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Behavioral frontiers in choice modeling
No full textWe review the discussion at a workshop whose goal was to achieve a better integration among behavioral, economic, and statistical approaches to choice modeling. The workshop explored how current approaches to the specification, estimation, and application of choice models might be improved to better capture the diversity of processes that are postulated to explain how consumers make choices. Some specific challenges include how to capture and parsimoniously describe heterogeneous mixes of heuristic choice rules, methods for building realistic models of choice, and nontraditional methods for estimating models. An agenda for important future work in these areas is also proposed.
Do social product features have value to consumers?
No full textThe present paper utilizes a random utility theoretic experimental design to provide estimates of the relative value that selected consumers place on the social features of products. Experiments were conducted in Hong Kong and Australia using both university students and supporters of the human rights organization Amnesty International. The paper focuses on two classes of social features, “labor practices” and “animal rights and the environment”. The results show that the social features of products can, on average, affect an individuals' likelihood of purchasing a product. Also, this paper finds distinctive segments of ethically orientated consumers.
Investigating choice experiments for preferences of older people (ICEPOP) : evaluative spaces in health economics
No full textThis paper deals with three concerns about the evaluative framework that is currently dominant within health economics. These concerns are: that the evaluative framework is concerned entirely with health; that the evaluative framework has an individualistic focus on patients alone; and that the methods used to estimate ‘health’ within the current evaluative framework could be improved both in terms of the generation of descriptive systems and in using valuation methods that rely less on people's ability to express their preferences on a cardinal scale. In exploring these issues the Investigating Choice Experiments for Preferences of Older People (ICEPOP) programme has explicitly focused on both the topic of older people and the methods of discrete choice experiments. A capability index has been developed and attributes for an economic measure of end-of-life care are currently being generated, providing the possibility of extending the evaluative framework beyond health alone. A measure of carer's experience and a framework for extending measurement in end-of-life care to loved ones are both also in development, thus extending the evaluative framework beyond the patient alone. Rigorous qualitative methods employing an iterative approach have been developed for use in constructing attributes, and best–worst scaling has been utilized to reduce task complexity and provide insights into heterogeneity. There are a number of avenues for further research in all these areas, but in particular there is need for greater attention to be paid to the theory underlying the evaluative framework within health economics.
Financial competence and expectations formation : evidence from Australia
No full textWe study the financial competence of Australian retirement savers using self-assessed and quantified measures. Responses to financial literacy questions show large variation and compare poorly with some international surveys. Basic and sophisticated financial literacy vary significantly with most demographics, self-assessed financial competence, income, superannuation accumulation and net worth. General numeracy scores are largely constant across gender, age, higher education and income. Financial competence also significantly affects expectations of stock market performance. Using a discrete choice model, we show that individuals with a higher understanding of risk, diversification and financial assets are more likely to assign a probability to future financial crises rather than expressing uncertainty.
Ordering effects and choice set awareness in repeat-response stated preference studies
No full textWe present an experiment designed to investigate the presence and nature of ordering effects within repeat-response stated preference (SP) studies. Our experiment takes the form of a large sample, full-factorial, discrete choice SP exercise investigating preferences for tap water quality improvements. Our study simultaneously investigates a variety of different forms of position-dependent and precedent-dependent ordering effect in preferences for attributes and options and in response randomness. We also examine whether advanced disclosure of the choice tasks impacts on the probability of exhibiting ordering effects of those different types. We analyze our data both non-parametrically and parametrically and find robust evidence for ordering effects. We also find that the patterns of order effect in respondents' preferences are significantly changed but not eradicated by the advanced disclosure of choice tasks a finding that offers insights into the choice behaviors underpinning order effects.
Consumer neuroscience : assessing the brain response to marketing stimuli using electroencephalogram (EEG) and eye tracking
No full textThere was a clear phase synchronization between the left and right frontal and occipital regions indicating interhemispheric communications during the chosen task for the 18 participants. Results also indicated that there was a clear and significant change (p < 0.01) in the EEG power spectral activities taking a place mainly in the frontal (delta, alpha and beta across F3, F4, FC5 and FC6), temporal (alpha, beta, gamma across T7), and occipital (theta, alpha, and beta across O1) regions when participants indicated their preferences for their preferred crackers. Additionally, our mutual information analysis indicated that the various cracker flavors and toppings of the crackers were more important factors affecting the buying decision than the shapes of the crackers.
Institutionalisation of enterprise systems through organisational isomorphism
No full textThe analysis of IS implementation and lifecycle management theories concludes that, ERP systems or for that matter any information system is a socio-technical system; and the social, cultural, organisational and competitive context of their implementation cannot be ignored. Various institutional pressures are exerted on ERP initiation, adoption, and routinization by organisations to achieve competitive, economic, social, environmental and organisational legitimacy and authority. There are theoretical supports available for environmental isomorphic mechanisms; however, comparing to tremendous amount of studies on coercive, normative, and mimetic, there are little studies that actually look at other organisational and internal institutional elements which are influencing technology implementation, assimilation and institutionalisation process. This research aims to fill this gap by introducing perceptive, confirmative, and configurative mechanisms as new forms of institutional isomorphism, i.e., organisational isomorphism.
Institutionalisation of enterprise resource planning systems : an integrative framework
No full textThe importance of studying institutional view and theories in the context of contemporary business organisations have been emphasized by many researchers. However, the literature overlooked the institutional elements which are influencing technology implementation in organisations. This study aims to investigate the issues posed to ERP implementation through the lens of technology institutionalisation perspective by considering institutional theory, institutional pressures, and other organisational and technological factors. This research in progress paper describes the research framework for ERP institutionalisation that provides an integrative view of how ERP is implemented, assimilated, and institutionalised within the organisations. This framework brings together the effects of various well-defined IS theories into a unified and integrated structure. Moreover, this paper looks at a broad sample of current IS literature on ERP systems’ successes and failures over various stages of institutionalisation process. Based on the results of literature analysis, tackling an ERP institutionalisation, for any organisation, requires some introspection and true assessment of priorities, objectives and external business environment of the organisation.
Greenhouse gas emission from wastewater irrigated soils
No full textWith increasing demand for world water supply, wastewater reuse is a great opportunity to meet the water need, especially for agricultural and industrial development. Wastewater originates from many sources and hence its composition differs from origin and treatment processes. Wastewater rich in organic matter acts as a soil conditioner, thereby enhancing soil health. Wastewater also acts as a source of nutrient input in agriculture whichin turn can reduce, or even eliminate the need for commercial fertilisers. However, wastewater usage in agriculture poses several threats like eutrophication, salinity, toxic chemicals (heavy metal(loids), pesticides), pathogen contamination, and most notably, nutrient leaching, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emission. These threats affect public health, soil and ground water resources, environment, crop quality, ecological, and property values. Biological degradation of the organic matter present in wastewater is considered one of the anthropogenic sources of major GHGs (carbon dioxide (CO,), nitrous oxide (N,O), and methane (CH4) , In this paper, an overview of various sources of wastewater, effects of wastewater application on GHG emission from soil, and the strategies to mitigate wastewater-induced GHG emission from soils is presented.