9,949 research outputs found

    Cash and the Counter: Capabilities and Preferences in the Demand for Banking Technologies

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    The main argument of this paper is that consumption and demand, like production, are discovery processes guided by trial-and-error and learning by consuming. The key question that is addressed is: how do consumers deal with innovation? By bringing together a number of threads within the innovation literature my claim is that consumers, akin to firms, follow routines that shape their consumption bundle, conceived here as an ensemble of activities rather than a bunch of goods. The analysis developed in the paper takes a very specific angle by elaborating on empirical evidence on the patterns of use of retail payment services in the United Kingdom to appreciate how consumption and demand can be shaped by the intertwined evolution of capabilities and preferences.Retail Banking; Innovation; Demand; Consumer Capabilities

    Cash and the Counter: Capabilities and Preferences in the Demand for Banking Technologies

    Get PDF
    The main argument of this paper is that consumption and demand, like production, are discovery processes guided by trial-and-error and learning by consuming. The key question that is addressed is: how do consumers deal with innovation? By bringing together a number of threads within the innovation literature my claim is that consumers, akin to firms, follow routines that shape their consumption bundle, conceived here as an ensemble of activities rather than a bunch of goods. The analysis developed in the paper takes a very specific angle by elaborating on empirical evidence on the patterns of use of retail payment services in the United Kingdom to appreciate how consumption and demand can be shaped by the intertwined evolution of capabilities and preferences.Retail Banking; Innovation; Demand; Consumer Capabilities

    The Investigation of Difference between PPT and CBT Results of EFL Learners in Iran: Computer Familiarity and Test Performance in CBT

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    The purpose of this study is to examine the score comparability of institutional English reading tests in two testing methods, i.e. paper-based and computer-based tests taken by Iranian EFL learners in four language institutes and their branches in Iran. In the present study, the researcher tried to examine whether there is any difference between computer-based test results (henceforth CBT) and paper-based test (PPT) results of a reading comprehension test as well as exploring the relationship between students' prior computer experience and their test performance in CBT. Two equivalent tests were administered to one group of EFL learners in two different occasions, one in paper-based format and the other in computer-based test. Utilizing t-test, the means of two modes have been compared and the results showed the priority of PPT over CBT with .01 degree of difference at p < 05. Using ANOVA, the findings revealed that computer experience had no significant influence on the students’ performance in computerized test

    Some Remarks on the Effectiveness of Primary Education Interventions

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    In this paper I survey the recent economics of education literature in order to identify which education policies can effectively improve the quality of primary schooling, as measured by pupil test-based achievements. Particular attention is devoted to the experience of England, a country which has made substantial investments over the past decade aimed at improving its primary education. Evidence suggests that broadly scoped resource-based programmes deliver less than more targeted policies. Additionally, a growing body of research shows that interventions that enhance choice and competition among education-service providers, and motivate teachers through pecuniary rewards, have some scope in raising education standards. I conclude my survey by discussing some broad concerns with modes of education provision centred on choice and competition, mainly pupil segregation along the lines of ability and family background.primary schools, resources, choice and competition, incentives

    How to manage people who think. A structural approach.

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    This is a paper about creativity, diversity and other often used buzzwords. It is also a paper about how to manage people who think. Today we live in a world in which computers and mobile phones have become the key artifacts. Nokia®s slogan ”connecting people” expresses in a brilliant way what it is all about. When we connect people information is transfered and new knowledge hopefully created. And innovations, ideas and individuals are central for everything that takes place. We are all supposed to be flexible, exercising our knowledge in a setting characterized by diversity. This setting is also characterized by paradoxes that I will write more about further down. But transformations such as the globalization and implementing of new information technology race crucial questions about how to deal with a changing economic landscape and new mindsets and changing attitudes. The pages that follow is based on extensive reading of the literature and participating in many conferences and work-shops. In addition to this I have interviewed managers and employees at Electrolux, Ericsson, TeliaSonera and The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise. I have asked people in the above mentioned organizations how they react to concepts such as the knowledge society and the practice of managing knowledge, creativity, diversity and flexibility. This paper is written with a Scandinavian perspective. It is also written with a social constructionist perspective. The theoretical framework includes theories about knowledge management, structuration theory and cognitive theories. The findings are based on interpretative research and I have systematically reflected over the material I have collected. I direct myself towards people in business who think and worry about the future. The purpose is to inspire to further discussions about these very important matters.Knowledge management; structuration theory; knowledge society; globalization; creativity; diversity; flexibility.

