Organizing Entrepreneurial Teams: A Field Experiment on Autonomy over Choosing Teams and Ideas

2023 | Organization Science | Citations: 1

Authors: Boss, Viktoria; Dahlander, Linus; Ihl, Christoph; Jayaraman, Rajshri

Abstract: Scholars have suggested that autonomy can lead to better entrepreneurial team pe ... Expand

Abstract: Scholars have suggested that autonomy can lead to better entrepreneurial team performance. Yet, there are different types of autonomy, and they come at a cost. We shed light on whether two fundamental organizational design choices—granting teams autonomy to (1) choose project ideas to work on and (2) choose team members to work with—affect performance. We run a field experiment involving 939 students in a lean startup entrepreneurship course over 11 weeks. The aim is to disentangle the separate and joint effects of granting autonomy over choosing teams and choosing ideas compared with a baseline treatment with preassigned ideas and team members. We find that teams with autonomy over choosing either ideas or team members outperform teams in the baseline treatment as measured by pitch deck performance. The effect of choosing ideas is significantly stronger than the effect of choosing teams. However, the performance gains vanish for teams that are granted full autonomy over choosing both ideas and teams. This suggests the two forms of autonomy are substitutes. Causal mediation analysis reveals that the main effects of choosing ideas or teams can be partly explained by a better match of ideas with team members’ interests and prior network contacts among team members, respectively. Although homophily and lack of team diversity cannot explain the performance drop among teams with full autonomy, our results suggest that self-selected teams fall prey to overconfidence and complacency too early to fully exploit the potential of their chosen idea. We discuss the implications of these findings for research on organizational design, autonomy, and innovation.History: This paper has been accepted for the Organization Science Special Issue on Experiments in Organizational Theory.Funding: The authors are grateful for funding from the Innovation Growth Laboratory, the Peter Curtius Foundation, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft [Grant CRC TRR 190].Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2021.1520. Collapse

Topics: team productivity entrepreneurship missing data intrinsic motivation evaluation criteria

Methods: experiment experimental group survey causal mediation analysis field experiment

The Power of Identity Cues in Text-Based Customer Service: Evidence from Twitter

2023 | Management Information Systems Quarterly | Citations: 0

Authors: Gao, Yang; Rui, Huaxia; Sun, Shujing

Abstract: Text-based customer service is emerging as an important channel through which c ... Expand

Abstract: Text-based customer service is emerging as an important channel through which companies can assist customers. However, the use of few identity cues may cause customers to feel limited social presence and even suspect the human identity of agents, especially in the current age of advanced algorithms. Does such a lack of social presence affect service interactions? We studied this timely question by evaluating the impact of customers' perceived social presence on service outcomes and customers' attitudes toward agents. Our identification strategy hinged on Southwest Airlines' sudden requirement to include a first name in response to service requests on Twitter, which enhanced customers' perceived level of social presence. This change led customers to become more willing to engage and more likely to reach a resolution upon engagement. We further conducted a randomized experiment to understand the underlying mechanisms. We found that the effects were mainly driven by customers who were ex ante uncertain or suspicious about the human identity of agents, and the presence of identity cues improved service outcomes by enhancing customers' perceived levels of trust and empathy. Additionally, we found no evidence of elevated verbal aggression from customers toward agents with identity cues, although a mechanism test revealed the moderating role of customers' emotional states. Our study highlights the importance of social presence in text-based customer service and suggests a readily available and almost costless strategy for firms: signal humanization through identity cues. Collapse

Topics: customer service Twitter social presence social media customer satisfaction

Methods: experiment computational algorithm synthetic control method survey support vector machine

Theories: social presence theory big five model

Exploring Personality-based Heterogeneity in Metaknowledge and Human-AI Collaboration

2023 | International Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Gass, Daniel F

Abstract: While artificial intelligence (AI) has great potential to transform how we work ... Expand

