Study on free trial decision-making of IT products and services from an IT company's perspective

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaqing Xu ◽  
Weiling Jiao ◽  
Hao Chen ◽  
Yufei Yuan
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Product Life Cycle ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Dynamic Decision Making ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Free Trial ◽  
Whole Process ◽  
Quality Of Products ◽  
Decision Making Behavior

PurposeFree trial is an effective strategy to gaining users’ data so as to strengthen and optimize product design. The purpose of this paper is to understand the IT companies' dynamic decision-making behavior in the free trial of IT products and services context based on a three-stage theoretical framework and users' decision-making behavior in the respective stage.Design/methodology/approachA three-stage methodology is proposed to clarify relevant decision problems and actions in each stage from IT companies' and users' perspectives, respectively. It then investigates relating variables on IT companies' decision-making based on extant research and users' decision-making.FindingsIn this study, the authors argue that the IT companies have to make the offering, implementation and retention decision in different stage during the whole free trial process. Each decision is determined by several variables from their own and users, namely the offering decision is determined by product characteristics, network effects, product life cycle and WOM (word of mouth); the implementation decision is determined by the quality of products and services, trial type, incentive measures on user's usage and communication strategy; and the retention decision is determined by the product and price strategy.Practical implicationsThe results are practical and can be used by IT companies as a decision basis or reference to make reliable decisions so that IT companies can take target measures to ensure the effectiveness of their free trial strategy so as to meet their users' needs based on products designed by data driven. Thus, the ultimate goal of supply chain management is achieved.Originality/valueIn this study, the decision-making process in the free trial of IT products and services context is investigated as a whole for the first time. From the IT companies' perspective, the process includes offering, implementation and retention decision stages, which are continuous and inseparable. The variables that determine IT companies' decision-making are identified based on users' decision and action. Hence, it represents a brand-new whole process perception to clearly understand the dynamic of the IT companies' decision-making. Considering users' decision and action, the final decisions of the IT companies will be more practical in respect of motivating, retaining and upgrading users.

A comparison of consumer decision‐making behavior of married and cohabiting couples

2007 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 264-274 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nabil Razzouk ◽  
Victoria Seitz ◽  
Karen Prodigalidad Capo
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Married Couples ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Alcoholic Beverages ◽  
Consumer Decision Making ◽  
Consumer Decision ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cohabiting Couples ◽  
Decision Making Behavior

PurposeThe purpose of this article is to compare the consumer decision‐making behavior between married and cohabiting couples.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 40 cohabiting couples and 53 married couples in a western state via a self‐administered questionnaire. The structure and the instrument used replicated the Gadis et al. study in exploring consumer decision‐making processes of married couples.FindingsMarried couples tended to be more syncratic than cohabiting couples in their decision to purchase forms of savings in this phase, but more autonomic when purchasing alcoholic beverages. Cohabiting couples were found to be more syncratic in their decision making for these products at this phase than married couples. The results, when compared to those of 18 years ago found that men and women of married couples make purchasing decisions separately, while men and women of cohabiting couples made most of theirs together. Implications of the findings were then discussed.Practical implicationsMarketers, when attempting to reach married couples today, should focus media and advertising communication efforts on two audiences rather than one since either the husband or wife may be making the decision. The communication strategy used should focus on the joint nature of both processes since cohabiters showed a propensity toward syncratic strategies in all three phases. Advertising and message strategies should focus on how single people of the opposite sex decide on product purchases together since cohabiters are more like single people in their decision‐making behavior.Originality/valueThis study compares consumer decision making among married and cohabiting couples.

