Caught in an Expectations Trap: Risks of Giving Securities Analysts What They Expect

2023 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Bascle, Guilhem; Jung, Jiwook

Abstract: Although recent research shows that there is mounting pressure on firms to achie ... Expand

Abstract: Although recent research shows that there is mounting pressure on firms to achieve earnings expectations of securities analysts, firms are far from being passive conformers; many firms proactively manage such pressure, particularly with earnings management tools. Yet why does the pressure to meet analyst expectations persist despite firms’ efforts to reduce it? To address the question, we develop an intertemporal model of the mutually reinforcing relationships between analyst expectations and firms’ strategic response, combining the behavioral theory of the firm and the concept of expectations trap. We argue that firms’ efforts to meet analyst expectations strengthen their salience as a predominant performance benchmark and, in doing so, ironically put them under greater pressure from analysts in three sequentially related steps—escalating future earnings expectations, imposing more severe penalties for failure to meet heightened expectations, and generating compensatory action for missed expectations. Our analysis, using data on more than 700 of the largest listed U.S. firms between 1986 and 2015, supports our arguments. Our study expands the scope of the behavioral theory of the firm, by demonstrating the increasing importance of performance feedback based on analyst expectations. Our study also contributes to the research on earnings pressure, by illuminating why the pressure persists despite firms’ efforts to reduce or evade it, and finally to the literature on strategic management of external expectations, by elaborating its unintended, long-term consequences. Supplemental Material: The e-companion is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2021.1569. Collapse

Topics: strategic management organizational productivity Generally Accepted Accounting Principles IS downsizing accounting

Methods: longitudinal research statistical hypothesis test Compustat descriptive statistic robustness check

Theories: behavioral theory of the firm institutional theory

Users' Willingness to Provide Information Requirements for Systems Development: An Integrated Model and Empirical Investigation

2022 | ACM SIGMIS Database | Citations: 0

Authors: Appan, Radha; Browne, Glenn J.; Madhavaram, Sreedhar

Abstract: Eliciting information requirements from users is critical to timely and successf ... Expand

Abstract: Eliciting information requirements from users is critical to timely and successful development of information systems. Despite its importance, however, users may not always be willing to cooperate during the requirements gathering process because sharing the required information may be perceived by them as detrimental to their self-interests. In the present research we investigate users' willingness to provide requirements using the Theory of Planned Behavior, ethics, and anticipated regret. We develop and test a model that draws from these three theories. Data were collected from a sample of 130 respondents and analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Results support our hypotheses that behavioral considerations, ethical considerations, and anticipated regret influence users' willingness to provide information requirements. We discuss theoretical and practical contributions of our findings and implications for future research. Collapse

Topics: behavioral intention perceived usefulness systems development requirements analysis system development method

Methods: survey theoretical contribution regression analysis method statistical hypothesis test experiment

Theories: technology acceptance model regret theory theory of planned behavior

Improving debt collection via contact center information: A predictive analytics framework

2022 | Decision Support Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Sánchez, Catalina; Maldonado, Sebastián; Vairetti, Carla

Abstract: Debt collection is a very important business application of predictive analytics ... Expand

Abstract: Debt collection is a very important business application of predictive analytics. This task consists of foreseeing repayment chances of late payers. In this sense, contact centers have a central role in debt collection since it improves profitability by turning monetary losses into a direct benefit to banks and other financial institutions. In this paper, we study the influence of contact center variables in predictive models for debt collection, which are combined with the financial information of late payers. We explore five different variants of three predictive analytics tasks: (1) the probability of successfully contacting a late payer, (2) the probability of achieving a contact that results in a promise to pay a debt, and (3) the probability that a defaulter repays his/her arrears. Four research questions are developed in the context of debt collection analytics and empirically discussed using data from a Chilean financial institution. Our results show the positive impact of the combination of the two data sources in terms of predictive performance, confirming that valuable information on late payers can be collected from contact centers. Collapse

Topics: decision making data integration analytical information system explainable artificial intelligence shapley additive explanation

Methods: machine learning decision tree classification case study feature engineering literature study

Optimal Employee Recruitment in Organizations under Attribute-Based Access Control

2021 | ACM Transactions on Management Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Roy, Arindam; Sural, Shamik; Majumdar, Arun Kumar; Vaidya, Jaideep; Atluri, Vijayalakshmi

Abstract: For any successful business endeavor, recruitment of a required number of approp ... Expand

