Get real: what will draw physicians to the Web?

What are physicians waiting for? What will it take to stimulate widespread adoption of Internet medical systems? How can health care leaders and physicians help the technology innovators and the executives of technology firms understand the components necessary to assure physician acceptance and utilization of new tools? (1) Don't underestimate the personal nature of a physician's practice. It really isn't a "business." (2) Most physicians are not Luddites; they are just extremely pragmatic and practical. (3) For the majority of physicians to adopt a new technology in their private office practice, it must address three major issues: money, hassle, and patient care. There are many obstacles to adopting the new technologies that are the result of physician training and expectations and the current models of payment and revenue generation. Some technological innovations are presented to physicians without sufficient respect for their knowledge of how medical practices really work. The benefits promised often don't match with the needs structure of the physicians. As a consequence, the cycle of diffusion of these new systems is extended and delayed.     

The interplay between psychometric and sociometric data and the willingness to adopt innovations

Due to high failure rates of new products, marketers are seeking ways to actively manage the diffusion of innovations. It is well accepted that individuals, who exert a remarkably strong influence on others and are usually called opinion leaders, play an important role in the diffusion process. In marketing, such opinion leaders are typically identified by self-designation, which can be biased. A second option to identify opinion leaders is the use of sociometric data which becomes increasingly available. In this paper we examine the effect of social position on the perceived opinion leadership and the resulting behavioral intention in terms of adoption behavior. In an empirical study, we examine the adoption of a new drug called “Byetta” and find that sociometric opinion leadership is an antecedent of the psychometric characteristic. Our results also confirm that such opinion leaders are more likely to adopt innovations. We also find that opinion seekers, individuals who often sought information or opinions from interpersonal sources, can be more easily identified with psychometric data. They are more restrictive in terms of adoption. Interestingly, both types are active as market mavens and thus may either advocate the adoption of the innovation or may be frankly conservative regarding the new product adoption. If opinion seekers can, however, be persuaded to adopt the innovation, they may also serve as an important multiplier. This has several implications for pharmaceutical firms that try to optimize their sales force—influencing opinion leaders may indeed start and fasten the adoption process of innovative products. But it is also necessary to allay opinion seekers’ doubts since they might slow down the adoption process. The identification of opinion leaders might not only be based on difficult to obtain psychometric data, but also on sociometric data from social networks, which is becoming more and more available.     

The dynamics of local and interactive effects on innovation adoption: The case of electronic commerce

Innovation adoption is determined not only by the opportunities and constraints resulting from organizations’ characteristics (local effects), but also by reaction to the adoption of their interdependent and referable others (interactive effects). This study examines the dynamics of innovation adoption by considering both local and interactive effects in early adopters relative to later adopters, and then investigates the electronic commerce adoption as an empirical example. Analysis results show that the crucial stimulating effects in the early market are focused on the nature of innovations, while those in the later market are concentrated on the practical implementation issues of innovations.     

舆论领袖传播影响力的阶段式建模分析

在网络社会,无论是网络推手炒作谣言,还是官方微博积极应对,都可视作舆论领袖在舆情演化过程中发挥传播影响力。本文将舆情演化过程分为两个阶段,在两个阶段分别应用不同的仿真模型对不同作用舆论领袖的传播影响力进行分析。第一个阶段是舆情危机爆发阶段,即舆情危机"从无到有",分析网络推手在该阶段的扩散影响力,以SIR经典传染病模型为基础,构建包含有网络推手作用的扩散影响力模型;第二个阶段是舆情危机平息阶段,即舆情危机"从有到无",分析官方微博在该阶段的证伪影响力,以Lotka-Volterra竞争关系模型为基础,研究官方微博如何发挥证伪影响力与网络推手进行博弈。结合具体舆情实例对阶段式模型进行验证分析,并提出如何根据舆论领袖不同传播作用应对舆情危机相关政策建议,以期帮助决策者打击网络谣言、平息舆情危机。     

Optimal stimulation level theory, exploratory consumer behaviour and product adoption: an analysis of underlying structures across product categories

