TY - JOUR A1 - Andres, Maximilian A1 - Bruttel, Lisa A1 - Friedrichsen, Jana T1 - How communication makes the difference between a cartel and tacit collusion BT - a machine learning approach JF - European economic review N2 - This paper sheds new light on the role of communication for cartel formation. Using machine learning to evaluate free-form chat communication among firms in a laboratory experiment, we identify typical communication patterns for both explicit cartel formation and indirect attempts to collude tacitly. We document that firms are less likely to communicate explicitly about price fixing and more likely to use indirect messages when sanctioning institutions are present. This effect of sanctions on communication reinforces the direct cartel-deterring effect of sanctions as collusion is more difficult to reach and sustain without an explicit agreement. Indirect messages have no, or even a negative, effect on prices. KW - cartel KW - collusion KW - communication KW - machine learning KW - experiment Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2022.104331 SN - 0014-2921 SN - 1873-572X VL - 152 SP - 1 EP - 18 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Andres, Maximilian A1 - Bruttel, Lisa A1 - Friedrichsen, Jana T1 - The leniency rule revisited BT - experiments on cartel formation with open communication JF - International journal of industrial organization N2 - The experimental literature on antitrust enforcement provides robust evidence that communication plays an important role for the formation and stability of cartels. We extend these studies through a design that distinguishes between innocuous communication and communication about a cartel, sanctioning only the latter. To this aim, we introduce a participant in the role of the competition authority, who is properly incentivized to judge the communication content and price setting behavior of the firms. Using this novel design, we revisit the question whether a leniency rule successfully destabilizes cartels. In contrast to existing experimental studies, we find that a leniency rule does not affect cartelization. We discuss potential explanations for this contrasting result. KW - cartel KW - judgment of communication KW - corporate leniency program KW - price competition KW - experiment Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijindorg.2021.102728 SN - 0167-7187 VL - 76 PB - Elsevier CY - Amsterdam ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Meythaler, Antonia A1 - Krause, Hannes-Vincent A1 - Baumann, Annika A1 - Krasnova, Hanna A1 - Thatcher, Jason Bennett T1 - The rise of metric-based digital status BT - an empirical investigation into the role of status perceptions in envy on social networking sites JF - European Journal of Information Systems N2 - Widespread on social networking sites (SNSs), envy has been linked to an array of detrimental outcomes for users’ well-being. While envy has been considered a status-related emotion and is likely to be experienced in response to perceiving another’s higher status, there is a lack of research exploring how status perceptions influence the emergence of envy on SNSs. This is important because SNSs typically quantify social interactions and reach with metrics that indicate users’ relative rank and status in the network. To understand how status perceptions impact SNS users, we introduce a new form of metric-based digital status rooted in SNS metrics that are available and visible on a platform. Drawing on social comparison theory and status literature, we conducted an online experiment to investigate how different forms of status contribute to the proliferation of envy on SNSs. Our findings shed light on how metric-based digital status influences feelings of envy on SNSs. Specifically, we could show that metric-based digital status impacts envy through increasing perceptions of others’ socioeconomic and sociometric statuses. Our study contributes to the growing discourse on the negative outcomes associated with SNS use and its consequences for users and society. KW - social networking sites KW - metric-based digital status KW - social comparisons KW - social status KW - envy KW - experiment Y1 - 2023 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1080/0960085X.2023.2290707 SN - 0960-085X SN - 1476-9344 SP - 1 EP - 28 PB - Taylor and Francis CY - London ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Ziemann, Niklas T1 - How do people discount over spatial distance? JF - German economic review N2 - This paper studies how individuals discount the utility they derive from their provision of goods over spatial distance. In a controlled laboratory experiment in Germany, we elicit preferences for the provision of the same good at different locations. To isolate spatial preferences from any other direct value of the goods being close to the individual, we focus on goods with “existence value.” We find that individuals put special weight on the provision of these goods in their immediate vicinity. This “vicinity bias” represents a spatial analogy to the “present