Decision-making in a dynamic task: effects of goal orientation on stocks and flows performance

2020 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 695-713
Author(s):  
Feifei Yang ◽  
Jiaqi Huang ◽  
Xiao Feng ◽  
Miles M. Yang
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Goal Orientation ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
Least Square ◽  
Dynamic Decision Making ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Dynamic Task ◽  
Learning Goal ◽  
Stocks And Flows ◽  
The Impact

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the effects of goal orientation on understanding the dynamics of stocks and flows (SF). Design/methodology/approach The authors use the well-established department store task as the experimental task to evaluate people’s understanding of SF and implement a survey to assess different goal orientation levels. Ordinary least square is used to test the effects of goal orientations on the SF performance. Findings The findings suggest that learning goal orientation is positively associated with SF performance. However, prove and avoid performance goal orientation are unrelated to SF performance. Originality/value The study has important theoretical and practical contributions. From a theoretical perspective, the authors examine the impact of goal orientation in dynamic decision-making to advance the knowledge on the role of goal orientation. Practically, the research demonstrates that learning-goal-oriented people perform better in stock and flow tasks, suggesting that goal orientation is an important trait for recruiting organizational members whose work involves SF decision-making tasks.

Cross-border to Taiwan but not China

2019 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 21-36
Author(s):  
Wai Ching Choy ◽  
Pui Yan Flora Lau
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Dynamic Decision Making ◽  
International Mobility ◽  
Snowball Sampling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cross Border ◽  
Depth Interview ◽  
Drastic Increase ◽  
Decision Making Model

Purpose This study aims to find out why some students from Hong Kong (HK) consider higher education in Taiwan, rather than in China or elsewhere. It also attempts to build a decision-making model to advance the conventional push-pull logic associated with this particular issue. Design/methodology/approach The authors interviewed 11 undergraduate students from HK via an in-depth interview. Interviewees were recruited by snowball sampling. To protect the privacy of the interviewees, all names of the informants in this paper are pseudonyms. Findings A dynamic decision-making mechanism, which includes three major layers, namely, the macro, meso and micro levels, has been developed to demonstrate that HK students made their decision based on a recursive fashion with bounded rationality, rather than on a linear fashion with complete rationality. Research limitations/implications Although the relatively small number of interviewees has limited the representativeness of the research, the authors suggest that rather than claiming representativeness, the study attempts to tease out the diversity of the decision-making process and mechanisms. Originality/value The drastic increase in the number of HK students in Taiwan proves the current research study, which is the first qualitative research on the phenomenon, as a timely one. In addition, the present study is one of the few examples of studying students’ international mobility from a more economically advanced region (HK) to a less economically advanced one (Taiwan).

Branding for non-profits: explaining new donor decision-making in the charity sector

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (5) ◽  
pp. 583-600
Author(s):  
Gary Gregory ◽  
Liem Ngo ◽  
Ryan Miller
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Brand Choice ◽  
International Aid ◽  
Brand Attitude ◽  
Mediating Effect ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Dual Process ◽  
Content Type ◽  
New Donors

Purpose The purpose of this study develops and validates a model of new donor decision-making in the charity sector. Drawing upon dual process theory, the model incorporates brand salience and brand attitude as antecedents of brand choice intention, moderated by donor decision involvement. Design/methodology/approach Study 1 generates measures using interviews with marketing, media and research managers, and new donors from two international aid and relief organizations. Study 2 uses an experimental design to first test scenarios of disaster relief, and then validate and confirm a new donor decision model using large-scale consumer panels for the international aid and relief sector in Australia. Findings The results replicated across four leading international aid-related charities reveal that brand salience is positively related to brand choice intention through the mediating effect of brand attitude. Furthermore, the effect of brand salience on brand choice intention is significantly stronger when donor decision involvement is low. Conversely, the effect of brand attitude on brand choice intention is stronger for higher levels of donor decision involvement. Practical implications Managers should understand the importance of brand salience/attitudes and the implications for the communication strategy. Managers should also strive to understand the level of decision involvement and the relative influence of brand attitude/salience on brand choice intention. Originality/value This study advances the literature on charitable giving by proposing and testing a moderated mediation model of donor choice when selecting a charity for donation. Findings provide new insights into the extent to which brand salience, brand attitude and donor decision-making influence how new donors choose between charities for donation.

