Cost-benefit Considerations Research Articles

The impacts of relational capital on self-disclosure in virtual communities

PurposeThis study examines whether relational capital influences self-disclosure behavior through the mechanism of needs-based motivation in virtual communities.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts hierarchical linear model (HLM) to differentiate between the relationships at different levels, with 378 online questionnaires recovered from 42 virtual communities.FindingsThe results show that group-level relational capital is positively related to self-disclosure and affects it through the partially mediating mechanism of motivation. Relational capital also strengthens the positive influence of the need to be on trend on individual self-disclosure behavior.Originality/valueThis study makes four research contributions. Firstly, we identify the means by which relational capital established within a virtual community influences user disclosure behavior. This focus differs from those of previous studies, which have emphasized privacy and security of information systems, cost–benefit considerations, and/or adopted personality traits as the research basis. Secondly, this study examines and verifies the mediating mechanism of motivation, establishing an alternative perspective for theoretical studies, and providing future studies with a reference for investigating the self-disclosure behavior of members. Thirdly, this research introduces and verifies the moderating effects of relational capital based on member relationships, thus making further theoretical and empirical contributions. Finally, we adopt HLM to conduct our analyses, thereby ensuring higher precision regarding the explanatory power of group-level explanatory variables for individual-level dependent variables.

Lives or Livelihoods? Perceived Tradeoffs and Public Demand for Non-Pharmaceutical Interventions

We study the role of perceived trade-offs between human lives and economic benefits in shaping policy views. In an online experiment with a representative sample from the US conducted during the early Covid-19 pandemic, we provide randomized information on the medium-run costs of restricting economic activity to mitigate infections. A one standard deviation lower perceived economic cost of lockdowns increases support by about twice as much as having a Covid at-risk condition, and by half as much as being a Democrat. Varying projected health benefits has a similar effect. Personal exposure to health risks reduces people's responsiveness to cost-benefit considerations.

Pandemic Meets Pollution: Poor Air Quality Increases Deaths by COVID-19

We study the impact of short-term exposure to ambient air pollution on the spread and severity of COVID-19 in Germany. We combine data on county-by-day level on confirmed cases and deaths with information on local air quality and weather conditions and exploit short-term variation in the concentration of particulate matter (PM10) and ozone (O3). We apply fixed effects regressions controlling for global time-varying confounding factors and regional time-invariant confounding factors on the county level, as well as potentially confounding weather conditions and the regional stage of the pandemic. We find significant positive effects of PM10 concentration after the onset of the illness on COVID-19 deaths specifically for elderly patients (80+ years): higher levels of air pollution by one standard deviation 3 to 12 days after developing symptoms increase deaths by 30 percent (males) and 35 percent (females) of the mean. In addition, air pollution raises the number of confirmed cases of COVID-19. The timing of results supports mechanisms of air pollution affecting the severity of already realized infections. Air pollution appears not to affect the probability of infection itself.

Current controversies in risk-adapted therapy in differentiated thyroid cancer: Is less (therapy) really more?

In recent years, there has been worldwide asignificant (relative) increase in "small" thyroid cancer (pT1 = tumor size of ≤10 mm), which has now reached aplateau. This fact and the absence of prospective and randomized clinical trials are increasingly leading to adiscussion of the so-called risk-adapted management of differentiated thyroid cancer. The available studies are partly incomplete, retrospective and difficult to compare. In addition, factors such as different iodine supply, cost-benefit considerations and regional differences in quality of surgical procedures influence the implementation of therapy concepts. Therefore, the therapy of the differentiated thyroid cancer is currently the subject of intensive discussion, especially in "low risk" situations. There is aworldwide trend to classify the risk of differentiated thyroid cancer in general lower than in the past and thus also to reduce the extent of the traditionally recommended therapy. The discussion is increasingly moving from the "one size fits all" towards personalized and thus risk-adapted therapy of the differentiated thyroid cancer.The main goal of this "paradigm shift" is to avoid an "overtreatment" which may be associated with permanent complications due to "unnecessary" surgical procedures and any negative effects of radioiodine ablation.This overview attempts to answer the following questions: When is arisk-adapted therapy for differentiated thyroid cancer justified? What are the consequences in differentiated thyroid cancer if no radioiodine therapy is performed?

