In or out?:The paradox of exclusionary mechanisms in keeping cooperation going

The question of who's in and who's out is not as straightforward as it seems when understanding the dynamics of exclusion in everyday life. This dissertation explores the intricate dynamics of cooperation and exclusionary mechanisms in social networks and groups by combining insights from formal theoretical modeling and empirical analysis, incorporating perspectives from multiple disciplines. From the stability of social value orientations over time to the contextual influence on cooperation dynamics, this dissertation provides novel and nuanced views on the ways in which exclusion encourages cooperative behavior among individuals and – more importantly- when exclusion fails to promote cooperation. The research findings pave the way for future research in the field of exclusion, both theoretically and empirically, and highlight a downside for excluded defectors: If there is no “in” after exclusion, they may fall into a spiral of defection with a difficult road ahead for (if ever) reaching cooperation “at the end of the tunnel.

Using Stochastic Actor-Oriented Models to Explain Collaboration Intentionality as a Prerequisite for Peer Feedback and Learning in Networks

Peer feedback and collaboration intentionality (CI) are key prerequisites to advance in higher education. For learning, it is crucial that peers do not merely interact, but that students are willing to function as scaffolds by sharing their knowledge from different perspectives and asking each other for academic support. Peer feedback can only take place within a collaborative learning approach and when students are willing to initiate feedback relationships with their peers. Therefore, we analyze peer feedback networks (in terms of academic help and advice-seeking) and CI as an individual characteristic using an advanced statistical tool, namely stochastic actor-oriented models (SAOMs). In SAOMs, we control for selection and influence mechanisms. Selection comprises instances when feedback relations can be initiated based on CI, while influence builds upon existing feedback relations in affecting CI. One important selection mechanism is homophily, which means that individuals prefer to initiate a connection with someone else based on similarity in characteristics, attitudes, or behavior. In this chapter, we introduce this statistical technique within the higher education context and the added value for feedback research in education. We illustrate the SAOM methodology using two-wave peer feedback networks and CI data while controlling for gender and the Five-Factor Model personality traits. In this empirical example, we address the research question: To what extent does homophily of CI plays a role in selecting peers when seeking feedback and to what extent do feedback relationships influence CI? The SAOM shows an homophily effect, which implies that students preferentially seek feedback from others who are similar in CI. We also find an influence effect in which students who seek feedback from one another become more similar in terms of CI over time. Similarity in CI is driven by selection and influence mechanisms in peer feedback networks

Feasibility analysis of a portuguese startup in the brazilian market

This final project relates to the field of business administration and technology, as it seeks to analyze aspects of the market potential of an online shopping application in the gift segment and the formulation of a marketing plan. It is part of a double diploma program between Instituto Politécnico de Bragança and Federal University of Technology - Paraná. It is critical to recognize the market potential in order to understand a company's external environment and identify how the business can be inserted in the market to expand and consolidate. We are currently inserted in a globalized, international and connected context, resulting in the emerging of new market needs which leads to new opportunities. A technological startup, based in Portugal – Techwelf – identified an opportunity by noticing that offering someone a present can be enhanced by a pleasant, innovative and user-friendly experience, making it more dynamic, innovative and creative. The act of giving, although millennial, still remains contemporary and important in society. This practice can be understood as a form of self-expression, materialistic exchange and also as a form of building social networks and communities[1]. Along these lines, the market potential will be analyzed thought two methods of investigation. The first being of exploratory nature through direct and unstructured online interviews, with the purpose of formulating hypotheses. The second method is of descriptive nature through field survey using an online questionnaire, in order to identify market segmentation. The sampling technique used in both cases will be non-probabilistic for convenience and also for quotas. The investigation will be conducted in the city of Curitiba, capital of Paraná, Brazil, as it reflects a consumption pattern aligned with the project proposal. Secondary data will also be used given its contribution as a complementary and comparative source that adds to the delimitation of the problem. As the project is still under development, the results are still preliminary and need to be matured before being presented. Although we can infer, based in a finished exploratory interview, the potential consumer and its characteristics.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Assessing the test-retest reliability of the social value orientation slider measure