Collaboration and crowdsourcing in emergency management

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Ernst ◽  
Andreas Mladenow ◽  
Christine Strauss
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Networks ◽  
Social Network ◽  
Emergency Management ◽  
Disaster Response ◽  
Network Effects ◽  
Weak Ties ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Emergency Managers ◽  
Social Network Effects

Purpose Emergency managers face coordinative challenges that require a high degree of mobility, flexibility and the ability to interpret heterogeneous, location-dependent information of various sources and quality. Recent information and communication technology-driven developments like crowdsourcing or social networks have opened up new organizational possibilities for emergency managers. To make quick but solid decisions, and improve the coordination of activities performed by crowdsourcees during disaster response, the authors suggest the use of collaborative features from crowdsourcing and inherent availability of resources from social network effects. In this paper, the idea of considering collaboration and crowdsourcing as drivers for flexibility in the design of business processes in the context of emergency management is prepared, the meaning of location-dependent tasks for volunteers is investigated, and the added value of social network effects is substantiated. Design/methodology/approach This paper is part of an ongoing research project in the field of crowdsourcing. It represents conceptual work that builds on relevant literature. Findings In terms of emergency management, the paper sheds light on what emergency managers may consider when coordinating activities performed by volunteers and how they may benefit from social network effects. Furthermore, it is shown how they can exploit information using collaboration-based and tournament-like crowdsourcing, how they can benefit from invoking additional resources using weak ties from social networks, and how visualization of information may support decision-making. Practical implications Exemplary applications to exploit crowdsourcing and social network effects to support improvisation and to respond flexibly in disaster response are given. Originality/value This paper suggests novel collaborative approaches to support emergency managers in their decision-making. Based on social network analysis, the value of weak ties is elaborated, and based on a taxonomy from crowdsourcing, distinct collaborative alternatives are developed and proposed for application in emergency management.

scholarly journals Crisis leadership during COVID-19: the role of governors in the United States

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Abdul-Akeem Sadiq ◽  
Naim Kapucu ◽  
Qian Hu
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
New York ◽  
Local Governments ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mitigation Strategies ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Crisis Leadership ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Content Type

PurposeThe purpose of this viewpoint article is to understand crisis leadership during COVID-19 by examining the decision-making with respect to implementing COVID-19 mitigation measures, collaboration with stakeholders, and communication strategies of the governors of the States of California, Texas, Florida, and New York in the United States.Design/methodology/approachThis viewpoint article employs information from the extant literature on crisis leadership and secondary sources to understand the four governor's crisis leadership strategies during COVID-19.FindingsGovernors Gavin Newsom of California and Andrew Cuomo of New York made quicker decisions regarding implementing COVID-19 mitigation measures (e.g. shutting down the economy, mandating physical distancing, issuing stay-at-home orders, mandating wearing face covering in public and issuing a state of emergency) compared to Governors Greg Abbott of Texas and Ron DeSantis of Florida. In addition, all four governors collaborated with state and local governments, private entities, and nonprofits to address COVID-19. Finally, all four governors held some form of briefing on COVID-19 on a regular basis and used different media to get their information out to the public.Originality/valueThis viewpoint article uses decision-making regarding implementation of mitigation strategies, collaboration with stakeholders, and crisis communication strategy to understand governors' crisis leadership during COVID-19.

Why is evacuation so difficult? Sociocultural aspects of landslide disaster in Ponorogo, Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dian Purworini ◽  
Desi Puji Hartuti ◽  
Dini Purnamasari
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Communication Strategy ◽  
Sociocultural Factors ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Daily Lives ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Factors Affecting ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
The Republic

PurposeSociocultural aspects of populations residing in disaster-prone areas have not often been discussed in disaster evacuation studies. Therefore, the main purpose of this paper is to describe the sociocultural factors affecting evacuation decision-making.Design/methodology/approachThis was an exploratory research study which used in-depth semi-structured interviews to collect the data. Selection of the informants was also fulfilled via the purposive sampling method with regard to specific criteria. The informants consisted of 20 villagers that had faced a disaster and eight staff members of the Regional Board of Disaster Management of the Republic of Indonesia which is Badan Penanggulangan Bencana Daerah (BPBD), Ponorogo, who had managed it. The data analysis was ultimately performed through thematic coding.FindingsThe results of the coding analysis revealed that sociocultural aspects were among the primary reasons for evacuation decisions before disasters. In this paper, sociocultural factors shaping evacuation decision behavior could be a result of norms, roles, language, leadership, rules, habits, jobs, perceptions, family engagement, as well as other behaviors demonstrated by individuals and the community.Research limitations/implicationsThis study is not analyzing the role of the social organization or a religious one and also the economic aspect in the evacuation decision-making.Practical implicationsThis paper includes implications for the local government and the BPBD Ponorogo to establish an efficient communication strategy persuading villagers to evacuate. In general, formal policies cannot always be implemented in managing disaster; therefore, visible dedication and solidarity of the members are always needed in order to manage evacuation problems.Originality/valueThis paper meets needs for a study delineating sociocultural factors affecting evacuation decisions before disasters strike. Sociocultural theory could also describe real aspects of culture inherent in the daily lives of populations living in disaster-prone areas.

