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on Information and Communication Technologies |
| By: | Viete, Steffen; Erdsiek, Daniel |
| Abstract: | Mobile information and communication technologies (ICT) have started to diffuse rapidly in the business sector. This study tests for the complementarity between the use of mobile ICT and organizational practices providing workplace flexibility. We hypothesize that mobile ICT can create value if organizational practices grant employees appropriate autonomy over when, where and how to perform work-related tasks. Our data set comprises 1132 German service firms and provides information on the share of employees that have been equipped with mobile devices which allow for wireless internet access, such as notebooks, tablets and smartphones. Workplace flexibility is measured in terms of firms’ use of working from home arrangements, working time accounts, and trust-based working time. Within a production function framework, we find that the use of mobile ICT is associated with a productivity premium only in firms granting workplace flexibility by means of trust-based working time. Robustness checks suggest that our results are not driven by ICT-skill complementarity or by complementarity of mobile ICT with multiple alternative modern management practices. |
| JEL: | D22 L22 O33 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145624&r=ict |
| By: | Briglauer, Wolfgang; Cambini, Carlo; Melani, Sauro |
| Abstract: | This paper provides evidence on the migration from an “old” technology to a “new” technology, taking into account the impact that regulatory interventions on the old one might have on the incentives to invest and adopt the new one. This analysis has been applied to a sample of EU27 countries using panel data from 2004 to 2014 on the adoption, coverage and take-up rate of ultra-fast broadband infrastructures, whose development is one of the flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 programmes. Results show that a 1% increase in the regulated price to access the old technology increases the adoption and the investment on the new broadband technology by ~0.45% and ~0.47%. These effects are not homogeneous across countries and are weakened in Eastern European countries, where the existing old broadband infrastructures are less developed than in the rest of Europe. It has also been shown that the access price to old networks negatively affects the take-up rate of the new technology-based services, thus calling for the need of more specific and complementary demand side policy incentives to enhance service adoption. |
| JEL: | L43 L52 C26 |
| Date: | 2016 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:vfsc16:145480&r=ict |
| By: | Aluculesei, Alina-Cerasela |
| Abstract: | Tourism is a dynamic domain and sensitive to changes caused by globalization. It is modeled both by operators and tourists, being in a constant transformation. The presence of the Internet and using it constantly turns the distance from impediment in ordinary. Destinations that not long ago were regarded with suspicion today can be explored including through testimonials of tourists from around the world. This study addresses one of the most important changes among travel agencies due to globalization that is moving their activity online. The research is made on the travel agencies from Romania in 2013 and includes both general issues such as the existence of a website, consumer protection in the online environment, card payment possibility on the site, and particular aspects, such as spa deals, social offers and tourist information. |
| Keywords: | online payment; online travel; social tourism; spa offers; travel agency |
| JEL: | F6 F63 L83 |
| Date: | 2016–11 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:76826&r=ict |
| By: | Wouter Zant (VU University, The Netherlands) |
| Abstract: | I use the quasi experimental nature of the roll-out of the mobile phone network in Mozambique to estimate the impact of search costs on the dispersion of maize prices and transport costs. The introduction of mobile phone services from 1997 to 2009 explains a 4.5-11% percent reduction in price dispersion of maize prices, and a slightly larger reduction in per ton km transport costs. Apart from an improvement of the efficiency of maize markets, the evidence suggests that traders benefit by capturing increased rent income. Various sources of potential heterogeneity are identified: the reduction is larger for pairs connecting remote locations, for source markets with a low poverty head count and with a higher mobile phone coverage in neighbouring markets, and during drought periods. |
| Keywords: | search costs; transport costs; mobile phones; agricultural markets; maize prices; sub-Saharan Africa; Mozambique |
| JEL: | O13 O33 Q11 Q13 |
| Date: | 2017–02–10 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:tin:wpaper:20170021&r=ict |
| By: | Takashi Inaba; Mariagrazia Squicciarini |
| Abstract: | This work proposes a definition of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) based on the technology classes of the International Patent Classification (IPC) in which patents are classified. This new taxonomy, called the “J tag”, aligns with the definitions of the ICT sector (2007) and of ICT products (2008) put forward by the OECD, and stems from the in-depth knowledge of Japan Patent Office experts, as well of experts from the Intellectual Property (IP) Offices participating in the OECD-led IP Task Force. Expert judgment of patent class content, relevance for ICT-related products, completeness and accuracy are the principles guiding the inclusion of IPC classes in the “J tag” taxonomy. ICT technologies are subdivided into 13 areas defined with respect to the specific technical features and functions they are supposed to accomplish (e.g. mobile communication), and details provided about the ways in which technologies relate to ICT products. |
| Date: | 2017–02–18 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:oec:stiaaa:2017/1-en&r=ict |
| By: | Arechar, Antonio A. (Yale University); Gächter, Simon (University of Nottingham); Molleman, Lucas (Max Planck Institute for Human Development) |
| Abstract: | Online labor markets provide new opportunities for behavioral research, but conducting economic experiments online raises important methodological challenges. This particularly holds for interactive designs. In this paper, we provide a methodological discussion of the similarities and differences between interactive experiments conducted in the laboratory and online. To this end, we conduct a repeated public goods experiment with and without punishment using samples from the laboratory and the online platform Amazon Mechanical Turk. We chose to replicate this experiment because it is long and logistically complex. It therefore provides a good case study for discussing the methodological and practical challenges of online interactive experimentation. We find that basic behavioral patterns of cooperation and punishment in the laboratory are replicable online. The most important challenge of online interactive experiments is participant dropout. We discuss measures for reducing dropout and show that, for our case study, dropouts are exogenous to the experiment. We conclude that data quality for interactive experiments via the Internet is adequate and reliable, making online interactive experimentation a valuable complement to laboratory studies. |
| Keywords: | experimental methodology, behavioral research, punishment, internet experiments, Amazon Mechanical Turk, public goods game |
| JEL: | C71 C88 C90 D71 |
| Date: | 2017–01 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10517&r=ict |
| By: | Filitz, Rainer; Henkel, Joachim; Ohnemus, Jörg |
| Abstract: | Digital designs - that is, designs for display on electronic screens - have recently burst onto the intellectual property (IP) stage. While in the U.S. a smattering of legal studies have recently addressed the question of digital design as a copyright-, trademark- and patent-eligible subject matter, a European perspective is still lacking in the literature. This study provides an overview of basic legal background to the protection of digital designs in Europe, explores firms'actual digital design protection behaviors, and highlights some important practical and doctrinal issues that warrant further study |
| Keywords: | digital designs,intellectual property,RCD,interviews,survey |
| JEL: | K11 O31 O34 |
| Date: | 2017 |
| URL: | http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:17007&r=ict |