Abstract: For any successful business endeavor, recruitment of a required number of appropriately qualified employees in proper positions is a key requirement. For effective utilization of human resources, reorganization of such workforce assignment is also a task of utmost importance. This includes situations when the under-performing employees have to be substituted with fresh applicants. Generally, the number of candidates applying for a position is large, and hence, the task of identifying an optimal subset becomes critical. Moreover, a human resource manager would also like to make use of the opportunity of retirement of employees to improve manpower utilization. However, the constraints enforced by the security policies prohibit any arbitrary assignment of tasks to employees. Further, the new employees should have the capabilities required to handle the assigned tasks. In this article, we formalize this problem as the Optimal Recruitment Problem (ORP), wherein the goal is to select the minimum number of fresh employees from a set of candidates to fill the vacant positions created by the outgoing employees, while ensuring satisfiability of the specified security conditions. The model used for specification of authorization policies and constraints is Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC), since it is considered to be the de facto next-generation framework for handling organizational security policies. We show that the ORP problem is NP-hard and propose a greedy heuristic for solving it. Extensive experimental evaluation shows both the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed solution. Collapse

Topics: access control Linux human resource management IS downsizing Python

Methods: computational algorithm optimization model

Information technologies and downsizing: Examining their impact on economic performance

2019 | Information & Management | Citations: 0

Authors: Céspedes-Lorente, José J.; Magán-Díaz, Amalia; Martínez-Ros, Ester

Abstract: Recent literature analyses the economic effects of employee downsizing on organi ... Expand

Abstract: Recent literature analyses the economic effects of employee downsizing on organizations under a contingent framework. Information technology (IT) can be considered a relevant factor for organizations that downsize. IT could enhance knowledge management, innovation management and organizational learning. Given the damage produced by downsizing on these organizational capabilities, the aim of this research is to study the moderating role of the implementation level of IT in the relationship between downsizing and organizational economic performance. Analyzing Spanish chemical industry, our results show that this negative effect can be mitigated by IT implementation. Collapse

Topics: IS downsizing information system use human resource management organizational productivity enterprise resource planning

Methods: statistical hypothesis test survey company material self reported survey ordinary least square

A study of information systems issues, practices, and leadership in Europe

2019 | European Journal of Information Systems | Citations: 25

Authors: Kappelman, Leon; Johnson, Vess; Torres, Russell; Maurer, Chris; McLean, Ephraim

Abstract: In the summer of 2017, an online survey was administered to European IT executiv ... Expand

Abstract: In the summer of 2017, an online survey was administered to European IT executives, asking them about their concerns, spending, investments, cloud usage, security, workforce, reporting relationships, and other issues of importance. A total of 276 organisations responded. Their topfive most important IT management concerns were: Alignment, Digital Transformation, Cybersecurity, Cost, and Business Agility. Similarly, their top-five largest IT investments were: Analytics, Software Development, Cloud, Cybersecurity, and ERP. Collapse

Topics: IT workforce Chief Information Officer cloud computing IT investment IT manager

Methods: survey

Storm Clouds on the Horizon? New Entry Threats and R&D Investments in the U.S. IT Industry

2019 | Information Systems Research | Citations: 0

Authors: Pan, Yang; Huang, Peng; Gopal, Anandasivam

Abstract: The threats of new entry by startups in the fast-moving information technology ( ... Expand

Abstract: The threats of new entry by startups in the fast-moving information technology (IT) industry have important implications for firm decision making. Although analytical work on the strategic responses to new entry threats (NETs) through preemptive research and development (R&D) has produced contradictory predictions, empirical analysis of this relationship is limited, largely because of the absence of a reasonable measure. In this work, we make two contributions. First, we develop and validate a measure of these threats through text mining using product descriptions provided by incumbent firm 10-K filings and business descriptions provided by startups. This novel measure of NET differs significantly from observed entry and competition. Second, we study the R&D investment strategies of IT firms facing new entry threats. Using a sample of U.S. IT firms over the period 1997–2013, we show that incumbents on average reduce R&D spending when there are greater threats from the startup space. More importantly, we show that the effect is not uniform—firms that operate in industries with strong network effects or high levels of technological cumulativeness invest relatively more in R&D when they face greater NET. Our work adds to the literature on the relationship between product market threats and firm decision making by expanding the scope of this line of work to include the role of threats of new entry—a central construct in the field of strategy and industrial organization—and by highlighting conditions that influence the effectiveness of preemptive R&D investments as a response to NET in the IT industry. Collapse

