Robert Hoffmann

The Demography of Chinese Nationalism: A Field-Experimental Approach

Empirical evidence concerning the demographics and development of Chinese nationalism is sparse but important for scholarship and policy. Its collection entails methodological challenges in access and reliability. We conducted a field experiment to measure nationalism in incentive-compatible choices among a diverse group of 447 Chinese subjects in a field setting. Our results demonstrate greater nationalism in female, older, less affluent and more rural respondents. We also find support for nationalism in professional and educated individuals. Our results provide qualified support for a middle-class nationalism in China.

Information richness and trust in v-commerce: implications for services marketing

Purpose n n n n nThe potential for e-commerce is limited by a trust deficit when traders do not interact in a physical, bricks-and-mortar context. The theory of information richness posits that equivocal interactions, such as ones requiring trust, can be facilitated through communication media that transmit multiple cues interactively. This study aims to examine the potential of information-rich virtual worlds to reduce this trust deficit compared with more traditional Web-based e-tailing environments. n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nRather than focusing on stated intentions, the authors adopt an experimental approach to measure behaviour. Participants receive performance-related financial incentives to perform trust games in different information-rich treatments that represent three retail environments: a physical environment representing bricks-and-mortar trade, an electronic environment representing Web-based online retailing and a virtual environment representing virtual world retail. n n n n nFindings n n n n nThe authors find that the two dimensions of trust significantly differ between the treatments. In particular, as hypothesised, both trustingness and trustworthiness are higher in the virtual than in the electronic environment. However, contrary to the hypotheses, physical trade is not associated with greater trust than virtual trade. n n n n nResearch limitations/implications n n n n nThe authors extend previous research by demonstrating how the information richness of the virtual world interface can promote e-commerce by deepening trust between trading partners. This research also complements existing work that approaches product and service interfaces through the lens of servicescapes. n n n n nPractical implications n n n n nThe findings also contribute towards the development of services marketing practice and the design of e-commerce environments. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nMuch of the work in this space considers purchase intentions and attitudes around trust, whereas this study looks at actual trust behaviour in the virtual space.

A study of gamer experience and virtual world behaviour

This paper reports a study which examined the impact of computer game experience on behaviour observed inside a virtual world. A social networking world was used, which was owned and run by the research team and a dataset capturing the behaviour of 195 subjects was extracted from the worlds event logs. Four broad areas were analysed: communication, movement, avatar creation and world customization. Highly significant differences were found in text communication. Less significant differences were found in movement and avatar creation, and none were found in the customization of the world.

Trust in V-Commerce: An Experimental Approach

This paper reports decision-making experiments designed to assess to what extent trade in virtual environments can reduce the trust deficit commonly associated with traditional e-commerce compared with physical trade. Our approach is based on previous findings that trust is related to the degree of social presence the electronic interface permits. We compare the behaviour of incentivised subjects in trust games conducted in physical laboratory, virtual world and website settings. While the web interface is characterised by least trust and trustworthiness of the three, there is no evidence for lower trust in virtual environments. These results suggest a role for v-commerce in combining the social presence benefits of physical trading environments with the information economies of e-commerce.

PERCEIVED INTENTIONALITY IN 2 × 2 EXPERIMENTAL GAMES

We test experimentally whether decisions in 2 × 2 games with mixed equilibria depend on the co-player being nature or a human agent. Controlling for social preferences, we find differences in decisions in the chicken game and battle of the sexes but not for stag hunt and matching pennies. We attribute these to subjects perception of the others intentionality and disapproval avoidance in particular.

Is Knowledge Cursed When Forecasting the Forecasts of Others

ABSTRACT Financial decision makers (lenders, insurers, advisees) often need to estimate how well others make decisions. Is knowledge a blessing or a curse when forecasting others forecast accuracy? The authors show that this depends on its type. Within a single experimental setting, they identify and test 4 distinct information types that have different effects on forecast accuracy. First, the authors revisit the well-known “curse of knowledge” and show that it may have resulted from entirely arbitrary, uninformative anchors. Second, we show that in contrast, genuinely informative cues purged of anchoring potential enhance estimation accuracy. Third, richer, more detailed financial information has no effect even for participants better able to interpret it. Fourth, domain experts do not overimpute others forecast ability. The authors conclude that in financial settings knowledge may be a blessing or a curse, or have no effect depending on its type.

The influence of influence

We investigate how the experience of influencing and of being influenced impacts on a subsequent, immediate attempt to influence and be influenced. We conduct an experiment using participant dyads matched in a round-robin design which systematically measures the influence one individual has on another in a decision task using a short, anonymous, computer mediated, text based exchange. Findings show that being influenced in a round of the task tends to be positively related to being influenced in the subsequent two rounds with the effect weakening each time. We find no impact on the ability to influence. We investigate how influencing and being influenced impacts on a subsequent immediate attempt to influence and be influenced.We conduct an incentivised experiment to systematically measure the influence one person has on another in a decision task.Findings show that influence in Round i is positively related to influence in Round i+1.The effect last for two rounds, weakening each time, before it disappears.We found no impact on the ability to influence.

How user personality and social value orientation influence avatar-mediated friendship

Purpose n n n n nThe purpose of this paper is to study the influence of user personality and vlaues on the number of connections users make, the number of requests for connections that users give out, and the number of connections invitations users receive. n n n n nDesign/methodology/approach n n n n nThis is a field study of 179 participants interacting in a novel virtual world. The world’s server logs are used to capture sociometrics about the users and their interaction. n n n n nFindings n n n n nFindings suggest that personality and values influence the number of friends users make and the number of friendship requests users give out, but not the number of friendship invitations users receive. Only one personality trait – conscientiousness – exhibits homophily. n n n n nOriginality/value n n n n nPerosnality and social value orientation have rarely been studied together in information systems (IS) research, despite research showing the two have an impact on IS relevant constructs. The use of server logs for data capture is novel. Avatar friendship is an under-researched concept in IS.