Abstract: While artificial intelligence (AI) has great potential to transform how we work, it's clear that in many contexts, humans and AI will work side by side. According to recent research, humans' ability to capture complementarities while working collaboratively with AI is critically constrained by our limited ability to assess what we know, i.e., metaknowledge. However, extant research has largely overlooked a critical difference between human and AI: Human behavior is shaped by personality. I explore how differences arising from personality traits impact metaknowledge and delegation behavior towards AI. Using an image classification experiment, I find that higher levels of conscientiousness improve, while higher levels extraversion harm humans' ability to work collaboratively with AI. Differences in metaknowledge help to explain this relationship. These findings motivate further research on personality in human-AI collaboration and the design of collaborative systems which foster metaknowledge and improved performance. Collapse

Topics: artificial intelligence personality computer supported cooperative work database system human computer interaction

Methods: experimental group experiment survey linear regression analysis descriptive statistic

Theories: big five model

Iterative Coordination and Innovation: Prioritizing Value over Novelty

2023 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Ghosh, Sourobh; Wu, Andy

Abstract: An innovating organization faces the challenge of how to prioritize distinct goa ... Expand

Abstract: An innovating organization faces the challenge of how to prioritize distinct goals of novelty and value, both of which underlie innovation. Popular practitioner frameworks like Agile management suggest that organizations can adopt an iterative approach of frequent meetings to prioritize between these goals, a practice we refer to as iterative coordination. Despite iterative coordination’s widespread use in innovation management, its effects on novelty and value in innovation remain unknown. With the information technology firm Google, we embed a field experiment within a hackathon software development competition to identify the effect of iterative coordination on innovation. We find that iterative coordination causes firms to implicitly prioritize value in innovation: Although iteratively coordinating firms develop more valuable products, these products are simultaneously less novel. Furthermore, by tracking software code, we find that iteratively coordinating firms favor integration at the cost of knowledge-creating specialization. A follow-on laboratory study documents that increasing the frequency and opportunities to reprioritize goals in iterative coordination meetings reinforces value and integration, while reducing novelty and specialization. This article offers three key contributions: highlighting how processes to prioritize among multiple performance goals may implicitly favor certain outcomes; introducing a new empirical methodology of software code version tracking for measuring the innovation process; and leveraging the emergent phenomenon of hackathons to study new methods of organizing.History: This paper has been accepted for the Organization Science Special Issue on Experiments in Organizational Theory.Funding: The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from Google LLC, the Harvard Business School Division of Research and Faculty Development, and the National Science Foundation [Grant 1122374].Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2021.1499. Collapse

Topics: innovation management Google+ productivity systems development application programming interface

Methods: experiment survey field experiment descriptive statistic laboratory experiment

Theories: theory of bounded rationality behavioral theory of the firm organizational theory

Software-Vendor Diversification: A Source of Organizational Rigidity in Adversity?

2023 | Journal of Management Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Gong, Jing; Liang, Yi; Ramasubbu, Narayan

Abstract: Firms often assemble digital infrastructures using continuously evolving softwar ... Expand

Abstract: Firms often assemble digital infrastructures using continuously evolving software applications sourced from a multitude of vendors. Using the theoretical lens of the threat-rigidity thesis, we raise the possibility that during adverse environmental conditions, software-vendor diversification can be a source of organizational rigidity that may dampen firm performance. Empirical analysis using data on 918 large public U.S. firms operating during two severe environmental shocks, the global financial crisis and the burst of the dot-com bubble, lends strong support to our thesis. Results indicate that a variety of firm performance indicators (e.g., stock return and operating income measures) are negatively associated with software-vendor diversification during crisis periods. Mediation analysis highlights the role of IT-related material weakness in firms' internal controls in transmitting threat-rigidity effects that decrease performance. These results underscore the importance of software portfolio optimization for countering the dysfunctional effects of software-vendor diversification during adverse environmental shocks. Collapse

Topics: organizational productivity accounting computer hardware information technology infrastructure database system

Methods: mediation analysis structural equation modeling cross sectional research propensity score method longitudinal research