Topics: research and development network effect innovation management database system decision making

Methods: longitudinal research data modeling natural language processing Compustat descriptive statistic

Prediction of Propensity for Enterprise Cloud Computing Adoption

2017 | HICSS | Citations: 0

Authors: Kyriakou, Niki; Maragoudakis, Manolis; Loukis, Euripidis; Themistocleous, Marinos

Abstract: Cloud computing (CC) can offer significant benefits to enterprises. However, it ... Expand

Abstract: Cloud computing (CC) can offer significant benefits to enterprises. However, it can pose some risks as well, and this has led to lower adoption than the initial expectations. For this reason, it would be very useful to develop ‘predictive analytics’ in this area, enabling us to predict which enterprises will exhibit a propensity for CC adoption. In this direction, we investigate the use of six well-established classifiers (fast large margin Support Vector Machine, Naive Bayes, Decision Tree, Random Forest, k-Nearest Neighbor, and Linear Regression) for the prediction of enterprise level propensity for CC adoption. Having as our theoretical foundation the Technology – Organization –Environment (TOE) framework, we are using for this prediction of set of technological (concerning existing enterprise information systems), organizational and environmental characteristics. Our first results, using a dataset collected from 676 manufacturing firms of the glass, ceramic and cement sectors from six European countries (Germany, France, Italy, Poland, Spain, and UK) through the e-Business W@tch Survey of the European Commission, are encouraging. It is concluded that among the examined characteristics the technological ones, concerning the existing enterprise systems, seem to be the most important predictors. Collapse

Topics: electronic business enterprise information system IT workforce mobile system data warehouse

Methods: machine learning random forest classification decision tree classification linear regression analysis k-nearest neighbor

Theories: theory of everything

Interactions on Government Facebook Pages: An Empirical Analysis

2016 | International Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Alam, Sultana Lubna

Abstract: There is a growing body of research on government use of Facebook (FB) and citiz ... Expand

Abstract: There is a growing body of research on government use of Facebook (FB) and citizen engagement; however there is a paucity of empirical research that identify the extent of agency and audience engagement on government FB pages. Little is known if different types of agencies engage differently in FB. Based on a large-scale world-first empirical analysis of over 145 federal government FB pages, this article presents insights on online participation in terms of government posts and citizen interactions observed over three years (2013-2016) across different types of agencies (i.e. operational, policy, regulatory and specialist). Preliminary findings show convincing agency and audience engagement on FB pages as a platform for sharing and communicating. However there are differences among the agencies in terms of audience and agency engagement relative to post activity and interactions. The findings have implications for federal government agencies, both from benchmarking and capability building perspectives. Collapse

Topics: application programming interface marketing management Facebook social media social network

Methods: usage data machine learning

On the Longitudinal Effects of IT Use on Firm-Level Employment

2016 | Information Systems Research | Citations: 0

Authors: Atasoy, Hilal; Banker, Rajiv D.; Pavlou, Paul A.

Abstract: The effect of information technology (IT) on employment is a crucial question in ... Expand

Abstract: The effect of information technology (IT) on employment is a crucial question in today’s economy given the increased digitization of work. To analyze the relationship between IT use and firm-level employment, we examine the longitudinal role of IT use in the firm’s total number of employees. Our data set comes from the emerging economy of Turkey, and it represents firms of different sizes and industries. The data capture the firm’s use of enterprise applications, such as enterprise resource planning and customer relationship management, and the use of Web applications, such as e-banking and e-government. Our empirical specifications exploit both within-firm and between-firm variations to show the positive effect of IT use on firm-level employment, which varies across IT applications over time. Interestingly, we find that the effects of the use of enterprise applications materialize after two years, whereas the effects of the use of Web applications are realized in the current year. We also examine whether the role of IT use in firm-level employment are moderated by firm size, average wage rate, and industry technology intensity. The long-term effects of the use of enterprise applications on firm-level employment are more pronounced in larger firms, with higher average wages, and in high-technology industries. The results are robust to alternative specifications and tests that address causality and endogeneity concerns. Implications for research, practice, and public policy are discussed. Collapse

Topics: information system use enterprise information system web application global navigation satellite system enterprise resource planning

Methods: survey longitudinal research data transformation principal component analysis robustness check