A burden or a tool? Rationalizing public housing provision in Chinese cities

Public housing, a crucial component of the welfare state, is often viewed as an economic burden. We confront this conventional view and provide an alternative understanding of public housing in mixed economies. Through the lens of China, we conduct case studies and investigate the rationales of public housing provision in two high-profile, industrializing and deindustrializing cities – Chongqing and Shenzhen, respectively. We find that, despite variegated local conditions, Chinese municipal governments strategically provide public housing as an instrument of city development. We construct an open-ended framework that forges intricate links among cost-benefit considerations. It systematizes hypotheses that assemble the patterns of dynamic relationships among constituents of local decision-making, mediating the dimensions of development stage, time and space. The framework facilitates a new and illuminating way of conceptualizing policy rationales and of explaining variations in local programmes. Our proposition complements theories of the mixed economy of welfare and invites further elaboration.

Drivers of the disclosed “connectivity of the capitals”: evidence from integrated reports

PurposeIntegrated reporting (IR) aims to provide disclosures of the connectivity of non-financial and financial value creation aspects. These disclosures are defined as the disclosed connectivity of the capitals resulting from integrated thinking. This paper aims to investigate the extent of disclosed connectivity of the capitals in integrated reports and its underlying managerial discretion by drawing on economic-based theories.Design/methodology/approachRegression analyses are applied to examine the associations between economic firm-level characteristics and the extent of disclosed connectivity of the capitals. The analyses are based on a content analysis of 169 integrated reports disclosed in 2013 and 2014 by Forbes Global 2000 companies.FindingsThis paper finds high heterogeneity in the extent of disclosed connectivity of the capitals in current IR practice. This heterogeneity is related to drivers arising from economic-based theories. Firms’ non-financial and financial performance and the importance of strategic shareholders and debt providers are positively associated with the extent of disclosed connectivity of the capitals. The complexity of the business model and a highly competitive environment are negatively associated with the extent of disclosed connectivity of the capitals.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper extends qualitative IR studies on the disclosed connectivity of the capitals by quantitative results from a content analysis for a cross-sectional and global sample. Additionally, this study adds to prior IR literature on the drivers of the binary decision to disclose an integrated report by focusing on the extent of disclosed connectivity of the capitals.Practical implicationsFor report preparers, users and standard setters, the results reveal that perceived cost-benefit considerations (signaling vs. direct and proprietary costs) may explain managerial discretion regarding the connectivity of the capitals within integrated reports.Social implicationsThis paper examines integrated reports, which are intended to inform providers of financial capital and other stakeholders about the connectivity of the six capitals of the IR framework.Originality/valueThis paper develops a metric disclosure measure of the extent of disclosed connectivity of the capitals. It provides initial evidence of how the IR framework’s focus on this key characteristic is realized in disclosure practice. Concerns about competitive disadvantages and preparation costs limit this key characteristic of integrated reports.

Ecology and Use of Lantana camara in India

In the Indian sub-continent Lantana has invaded vast tracts of dry-moist forests and other culturable wastelands, and has potentially altered biodiversity, landscape ecology and ecosystem services. It has invaded most Indian pasture lands (13.2 million ha) besides forest and fallow areas, and the cost of its control is estimated at US$ 70 per ha. This invasive weed stands out because of its rapid spread, intensity of infestation, allelopathy, opportunistic growth behaviour, reproductive biology traits and tenacious resistance to cutting and burning. This paper reviews the current knowledge on L. camara with particular focus on its ecological attributes such as biomass productivity, reproductive biology, invasiveness, allelopathy, eradication measures and economic uses reported from India. Based on the literature review it can be pointed out that the positive impacts and economic uses of Lantana outweigh its negative impacts and require further studies on cost-benefit considerations for decision making for its eradication and management.