Exploration of Health Technology Nonuse: The Case of Online Medical Records

2023 | International Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Mukhopadhyay, Surma; Basak, Ramsankar; Bentley, John; Mukhopadhyay, Saurav

Abstract: Online Medical Records (OMR) platforms remain a key enabler to health managemen ... Expand

Abstract: Online Medical Records (OMR) platforms remain a key enabler to health management. Yet, how beliefs toward OMR and its subsequent nonuse are related is not understood. Applying the status quo bias (SQB) theory and the privacy paradox paradigm the study examines OMR nonusers and contributes to the health technology use literature. Using the Health Information National Trends Survey (HINTS) iteration 5, Cycle 1 and 3 data, mediation analysis reveals that inertia expressed as preference for speaking directly with healthcare providers predicts perceived need for OMR and partially mediates the relationship between perceived privacy concerns and need; having a chronic disease partially moderates such relationships. Thus, not all nonusers are created equal. Attaining benefits that come with capabilities and functionalities of OMR necessitates meaningful use of OMR by individuals. Healthcare providers or policymakers should intervene to dispel inertia or patient concerns to expand OMR use to facilitate healthcare decision making. Collapse

Topics: privacy information privacy concern health information system information system use healthcare data

Methods: survey structural equation modeling mediation analysis experimental group cross sectional research

Identification of Causal Mechanisms from Randomized Experiments: A Framework for Endogenous Mediation Analysis

2023 | Information Systems Research | Citations: 0

Authors: Peng, Jing

Abstract: Experimental research in the business disciplines often focuses on the overall t ... Expand

Abstract: Experimental research in the business disciplines often focuses on the overall treatment effect and the heterogeneity therein. Whereas this type of research allows us to understand the strength and direction of the treatment effect under different conditions, it does not directly speak to the generative mechanisms, namely, why and how the effect arises. A standard procedure to identify the mechanisms underlying a treatment effect is mediation analysis, but extant mediation analysis frameworks either have no causal interpretation or require the mediators to be unconfounded. Because mediators are posttreatment variables that typically cannot be preassigned beforehand, the endogeneity of mediators remains a serious concern even in randomized experiments. In response to this issue, we present a flexible endogenous mediation analysis framework that still has causal interpretation when the mediator is endogenous. We then discuss the identification conditions for different types of endogenous mediators, including unobserved or partially observed ones, under this framework. We show that endogenous mediation models can be parametrically identified without an instrumental variable when the generating process of the mediator is nonlinear. We further examine how the identification strengths of these models vary with a series of factors, including the level of endogeneity, the goodness of fit of the mediator model, the percentage of observed mediator values, and the misspecification of the error terms. Finally, we provide guidelines on when and how to use endogenous mediation analysis and discuss implications for experimental design and empirical research. We offer an R package that implements the proposed endogenous mediation models.History: Ravi Bapna, Senior Editor; Anuj Kumar, Associate Editor.Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/isre.2022.1113. Collapse

Topics: logistics management accounting

Methods: simulation mediation analysis sensitivity analysis experiment experimental design

A Founding Penalty: Evidence from an Audit Study on Gender, Entrepreneurship, and Future Employment

2022 | Organization Science | Citations: 3

Authors: Kacperczyk, Olenka; Younkin, Peter

Abstract: There is both widespread interest in encouraging entrepreneurship and universal ... Expand

