nep-ict New Economics Papers
on Information and Communication Technologies
Issue of 2007‒11‒03
four papers chosen by
Walter Frisch
University Vienna

  1. Strategic Information Transmission through the Media By Jung, Hanjoon Michael
  2. Older Workers and the Adoption of New Technologies By Meyer, Jenny
  3. Do Technology Diffusion Theories Explain the OSS Business Model Adoption Patterns ? By Heli Koski
  4. A Theory of Reference-Dependent Behavior By Jose Apesteguia; Miguel A. Ballester

  1. By: Jung, Hanjoon Michael
    Abstract: We model media manipulation in which a sender or senders manipulate information through the media to influence receivers. We show that if there is only one sender who has a conditional preference for maintaining its credibility in reporting accurate information and if the receivers face a coordination situation without information about their opponents' types, the sender could influence the receivers to make decisions according to the sender's primary preference by manipulating the information through the media, which makes the report common knowledge. This is true even when the sender and the receivers have contradictory primary preferences. This result extends to the cases in which the sender has imperfect information or in which the sender's primary preference is to maintain its credibility. In the case of multiple senders, however, when there is enough media competition or when simultaneous reporting takes place, the receivers could play their favored outcome against senders' preferences, which sheds light on a solution to the media manipulation problem.
    Keywords: Arms Race; Common Knowledge; Information Transmission; Media Bias; Media Competition; Media Manipulation.
    JEL: D83 D82 C72
    Date: 2007–08
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:pra:mprapa:5473&r=ict
  2. By: Meyer, Jenny
    Abstract: For the first time data of German ICT and knowledge intensive service providers are used to analyze the relation between the age structure of the workforce and the probability of adopting new technologies. The results show that firms with a higher share of younger employees are more likely to adopt new technologies and the older the workforce the less likely is the adoption of new technologies. Furthermore the results exhibit that the age structure of the workforce should be accompanied by appropriate workplace organization. A part of the firms which enhanced teamwork or flattened their hierarchies are actually more likely to adopt new technologies and software when they have a higher share of older employees whereas they are less likely to introduce new technologies if they have a higher share of younger employees.
    Keywords: age structure of the workforce, adoption of new technologies, ICT intensive services
    JEL: J14 O31
    Date: 2007
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:zbw:zewdip:6353&r=ict
  3. By: Heli Koski
    Abstract: ABSTRACT : This paper addresses the question of the software companies’ timing of adoption of the open source software (OSS) business models comprising the supply of OSS products and/or services. The game-theoretic technology adoption models do not explain well the observed diffusion patterns of the OSS business model among the sample of 716 European software firms. Instead, it seems that the network effects influentially shape the diffusion path of the OSS supply strategies. Our study further contributes to the technology diffusion literature as our econometric model aims at separating, unlike the previous empirical studies on technology diffusion, the role that the replacement effect has in the diffusion patterns of new technologies. Our data detect a clear replacement effect hindering the incumbents’ investments in new technology. The expected price declines of the computer programs – and thus the expected declining license revenues from the proprietary software – accelerate less the incumbent firms’ timing of adoption of the OSS supply model than that of the entrants.
    Keywords: timing of technology adoption, diffusion, open source software, business models
    JEL: C41 D21 D23 L2 L86 O14
    Date: 2007–10–29
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:rif:dpaper:1102&r=ict
  4. By: Jose Apesteguia; Miguel A. Ballester
    Abstract: Extensive field and experimental evidence in a variety of environments show that behavior depends on a reference point. This paper provides an axiomatic characterization of this dependence. We proceed by imposing gradually more structure on both choice correspondences and preference relations, requiring increasingly higher levels of rationality, and freeing the decision-maker from certain types of inconsistencies. The appropriate degree of behavioral structure will depend on the phenomenon that is to be modeled. Lastly, we provide two applications of our work: one to model the status-quo bias, and another to model addictive behavior.
    Keywords: Individual rationality, reference-dependence, rationalization, path independence, status-quo bias, addiction, habit formation, LeeX
    JEL: A12 B41 D11
    Date: 2007–10
    URL: http://d.repec.org/n?u=RePEc:upf:upfgen:1056&r=ict

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