Decades of research show that (i) social value orientation (SVO) is related to important behavioral outcomes such as cooperation and charitable giving, and (ii) individuals differ in terms of SVO. A prominent scale to measure SVO is the social value orientation slider measure (SVOSM). The central premise is that SVOSM captures a stable trait. But it is unknown how reliable the SVOSM is over repeated measurements more than one week apart. To fill this knowledge gap, we followed a sample of N = 495 over 6 months with monthly SVO measurements. We find that continuous SVO scores are similarly distributed (Anderson-Darling k-sample p = 0.57) and highly correlated (r ≥ 0.66) across waves. The intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.78 attests to a high test-retest reliability. Using multilevel modeling and multiple visualizations, we furthermore find that one’s prior SVO score is highly indicative of SVO in future waves, suggesting that the slider measure consistently captures one’s SVO. Our analyses validate the slider measure as a reliable SVO scale

Assessing the test-retest reliability of the social value orientation slider measure

Decades of research show that (i) social value orientation (SVO) is related to important behavioral outcomes such as cooperation and charitable giving, and (ii) individuals differ in terms of SVO. A prominent scale to measure SVO is the social value orientation slider measure (SVOSM). The central premise is that SVOSM captures a stable trait. But it is unknown how reliable the SVOSM is over repeated measurements more than one week apart. To fill this knowledge gap, we followed a sample of N = 495 over 6 months with monthly SVO measurements. We find that continuous SVO scores are similarly distributed (Anderson-Darling k-sample p = 0.57) and highly correlated (r ≥ 0.66) across waves. The intra-class correlation coefficient of 0.78 attests to a high test-retest reliability. Using multilevel modeling and multiple visualizations, we furthermore find that one’s prior SVO score is highly indicative of SVO in future waves, suggesting that the slider measure consistently captures one’s SVO. Our analyses validate the slider measure as a reliable SVO scale

An exploratory study on the influence of socio-demographic characteristics on water end uses inside buildings

Any strategy of water demand management needs the collaboration of the population involved and so it is important to know how characteristics as residence area, number of residents, presence/absence of children/elders, income level, and educational level, among others, may influence the use of water. Empirical studies that quantify relationship between socio-demographic factors and the water end use patterns inside buildings are still largely lacking. To help to fill this gap this paper gathers information about the characterization of water end use per domestic device in three regions of north of Portugal with different socio-demographic characteristics. The main research goal was to establish indoor water end use patterns per domestic device and to evaluate possible relations between these patterns with the socio-demographic characteristics of the area where the household is, namely the number of residents, the presence/absence of children/elders, the income level and educational level. The washbasin is in average the domestic device with more number of uses in a day (responsible for 34% of the total use), close followed by the kitchen sink (32%), the toilet flush (23%), the bathtub (6%) and finally the dishwasher (3%) and the washing machine (2%). The results found might reflect differences in rural and urban lifestyles once that, with the exception of the kitchen sink, Valpaços is the city that registers the lowest number of uses in the appliances monitored. Significant correlations were found in the following cases: between the residence area and the number of uses in washbasin and in the toilet flush; between the presence of children in the household and the use in the dishwasher; between the income level and the number of uses in the washbasin, in the bathtub, in the washing machine and in the dishwasher

A Bad Barrel Spoils a Good Apple:How Uncertainty and Networks Affect Whether Matching Rules Can Foster Cooperation

Meritocratic matching solves the problem of cooperation by ensuring that only prosocial agents group together while excluding proselfs who are less inclined to cooperate. However, matching is less effective when estimations of individual merit rely on group-level outcomes. Prosocials in uncooperative groups are unable to change the nature of the group and are themselves forced to defect to avoid exploitation. They are then indistinguishable from proselfs, preventing them from accessing cooperative groups. We investigate informal social networks as a potential solution. Interactions in dyadic network relations provide signals of individual cooperativeness which are easier to interpret. Network relations can thus help prosocials to escape from uncooperative groups. To test our intuitions, we develop an ABM modeling cooperative behavior based on a stochastic learning model with adaptive thresholds. We investigate both randomly and homophilously formed networks. We find that homophilous networks create conditions under which meritocratic matching can function as intended. Simulation experiments identify two underlying reasons. First, dyadic network interactions in homophilous networks differentiate more between prosocials and proselfs. Second, homophilous networks create groups of prosocial agents who are aware of each other’s behavior. The stronger this prosociality segregation is, the more easily prosocials cooperate in the group context. Further analyses also highlight a downside of homophilous networks. When prosocials successfully escape from uncooperative groups, non-cooperatives have fewer encounters with prosocials, diminishing their chances to learn to cooperate through those encounters