Zafer D. Ozdemir

Productivity and Performance Effects of Business Process Reengineering: A Firm-Level Analysis

We empirically investigate whether business process reengineering (BPR), which requires substantial investment in information technology to integrate separate tasks into complete cross-functional processes, is associated with enhanced firm productivity and performance. We analyze firm-level panel data covering the period 1987-2008 using fixed effects and first differencing, standard methods that account for unobservable firm-level effects. We find that return on assets drops significantly during the project initiation year. According to fixed effects results, the performance and productivity measures improve in a decreasing manner after project initiation, suggesting that BPR indeed positively affects firm performance on average. We also find that enterprise-wide BPR projects are associated with more negative returns during project initiation than functionally focused projects. However, there is no clear evidence regarding their superiority over functionally focused BPR projects in terms of performance improvements after project initiation, perhaps because grand projects are risky and sometimes lead to grand failures.

Adoption of Technology-Mediated Distance Education: A longitudinal analysis

We investigated the factors that facilitated the fast adoption and utilization of Technology-Mediated Distance Education (TMDE) among higher education institutions. Our analysis was based on a rich data set on the utilization of TMDE between the 1997-1998 and 2000-2001 academic years. The analysis showed that size, public/private status, and location significantly predicted its actual adoption. Being in an urban location negatively affected enrollment in the courses at the undergraduate but not at the graduate level. While the intent to adopt TMDE correlated significantly with actual adoption, many schools that were not interested in TMDE in 1997-1998 adopted it by 2000-2001. Interestingly, late adopters utilized certain technologies as frequently as early adopters, such as synchronous Internet-based instruction and the use of CD-ROMs.

On the staffing policy and technology investment in a specialty hospital offering telemedicine

We study a specialty hospital providing traditional face-to-face consultations by experts and telemedicine services by tele-specialists. As accuracy of diagnosis and treatment by tele-specialists are paramount in such a setting (unlike call center management), our main focus is to determine the optimal investment level in telemedicine technology with the trade off being between accuracy/quality and cost. Using a heuristic proposed in queuing theory, we provide the optimal investment in telemedicine technology together with the staffing policy, considering the various cost components, including staffing, technology investment, incorrect treatment, and waiting. The model also incorporates buy-in by the patients in the form of the arrival (show-up) rate dependent on the technology level established. We find that under certain conditions the hospital should not invest in telemedicine. Finally, we provide the optimal tele-specialist policy of the ratio of patients to treat via telemedicine and to refer to the face-to-face consultation. Our model also suggests that a policy of treating all patients via telemedicine is never optimal.

Donor-to-Nonprofit Online Marketplace: An Economic Analysis of the Effects on Fund-Raising

Online intermediaries have recently started offering database services to donors and certification services to nonprofit organizations through the Internet. We conceptualize a donor-to-nonprofit (D2N) marketplace as an online intermediary that offers these two services and examine its effect on fund-raising strategies of nonprofit organizations using an analytical model based on spatial competition under incomplete information with donor search. We characterize the signaling equilibria where certification of quality conveys information about organizational effectiveness in generating socially valuable services. Interestingly, the emergence of the D2N marketplace may lead to a drop in total net fund-raising revenues in the market, despite the fact that the intermediarys database service eliminates search costs for some donors. We also explain why such a marketplace may deliberately lower the accuracy of its certification process.

Optimal Multi-Channel Delivery of Expertise: An Economic Analysis

Consumers use the Internet to minimize uncertainty when making important health-related decisions. Physicians are interested in delivering their expertise on-line even if unable to physically examine patients. A game-theoretic model was used to study the optimal channel strategies of capacity-constrained experts who provide consultation services via a face-to-face and an on-line channel. A consumer seeking consultation service can be in either a good or a bad state, each of which entails symptoms the expert can observe. As shown by the model, an expert can charge a higher price on-line than face-to-face and still fi nd consumers willing to use the new service. If both channels are utilized, consumers who are more certain about their state are served on-line. The optimal price of an on-line consultation increases with the time required for the service. Experts need to consider several issues in pricing their services, but as the model shows, offering on-line consultations makes economic sense. Medical experts can use insights derived from the model to simultaneously manage face-to-face and on-line channels in sellingConsumers use the Internet to minimize uncertainty when making important health-related decisions. Physicians are interested in delivering their expertise on-line even if they are unable to physically examine patients. A game-theoretic model was used to study the optimal channel strategies of capacity-constrained experts who provide consultation services via a face-to-face and an on-line channel. A consumer seeking consultation service can be in either a good or a bad state, each of which entails symptoms the expert can observe. As shown by the model, an expert can charge a higher price on-line than face-to-face and still find consumers willing to use the new service. If both channels are utilized, consumers who are more certain about their state are served on-line. The optimal price of an on-line consultation increases with the time required for the service. Experts need to consider several issues in pricing their services, but as the model shows, offering on-line consultations makes economic sense. Medical experts can use insights derived from the model to simultaneously manage face-to-face and on-line channels in selling their expertise.