Abstract: There is both widespread interest in encouraging entrepreneurship and universal recognition that the vast majority of these founders will fail, which raises an important unanswered question: What happens to ex-founders when they apply for jobs? Whereas existing research has identified many factors that facilitate movement out of an established organization and into entrepreneurship, far less attention has been devoted to understanding what transpires during the return journey—most notably, how employers evaluate entrepreneurial experience at the point of hire. We propose that employers penalize job candidates with a history of founding a new venture because they believe them to be worse fits and less committed employees than comparable candidates without founding experience. We further predict that the discount for having been an entrepreneur will diminish when other stereotypes about the candidate, particularly those based on gender, will contradict the negative beliefs about ex-founders. We test our proposition using a résumé-based audit and an experimental survey. The audit reveals that founding significantly reduces the likelihood that an employer interviews a male candidate, but there is no comparable penalty for female ex-founders. The experimental survey confirms the gendered nature of the founding penalty and provides evidence that it results from employers’ concerns that founders are less committed and worse organizational fits than nonfounders. Critically, the survey also indicates that these concerns are mitigated for women, helping to explain why they suffer no equivalent founding penalty. Collapse

Topics: entrepreneurship IT career marketing management online labor market accounting

Methods: qualitative interview survey experiment computational algorithm descriptive statistic

How Do Recommender Systems Lead to Consumer Purchases? A Causal Mediation Analysis of a Field Experiment

2022 | Information Systems Research | Citations: 7

Authors: Li, Xitong; Grahl, Jörn; Hinz, Oliver

Abstract: How do recommender systems induce consumers to buy? Extant research neglects to ... Expand

Abstract: How do recommender systems induce consumers to buy? Extant research neglects to examine the causal paths through which the use of recommender systems leads to consumer purchases. In this study, we conduct a randomized controlled field experiment on the website of an online book retailer and explore the causal paths by employing the recently developed causal mediation approach. Not surprisingly, the results show that the presence of personalized recommendations increases consumers’ propensity to buy by 12.4% and basket value by 1.7%. More importantly, we find that these positive economic effects are largely mediated through affecting the consumers’ consideration sets. Specifically, the presence of personalized recommendations increases both the size of consumers’ consideration sets (breadth) and how intensively they are involved with each alternative in consideration (depth). It is the two changes that go on to increase consumers’ propensity to buy and basket value. Furthermore, we find that the proportion of the total effects mediated through the breadth of consideration set is much larger and more significant than that mediated through the depth. Collapse

Topics: recommender system electronic commerce collaborative filtering logistics management marketing management

Methods: field experiment experiment mediation analysis computational algorithm laboratory experiment

Information Control for Creator Brand Management in Subscription-Based Crowdfunding

2022 | Information Systems Research | Citations: 0

Authors: Lin, Yu-Kai; Rai, Arun; Yang, Yukun

Abstract: Subscription-based crowdfunding (SBC) is an emerging platform for creators of di ... Expand

Abstract: Subscription-based crowdfunding (SBC) is an emerging platform for creators of digital content (e.g., music, comics, stories, and videos) to build their person brands and garner support from fans. A unique feature that sets SBC apart from other crowdfunding models is the creator-centered freemium model. That is, creators can offer free content to attract fans, who can then subscribe to financially support a creator; in return, the backers gain access to the creator’s premium content and exclusive perks. In doing so, creators receive regular (e.g., monthly) subscription payments from their backers to sustain their ongoing creative activities. The SBC context engenders unique creator-centric dynamics and mechanisms that are ill understood in crowdfunding literature. In this study, we investigate the effects of SBC creators’ two information control strategies: (1) earnings concealment and (2) private postings. From a brand management perspective, we theorize that earnings concealment improves brand authenticity, whereas private postings foster brand differentiation, cocreation, and attachment. These will lead to a positive impact on the financial (backer base) and nonfinancial (fan participation) outcomes of an SBC campaign. Furthermore, we propose a reinforcing dynamic between information control and SBC performance whereby better SBC outcomes will increase the creators’ tendencies to engage in information control. To test our hypotheses, we obtained panel data from a large SBC platform that contains monthly observations of 92,850 creators from August 2016 to December 2017. The results of our empirical analyses provide evidence for the benefits of the two information control strategies in SBC and demonstrate the reinforcing relationships between information control and SBC outcomes for creators. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings. Collapse

Topics: crowdfunding crowdsourcing YouTube social media participatory design

Methods: theory development longitudinal research robustness check cluster analysis autocorrelation analysis