Research of the last decades focused on answering several questions in view of optimum stimulation theory. Which variables do influence general explorative tendencies such as risk taking, variety seeking, or curiosity-motivated behaviour and how do the general explorative tendencies effect the willingness to choose new or familiar products on a repurchase occasion? The approach of this research is the attempt to analyse a wide range of variables, which have successfully been tested to influence innovative behaviour, within one simultaneous model. This research is applied across different product-categories. It is confirming the nomological validity of OSL-theory including some contextual variables by attesting a principal consistency between all (six) models that have been established throughout the range of several examined product categories. The parameters between inherent factors do not contradict when comparing the single models with each other, parameter values do only differ slightly according to category-specific peculiarities. As a consequence of these results, an overall fairly good picture is drawn of what is behind the keenness for innovations of early adopters in general (regardless of the product category).     

基于XBRL的财务信息标准博弈分析

运用两阶段斯塔克伯格博弈模型研究了XBRL在利益相关者之间的扩散问题,分析了XBRL技术标准的采用对主体企业和利益相关者交易价格、交易量、市场份额以及利润的影响。结果表明:当部分利益相关者采用XBRL时,主体企业的总交易量变大;对采用者来说,交易价格变高,交易量变大,市场份额增大,当采用者数量较少时利润减少,而当采用者数量足够多时利润增加;对未采用者来说,交易价格变低,交易量变小,市场份额缩小,利润总额降低。对主体企业来说,部分采用而不是所有利益相关者都采用XBRL技术标准才是最佳结果,也就是存在最优的采用者数量使得主体企业在XBRL技术扩散中获得最大利润。     

公平偏好如何影响开放式创新:一个基于计算经济学的研究

本文利用基于Agent的计算经济学方法和EWA学习模型,研究了不同公平偏好特征下创新主体对不同创新模式选择的问题。通过为Agent赋予四种不同的公平偏好类型:狭义的自利性偏好、竞争性偏好、差异厌恶性偏好和社会福利偏好,观察其在外向型开放式创新、内向型开放式创新、双向型开放式创新和封闭式创新四种创新策略之间的选择行为。研究结果表明:当创新主体具有狭义的自利性偏好时,封闭式创新和内向型开放式创新被选择的比例相当,并且多于外向型开放式创新和双向型开放式创新被选择的比例。当创新主体具有竞争性偏好时,封闭式创新被选择的比例又明显多于内向型开放式创新性。当创新主体具有差异厌恶性偏好时,外向型开放式创新被选择的比例也会明显减少,同时选择双向型开放式创新的主体基本消失。当创新主体具有社会福利偏好时,双向型开放式创新被选择的比例又会显著增加。     

Compensation for chiefs of staff: a '90s phenomenon

As part of its annual survey of physician executive compensation levels, the Physician Executive Management Center, a Tampa, Fla.-based physician executive search firm, sought information on compensation of medical staff leaders. In this report, the Center's findings are summarized. Forty percent of the responding hospitals compensate these leaders in cash, with an additional 34 percent providing noncash benefits. Three-quarters of the hospitals thus indicate recognition that some kind of compensation for voluntary medical staff leaders is warranted.     

Divide and Conquer: Competing with Free Technology Under Network Effects

We study how a commercial firm competes with a free open source product. The market consists of two customer segments with different preferences and is characterized by positive network effects. The commercial firm makes product and pricing decisions to maximize its profit. The open source developers make product decisions to maximize the weighted sum of the segments' consumer surplus, in addition to their intrinsic motivation. The more importance open source developers attach to consumer surplus, the more effort they put into developing software features. Even if consumers do not end up adopting the open source product, it can act as a credible threat to the commercial firm, forcing the firm to lower its prices. If the open source developers' intrinsic motivation is high enough, they will develop software regardless of eventual market dynamics. If the open source product is available first, all participants are better off when the commercial and open source products are compatible. However, if the commercial firm can enter the market first, it can increase its profits and gain market share by being incompatible with its open source competitor, even if customers can later switch at zero cost. This first‐mover advantage does not arise because users are “locked in,” but because the commercial firm deploys a “divide and conquer” strategy to attract early adopters and exploit late adopters. To capitalize on its first‐mover advantage, the commercial firm must increase its development investment to improve its product features.     