The reference effect in newsvendor model with strategic customers

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (5) ◽  
pp. 1006-1021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiaming Liu ◽  
Chong Wu ◽  
Tianyi Su
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Loss Aversion ◽  
Optimal Pricing ◽  
Newsvendor Model ◽  
Pricing Policy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Strategic Customers ◽  
Decision Making Behavior ◽  
Ordering Quantity

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss the role of reference effect on newsvendor’s decision behavior in a market with strategic customers and work out the newsvendor’s optimal pricing policy and ordering quantity. Design/methodology/approach This study utilizes the prospect theory and strategic customer framework to analyze the decision-making behavior on the newsvendor’s optimal pricing policy and ordering quantity. The paper further presents an extension of newsvendor model and provides the model’s properties. The paper finally analyzes the results with various parameters on the model and reports on the insights generated by the model. Findings The paper indicates that the ordering quantity is not altered with the changing proportion of strategic customers and myopic customers, but the ordering quantity and the pricing strategy are influenced in terms of newsvendor’s reference effect, loss aversion, product cost, and salvage price. Practical implications The research findings have important implications for decision makers. Previous researches have studied the incomplete rationality newsvendor’s decision-making behavior mainly by analyzing the vendor’s risk preferences or loss aversion, but the effect of reference point also plays an important role in analyzing the decision-maker’s behavior. The paper provides the optimal pricing policy and ordering quantity with the reference effect considering the strategic customers behavior. This model is also a valid complementarity to behavioral operations management research area. Originality/value The paper examines the role of reference effect in newsvendor problem with the strategic customers and analyzes the impact of parameters such as loss aversion on the newsvendor’s decision behavior.

The intersection of sex and race in the presence of deep-level attributes

2015 ◽  
Vol 34 (5) ◽  
pp. 360-375 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amit Kramer ◽  
Avner Ben-Ner
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Deep Level ◽  
Focal Point ◽  
Target Person ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Surface Level ◽  
Paired Samples ◽  
Level Information ◽  
Decision Making Behavior

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the mechanisms by which decisions about others are affected by the information known about them. The authors argue that the availability of information about deep-level attributes diminishes the role of surface-level attributes in how people make decisions about others. The authors posit that individuals will make discriminatory decisions based on surface-level attributes when only this information is available; but, as predicted by the integration-and-learning perspective, the availability of information about deep-level attributes will reduce surface-level attribute discrimination. Although discrimination will not disappear completely, it will shift its focal point toward a person’s deep-level attributes. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected from subjects in two studies, with 52 subjects in Study 1 and 230 in Study 2. Paired-samples t-test and mixed effects GLS regression were used to test the hypotheses. Findings – When presented with surface-level attributes of a target person, subjects demonstrated discriminatory behaviors based on race and sex. However, when subjects were presented with surface-level attributes along with deep-level attributes about a target person, subjects made decisions based on deep-level attribute similarities and disregarded surface-level information. Research limitations/implications – The authors interpret the findings to mean that enhancing information about others shifts favoritism and discrimination based on surface-level attributes to “deeper” grounds. Originality/value – This study demonstrates how multiple identities and values that individuals possess, and of which they become aware of in others, affect decision-making behavior toward others. It elucidates the mechanisms by which providing individuals with meaningful information about others can help them overcome, or at least reduce, surface-level discriminatory decision making.

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