Business Commons^™

Attention-Based Data Analytic Models For Traffic Flow Predictions, Kaushal Kumar, Yupeng Wei

Mineta Transportation Institute

Traffic congestion causes Americans to lose millions of hours and dollars each year. In fact, 1.9 billion gallons of fuel are wasted each year due to traffic congestion, and each hour stuck in traffic costs about $21 in wasted time and fuel. The traffic congestion can be caused by various factors, such as bottlenecks, traffic incidents, bad weather, work zones, poor traffic signal timing, and special events. One key step to addressing traffic congestion and identifying its root cause is an accurate prediction of traffic flow. Accurate traffic flow prediction is also important for the successful deployment of smart transportation …

Factors Affecting Web-Based Social Service Referral Technology Adoption In The Nonprofit Sector, Elizabeth A. Hutton

Master's Projects

Nonprofits play a significant role in providing social services that increase communities' overall well-being (Ressler et al., 2021; Reckhow et al., 2019; Smith & Phillips, 2016), and adopting new technologies helps promote these positive outcomes (Hackler & Saxton, 2007). However, with new technologies emerging at a pace few nonprofit organizations can keep up with, how do nonprofit leaders decide which technologies to adopt given their limited resources? This study seeks to understand what factors affect nonprofit leaders' technology adoption decision-making. Online referral platforms are not new in health or homeless organizations. Web-based coordinated social service referral tools are more recently …

Taking Advantage Of Institutional Weakness? Political Stability And Foreign Subsidiary Survival In Primary Industries, Nathaniel C. Lupton, Donya Behnam, Alfredo Jiménez

Faculty Publications

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the extent to which locating primary industry subsidiaries in politically unstable countries impacts their survival. The authors argue that foreign multinational enterprises in less stable political environments can shape policies that are impactful on the costs of operating in primary industries and avoid compliance with more stringent policies at home.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a sample of 753 primary sector investments of Japanese multinational enterprises during the period 1986 to 2013, the authors conduct a parametric survival analysis of the relationship between political stability and subsidiary survival.

Findings

Political instability has a slight, curvilinear relationship with …

Teaching Trade Secret Management With Threshold Concepts, Haakon Thue Lie, Leif Martin Hokstad, Donal O'Connell

Secrecy and Society

Trade secret management (TSM is an emerging field of research. Teaching trade secret management requires the inclusion of several challenging topics, such as how firms use secrets in open innovation and collaboration. The threshold concepts framework is an educational lens well suited for teaching subjects such as TSM that are transformative and troublesome. We identify four such areas in trade secret management and discuss how threshold concepts can be a useful framework for teaching. We then present an outline of a curriculum suited for master’s programs and training of intellectual property (IP) managers. Our main contribution is to fields of …

Language In Collaborative Spaces: Advantages And Barriers, Ludovica Leone, Cristina Guardiano, Monica Alexandrina Irimia, Elisa Mattarelli, Fabrizio Montanari

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

An indispensable desideratum in collaborative spaces is to foster dynamic, barrier-free environments where professionals from different backgrounds can find common ground for collaborative projects. However, although such goals cannot be met without proficient and effective communication, research on the use of language as the most important means of information exchange in collaborative spaces is still needed. Our contribution in this chapter consists in exploring the linguistic interactions among coworkers of such spaces. We propose a multidisciplinary approach integrating insights from the organizational literature on communication and research methods in theoretical linguistics. The sociolinguistic analysis of two coworking spaces reveals essential …

Prototypes As Identity Markers: The Double-Edged Role Of Prototypes In Multidisciplinary Innovation Teams, Clio Dosi, Elisa Mattarelli, Matteo Vignoli

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Prototypes play a powerful role in facilitating the work of multidisciplinary innovation teams, but if not properly managed, they may inhibit innovation processes. This paper inquires into the tensions that exist around the use of prototypes in multidisciplinary teams. We studied the relationship between work identities (related to teams and subgroups within teams) and prototypes with a field study of a multidisciplinary team in an emergency department, in charge of redesigning the layout of the unit. Results show that different values of subgroup identities are reflected in the solutions devised by the team. These values become salient through the prototype; …