bias” in the time dimension. KW - spatial discounting KW - existence value KW - charitable giving KW - experiment Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1515/ger-2021-0106 SN - 1465-6485 SN - 1468-0475 VL - 24 IS - 1 SP - 33 EP - 67 PB - De Gruyter CY - Berlin ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Güth, Werner A1 - Nithammer, Juri A1 - Orland, Andreas T1 - Inefficient cooperation under stochastic and strategic uncertainty JF - Conflict resolution N2 - Stochastic uncertainty can cause coordination problems that may hinder mutually beneficial cooperation. We propose a mechanism of ex-post voluntary transfers designed to circumvent these coordination problems and ask whether it can increase efficiency. To test this transfer mechanism, we implement a controlled laboratory experiment based on a repeated Ultimatum Game with a stochastic endowment. Contrary to our hypothesis, we find that allowing voluntary transfers does not lead to an efficiency increase. We suggest and analyze two major reasons for this failure: first, stochastic uncertainty forces proposers intending to cooperate to accept high strategic uncertainty, which many proposers avoid; second, many responders behave only incompletely conditionally cooperatively, which hinders cooperation in future periods. KW - stochastic uncertainty KW - strategic uncertainty KW - cooperation KW - Ultimatum KW - Game KW - experiment Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/00220027211066614 SN - 0022-0027 SN - 1552-8766 VL - 66 IS - 4-5 SP - 755 EP - 782 PB - Sage Publ. CY - Thousand Oaks ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Halbrügge, Lena A1 - Banerji, Amitabh A1 - Meerholz, Klaus T1 - Hallo Zukunft! BT - gedruckte Elektronik als Hands-on-Experiment für die Lehre in den Naturwissenschaften an (Hoch-)Schulen JF - Chemie konkret : CHEMKON ; Forum für Unterricht und Didaktik N2 - Gedruckte Elektronik ist nicht nur ein aufstrebendes Forschungsfeld, sie wird in naher Zukunft auch eine wesentliche Rolle in unserem Alltag spielen. Gedruckte, elektronische Bauteile können sehr dünn und flexibel sein und somit vielfältig eingesetzt werden. Für die Implementation in der (Hoch-)Schule haben die Autoren eine flexible, lichtemittierende Folie entwickelt, die mit einfachen Materialien und Methoden manuell gedruckt werden kann. N2 - Printed electronics is an emerging research field and is going to play a vital role in our everyday-life in the near future. Printed electronic devices can be very thin and flexible, which makes them feasible for various applications. For the implementation in High Schools and Universities the authors developed a flexible, light emitting foil, which can be printed manually using simple materials and methods. T2 - Hello future! Printed electronics as a hands-on-experiment for teaching science in high schools and universities KW - curriculum innovation KW - experiment KW - electroluminescence KW - semiconductor KW - curriculare Innovation KW - Experiment KW - Elektrolumineszenz KW - Halbleiter Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1002/ckon.202200030 SN - 0944-5846 SN - 1521-3730 VL - 29 IS - 51 SP - 355 EP - 361 PB - Wiley-VCH CY - Weinheim ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Krause, Hannes-Vincent A1 - Große Deters, Fenne A1 - Baumann, Annika A1 - Krasnova, Hanna T1 - Active social media use and its impact on well-being BT - an experimental study on the effects of posting pictures on Instagram JF - Journal of computer-mediated communication : a journal of the International Communication Association N2 - Active use of social networking sites (SNSs) has long been assumed to benefit users' well-being. However, this established hypothesis is increasingly being challenged, with scholars criticizing its lack of empirical support and the imprecise conceptualization of active use. Nevertheless, with considerable heterogeneity among existing studies on the hypothesis and causal evidence still limited, a final verdict on its robustness is still pending. To contribute to this ongoing debate, we conducted a week-long randomized control trial with N = 381 adult Instagram users recruited via Prolific. Specifically, we tested how active SNS use, operationalized as picture postings on Instagram, affects different dimensions of well-being. The results depicted a positive effect on users' positive affect but null findings for other well-being outcomes. The findings broadly align with the recent criticism against the active use hypothesis and support the call for a more nuanced view on the impact of SNSs.