Leaf:wood allometry and functional traits together explain substantial growth rate variation in rainforest trees.

Plant growth rates drive ecosystem productivity and are a central element of plant ecological strategies. For seedlings grown under controlled conditions, a large literature has firmly identified the functional traits that drive interspecific variation in growth rate. For adult plants, the corresponding knowledge is surprisingly poorly understood. Until recently it was widely assumed that the key trait drivers would be the same (e.g. specific leaf area, or SLA), but an increasing number of papers has demonstrated this not to be the case, or not generally so. New theory has provided a prospective basis for understanding these discrepancies. Here we quantified relationships between stem diameter growth rates and functional traits of adult woody plants for 41 species in an Australian tropical rainforest. From various cost-benefit considerations, core predictions included that: (i) photosynthetic rate would be positively related to growth rate; (ii) SLA would be unrelated to growth rate (unlike in seedlings where it is positively related to growth); (iii) wood density would be negatively related to growth rate; and (iv) leaf mass:sapwood mass ratio (LM:SM) in branches (analogous to a benefit:cost ratio) would be positively related to growth rate. All our predictions found support, particularly those for LM:SM and wood density; photosynthetic rate was more weakly related to stem diameter growth rates. Specific leaf area was convincingly correlated to growth rate, in fact negatively. Together, SLA, wood density and LM:SM accounted for 52 % of variation in growth rate among these 41 species, with each trait contributing roughly similar explanatory power. That low SLA species can achieve faster growth rates than high SLA species was an unexpected result but, as it turns out, not without precedent, and easily understood via cost-benefit theory that considers whole-plant allocation to different tissue types. Branch-scale leaf:sapwood ratio holds promise as an easily measurable variable that may help to understand growth rate variation. Using cost-benefit approaches teamed with combinations of leaf, wood and allometric variables may provide a path towards a more complete understanding of growth rates under field conditions.

Socio-Economic Viability of Urban Agriculture—A Comparative Analysis of Success Factors in Germany

Socio-economic viability of urban agriculture (UA) is, especially regarding non-commercially oriented initiatives, at most a generically treated issue in scientific literature. Given a lack of data on yields, labor input, or saved expenditures, only a few studies have described it either from a cost-avoidance or a specific benefit generation perspective. Our hypothesis is that hybrid roles of consumers and producers in urban agriculture challenge the appraisal of socio-economic viability. This paper presents an empirical study from three prevalent urban agriculture models: self-harvesting gardens, intercultural gardens, and community gardens, combining qualitative and quantitative survey data. A multi-value qualitative comparative analysis was applied to grasp the perception of socio-economic viability and its success factors. This allowed us to identify necessary and sufficient conditions for economic and social success. Results give an indication of the existence of different value systems and cost–benefit considerations in different urban agriculture models. A service-focused business relationship between farmers and consumers ensuring self-reliance is important for success for self-harvesting gardens, while self-reliance and sharing components are relevant for intercultural gardens. Community gardening builds upon self-governance ambitions and a rather individually determined success and failure factor pattern beyond explicit production output orientation. It is shown here for the first time with a quantitative approach that participants of urban agriculture models seem to go beyond traditional trade-off considerations and rather adopt a post-productive perception, focusing more on benefits than costs.

Management of Degenerative Spondylolisthesis: Analysis of a Questionnaire Study, Correlation With a National Sample, and Perioperative Outcomes of Treatment Options.