在线口碑传播的意见领袖识别方法研究

Web2.0技术应用的不断深化,使得越来越多的用户在网络上发布对产品、服务、品牌或企业的评价,这些在线口碑极大影响着消费者的购买决策和企业的声誉、利润,如何识别出在线口碑传播中的意见领袖对企业有着重要价值。本文结合RFM模型和情感词自动判别方法,考虑情感(S)这一个新的指标,提出了RFMS模型来测量在线口碑发布者的影响力,应用人工神经网络识别出意见领袖,以程度中心性来评估识别结果的有效性。本文采用网络上获取的大众点评网的美食评论语料,对所提出的方法进行了数据实验,实验结果表明,该方法能够精确识别出意见领袖。     

When the victim becomes vicious: Combined effects of pseudo transformational leadership and epistemic motivation on contempt and deviant behaviors

Utilizing affective events theory (Weiss & Cropanzano, 1996), the current study unravels how and when pseudo-transformational leaders promote contempt, avoidance, and aggression. Specifically, we examined whether pseudo-transformational leadership enforces feelings of contempt, which, in turn, fosters interaction avoidance and covert aggression in followers. We hypothesized that contempt also has an indirect effect that is contingent on levels of epistemic motivation of followers. By adopting a multi-wave research design, we gathered data from 277 employees of the service sector of Pakistan. The results signified that followers of pseudo-transformational leaders feel contemptuous of them and respond with interaction avoidance and indirect aggression. Further, we found that the impact of pseudo-transformational leadership on contempt was more pronounced in individuals with higher levels of epistemic motivation. We believe that this study opens up a new avenue in the pseudo-transformational leadership literature by highlighting the mechanism and conditions under which such leaders are deleterious for organizations.     

Purchasing performance management systems: an empirical investigation

This article aims at further developing the purchasing performance management systems (PPMSs) body of knowledge, assuming the wider perspective of the adoption process rather than key performance indicators (KPIs) only. In particular, the research questions are focused on understanding what are the most adopted indicators, what are the key elements characterising the implementation process and what are the differences among different organisational levels and different purchasing categories. The literature provides a framework for classifying purchasing KPIs, identifying the implementation process and the PPMS architecture, thus supporting the empirical research protocol. Nine case studies of large multinationals belonging to different industries are conducted. Empirical evidence shows that companies are still adopting mainly an external perspective, by focusing on performance measurement efforts on suppliers. Widely adopted indicators mainly measure cost, time and quality. However, the purchasing department has acquired an important role within the organisation and new performance indicators have been created; flexibility, innovation and sustainability are becoming increasingly important.     

组织顾客创新、供应商反应性与项目绩效的关系研究:基于组织服务市场的实证分析

随着用户创新研究与实践的日益增加,组织市场(B2B)上有关组织顾客创新的理论研究与实践活动也受到了前所未有的关注。本文对组织服务市场上有关组织顾客创新及其对项目创新绩效与项目运营绩效的影响进行了研究,剖析了供应商认知反应性和情感反应性在上述影响中可能扮演的调节作用。同时,本文还以中国电信工程服务业为实证研究背景,分别从组织顾客与供应商两个不同的视角收集数据,验证了组织顾客创新对项目创新绩效和项目运营绩效所产生的差异性影响,检验了供应商反应性所扮演的调节作用,并对顾客样本和供应商样本的分析结果进行了简单的比较。     

How Innovative are UK Firms? Evidence from the Fourth UK Community Innovation Survey on Synergies between Technological and Organizational Innovations

Using data from the Fourth UK Community Innovation Survey this paper explores the diffusion of a range of innovative activities (encompassing process, product, machinery, marketing, organization, management and strategic innovations) across 16,383 British companies in 2004. Building upon a simple theoretical model it is shown that the use of each innovation is correlated with the use of all other innovations. It is shown that the range of innovations can be summarized by two multi‐innovation factors, labelled here ‘organizational’ and ‘technological’, that are complements but not substitutes for each other. Three clusters of firms are identified where intensity of use of the two sets of innovations is below average (56.9% of the sample); intermediate but above average (23.7%); and highly above average (19.4%). Distinctive characteristics are found to be common to the companies in each cluster. Finally, it is shown that innovativeness tends to persist over time.     