How Perceptions Of Work-Life Balance And Technology Use Impact Upon Creativity In Collaborative Spaces, Carlotta Cochis, Elisa Mattarelli, Fabiola Bertolotti, Anna Chiara Scapolan, Fabrizio Montanari, Paula Ungureanu

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This paper unpacks creative processes in collaborative spaces (CS). We focus on how the positive resources related to wellbeing and work-life balance derived from working in CS interplay with the use of collaborative technology in affecting individual creativity. We conducted a survey study with individuals working in 27 different CS in Italy. We propose and find a positive relationship between the perceived level of work-life balance satisfaction and individual creativity. Instead we do not find a significant relationship between the frequency of technology mediated interactions with external actors and individual creativity. Furthermore, the relationship between work-life balance and creativity is …

Multiplex Boundary Work In Innovation Projects: The Role Of Collaborative Spaces For Cross-Functional And Open Innovation, Paula Ungureanu, Carlotta Cochis, Fabiola Bertolotti, Elisa Mattarelli, Anna Chiara Scapolan

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Purpose
This study investigates the role of collaborative spaces as organizational support for internal innovation through cross-functional teams and for open innovation with external stakeholders. In particular, the study focuses on collaborative spaces as tools for multiplex (i.e., simultaneous internal and external boundary management in innovation projects).

Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a qualitative study in a multi-divisional organization that set up in its headquarters a collaborative space for collaborative product development. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews and participant observations.

Findings
Findings highlight that the relation between expectations and experiences about the collaborative space impact on employees' ability to perform …

Price And Performance Trends For Cellular Trail Cameras Explained With A Time Trend, Google Keyword Trends, And A Use Case Of Suburban Deer Management, G. Webb

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Price and performance improvements for trail cameras, remote cameras designed for wildlife observation, havegiven wildlife researchers a widely accepted new tool. After their introduction in 2010, cellular trail cameras havebecome popular, saving travel time and reducing disturbance to wildlife. A use case of trail cameras for suburbandeer management illustrates desirable product features and risks of using citizen science for research. A time trendof camera prices identifies a common product price pattern for technology products, a decline following a logisticor inverted s-curve. Data from Google Keyword Trends captures the changing level of market interest correlatedwith high statistical significance compared to price …

Platforms As Entrepreneurial Incubators? How Online Labor Markets Shape Work Identity, Francesca Bellesia, Elisa Mattarelli, Fabiola Bertolotti, Maurizio Sobrero

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore how the process of work identity construction unfolds for gig workers experiencing unstable working relationships in online labor markets. In particular, it investigates how digital platforms, intended both as providers of technological features and online environments, affect this process.

Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted an exploratory field study and collected data from 46 interviews with freelancers working on one of the most popular online labor markets and from online documents such as public profiles, job applications and archival data.

Findings
The findings reveal that the online environment constrains the action of workers …

The Evolution Of Nintendo Company, Yaochen Wei

ART 108: Introduction to Games Studies

Through consistent innovation, investment in quality, research, and diversification, Nintendo managed to evolve from a playing card manufacturer to a world-leading video game company.

Opportunities And Challenges For Self-Monitoring Technologies For Healthy Aging: An In-Situ Study, Mirana Randriambelonoro, Yu Chen, Onur Yuruten, Pearl Pu

Faculty Publications, Information Systems & Technology

The current need to adopt a healthy lifestyle opens the way for researchers to investigate the efficiency of using technology to motivate a change towards such behavior. Senior people’s technology adoption barriers have been largely investigated in previous research but remain unclear to design efficient solution to promote behavior change in the long term. In this paper, we present the findings of an experiment with 20 older adults using pervasive sensors for 6 weeks at their homes. In particular, we present their attitudes for physical activities and self-monitoring technologies before and after the actual usage. We then discuss the opportunities …

Innovation Outcomes Of Knowledge-Seeking Chinese Foreign Direct Investment, Xianming Wu, Nathaniel C. Lupton, Yuping Du

Faculty Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigates how organizational learning, absorptive capacity, cultural integration, specialization of the acquired firm and characteristics of transferred knowledge impact innovation performance subsequent to overseas acquisitions.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey responses from 222 Chinese multinational enterprises engaged in overseas acquisitions.

