Determinants of the intention to participate in firm-hosted online travel communities and effects on consumer behavioral intentions

The increasing presence of firm-hosted online travel communities is motivating significant changes in the travel industry. This study attempts to explain consumers’ intentions to participate in such communities, and other consumer behavioral intentions, on the basis of a model that integrates the Theory of Planned Behavior, the Technology Acceptance Model, and Social Identity Theory. In addition, this research investigates the link between the intention to participate in a community and two behavioral intentions that may benefit the host firm: the intention to use the firm’s products/services and the intention to recommend the host firm. The results reveal that the chosen theories provide an appropriate framework for explaining the intention to participate; this intention in turn has a positive effect on the two other behavioral intentions. On the basis of the results, the authors propose some key conclusions and managerial implications.     

The signaling effect of management response in engaging customers: A study of the hotel industry

Hotels today actively respond to online reviews given their tremendous influence on travelers' decisions. Yet, the questions of how to respond to online reviews continue to baffle hotel managers. By focusing on prospective travelers, we propose the effective management response signals hotels' care for customers and quality of service. Particularly, we postulate the frequency, speed and length of response influence the effectiveness of signaling in reducing information asymmetry. Based on the large-scale field data from TripAdvisor, this study demonstrates that the frequency and speed of response significantly enhance travelers’ engagement as indicated by more reviews, higher average valence, more votes for helpfulness, and higher popularity ranking. Furthermore, the frequent and speedy response is more effective for budget (vs. premium) hotels. Thus, management response to online reviews serves as a critical channel of communication to engage customers.     

License auctions with royalty contracts for (winners and) losers

This paper revisits the licensing of a non-drastic process innovation by an outside innovator to a Cournot oligopoly. We propose a new mechanism that combines a restrictive license auction with royalty licensing. This mechanism is more profitable than standard license auctions, auctioning royalty contracts, fixed-fee licensing, pure royalty licensing, and two-part tariffs. The key features are that royalty contracts are auctioned and that losers of the auction are granted the option to sign a royalty contract. Remarkably, combining royalties for winners and losers of the auction makes the integer constraint concerning the number of licenses irrelevant.     

在线社交网络互动有助于创业机会的识别吗——基于网络信任双维度视角

本文借鉴S(刺激)—O(有机体)—R(反应)理论框架,构建了在线社交网络互动、网络信任与创业机会识别关系的理论模型,采集了长三角512份创业企业样本,通过多层回归分析对三者之间作用机理及匹配关系进行实证检验。研究发现:首先,在线社交网络互动对创业机会的形成产生直接的积极作用,其中,与异质性社交网络互动有利于创新型机会的识别,与同质化社交网络互动则促进模仿型机会的识别;其次,在线社交网络互动还通过网络信任间接地促进创业机会的识别,其中认知信任在异质性网络互动与创新型机会识别间起着部分中介作用,情感信任则在同质化网络互动与模仿型机会识别中起着部分中介作用。     

Efficiency and information aggregation in auctions with costly information

Consider an auction in which k identical objects are sold to n > k bidders who each have a value for one object which can have both private and common components to it. Private information concerning the common component of the object is not exogenously given, but rather endogenous and bidders face a cost to becoming informed. If the cost of information is not prohibitively high, then the equilibrium price in a uniform price auction will not aggregate private information, in contrast to the costless information case. Moreover, for a wide class of auctions if the cost of information is not prohibitively high then the objects can only be allocated in a weakly efficient sense, and then only if the equilibrium proportion of endogenously informed agents is vanishing as the economy grows. In spite of these results, it is shown that there is a mechanism for which there exist equilibria and for which (weak) efficiency is achieved as the economy grows in the face of endogenous information acquisition.Received: 6 August 2001, Accepted: 27 July 2002, JEL Classification: C72, D44, D82Financial support under NSF grant SBR-9507912 is gratefully acknowledged. I thank Valentina Bali for conversations out of which this project grew, and Larry Ausubel for a very helpful discussion of an early version of this paper at the 1998 summer meetings of the Econometric Society from which I have borrowed in structuring the exposition of the paper. I also thank Andy Postlewaite, Jeroen Swinkels, and an associate editor and anonymous referee for helpful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts.     

Social effects of topic propagation on Weibo

Weibo, China’s largest microblogging platform, has become one of the key information-sharing platforms in modern society. This study examines topic propagation in relation to microblogging from the perspective of the “peer effect.” Using data of hot topics from Weibo, we analyze how the social effect and propagation pathway influence the topic propagation process. We propose a spatial and temporal heterogeneity diffusion model that includes endogenous and exogenous social effects and is based on but different from the Bass diffusion model. We find that most propagation pathways end after a single level of propagation. The endogenous social effect in microblogs primarily influences the inflow of topics. Such endogenous social effect, combined with the multiplier effect, motivates most users to share a microblog topic in a short period of time. The exogenous social effect primarily influences the outflow of topics, and therefore, the microblog topics of a small number of popular users’ account for most of the share volume. Our results are robust to potential serial correlation, reflection problem, and potential self-selection due to user status.The findings reveal that group characteristics affect individuals’ behaviors and choices in relation to the topic propagation process on microblogging platforms. The use of a spatial and temporal heterogeneity diffusion model and the robustness of the analysis process provide new information for scholars in this field.     

Nowcasting food inflation with a massive amount of online prices

The consensus in the literature on providing accurate inflation forecasts underlines the importance of precise nowcasts. In this paper, we focus on this issue by employing a unique, extensive dataset of online food and non-alcoholic beverages prices gathered automatically from the webpages of major online retailers in Poland since 2009. We perform a real-time nowcasting experiment by using a highly disaggregated framework among popular, simple univariate approaches. We demonstrate that pure estimates of online price changes are already effective in nowcasting food inflation, but accounting for online food prices in a simple, recursively optimized model delivers further gains in the nowcast accuracy. Our framework outperforms various other approaches, including judgmental methods, traditional benchmarks, and model combinations. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, its nowcasting quality has improved compared to other approaches and remained comparable with judgmental nowcasts. We also show that nowcast accuracy increases with the volume of online data, but their quality and relevance are essential for providing accurate in-sample fit and out-of-sample nowcasts. We conclude that online prices can markedly aid the decision-making process at central banks.     

On the Go: How Mobile Shopping Affects Customer Purchase Behavior

Mobile shopping (M-shopping) has become increasingly important in marketing and retailing. Using a unique dataset from an Internet-based grocery retailer, we evaluate changes in customers’ spending behavior upon adopting M-shopping, i.e., using smartphones or tablets to compose, modify, or place orders online. We find that order rate, i.e., number of orders placed per year, increases as customers adopt M-shopping. Especially for low-spending customers, both their order rate and order size, i.e., the amount of the order in dollars, increase as they become accustomed to M-shopping. In addition to the effect on customer's spending behavior, we also find that M-shoppers tend to use mobile devices to shop for habitual products that they already have a history of purchasing. We propose that customers utilize mobile devices because the technology provides convenient access, which leads them to incorporate M-shopping into their habitual routines. Managerially, we recommend that firms should fully leverage their mobile platforms, but they should also keep in mind that mobile devices may not be the most optimal channel for launching new products or promoting products that require more consideration during the buying process.