Is it really possible to build a bridge between cost-benefit analysis and cost-effectiveness analysis?

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) is a recognised as the economic evaluation technique that accords most with the underlying principles of standard welfare economic theory. However, due to problems associated with the technique, economists evaluating resources allocation decisions in health care have most often used cost-effective analysis (CEA), in which health benefits are expressed in non-monetary units. As a result, attempts have been made to build a welfare economic bridge between cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA). In this paper, we develops these attempts and finds that, while assumptions can be made to facilitate a constant willingness-to-pay per unit of health outcome, these restrictions are highly unrealistic. We develop an impossibility theorem that shows it is not possible to link CBA and CEA if: (i) the axioms of expected utility theory hold; (ii) the quality-adjusted life-year (QALY) model is valid in a welfare economic sense; and (iii) illness affects the ability to enjoy consumption. We conclude that, within a welfare economic framework, it would be unwise to rely on a link between CBA and CEA in economic evaluations

Institutional ontology for Conceptual Modeling

Conceptual models are intended to capture knowledge about the world. Hence, the design of conceptual models could be informed by theories about what entities exist in the world and how they are constituted. Further, a common assumption within the field of conceptual modeling is that conceptual models and information systems describe entities in the real world, outside the systems. An alternative view is provided by an ontological commitment that recognizes that the institutional world is constructed through language use and the creation of institutional facts. Such an ontological commitment implies that there is an institutional reality, which, to a great extent, is constructed using information infrastructures. Accordingly, conceptual models have not only a descriptive role but also a prescriptive one, meaning that modelers set up a framework of rules that restrict and enable people to construct institutional reality using information infrastructures. Understanding the prescriptive role of conceptual models may revive the area of conceptual modeling in the information systems research community. Reviving conceptual modeling through institutional modeling is motivated by the effect that implemented conceptual models have on information infrastructures and institutions. The purpose of this article is to propose an institutional ontology that can support the design of information infrastructures. The ontology is theoretically informed by institutional theory and a communicative perspective on information systems design, as well as being empirically based on several case studies. It is illustrated using a case study in the welfare sector. A number of guidelines for modeling institutional reality are also proposed

Billiards and Brains: Cognitive Ability and Behavior in a p-Beauty Contest

"Beauty contests" are well-studied, dominance-solvable games that generate two interesting results. First, most behavior does not conform to the unique Nash equilibrium. Second, there is considerable unexplained heterogeneity in behavior. In this work, we evaluate the relationship between beauty contest behavior and cognitive ability. We find that subjects with high cognitive ability exhibit behavior that is closer to the Nash equlibrium. We examine this finding through the prism of economic and biological theory.beauty contest; rationality; cognitive ability; Nash equlibrium

A unified strategic business and IT alignment model: A study in the public universities of Nicaragua

A number of attempts have been made to define the strategic business and IT alignment, several representations on what business and IT alignment are available in academic and practitioners field. The literature suggests that firms need to achieve the strategic alignment to be competitive firms. This article provides a prioritization of the components of a defined strategic business and IT alignment model. The strategic business and IT alignment model used in this study is termed the unified strategic business and IT alignment model and it is based on four well know strategic business and IT alignment models. The components of the unified strategic business and IT alignment model were ranked with a group of IT experts and business experts of four public universities in Nicaragua. The result can be used as a basis for improving strategic business and IT alignment

A Maturity Model of IT Service Delivery

This paper presents a maturity model of IT service delivery that consists of maturity statements grouped on five maturity levels. The model is founded on maturity model properties and IT Capability Maturity Model (IT Service CMM). It was motivated by the interest and limitation of Nicaraguan Internet Service Providers in formalizing and assessing specific IT service elements. The model was applied to traceable information of the current status of IT service delivery in a Nicaraguan Internet Service Provider

Improving a Method for Analysing Information Technology Service Strategy in Governmental Organisations in Nicaragua: Ex-post Analysis

IT organizations in early growth stages, i.e. using ad-hoc approaches for management, usually face more challenges than the regular IT organizations. The introduction of more strategic approaches suitable to their organizational limitations may contribute to deal with this situation. Previously, a method for analysing IT service strategy was presented and tested; this aimed to enable a staged improvement of these IT organisation using IT service management and maturity models. In order to improve the suitability to the context of this method, this paper presents an “after the event” evaluation procedure and its use for the improvement of such method. This is an evaluation from the perspective of the implementer, and improvements are suggested by the designer. The results provide relevant insights about the influence of the analysed context on the artefact suitability, which are used to suggest improvements oriented to provide value to its users

A Method for Analyzing IT Service Strategy in Municipal Governments from Nicaragua

The importance of IT strategy is generally accepted, though in practice this may vary from one IT organization to another. The design of a formal IT strategy may be required or not, depending on the environment, but, independently of this, strategic decisions still must be made and therefore strategic practices are performed. In order to make any improvement in strategic practices, awareness of their current state in the IT organization is needed. This paper proposes a method for analyzing IT service strategy in the context of IT organizations in municipal governments; the main issues considered are both people- and organization-related (e.g. internal service providers, prioritized cost-effectiveness, current practices oriented to tactical and operational activities, etc.). This method decomposes the analysis from two different perspectives: strategic practices in use and maturity level of such practices. The method was tested in two municipal governments from Nicaragua

Design Science in Action: Developing a Framework for Introducing IT Systems into Operational Practice

The paper presents an example of using design science research for solving a problem arising from local practice. The problem concerns adoption of new technology. The paper aims to integrate existing approaches and theories of technology acceptance and change management in a framework useful for practical purposes. It is based on the idea that the successful introduction of an IT-system requires a number of conditions to be satisfied as well as means for bringing about the satisfaction of these conditions. The level of satisfaction of the conditions can be measured by a set of parameters, such as the level of strategic, tactical and operational understanding of the system by the users. Means include various types of actions, tools and strategies. The introduction process is steered via periodically measuring the parameters, and applying means that help to change the level of satisfaction of the conditions

BEYOND INNOVATION CONTESTS: A FRAMEWORK OF BARRIERS TO OPEN INNOVATION OF DIGITAL SERVICES

Recently, the interest in the innovation of digital services based on open public information (i.e. open data) has increased dramatically. Innovation contests, such as idea competitions and digital innovation contests, have become popular instruments to accelerate the development of new service ideas and prototypes. However, only a few of the service prototypes developed at innovation contests become viable digital services. In order to strengthen the role of innovation contests as innovation instruments, we propose a framework of innovation barriers to open innovation of digital services. The framework has been designed using a systematic research approach including a literature review of existing barriers, an online survey with participants before an innovation contest, and systematic follow-up interviews with teams participating in the contest. The framework consists of 18 innovation barriers and is intended to be used when organizing innovation contests. It supports the process after the contest when prototypes are transformed into viable digital services. For future research, we suggest the framework to be validated in a longitudinal study involving additional cases. Furthermore, we suggest using the framework as a starting point for constructing guidelines that can help in designing innovation contests

Is Financial Risk-Taking Behavior Genetically Transmitted?

In this paper, we use a sample of almost 30,000 Swedish mono- and dizygotic twins to study the heritability of financial risk-taking. Following a major pension reform in the year 2000, virtually all Swedish adults had to simultaneously make a financial decision affecting post-retirement wealth. We take this event as a field experiment to infer risk preferences. We use standard techniques from behavior genetics to partition variation in risk-taking into environmental and genetic components. Our findings suggest that genetic variation is an important source of individual heterogeneity in financial risk-taking