confused period of semi-lockdown / second lockdown, as cases of Coronavirus increased again in late 2020. Changing socio-economic circumstances, together with the added pressures of family responsibilities, impacted on participants' perceptions of changing roles and relationships during the pandemic. Over 12 months, six semi-structured online interviews (each lasting between 50 and 120 minutes) were conducted, using available platforms, with intervening emails. The narratives showed both formal and informal “talent management methods” and emphasized the need to use both to attract and retain international students.     

“When I go my family will see my life in programmes”: Legacy giving and identity at the Royal Opera House

With £5.5 trillion due to be transferred between generations over forthcoming decades in the UK alone, non-profits stand to increase their income from legacy giving significantly, if they can make lasting and meaningful connections with donors. Extant research suggests that autobiographical memory may play a key role in this process. In this article, we go beyond considering autobiographical memory in general to examining how connection with a particular non-profit, and the memories that are generated can shape individual identity. We report the results of twenty life-history interviews with people who plan to leave a legacy to the Royal Opera House, and discuss how identity is created through a connection with opera and/or ballet in general and the Royal Opera House in particular. We then go on to explore how the strength of that connection and development of a shared identity can create a sense of symbolic immortality and influence the legacy giving decision, drawing on peak memorable experiences and nostalgia as a social emotion that connects people to what they love. We conclude by reflecting on how other non-profits might create or stimulate such identities.