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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Amel GRAA (Djilali Liabes University); Soumia ABDELHAK (Djilali Liabes University); Hayat BARAKA (Djilali Liabes University) |
| Abstract: | The main goal of this research has to show how online social networks (ONS) influence the consumers’ purchase decisions. Our efforts to study empirically the online social network’ usage and its impact on the purchase decision process might account for the important frequency of the access of this tool led to the employ of both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques. We present a quantitative research including descriptive method on the use of ONS by 187 students from Sidi Bel Abbes University (Algeria). Data analysis has been done by using Sphinx V5 computer software. Results indicate that Facebook is the most popular site. The results also demonstrate that the students engage with social media platform daily and they spend between one to four hours. The other method of the research has been qualitative which 13 students have been interviewed as users of online social network for mainly identifying the stage where social media has interfered in the consumer decision making process. The results of this research highlight that the OSN is an important tool for information search stage, in which is influenced by the level and direction of purchase decision. The findings offer insight into consumers’ behavior in brand communities and into the prospects of social media being a viable sales and communication channel to companies. As a future research direction, authors suggest studying the OSN post-experience. |
| Keywords: | Online social networks, Purchase decision, Qualitative research, Students, Algeria. |
| JEL: | M31 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:sek:ibmpro:3005416&r=all |
| By: | Shira Fano (Department of Economics, Bocconi University, Milan); Paolo Pellizzari (Department of Economics, University of Venice Ca’ Foscari.) |
| Abstract: | In this paper we investigate the effects of using a Facebook page exclusively devoted to a first year Mathematics course in a large Italian public university. Posts and discussions supported traditional face-to-face lectures and students could freely post queries and get help from professors and peers. We use a newly constructed dataset to measure how this influences the grade they achieved and the probability of getting a passing grade. Firstly, we find that active students, who read and post more often, perform slightly better than non active ones, who mainly read the content, but the effect is not significant. However, other measures of activity, such as the frequency of visualization of the page significantly increase the probability of earning a passing grade, after controlling for students’ characteristics and robust ex-post measures of ability. Secondly, we exploit a quasi-natural experiment to compare the performance of students having access to Facebook with that of a large sample of similar students who were not offered the support page in another branch of the uni- versity. Difference-in-difference estimates show that students who could access online discussions gain on average 1 additional point out of 30. The effect is, hence, significant but rather small and of possibly limited practical relevance. |
| Keywords: | Facebook, virtual discussions, academic performance, quasi-natural experiment, difference-in-difference |
| JEL: | I23 C54 |
| Date: | 2015 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ven:wpaper:2015:28&r=all |
| By: | Wilco Graafmans (European Commission); Ramon Sabes-Figuera (Catalan Institute of Public Policy Evaluation (Ivàlua)); Fabienne Abadie (European Commission – JRC - IPTS) |
| Abstract: | The guidelines in this report have been developed as part of the Strategic Intelligence Monitor on Personal Health Systems Phase 3 (SIMPHS3) project. Twenty-four ICT-supported integrated care initiatives in the EU were identified which supported integrated care and/or independent living and were either deployed or promising large scale pilots. The aim of this report is to define a set of recommendations to guide the process of developing and implementing ICT-supported integrated care and independent living, based on the experiences made in these 24 initiatives. The intended audience for this guidance document are those who work on the development and implementation of initiatives at an operational level, such as professionals, managers in healthcare organisations, regional managers of health or social care, health insurers, professionals’ organisations, etc. |
| Keywords: | SIMPHS, eHealth, Remote Monitoring, ageing, integrated care, independent living, case studies, facilitators, governance, impact, drivers, barriers, integration, organisation |
| JEL: | I11 I18 O33 O38 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:ipt:iptwpa:jrc96145&r=all |
| By: | Schudy, Simeon; Utikal, Verena |
| Abstract: | Although understanding preferences for privacy is of great importance to economists, businesses and politicians little is known about the factors that shape the individual willingness to share personal data. This article provides three experimental studies with a total of 470 participants that help characterizing individual preferences for sharing personal data varying the characteristics of potential recipients. We find that participants’ willingness to share personal data with anonymous recipients decreases with the number of recipients. However, social distance to the recipients and the extent of personal data a single recipient receives do not decrease the willingness to share personal data. Further, we provide a methodological insight by showing that verification of personal data is essential when eliciting privacy preferences. |
| Keywords: | preference elicitation; data privacy; informational privacy; experiment |