Information Systems and Health Care XII: Toward a Consumer-to-Healthcare Provider (C2H) Electronic Marketplace

Recent technological advances and the heightened expectations of e-health consumers are about to transform the U.S. health care industry. As consumers demand more online services, physicians respond by adopting information technology into their daily routines. In this paper, we first present recent developments within the telemedicine and e-health fields that necessitate the establishment of a consumer-to-healthcare provider (C2H) electronic marketplace. Next, we discuss the services this marketplace should offer to both consumers and physicians for it to thrive in this extensively regulated industry. Finally, we compare these services with those provided by what we call a “first-generation C2H marketplace,” a comparison that clearly outlines practical implications for the C2H marketplaces of the future.

Online Intermediary as a Channel for Selling Quality‐Differentiated Services

When deciding whether to utilize an online intermediary in addition to their own distribution channels, quality differentiated service providers face the trade-off between the benefit of extended reach and the threat of increased competition. Using an analytical framework, we analyze when and how service providers may utilize an online intermediary to their advantage in the presence of advance selling (i.e., selling a service at an early date for future consumption). In general, when an online intermediary is used, the competition effect dominates the reach effect and leads to a falling price trend. Interestingly, we find that the negative effect of increased competition on profits, due to intermediary usage, can be reversed by committing to self-imposed participation limits (i.e., selling only a predetermined amount of services through the online intermediary). This ensures that the service provider is better off selling through both its own site and the online intermediary, rather than selling exclusively using either channel.

An empirical test of an Antecedents – Privacy Concerns – Outcomes model

This study extends privacy concerns research by providing a test of a model inspired by the ‘Antecedents – Privacy Concerns – Outcomes’ (APCO) framework. Focusing at the individual level of analysis, the study examines the influences of privacy awareness (PA) and demographic variables (age, gender) on concern for information privacy (CFIP). It also considers CFIP’s relationship to privacy-protecting behaviours and incorporates trust and risk into the model. These relationships are tested in a specific, Facebook-related context. Results strongly support the overall model. PA and gender are important explanators for CFIP, which in turn explains privacy-protecting behaviours. We also find that perceived risk affects trust, which in turn affects behaviours in the studied context. The results yield several recommendations for future research as well as some implications for management.

Antecedents and outcomes of information privacy concerns in a peer context: An exploratory study

Academic studies typically view privacy threats as originating solely from organizations. With the rise of social media, such a view is incomplete because consumers increasingly face risks from peers’ misuse of data. In this paper, we study information privacy in the context of peer relationships on commercial social media sites. We develop a model that considers relationships between the constructs of privacy experiences, privacy awareness, trust, risk, and benefits and how those relationships impact individuals’ disclosure behaviors. We test the model by creating a survey that includes a number of measures that were taken directly from or were closely based on measures from prior studies. We conduct seven pilot tests of undergraduate students in order to validate the survey items. Working with the online survey firm Qualtrics, we gather a dataset of 314 Facebook users’ responses to our validated survey, and we test our model using partial least squares techniques. We find that both privacy experiences and privacy awareness are quite significant predictors of privacy concerns. We also find that trust, risk, benefits, and privacy concerns work together to explain a large amount (37%) of the variance in disclosure behaviors. We discuss implications for practice and for future research.

Using an Online Intermediary as an Additional Channel for Selling Quality Differentiated Services

When deciding whether to utilize an online intermediary in addition to their own distribution channels, quality differentiated service providers face the trade-off between the benefit of extended reach and the threat of increased competition. Using an analytical framework, we analyze when and how service providers may utilize an online intermediary to their advantage in the presence of advance selling (i.e., selling a service at an early date for future consumption). In general, when an online intermediary is used, the competition effect dominates over the reach effect and leads to a falling price over time, which is in line with our empirical observations from the hotel industry. Interestingly, we find that the negative effect of increased competition on profits, due to intermediary usage, can be reversed by committing to self-imposed participation limits (i.e., selling only a predetermined amount of services through the online intermediary). This ensures that the service provider is better off selling through both its own site and the online intermediary, rather than selling exclusively using either channel.