Commitments by Hostage Posting

We survey research on incurring commitments by voluntary hostage posting as a mechanism of cooperation. The Trust Game is employed as a paradigmatic example of cooperation problems. We sketch a very simple game-theoretic model that shows how voluntary hostage posting can bind the trustee and thus induce trustfulness of the trustor as well as trustworthiness of the trustee. We then indicate how the model can be improved by including uncertainty and incomplete information, transaction costs of hostage posting and compensating effects as well as signaling effects of hostages. Further extensions of the theoretical analysis are outlined as well as testable hypotheses and references to empirical research. Problems for future research are suggested.commitments, voluntary hostage posting, trust game

Een toekomst door ambachtelijke sociologie:De KNAW Verkenning Sociologie en het eindrapport Samenleven en samenwerken

Deze reactie op de resultaten van de KNAW Verkenning Sociologie begint met enkele opmerkingen over het perspectief op de Nederlandse sociologie, dat uit het eindrapport van de Verkenningscommissie naar voren komt. Vervolgens komt het onderzoeksprogramma van de Verkenningscommissie aan de orde: hoe kan het programma inhoudelijk vorm krijgen en hoe kan het worden uitgevoerd? Bij het antwoord op deze vraag wordt aansluiting gezocht bij de sterke punten van de Nederlandse sociologie, zoals de Verkenningscommissie deze schetst. Hoe verder wanneer we op deze sterke punten kapitaliseren? Vooraf past een relativerende opmerking. In de inleiding van het rapport van de KNAW Verkenning lezen we dat de commissie gevraagd werd ‘tien jaar vooruit te kijken’ (p. 2) met betrekking tot de gewenste positie van de sociologie. Tien jaar vooruitkijken op de ontwikkeling van het vak: dat is moeilijk, zeker omdat deze ontwikkeling afhankelijk zal zijn van wetenschappelijke vooruitgang en dus van de groei van kennis. En nieuwe kennis is per definitie onvoorspelbaar. Je zou kunnen zeggen: hoe meer nieuwe kennis we in de sociologie in de komende tien jaar zullen produceren, hoe minder zal uitkomen van datgene wat de Verkenningscommissie poneert en van datgene wat we in reactie op de Verkenningscommissie zoal gaan beweren. Het zal duidelijk zijn wat ik bedoel: bij discussies over wetenschappelijke vooruitgang in de komende tien jaar liggen de gevaren van de waan van de dag op de loer. Anders geformuleerd: ‘vooruitgang van en in de sociologie’, ‘groei van sociologische kennis’ (in de treffende formulering van mijn Utrechtse collega Henk Flap: ‘sociologie in actie’) – dat lijkt mij belangrijker dan het spreken en schrijven daarover

Ego-Centric Approach For Predicting Fraudulent Collaboration In Telecommunication

Recently, there has been a surge of interest in social networks ever since the tragic event of September 11, 2001 attacks on The World Trade Center in the United States. E-mail traffic, disease transmission, criminal activity and communication network can all be modeled as social networks. Ego-centric is an approach used in social network analysis. In the social network parlance, the focused person is referred to as “ego” and his or her affiliate, friend or relative is known as “alters”. An egocentered network positions an individual at the center of a social network team for the person to traverse his or her relationships with other team members. Through social network analysis, enforcement officers can recognize how information flows through social ties, how people acquire information and resources and how cleavages and coalitions operate. In this thesis, based on social network theories and link analysis; a data mining technology, a social network analysis model is developed to facilitate in detecting fraudulent collaboration, after which an evaluation is then made on the performance of the developed model. This study aims to explore the usage of embedding social network analysis functions into fraudulent collaboration investigation in call details records. Two types of social network data collection approaches are discussed; (i) social network with centrality measures values and (ii) social network without centrality measures values, where the first approach is based on the previous research while the second is based on the current research experimented. Performance of the models produced by both approaches are measured based on a standard measurement. Performance is tested using statistical models which include Bayesian Network, Naïve Bayesian and Binary Logistic Regression Model is performed. These statistical models are used in order to prove and determine which model is the ‘best’ that can produce a better prediction of fraudulent collaboration. The outcome of this research is thought to be of help to any enforcement agency or relevant authority in its future operations or measures to detect fraudulent activity in social networks

Process Moves in The Intra-organizational Diffusion of Knowledge Management: Preliminary Findings from A Study on CKO Effectiveness

The existing literature on Chief Knowledge Officers (CKOs) focuses on individual characteristics and organizational context but fails to convincingly address the issue of process dynamics in terms of effective and ineffective CKO moves and strategies. In order to address this gap we review propositions from the management fashion, diffusion of innovations and issue selling literatures, and identify sets of effective and ineffective CKO process moves based on an empirical study of CKOs in large industrial and financial service companies in Germany and Switzerland. The paper proposes an agenda for future CKO research, and concludes with a set of guidelines for organizational practice.Knowledge management; implementation; innovation diffusion; management fashion, issue selling

To cooperate or to defect? Altruism and reputation

The basic problem in the cooperation theory is to justify the cooperation. Here we propose a new approach, where players are driven by their altruism to cooperate or not. The probability of cooperation depends also on the co-player's reputation. We find that players with positive altruism cooperate and met cooperation. In this approach, payoffs are not relevant. The mechanism is most efficient in the fully connected network.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figure