Surgical treatment for lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis has been shown to provide better long-term outcomes than conservative treatment. However, there is variation in surgical approaches employed by surgeons. This study investigates current surgical practice patterns and compares perioperative outcomes of 3 common surgical treatments for this pathology. A survey was administered to surgeons who attended the Lumbar Spine Research Society (LSRS) meeting in 2014. Data were extracted from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) from 2005 to 2014 to characterize the same responses. The 2 data sets were compared. Perioperative outcomes of those in the ACS-NSQIP posterior fusion subcohorts were characterized and compared. Posterior surgical approaches utilized by surgeons who responded to the LSRS survey were similar to those captured by ACS-NSQIP where 72% of those with degenerative spondylolisthesis were fused. Of those that were fused, 8% had an uninstrumented posterior fusion, 33% had an instrumented posterior fusion, and 59% had an instrumented posterior fusion with interbody. On multivariate analysis, there was no difference in risk of postoperative adverse events, readmission, or length of stay between these 3 common types of fusion. Practice patterns for the posterior management of lumbar degenerative spondylolisthesis were similar between LSRS survey responses and ACS-NSQIP data. The ACS-NSQIP perioperative outcome measures assessed were similar regardless of surgical technique. These findings highlight that cost-benefit considerations and longer-term outcomes have to be the measures by which surgical technique is chosen for degenerative spondylolisthesis.

How smart can government be? Exploring barriers to the adoption of smart government

Smart information and communication technologies (ICTs) are finding their ways into public administration, and numerous smart government efforts are marking the start of a new digitalization wave in the public sector. Despite being in the early stages of development, these initiatives promise a new model for the provision of public services: smart government. Because past technical innovations in the public sector did not reach their full potential, it is crucial to know the difficulties if one is to successfully address them. We explore the perceived barriers to the adoption of smart government in an early phase of implementation. We analyzed barriers, utilizing 32 interviews with actors involved in smart government initiatives. Cluster analysis helped us to identify six barrier groups: a lack of legitimacy, a lack of legal foundations, a lack of policy coherence, a lack of technical infrastructure, cost-benefit considerations, and a lack of innovation capacity. We distinguish between organizational and institutional barriers, and discuss restrictions and implications for praxis and future research.

Cancer patients' perceptions of factors influencing their decisions on participation in clinical drug trials: A qualitative meta-synthesis.

To examine cancer patients' perceptions of factors that may influence their decisions on participating in phase I-III clinical drug trials. The number of cancer participants in clinical drug trials has increased rapidly in Denmark in recent years. The rights, safety and well-being of patients considering participation are protected by the international, ethical and scientific principles. A meta-synthesis was conducted to enable health professionals to support cancer patients who are considering trial participation in accordance with the above principles. Meta-synthesis. A qualitative meta-synthesis, as described by Sandelowski and Barroso, was conducted based on a literature search in PubMed, CINAHL, EMBASE and PsycINFO. Nine reports were found eligible and were included. The PRISMA checklist was used. A framework was developed, and patients' perceptions of the factors influencing their decisions were identified, namely patients' perceptions of their relatives, the physician, the hope of therapeutic benefit, altruism, having other options and living with cancer. This study shows that cancer patients' decisions on participation in clinical drug trials are influenced by their perceptions of trust towards the physician, their relatives' attitudes and the consequences participation might have for their families. Patients are motivated to participate due to the hope of therapeutic benefit and for altruistic reasons. The factors influencing their decisions to participate include a cost-benefit consideration, which in turn may be subject to the patient's perception of having other options available besides participation. This may be related to the patient's attitude towards living with cancer, and the decision can be a way of trying to cope with the psychological aspects of living with cancer. The results of this meta-synthesis offer insight into patients' perceptions of what may influence their decisions, and they enable health professionals to support patients making such decisions.

When do firms evaluate further training measures?

