P2P lending and Natural Disasters: Is Altruistic Behavior conditional?

2023 | International Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Agrawal, Lavlin; Sharman, Raj; Tiu, Christian; Joenväärä, Juha

Abstract: In the aftermath of natural disasters, borrowers seeking credit from traditiona ... Expand

Abstract: In the aftermath of natural disasters, borrowers seeking credit from traditional sources, such as banks, may encounter higher interest rates than in pre-disaster periods. We examine the lending behavior of peer-topeer (P2P) platforms in the wake of disasters. Since P2P platforms involve individual investors in making lending decisions, they accommodate both profit motives and empathetic responses. Empirical evidence from psychology suggests that empathy can lead to prosocial behavior. Consistent with this assertion, we find that loans affected by natural disasters have lower interest rates than comparable loans not issued in the wake of disasters. Our study finds that lenders are involved in a prosocial behavior and are ready to give away some part of their interest income to help the communities in need. Collapse

Topics: crowdsourcing natural hazard peer-to-peer lending peer-to-peer model LendingClub

Methods: instrumental variables estimation experimental group sensitivity analysis ordinary least square robustness check

Collateral Damage: The Relationship Between High-Salience Events and Variation in Racial Discrimination

2023 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Gorbatai, Andreea; Younkin, Peter; Burtch, Gordon

Abstract: To what extent are individual or organizational biases affected by racially sali ... Expand

Abstract: To what extent are individual or organizational biases affected by racially salient events? We propose that acts of discrimination and the individual biases that undergird them are sensitive to high-salience events and will oscillate with the salience of the focal attribute. In short, that the propensity to discriminate reflects both individual and environmental differences, and therefore a given person may become more prone to discriminate in the aftermath of a high-salience event. We test our hypothesis in three online experiments that examine how varying the salience of race affects the evaluation of in-group or out-group founders. We find that respondents evaluate their in-group members more favorably, and out-group members less favorably, when exposed to a high-salience event, which translates into a significant disadvantage for the minority (African American) group. We complement these studies with an assessment of how police shootings affect fundraising outcomes on Kickstarter to confirm the external validity of our findings. Together, these studies indicate that racially salient events depress the quality evaluations and success odds of African American entrepreneurs relative to others. Hence, discrimination levels can be affected by salient yet unrelated events, and such events are consequential for the economic fortunes of individuals belonging to minority and disadvantaged groups.History: This paper has been accepted for the Organization Science Special Issue on Experiments in Organizational Theory.Supplemental Material: The online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2021.1527. Collapse

Topics: crowdfunding crowdsourcing website criminality application programming interface

Methods: experiment parametric test statistical hypothesis test survey facial recognition system

Institutional Investor Activism and Employee Safety: The Role of Activist and Board Political Ideology

2022 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Shi, Wei; Xia, Chongwu; Meyer-Doyle, Philipp

Abstract: Although prior research on shareholder activism has highlighted how such activis ... Expand

Abstract: Although prior research on shareholder activism has highlighted how such activism can economically benefit the shareholders of targeted firms, recent studies also suggest that shareholder activism can economically disadvantage nonshareholder stakeholders, notably employees. Our study extends this research by exploring whether shareholder activism by institutional investors (i.e., institutional investor activism) can adversely affect employee health and safety through increased workplace injury and illness. Furthermore, deviating from the assumption that financially motivated institutional investor activists are homogeneous in their goals and preferences, we investigate whether the influence of institutional investor activism on employee health and safety hinges on the political ideology of the shareholder activist and of the board of the targeted firm. Using establishment-level data, we find that institutional investor activism adversely influences workplace injury and illness at targeted firms and that this influence is stronger for nonliberal shareholder activists and for firms with a nonliberal board. Our study contributes to shareholder activism research by highlighting how the political ideology of shareholder activists and boards affects the impact of shareholder activism on stakeholders and how shareholder activism can adversely affect the health and safety of employees. Furthermore, our paper also contributes to research on workplace safety and the management of employee relations and human capital resources by highlighting the detrimental effect of a firm’s ownership by investor activists on its employees and how the board’s political ideology may enable a firm to reduce this risk. Supplemental Material: The online appendices are available at https://doi.org/10.1287/orsc.2021.1542. Collapse