Findings

Differences between acquiring and acquired firms’ capabilities, while having a positive direct influence, suppress the positive impact of organizational learning and absorptive capacity, suggesting that multinationals require some basic level of capabilities to appropriate value from overseas acquisitions.

Research limitations/implications

This paper investigates the impact of knowledge-seeking overseas acquisition of Chinese multinationals on innovation …

Towards A Framework Of The Process Of Open Innovation: Case Of Acclarent In The Medical Device Industry, Hua-Hsin Wan, Xiaohong Quan

Faculty Publications

Using a case study of Acclarent, a medical device company, this paper attempts to propose a framework to further illustrate the process of open innovation in the medical device industry. We examined five elements in the mechanism of the open innovation process. Our paper shows how the success of Acclarent — a medical device start-up — depends on effective management of the flow of knowledge to satisfy unmet needs, while integrating in-depth knowledge of FDA regulations and third-party payers' reimbursement policies into the product innovation process. Read More: http://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0219877014500321

Organizational Structure And Knowledge-Practice Diffusion In The Mnc, Nathaniel C. Lupton, Paul Beamish

Faculty Publications

Purpose

This study aims to examine the interaction of formal and informal cross-border knowledge-sharing practices of four large multinational corporations (MNCs) in aerospace, software, IT services and telecommunications industries. The goal was to determine the manner in which coordination and control mechanisms facilitated knowledge transfer.

Design/methodology/approach

Case studies comprised secondary data and semi-structured interviews with corporate headquarters and subsidiary managers in large MNCs conducted in the USA, Canada, Mexico, China, India and Eastern Europe.

Findings

The primary finding of this study is that knowledge transfer mechanisms arise as a result of both formal and informal structures of the MNC. Formal …

Designing Emotion Awareness Interface For Group Recommender Systems, Yu Chen, Pearl Pu

Faculty Publications, Information Systems & Technology

Group recommender systems help users to find items of interest collaboratively. Support for such collaboration has been mainly provided by interfaces that visualize membership awareness, preference awareness and decision awareness. In this paper, we are interested in investigating the roles of emotion awareness interfaces and how they may enable positive group influence. We first describe the design process behind an emotion annotation tool, which we call CoFeel. We then show that it allows users to annotate and visualize group members' emotions in GroupFun, a group music recommender.

Cofeel: Using Emotions For Social Interaction In Group Recommender Systems, Yu Chen, Pearl Pu

Faculty Publications, Information Systems & Technology

Group and social recommender systems aim to suggest items of interest to a group or a community of people. One important issue in such environment is to understand each individual’s preference and attitude within the group. Social and behavioral scientist have evidenced the role of emotions in group work and social communication. This paper aims to examine the role of emotion for social interaction in group recommenders. We implemented CoFeel, an interface that aims to provide emotional input in group recommenders. We further apply CoFeel in a GroupFun, a mobile group music recommender system. Results of an in-depth field study …

Emosonet: An Emotion-Aware Social Network For Emotional Wellbeing, Zerrin Yumak-Kasap, Yu Chen, Pearl Pu

Faculty Publications, Information Systems & Technology

This paper presents our initial ideas towards developing an emotion-aware social network for the purpose of increasing emotional wellbeing. The framework will use sensors and behavior analysis methods in order to infer users’ stress level automatically with minimal user effort and use audio, animation and vibro-tactile feedback for enhanced engagement. Additionally, we will explore the role of social support, social influence and gamification for sustained behavior change.

Intentions To Use Information Technologies: An Integrative Model, Ron Thompson, Deborah Compeau, Chris Higgins, Nathaniel C. Lupton

Faculty Publications

An integrative model explaining intentions to use an information technology is proposed. The primary objective is to obtain a clearer picture of how intentions are formed, and draws on previous research such as the technology acceptance model (Davis, Bagozzi, & Warshaw, 1989) and the decomposed theory of planned behavior (Taylor & Todd, 1995a). The conceptual model was tested using questionnaire responses from 189 subjects, measured at two time periods approximately two months apart. The results generally supported the hypothesized relationships, and revealed strong influences of both personal innovativeness and computer self-efficacy.