PurposeIncreased investments in employee further training have resulted in a growing interest in ensuring and improving the quality of these measures. However, little is known about the operational decision to initiate an evaluation of further training. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate under which circumstances firms decide to evaluate training measures.Design/methodology/approachThe study analyzes the evaluation decision of firms and external suppliers, and differentiates between internal and external further trainings. Theoretically, two goals of evaluations – monitoring and feedback – and their relevance for the decision makers are considered. Using a unique linked employer–employee data set, the study employs multi-level models to analyze three influencing factors on the evaluation decision: characteristics of the further training measure itself, the employees and the employers.FindingsThe results show that evaluation decisions are not based on general organizational practices but on case-by-case cost-benefit considerations. Interestingly, firms are more likely to evaluate internal further training measures than external ones. Therefore, evaluations seem to be more frequently used as a feedback instrument than for the purpose of monitoring. For external further training measures, firms seem to trust market mechanisms as a monitoring instrument, instead of conducting an internal evaluation.Originality/valueAlthough further training has become increasingly important, little is known about firms’ quality management in this respect. This paper provides a theoretical framework for the usage of evaluation procedures and analyzes firms’ strategies for ensuring quality based on a large set of variables to give new insight into the organizational decision-making processes.

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin: utility of HPLC in handling atypical samples uninterpretable by capillary electrophoresis

Carbohydrate-deficient transferrin (CDT) is a marker of chronic alcohol abuse. Uninterpretable (atypical) CDT patterns have been detected by both capillary electrophoresis (CE) and HPLC. The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance of HPLC as a second-line test for the interpretation of most frequent atypical CDT profiles detected by CE. CDT was analyzed by CE (Capillarys 2, Sebia) on 9120 consecutive samples in a routine laboratory setting during a 2-year period. A commercial method (ClinRep CDT kit, Recipe) was employed to retest 123 (1.4%) samples with atypical CDT patterns on a Prominence LC-20AT HPLC (Shimadzu). CE-uninterpretable samples were categorized as having low transferrin (Tf) concentration (LT; n = 42, 0.5%), di-trisialotransferrin bridging (D-TB; n = 63, 0.7%) or atypical peak profile (APP; n = 18, 0.2%). CDT was detectable by HPLC in 58 of 123 (47%) samples including 21of 42 (50%) with LT, 27 of 63 (43%) with D-TB and 10 of 18 (56%) with APP. Second-line HPLC testing reduced uninterpretable samples by 47%, with similar rates of improvement regardless of the type of CDT pattern. The usefulness of HPLC as a second-line test for CDT should be evaluated according to cost-benefit considerations in the context of each laboratory.

Cost-benefit considerations for Data Analytics - An SME-Oriented Framework enhanced by a Management Perspective and the Process of Idea Generation

Regarding the economy, Data Mining is one of the most interesting trends in recent years. It enables organizations of different branches of trade to make use of their data. This can ultimately lead to the creation of competitive advantages. Nevertheless, Data Mining requires expertise as well as a systematic approach. Both is especially lacking in many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). That is why particularly SMEs need to be supported in regard to the challenges of Data Mining. Therefore, a Data Mining framework that pays attention to the special features of SMEs was created at Aalen University of Applied Sciences. However, even this framework shows some potentials for extension. Because SMEs are especially dependent on thoroughly using their funds, this aspect also has to be considered when it comes to the application of Data Mining. This research investigates economical aspects, how SMEs can integrate cost-benefit considerations into the process of implementing Data Mining.

Board Diversity, Corporate Governance, Performance and Executive Pay

Departing from previous studies, this paper investigates the impact of corporate board diversity on corporate performance and executive pay within the context of MENA countries. Our sample includes a balanced panel of 600 firm-year observations, consisting of 100 individual firms drawn from 5 Middle Eastern countries (Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia and United Arab of Emirates) over the 2009–2014 period. The findings are three-fold. First, board diversity, as measured by director gender and nationality, has a positive effect on corporate financial performance. Second, the relationship between board diversity and corporate performance is stronger in better-governed firms than their poorly-governed counterparts. Finally, board diversity, as measured by director gender, ethnicity and nationality, enhances the pay-for-performance sensitivity, but not the actual executive pay. Our results suggest that decisions about board diversity are not merely influenced by moral values; they arise because of the cost-benefit considerations of what diversity can bring to the firm. The findings are robust to controlling for different alternatives of board diversity measures, corporate governance proxies, corporate outcomes and types of endogeneities.

