scholarly journals Avoiding Crowded Places During COVID-19: Common Sense or a Complex Strategic Decision?

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martijn Stroom ◽  
Piet Eichholtz ◽  
Nils Kok

Introduction: Following a period of strict lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries introduced policies in which citizens were expected to avoid crowded places using common sense, as advised by the WHO. We argue that the ambiguity in the recommendation to “avoid crowded places” implicitly forces individuals to make a complex strategic decision.Methods: Using a Dutch representative sample of 1,048 participants [42% male, mean age=43.78years (SD=12.53), we examine the effect of context on the decision to visit a hypothetical recreational hotspot under the policy recommendation to “avoid crowded places.” We randomize four levels of context on the crowdedness “on the streets” (no context, low, medium, and high context). Subsequently, participants are asked to estimate the percentage of others going out in the same situation. Finally, we assess the impact of a selection of personal characteristics on the likelihood of visiting a crowded place.Results: Respondents are proportionally more likely to go in a low context and high context, compared to no context (diff=0.121, p<0.000, and diff=0.034, p<0.05, respectively) and middle context (diff=0.125, p<0.000, and diff=0.037, p<0.05, respectively). Low context information also decreases the expectation of others going out (−2.63%, z=4.68, p<0.000). High context information increases the expected percentage of others going out (significant only for medium to high context; 2.94%, z=7.34, p<0.001). Furthermore, we show that education, age, and health and risk attitude are all predictive of the likelihood to visit a crowded place, notwithstanding the context.Discussion: Although there is a strong inclination to avoid crowded places during the COVID-19 pandemic (81%), we find two context-driven exceptions: when people expect to avoid crowded spots (in the “low” context, i.e., strategical decision-making) and when people expect others to go (social influence). The freedom provided by ambiguous public policy is implicitly asking more from the population than it initially seems. “Use your common sense” is often the accompanied advice, but our results show that more and better information concerning the context is essential to enable us to make an optimal decision for ourselves, and for society.

2021 ◽  
Vol 923 (1) ◽  
pp. 012066
Author(s):  
Emad Fahad Nafeh Al-Bahli ◽  
Mahmoud Hadis Jassim Al-Jumaili

Abstract The research aimed to determine the impact studied factors represented by (people’s activities, government activities, natural factors) on the deterioration of natural pastures in the Governorate of Al-Muthanna the point of view of agricultural employees in the governorate. The research included all agricultural employees with a preparatory scientific qualification in agriculture and above in the governorate their number is (94) employees. A questionnaire was prepared to collect the data necessary to achieve the objectives of the research. It consisted of two parts. The first part included the factors related to the employees, which are (term of service, academic achievement, participation in extension activities, job position and work location). The second part included a measure to identify the agricultural employees’ the point of view of on the factors affecting the deterioration of natural pastures. It consists of (46) section spread over (3) field covered by the research. The results showed that government activities have the most impact on the deterioration of natural pastures, it was found a statistically significant difference in the respondents’ point of view about the influence of the studied factors according to their personal characteristics. The researchers concluded the necessity of agricultural expansion in pasture lands and industrial investments, as well as the importance of personal factors in assigning employees who can work in the development of natural pastures, and the researchers recommend activating government laws for the protection of natural pastures to prevent abuses (people’s activities, government activities) that contributed greatly to the deterioration of vegetation cover in the research area and taking into account the factors studied in the selection of workers in the development of natural pastures in the research area.


Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Starkey ◽  
Jessica Menold ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller

Building prototypes is an important part of the concept selection phase of the design process, where fuzzy ideas get represented to support communication and decision making. However, previous studies have shown that prototypes generate different levels of user feedback based on their fidelity and aesthetics. Furthermore, prior research on concept selection has shown that individual risk attitude effects how individuals select ideas, as creative ideas are perceived to be riskier in comparison to less creative ideas. While the role of risk has been investigated in concept selection, there is lack of research on how risk is related to the selection of prototypes at various levels of fidelity. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of prototype fidelity, concept creativity, and risk aversion, on perceived riskiness and concept selection through a between-subjects study with 72 engineering students. The results revealed that there was a “goldilocks” effect in which students choose concepts with “just the right amount” of novelty, not too much and not too little, as long as quality was adequate. In addition, the prototype fidelity of a concept had an interaction with uniqueness, indicating that unique concepts are more likely to be perceived as less risky if presented at higher levels of fidelity.


2019 ◽  
Vol 141 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth M. Starkey ◽  
Jessica Menold ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller

Building prototypes is an important part of the concept selection phase of the design process, where fuzzy ideas get represented to support communication and decision making. However, the previous studies have shown that prototypes generate different levels of user feedback based on their fidelity and esthetics. Furthermore, prior research on concept selection has shown that individual risk attitude effects how individuals select ideas, as creative ideas are perceived to be riskier in comparison to less creative ideas. While the role of risk has been investigated in concept selection, there is lack of research on how risk is related to the selection of prototypes at various levels of fidelity. Thus, the purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of prototype fidelity, concept creativity, and risk aversion on perceived riskiness and concept selection through a between-subjects study with 72 engineering students. The results revealed that there was a “goldilocks” effect in which students choose concepts with “just the right amount” of novelty, not too much and not too little, as long as quality was adequate. In addition, the prototype fidelity of a concept had an interaction with uniqueness, indicating that unique concepts are more likely to be perceived as less risky if presented at higher levels of fidelity.