Making Radical Change Happen Through Selective Inclusion and Exclusion of Stakeholders*

The purpose of this paper is to explore how political leaders can gain acceptance for radical reforms through selective inclusion and exclusion of stakeholders. We had inside access to the formulation of a radical reform in the Scandinavian context and found that radical change was not secured through extensive participation, but rather through selective inclusion and exclusion of stakeholders. Change leaders cannot always choose who to include and exclude in participative processes and both proponents and opponents can influence the content in ways that make it less radical. In the context of the public sector, it becomes particularly challenging to gain acceptance for radical reforms because of the influence from multiple stakeholders, many of whom have the right to be included in the process. Based on a study of a Norwegian regulatory reform, we identify five tactics change leaders can use to manage selective inclusion and exclusion. These include deleting stages in the process, including new stakeholders, alternating the process sequence, suppressing issues, and controlling the kind of influence. By consciously including and excluding stakeholders, change leaders can secure that the radicalness of a reform is preserved in the formulation process.     

When managers become leaders: The role of manager network centralities,social power,and followers' perception of leadership

We explore how formal managers' centralities in both positive and negative networks predict followers' perceptions of their leadership. By incorporating social networks and social ledger theory with implicit leadership theories (ILTs), we hypothesize that formally assigned group leaders (managers) who have more positive advice ties and fewer negative avoidance ties are more likely to be recognized as leaders by their followers. Further, we posit that managers' informal networks bring them greater social power, an important attribute differentiating leaders from non-leaders. We conducted two survey-based studies in student and field teams to test the hypotheses. Based on nested data in both studies, we found support for our hypotheses. These results remain robust across the two studies even though they used different designs (cross-sectional versus longitudinal), different samples (field versus students) across different countries (United States versus India), and a host of control variables at both the leader and follower levels. We find that managers who are central in the advice network are socially powerful and are seen as leaders by individual followers. In contrast, managers who are avoided by followers lack informal social power are not seen as leaders. We conclude by discussing the theoretical and practical implications of our findings and the ways in which our theory and results extend ILTs and social network theory.     

Motivation for research participation among people bereaved by suicide

Few studies directly address vulnerable populations' motivation for participating in research. Often motives are expressed spontaneously and typically given post-interview. This article investigates motivation for research participation among informants who have been bereaved by suicide. Informants were specifically asked for their motivation either prior to, or directly after the interview. Four categories of motivations were identified: (1) Helping Others, (2) Venting, (3) Insight, and (4) Just Because. Sixty percent of informants gave more than one motivation. The majority was altruistically motivated; they hoped that by taking part they could play a role in helping to prevent suicide, improving services for the bereaved or moving research forward. Close family members were more likely to be motivated by a desire to help others than more distant family members. Findings are discussed in the context of suicide-related bereavements. Information about research participation as beneficial to others should be given parallel to that of possible strain.     

Beyond (But Including) the CEO: Diffusing Corporate Social Responsibility throughout the Organization through Social Networks

Chief Executive Officers and other organizational leaders can affect how corporate social responsibility initiatives are perceived in their organizations. However, in order to be successful with regard to promoting CSR, leaders need to have strong network competencies and to move beyond charismatic leadership. In this paper we offer a critique of charismatic leadership as it relates to CSR, posit that the intellectual stimulation brought about by transformational leadership is more important in this regard, propose that internal and networking is a leadership competence highly relevant to CSR, and emphasize the importance of working through highly credible opinion leaders in promoting CSR.     

Health care applications of complexity science. Life at the edge of chaos

The authors explore complexity science, a relatively new field of inquiry, which holds for both clinicians and health care leaders the real possibility of stimulating fresh insights and approaches to health and medical care-both its provision and its organization. Two case studies are presented to illustrate how complexity theory can provide health care leaders with a new perspective on how to address the myriad challenges they confront daily: (1) a patient with dissociative identity disorder; and (2) a physician task group charged to advise on hospital medical staff reorganization and governance. These case studies help clinicians and leaders of health care organizations understand how complexity: (1) may be relevant, even helpful, as they consider difficult challenges in both patient and organizational management; and (2) might emerge as a synthesizing force as they face the extraordinarily complicated task of jointly creating integrated health care systems. A resource section is provided for those who may wish to further pursue the topic.