Why Do Firms Exit from the Top Equity Market Segment in Germany?

This study investigates the listing of IPOs and the delisting from the Prime Standard, the highest regulated stock exchange segment in Germany. The German Stock Exchange instituted this market segment subsequent to the high-technology new economy period in 2003. For a sample of 531 firms, we analyze the economic reasons and consequences of firms entering and leaving this stock market segment during the 2003 to 2015 period. The main reasons are bankruptcy, acquisitions, delisting and most importantly transfers to lower market segments. We used several logit and firm-fixed effects regressions to provide new evidence for firms’ delisting and segment change decisions. Low growth opportunities and low operating performance increase the probability that firms switch to a lower market segment. Consequently, the firms’ cost-benefit considerations are an important explanation for selecting the preferred stock market segment and the transfer to a less regulated market environment.

Board diversity, corporate governance, corporate performance, and executive pay

AbstractDeparting from previous studies, this paper investigates the impact of corporate board diversity on corporate performance and executive pay within the context of Middle East and North African countries. Our sample includes a balanced panel of 600 firm‐year observations, consisting of 100 individual firms drawn from five Middle Eastern countries (Egypt, Jordan, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab of Emirates) over the 2009–2014 period. The findings are three‐fold. First, board diversity, as measured by director gender and nationality, has a positive effect on corporate financial performance. Second, the relationship between board diversity and corporate performance is stronger in better governed firms than their poorly governed counterparts. Finally, board diversity, as measured by director gender, ethnicity, and nationality, enhances the pay‐for‐performance sensitivity but not the actual executive pay. Our results suggest that decisions about board diversity are not merely influenced by moral values; they arise because of the cost–benefit considerations of what diversity can bring to the firm. The findings are robust to controlling for different alternatives of board diversity measures, corporate governance proxies, corporate outcomes, and types of endogeneities.

A structural-relational analysis of party dynamics in proxy wars

Proxy wars are still under-represented in conflict research and a key cause for this is the lack of conceptual and terminological care. This article seeks to demonstrate that minimising terminological diffusion increases overall analytical stability by maximising conceptual rigour. The argument opens with a discussion on the terminological ambivalence resulting from the haphazard employment of labels referencing the parties involved in proxy wars. Here, the article introduces an analytical framework with a two-fold aim: to reduce label heterogeneity, and to argue in favour of understanding proxy war dynamics as overlapping dyads between a Beneficiary, a Proxy, and a Target. This is then applied to the issues of defining and theorising party dynamics in proxy wars. It does so by providing a structural-relational analysis of the interactions between the above-mentioned parties based on strategic interaction. It presents a tentative explanation of the proxy relationship by correlating the Beneficiary’s goal towards the Target with the Proxy’s preference for the Beneficiary. In adding the goal-preference relational heuristic, the article advances the recent focus on strategic interaction with a novel variant to explanations based on interest, power, cost–benefit considerations or ideology.

An evaluation of chapter 11 bankruptcy filings in a competing risks framework

An important strand of research on corporate bankruptcies via Chapter 11 in the United States has appropriately focused on the firm characteristics associated with emergence as viable business entities. This necessarily involves considering factors (such as management changes) that arise during the restructuring process. We consider a narrower question - which ex-ante factors are important in influencing the bankruptcy court’s decision in a Chapter 11 application: approval of the reorganization plan or dismissal culminating in the firm’s liquidation. We use a competing risks model and find that while financial attributes such as firm size matter, the formation of a creditors committee, debt prepackaging prior to filing, and judicial experience significantly impact the outcome as well as the duration of the legal process. The latter is important because it clearly influences the direct costs of bankruptcy and has also been used in the literature as a useful proxy for harder to measure indirect costs. We believe our approach which explicitly captures the time dimension provides a useful input to the cost-benefit considerations associated with a Chapter 11 filing.