2017 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 466-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Juravich ◽  
Steven Salaga ◽  
Kathy Babiak

This study integrates upper echelons theory into the sport management literature by investigating general manager (GM) strategic decision-making in the National Basketball Association. Specifically, this research examines individual contextual variables as they relate to the human resource decision-making tendencies of GMs. Utilizing 17 seasons of data on team performance and individual GM characteristics, we estimate two-stage panel regression models to examine the relationship between GM-related variables and organizational performance. We find that both GM technical experience and GM education are positively related to winning and efficiency. The results also illustrate the importance of acquiring elite-level talent and indicate positive returns to GMs whom are able to do so. These findings are relevant for team ownership and suggest a link between organizational performance and the personal characteristics of league GMs. The analysis furthers our understanding of the GM–team player talent–organizational performance relationship in professional sport.


2015 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 270-295 ◽  
Author(s):  
Syed Asif Raza

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the impact of differentiation price which has been utilized to segment demand, but results in imperfect segmentation. The use of a differentiation price is among the most widely used Revenue Management (RM) techniques to segment a firm’s demand to augment profitability. Design/methodology/approach – Mathematical models are developed for a firm’s RM which use a differentiation price to categorize its market demand into two segments. Three distinct demand situations are considered: price-dependent deterministic demand, price-dependent stochastic demand whose distribution is known and price-dependent stochastic demand whose distribution is unknown. Models are analyzed to determine optimal joint control of a firm’s pricing and inventory decisions for each market segment. Findings – The analysis of the firm’s RM model has shown that revenue is jointly concave in pricing and order quantity. In most demand situations, closed-form mathematical expressions for optimal pricing and inventory are obtained. Research limitations/implications – In RM models developed in this paper, a firm only selects a differentiation price. Thus, an optimal selection of the differentiation price along with the pricing and inventory decisions may lead to an additional profitability which has not been explored in this research. Practical implications – The findings reported are relevant to RM managers and practitioners and help them to calibrate their optimal revenues by segmenting markets using a differentiation price. Social implications – This paper provides a quantitative perspective of a firm’s decision on the use of the differentiation price and the market response. Originality/value – The paper provides a firm’s optimal decision on pricing and inventory when it experiences demand leakage due to categorizing its market demand into two segments using a differentiation price.


Methodology ◽  
2007 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-23 ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Ramon Barrada ◽  
Julio Olea ◽  
Vicente Ponsoda

Abstract. The Sympson-Hetter (1985) method provides a means of controlling maximum exposure rate of items in Computerized Adaptive Testing. Through a series of simulations, control parameters are set that mark the probability of administration of an item on being selected. This method presents two main problems: it requires a long computation time for calculating the parameters and the maximum exposure rate is slightly above the fixed limit. Van der Linden (2003) presented two alternatives which appear to solve both of the problems. The impact of these methods in the measurement accuracy has not been tested yet. We show how these methods over-restrict the exposure of some highly discriminating items and, thus, the accuracy is decreased. It also shown that, when the desired maximum exposure rate is near the minimum possible value, these methods offer an empirical maximum exposure rate clearly above the goal. A new method, based on the initial estimation of the probability of administration and the probability of selection of the items with the restricted method ( Revuelta & Ponsoda, 1998 ), is presented in this paper. It can be used with the Sympson-Hetter method and with the two van der Linden's methods. This option, when used with Sympson-Hetter, speeds the convergence of the control parameters without decreasing the accuracy.


2016 ◽  
pp. 59-70
Author(s):  
Ninh Le Khuong ◽  
Nghiem Le Tan ◽  
Tho Huynh Huu

This paper aims to detect the impact of firm managers’ risk attitude on the relationship between the degree of output market uncertainty and firm investment. The findings show that there is a negative relationship between these two aspects for risk-averse managers while there is a positive relationship for risk-loving ones, since they have different utility functions. Based on the findings, this paper proposes recommendations for firm managers to take into account when making investment decisions and long-term business strategies as well.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (4) ◽  
pp. 195-208
Author(s):  
Hannes Boepple ◽  
Janine Göttling ◽  
Marie-Christin Papen ◽  
Florian U. Siems

For companies, complaints are a valuable customer reaction to dissatisfaction. They enable the company to respond to customer issues to prevent them from changing supplier or spreading negative word-of-mouth communication. Previous research identified various influencing factors of complaint behaviour. However, it has been scarcely considered which aspects influence the selection of the complaint channel (e. g. telephone, social media). Therefore, a 1x2 experimental study (n = 244) was conducted. Results reveal effects of personal characteristics (aggressiveness, argumentativeness and social anxiety) on complaint channel choice. A moderating effect of failure severity was also partially found. From a managerial perspective, it is recommended to provide various complaint options. This would allow the disappointed consumer to choose an adequate complaint channel depending on his or her personality.


Author(s):  
Oksana L. Kabatcheck

The article presents the results of experimental-psychological study of the efficiency of three copyrighted library programs, designed to develop reading and personal characteristics of the younger schoolchildren. Using the author’s scale of literary (reader) development, there are demonstrated the strengths and weaknesses of programs, referring to the author's or reader's position.


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