| JEL: | C90 C91 D80 D82 |
| Date: | 2015–08 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:lmu:muenec:25264&r=all |
| By: | Netsanet Haile (Technology Management, Economics, and Policy Program, College of Engineering, Seoul National University); Jorn Altmann (Technology Management, Economics, and Policy Program, College of Engineering, Seoul National University) |
| Abstract: | In order to benefit from operating an IT service platform (e.g., SaaS platform), platform providers need to find a way to keep their existing users and application services active sources of value. However, the understanding of how to achieve that is limited due to the newness of this kind of business. This paper investigates whether all stakeholders of the platform ecosystem can generate sufficient value when participating in the platform. As stakeholders, we consider application service users, service developers, and service platform providers. We also analyze the interrelationship between these stakeholders. The analysis outcome is a value creation model that allows the calculation of the stakeholders’ values. The model also helps inferring the relative impact of different factors on the evolution of values of the software service platform stakeholders. Our simulation results confirm that all stakeholders of a service platform mainly benefit from a growing installed base of application users. However, in a mature market, a large service variety mainly benefits the service platform provider, while the other stakeholders obtain a reduced increase in their benefits. In particular, the utility growth of application users becomes constrained as the benefit from new connections with other users decreases and the number of new services used decreases. Similarly, the revenue of service developer decreases, making service development less profitable. Therefore, we can state that not only a large fraction of the value creation goes to the platform provider but also that the software service ecosystem can collapse, if no mutually beneficial pricing of services is implemented. |
| Keywords: | SaaS and PaaS Platform, Value Creation, Value Distribution Model, Two-Sided Network Effect, Business Modeling, Software Business, Cloud Computing, Software Ecosystem, Software Services. |
| JEL: | C15 C44 C61 D01 D02 D11 D46 L11 L15 L86 M15 M21 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:snv:dp2009:2015123&r=all |
| By: | Kim Christensen (Aarhus University and CREATES); Mark Podolskij (Aarhus University and CREATES); Nopporn Thamrongrat (Heidelberg University); Bezirgen Veliyev (Aarhus University and CREATES) |
| Abstract: | In this paper, we show how to estimate the asymptotic (conditional) covariance matrix, which appears in many central limit theorems in high-frequency estimation of asset return volatility. We provide a recipe for the estimation of this matrix by subsampling, an approach that computes rescaled copies of the original statistic based on local stretches of high-frequency data, and then it studies the sampling variation of these. We show that our estimator is consistent both in frictionless markets and models with additive microstructure noise. We derive a rate of convergence for it and are also able to determine an optimal rate for its tuning parameters (e.g., the number of subsamples). Subsampling does not require an extra set of estimators to do inference, which renders it trivial to implement. As a variance-covariance matrix estimator, it has the attractive feature that it is positive semi-definite by construction. Moreover, the subsampler is to some extent automatic, as it does not exploit explicit knowledge about the structure of the asymptotic covariance. It therefore tends to adapt to the problem at hand and be robust against misspecification of the noise process. As such, this paper facilitates assessment of the sampling errors inherent in high-frequency estimation of volatility. We highlight the finite sample properties of the subsampler in a Monte Carlo study, while some initial empirical work demonstrates its use to draw feasible inference about volatility in financial markets. |
| Keywords: | bipower variation, high-frequency data, microstructure noise, positive semi-definite estimation, pre-averaging, stochastic volatility, subsampling. |
| JEL: | C10 C80 |
| Date: | 2015–08–30 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:aah:create:2015-45&r=all |
| By: | Christos Genakos; Costas Roumanias; Tommaso Valletti |
| Abstract: | We analyze consumer switching between mobile tariff plans using consumer-level panel data. Consumers receive reminders from a specialist price-comparison website about the precise amount they could save by switching to alternative plans. We find that the effect on switching of being informed about potential savings is positive and significant. Controlling for savings, we also find that the effect of incurring overage payments is also significant and six times larger in magnitude. Paying an amount that exceeds the recurrent monthly fee weighs more on the switching decision than being informed that one can save that same amount by switching to a less inclusive plan, implying that avoidance of losses motivates switching more than the realization of equal-sized gains. We interpret this as evidence of loss aversion. We are also able to weigh how considerations of risk versus loss aversion affect mobile tariff plan choices: we find that a uniform attitude towards risk in both losses and gains has no significant influence on predicting consumers' switching, whereas perceiving potential savings as avoidance of losses, rather than as gains, has a strong and positive effect. |
| Keywords: | Loss aversion, consumer switching, tariff plans, risk aversion, mobile telephony |
| JEL: | D03 D12 D81 L96 |
| Date: | 2015–09 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:cep:cepdps:dp1373&r=all |