    COMPUTER ADAPTIVE TESTING (CAT) DESIGN; TESTING ALGORITHM AND ADMINISTRATION MODE INVESTIGATION

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    Since the advent of technology to transform education, the use of computer technology has pervaded many areas of fields of study such as language learning and testing. Chapelle (2010) distinguishes three main motives for using technology in language testing: efficiency, equivalence and innovation. Computer as a frequently used technological tool has been widely inspected in the field of language assessment and testing. Compute-adaptive language test (CALT) is a subtype and subtest of computer-assisted language test because it is administered at computer terminal or on personal computer. The issue that currently needs more attention and prompt investigation of researchers is to study the testing mode and paradigm effects on comparability and equivalency of the data obtained from two modes of presentation, i.e. traditional paper-and-pencil (PPT) and computerized tests. To establish comparability and equivalency of computerized test with its paper-and-pencil counterpart is of importance and critical. Then, in this study, the researcher indicate that in order to replace computer-adaptive test with conventional paper-and-pencil one, we need to prove that these two versions of test are comparable, in other words the validity and reliability of computerized counterpart are not violated.  Article visualizations

    On the Untapped Value of e-HRM: A Literature Review

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    The “war for talent” is still on. Annually conducted surveys have indicated for years that one third of all organizations are unable to fill vacant job positions with suitable candidates. Responding to these and other challenges, human resource management (HRM) is expected to transform itself. General opinion holds that the HRM transformation has just begun and that the potential of IT in HRM is not yet fully exploited. Examining the value potential of IT in HRM, existing IS research predominately studies the impact of IT on HRM. We contribute by examining the reverse impact in three steps. First, we use Thompson\u27s theory of organizations in action to examine the expected impact of the HRM transformation on IT ( to-be situation). Second, we use Kohli and Grover\u27s IT value typology and review 20 years of the publication history ( as-is situation). Finally, we relate expectations to actual review findings. We find that the HRM transformation should lead to a major shift in technology type used in organizations. However, this shift is not recognized yet, which is why our literature review reveals considerable unaddressed value potential of IT in HRM. We finish the paper by outlining IS research avenues in the context of HRM

    How Technology Has Changed the Field of Accounting

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    The thesis aims to discuss how technology has changed the field of accounting. The research focuses on information from journal articles and research reports to discover the changes that technological advancements have brought to the accounting industry and profession. The customer Satisfaction Model is one of the researcher\u27s theories in this thesis. The theoretical framework also consists of the Technology Acceptance Model as the other theory. The discussion emphasizes the technological advances in accounting and the shortcomings of technological advancements in accounting. Each type of business is affected differently by technology. Accounting, for example, must keep up with the rapid changes in technology, information, and software that are occurring right now. Due to technological advancements, accountants must keep their skills up-to-date to properly use new tools such as computers and accounting software such as Excel and QuickBooks. Today\u27s accounting industry relies on technology to provide more efficient services to its clients. The first abacus was designed for use in business to assist people in keeping track of their math. Many people attempted to build machines that could help accountants with math problems in the past, even though it was not known as technology. It was only a matter of time before the calculator appeared. As accounting technology advanced, the accountant\u27s job became more complex and time-consuming. It made no difference that the accountant was equipped with computers and calculators. The accountant was still required to record the company\u27s transactions manually. Paper records, numbers, and handwritten statements demonstrate how financial data was previously found, measured, and communicated

    Effort Self-Selection and the Efficiency of Tournaments

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    When exogenously imposed, rank-order tournaments have incentive properties but their overall efficiency is reduced by a high variance in performance (Bull, Schotter, and Weigelt 1987). However, since the efficiency of performance-related pay is attributable both to its incentive effect and to its selection effect among employees (Lazear, 2000), it is important to investigate the ex ante sorting effect of tournaments. This paper reports results from an experiment analyzing whether allowing subjects to self-select into different payment schemes helps in reducing the variability of performance in tournaments. We show that when the subjects choose to enter a tournament, the average effort is higher and the between-subject variance is substantially lower than when the same payment scheme is imposed. Mainly based on the degree of risk aversion, sorting is efficiency-enhancing since it increases the homogeneity of the contestants. We suggest that the flexibility of the labor market is an important condition for a higher efficiency of relative performance pay.experiment ; Incentives ; performance pay ; selection ; selection ; tournament
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