Organizationally-relevant configurations: the value of modeling local dependence

Configurations are important across all levels of organizations. Despite the interest in and importance of configurations in research for organizations, the empirical methods for assessing and classifying configurations has not kept pace with the theoretical advancements. Theory suggests that configurations must include aligned elements that have local dependence. Local dependence is defined as the interrelationships among variables necessary to form an internally consistent configuration. We explain how latent class cluster analysis (LCCA) enables modeling for local dependence and provides theoretical and methodological value for configurations researchers. Using primary data from two samples, we demonstrate that LCCA with local dependence outperforms traditional cluster analysis-based approaches. Our method can be used for detecting configurations at a variety of organizational levels (e.g. nation, industry, firm, and group).     

Welfare distribution of collective in-kind transfers in education: an application to the extended schools programme

In this study, we employ the distributional characteristics approach to analyse the welfare distribution of the Extended Schools Programme, a social programme that fights inequality in Northern Ireland’s public schools. Our main result is that increasing funding to schools as their size increases penalizes the most deprived students. This is because the school size, although related to the educational supply, does not reflect the distribution of deprivation within schools. Thus, although in the Northern Irish context the largest welfare gains are possible if funds are redistributed among middle-size schools, our general result indicates an excessive support of small-size schools at the expenses of large-size schools.     

Treatment patterns,healthcare resource utilization,and costs in patients with acute myeloid leukemia in commercially insured and Medicare populations

Objective: To describe the setting, duration, and costs of induction and consolidation chemotherapy for adults with newly-diagnosed acute myeloid leukemia (AML), who are candidates for standard induction chemotherapy, in the US.

Methods: Adults newly-diagnosed with AML who received standard induction chemotherapy in an inpatient setting were identified from the Truven Health Analytics MarketScan (2006–2015) and SEER-Medicare (2007–2011) databases. Patients were observed from induction therapy start to the first of hematopoietic stem cell transplant, 180 days after induction discharge, health plan enrollment/data availability end, or death. Induction and consolidation chemotherapy were identified using Diagnosis-Related Group codes (chemotherapy with acute leukemia) or procedure codes for AML chemotherapy administration. AML treatment episode setting (inpatient or outpatient), duration, and costs (2015 USD, payers’ perspective) were described for commercially insured patients and Medicare beneficiaries.

Results: In total, 459 commercially insured patients and 563 Medicare beneficiaries (mean age?=?54 and 66 years; 53% and 54% male; respectively) were identified. For induction therapy, mean costs were $145,189 for commercially insured patients and $85,734 for Medicare beneficiaries, and median inpatient duration was 31 days (both). Following induction, 64% of commercially insured patients and 53% of Medicare beneficiaries had ≥1 consolidation cycle; 75% and 65% of consolidation cycles were in an inpatient setting, respectively. For consolidation cycles, in the inpatient setting, mean costs were $28,137 for commercially insured patients and $28,843 for Medicare beneficiaries, median cycle duration was 6 days (both); in the outpatient setting, mean costs were $11,271 for commercially insured patients and $5,803 Medicare beneficiaries, median duration was 5 days (both).

Limitations: Granular information on chemotherapy type administered was unavailable.

Conclusions: This is the first exploratory study providing a complete picture of recent AML treatment patterns and management costs among commercially insured patients and Medicare beneficiaries. There is substantial heterogeneity in the management and costs of AML.     

Changing the marketplace one behavior at a time: Perceived marketplace influence and sustainable consumption

This study introduces the construct of Perceived Marketplace Influence (PMI) and investigates its role in mediating the relationship between environmental concern and sustainable consumption behavior. A nationwide survey shows that Perceived Marketplace Influence plays an important role in mediating the relationship between concern and behavior, providing an explanation for prior inconsistencies in this relationship. Accordingly, Perceived Marketplace Influence plays a purposeful role in transforming environmental concern into behavior. This project extends previous research on the relationship between values, beliefs, and behavior by showing that one's perception of influence on the marketplace behavior of others significantly influences one's own marketplace behavior. Improved understanding of this relationship provides updated guidance to firms and policymakers for projecting and encouraging sustainable consumption behavior.     

The Effective Delivery of a Streaming Video Course Lecture

Abstract

This study compares the effects of a faculty-read non-interactive streaming video lecture to the same lecture read by paid actors on student performance and perceptions. The scope of the study is limited to one learning objective of the first accounting course. No significant differences were found in student performance (n = 46), as measured by quiz grades, or student perceptions, as measured by a survey instrument, between the lectures read by faculty members and the lectures read by actors. These findings have implications for authors of online course content because the results suggest that the effectiveness of a non-interactive video presentation might not be dependent on the presenter. Faculty time might best be spent developing content with paid student actors going on-camera for recording the actual presentation.     

The intention of continued web-enabled phone service usage: A quality perspective

The cell phone industry is in a unique position that lies in the intersection of high technology and service industry. There is exponential growth in the mobile phone service market with new innovation and modern technology serving as the catalyst to this growth. The aim of this study is to provide insight into the importance of quality attributes to behavioral intentions. In this work we posit a research model based on the quality literature. The proposed model is compared with the predictive level of the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Using Partial Least Squares (PLS) our findings suggest that, as hypothesized, perceived service quality and perceived satisfaction in web access quality are essential in consumers?? intent of continued service usage (ICU). Also, our parsimonious model is a more highly predictive model than TAM in explaining an internet-enabled mobile phone user??s continued service usage intention.     

The Impact of Children on Australian Couples’ Wealth Accumulation

Existing estimates of the cost of children focus on what parents spend on their children, which has limited relevance to parents’ financial capacity to meet those costs. An alternative indicator of the affordability of children, their impact upon couples’ wealth accumulation, is estimated using the lifecycle model and Australian household panel data. The results suggest children have a very small impact upon wealth accumulation, seemingly at odds with the large ‘costs’ implied from expenditure‐based estimates. In reconciling these highly divergent estimates we argue that the net‐wealth approach is an intuitively more appealing indicator of the financial impost of children.