Lay Summary Active use of social networking sites (SNSs) has long been assumed to benefit users' well-being. However, this established assumption is increasingly being challenged, with scholars criticizing its lack of empirical support and the imprecise conceptualization of active use. Nevertheless, with great diversity among conducted studies on the hypothesis and a lack of causal evidence, a final verdict on its viability is still pending. To contribute to this ongoing debate, we conducted a week-long experimental investigation with 381 adult Instagram users. Specifically, we tested how posting pictures on Instagram affects different aspects of well-being. The results of this study depicted a positive effect of posting Instagram pictures on users' experienced positive emotions but no effects on other aspects of well-being. The findings broadly align with the recent criticism against the active use hypothesis and support the call for a more nuanced view on the impact of SNSs on users. KW - social networking sites KW - social media KW - Instagram KW - well-being KW - experiment KW - randomized control trial Y1 - 2022 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmac037 SN - 1083-6101 VL - 28 IS - 1 PB - Oxford Univ. Press CY - Oxford ER - TY - CHAP A1 - Grum, Marcus A1 - Gronau, Norbert ED - Shishkov, Boris T1 - Quantification of knowledge transfers BT - the design of an experiment setting for the examination of knowledge transfers T2 - Business modeling and software design : 11th International Symposium, BMSD 2021, Sofia, Bulgaria, July 5–7, 2021, Proceedings N2 - Faced with the triad of time-cost-quality, the realization of knowledge-intensive tasks at economic conditions is not trivial. Since the number of knowledge-intensive processes is increasing more and more nowadays, the efficient design of knowledge transfers at business processes as well as the target-oriented improvement of them is essential, so that process outcomes satisfy high quality criteria and economic requirements. This particularly challenges knowledge management, aiming for the assignment of ideal manifestations of influence factors on knowledge transfers to a certain task. Faced with first attempts of knowledge transfer-based process improvements [1], this paper continues research about the quantitative examination of knowledge transfers and presents a ready-to-go experiment design that is able to examine quality of knowledge transfers empirically and is suitable to examine knowledge transfers on a quantitative level. Its use is proven by the example of four influence factors, which namely are stickiness, complexity, competence and time pressure. KW - knowledge management KW - knowledge transfer KW - conversion KW - empirical examination KW - experiment Y1 - 2021 SN - 978-3-030-79975-5 SN - 978-3-030-79976-2 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79976-2_13 VL - 422 SP - 224 EP - 242 PB - Springer International Publishing CY - Cham ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bruttel, Lisa Verena A1 - Stolley, Florian T1 - Getting a yes BT - an experiment on the power of asking JF - Journal of behavioral and experimental economics N2 - This paper studies how the request for a favor has to be devised in order to maximize its chance of success. We present results from a mini-dictator game, in which the recipient can send a free-form text message to the dictator before the latter decides. We find that putting effort into the message, writing in a humorous way and mentioning reasons why the money is needed pays off. Additionally, we find differences in the behavior of male and female dictators. Only men react positively to efficiency arguments, while only women react to messages that emphasize the dictators power and responsibility. KW - dictator game KW - communication KW - inequality KW - text analysis KW - experiment Y1 - 2020 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socec.2020.101550 SN - 2214-8043 VL - 86 PB - Elsevier CY - New York ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Fischer, Caroline T1 - Incentives can’t buy me knowledge BT - the missing effects of appreciation and aligned performance appraisals on knowledge sharing of public employees JF - Review of public personnel administration N2 - This study examines whether incentives affect public employees' intention to share knowledge. Tested incentives satisfy needs for either achievement or appreciation. Both treatments were tested on implicit as well as explicit knowledge sharing. A 2 x 3 factorial survey experiment was designed to observe within-person and between-person effects. Data were collected from public employees in the core administration and healthcare sector (n = 623) in 2018. The analysis indicates that both treatments positively affect knowledge-sharing intention if it is explicit knowledge that ought to be shared. However, no effects of either treatment can be found in either type of knowledge sharing. No negative effect of the tested incentives on knowledge sharing was observed. Hence, incentives might not harm knowledge sharing but also do not pay off in organizational practice. In contrast to these motivation-enhancing human resource practices, ability and opportunity-enhancing practices should be tested to foster knowledge sharing. KW - knowledge sharing KW - knowledge management KW - work behavior KW - rewards KW - survey KW - experiment Y1 - 2021 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1177/0734371X20986839 SN - 0734-371X SN - 1552-759X VL - 42 IS - 2 SP - 368 EP - 389 PB - Sage CY - London ER -