Topics: database system human resource management financial performance natural hazard anonymity

Methods: chi squared test robustness check statistical hypothesis test descriptive statistic Compustat

Influence of content and creator characteristics on sharing disaster-related information on social media

2021 | Information & Management | Citations: 0

Authors: Li, Lifang; Tian, Jun; Zhang, Qingpeng; Zhou, Jiaqi

Abstract: Identifying the key factors of the disaster-related information propagation proc ... Expand

Abstract: Identifying the key factors of the disaster-related information propagation process can provide decision support for disaster management. This study characterizes the effects of content types, location, and social capital of social media users on the virality of disaster-related information. We found through the Weibo dataset of the Yiliang earthquake that the virality of different types of information can vary on the basis of the social capital of users who post the information. This study fills the current research gaps by examining the individual and joint effects of the content and creator characteristics on the virality of disaster-related information. Collapse

Topics: social capital social media earthquake situational awareness emergency management

Methods: regression analysis method descriptive statistic multiple linear regression Poisson regression statistical hypothesis test

Theories: situation awareness theory construal level theory social capital theory

Dared to Care: Organizational Vulnerability, Institutional Logics, and MNCs’ Social Responsiveness in Emerging Markets

2013 | Organization Science | Citations: 0

Authors: Zhang, Jianjun; Luo, Xiaowei Rose

Abstract: A significant gap exists in our understanding of what explains the varying respo ... Expand

Abstract: A significant gap exists in our understanding of what explains the varying responses of multinational corporations (MNCs) to social issues in emerging markets. Arguably, in a setting where both market institutions and regulations and norms of corporate social responsibility are underdeveloped, it is more difficult for corporations to take actions beyond those that serve their immediate economic interests. Proposing a social movement perspective on MNCs’ responsiveness to social issues in emerging markets, we identify the mechanisms by which online activists grab firms’ attention and force them to become more socially responsive. A perception of organizational vulnerability and a home-country institutional logic that is consistent with the demands of the online campaign provide political opportunity structures that hasten the corporate response but affect the magnitude of firm response differently. We test our framework in the empirical context of corporate philanthropic action following the 2008 earthquake in Sichuan province in China, which triggered an online campaign that questioned MNCs’ donations to the disaster relief effort. Our study contributes to the literature on heterogeneous organizational responses to social movements, a better understanding of the antecedents for MNCs’ social responsiveness in emerging markets, and research on MNCs. Collapse

Topics: earthquake database system internet technology Google+ website

Methods: propensity score method survival analysis company material descriptive statistic machine learning

Influence, Information Technology & Group Polarization: A Field Study of a Virtual Team

2011 | International Conference on Information Systems | Citations: 0

Authors: Peng, Chih-Hung; Slaughter, Sandra

Abstract: This study examines influence and IT in group polarization. Group polarization i ... Expand

Abstract: This study examines influence and IT in group polarization. Group polarization is the tendency of group members to shift their initial positions to a more extreme direction following discussion. We hypothesize that informational influence is relatively more important than normative influence in causing group members to shift their positions and that IT can be used to enhance the effects of informational influence. Our investigation of group processes, influence and IT use by a virtual team responsible for forecasting ozone levels reveals several important findings. First, we find the heterogeneity of pre-discussion individual decisions and greater task uncertainty increase group polarization through a greater relative use of informational influence. Second, surprisingly, we find that the relative use of informational influence and the use of IT for persuasion are substitutive not complementary in their effects on group polarization. These findings have significant theoretical and practical implications for decision making in virtual teams. Collapse

Topics: task uncertainty virtual teamwork information system use natural hazard decision making

Methods: longitudinal research autocorrelation analysis field study regression analysis method group interview