What makes a productive Ph.D. student?

This paper investigates how the social environment to which a Ph.D. student is exposed during her training relates to her scientific productivity. We investigate how supervisor and peers' characteristics are associated with the student's publication quantity, quality, and co-authorship network size. Unique to our study, we cover the entire Ph.D. student population of a European country for all the STEM fields analyzing 77,143 students who graduated in France between 2000 and 2014. We find that having a productive, mid-career, low-experienced, female supervisor who benefits from a national grant is positively associated with the student's productivity. Furthermore, we find that having few productive freshman peers and at least one female peer is positively associated with the student's productivity. Interestingly, we find heterogeneity in our results when breaking down the student population by field of research.     

What makes a review a reliable rating in recommender systems?

The way that users provide feedback on items regarding their satisfaction varies among systems: in some systems, only explicit ratings can be entered; in other systems textual reviews are accepted; and in some systems, both feedback types are accommodated. Recommender systems can readily exploit explicit ratings in the rating prediction and recommendation formulation process, however textual reviews -which in the context of many social networks are in abundance and significantly outnumber numeric ratings- need to be converted to numeric ratings. While numerous approaches exist that calculate a user's rating based on the respective textual review, all such approaches may introduce errors, in the sense that the process of rating calculation based on textual reviews involves an uncertainty level, due to the characteristics of the human language, and therefore the calculated ratings may not accurately reflect the actual ratings that the corresponding user would enter. In this work (1) we examine the features of textual reviews, which affect the reliability of the review-to-rating conversion procedure, (2) we compute a confidence level for each rating, which reflects the uncertainty level for each conversion process, (3) we exploit this metric both in the users’ similarity computation and in the prediction formulation phases in recommender systems, by presenting a novel rating prediction algorithm and (4) we validate the accuracy of the presented algorithm in terms of (i) rating prediction accuracy, using widely-used recommender systems datasets and (ii) recommendations generated for social network user satisfaction and precision, where textual reviews are abundant.     

A model for assessing the coherence of companies’ knowledge strategy

This paper proposes a strategic model for assessing the coherence between companies’ knowledge strategies and their business strategies as well as in their competitive and organisational contexts. In analysing knowledge management literature, we locate three principal strategies: (1) knowledge development (internal or external), (2) knowledge sharing (codification or personalisation) and (3) knowledge exploitation (internal or external). We then position the three strategies and six related policies in the context-content-process dimensions of Pettigrew's model to create a useful framework for strategic analysis and a model to assess the coherence of companies’ knowledge strategy. The model can be used to evaluate how an existing knowledge strategy aligns with a company's characteristics and to formulate and implement a coherent knowledge strategy based on the current competitive environment, organisational context and business strategy.     

What makes bloggers share knowledge? An investigation on the role of trust

As a Web 2.0 technology, blogs are gaining attention as useful knowledge sharing platforms for knowledge management in a collaborative work environment. This study investigates the relationship between trust and bloggers’ knowledge sharing practices. Based on an analysis of results from the 485 survey respondents, the research found that there is the positive relationship between bloggers’ trust and their knowledge sharing practices. This study explores trust in multiple dimensions including economy-based trust, trust in bloggers, and trust in the Internet and trust in blog providers. The detailed research findings are presented.     

What makes user-generated content more helpful on social media platforms? Insights from creator interactivity perspective

A growing number of enterprises begin to utilize user-generated content (UGC) to help build brand awareness and loyalty on social media platforms. Thus, it is important to investigate what makes UGC more helpful under the new social media environment. This study attempts to identify the influence mechanism of UGC helpfulness by examining the systematic impacts of argument quality and source reliability, especially considering the effects of creator interactivity. Using a dataset of product-related UGC in a popular social media app, our empirical study finds that the detailedness, readability, and objectivity of the content, as well as the social recognition and popularity of the creator, all have a significant impact on UGC helpfulness. Furthermore, the results indicate that creator interactivity plays a vital role in building UGC helpfulness by moderating other factors. This study contributes to both UGC and social media literature by proposing a comprehensive model to better understand UGC helpfulness. It also provides several practical insights for content creators to improve their online performances.     

What makes people watch online TV clips? An empirical investigation of survey data and viewing logs

With the decline in traditional television (TV) viewership, broadcasters are distributing TV clips online, i.e., brief, edited versions of full-length TV shows, as an alternative revenue source. Yet, there are challenges in gaining viewership of this new format, with a lack of understanding and research on what drives such viewing behavior. To fill this gap, this study draws on the theory of consumption values to develop a model explaining the decision factors that can predict online TV clip viewing behavior. We tested the model through a quantitative analysis of survey and archival (viewing logs) data from 398 viewers from a major provider of TV clips. The results indicate that, in addition to convenience and enjoyment, fandom and social viewing are unique factors predicting watching frequency and mediated by the continuance intention to watch online TV clips. Our study contributes to our understanding of the use of this new digital content format by integrating and extending concepts from the theory of consumption values. It also offers insights into how digital content providers can tap online TV clips as a revenue source.     

Why do commercial companies contribute to open source software?

Many researchers have pointed out that the open source movement is an interesting phenomenon that is difficult to explain with conventional economic theories. However, while there is no shortage on research on individuals’ motivation for contributing to open source, few have investigated the commercial companies’ motivations for doing the same. A case study was conducted at three different companies from the IT service industry, to investigate three possible drivers: sale of complimentary services, innovation and opensourcing (outsourcing). We offer three conclusions.     

Is music downloading the new prohibition? What students reveal through an ethical dilemma

Although downloading music through unapproved channels is illegal, statistics indicate that it is widespread. The following study examines the attitudes and perceptions of college students that are potentially engaged in music downloading. The methodology includes a content analysis of the recommendations written to answer an ethical vignette. The vignette presented the case of a subject who faces the dilemma of whether or not to download music illegally. Analyses of the final reports indicate that there is a vast and inconsistent array of actions and underlying feelings toward digital music downloading. The findings reveal inconsistencies between participants’ recommendations (what the subject should do) and their attitudes and opinions on the matter (what they would do in a similar situation). These inconsistencies support the notion that as technology evolves, it creates discrepancies between the way things are and the way the law expects them to be, leaving society in a muddle, trying to reconcile the two. What remains to be seen is whether the discrepancy in the case of music downloading becomes extreme enough that the law changes to accommodate an increasingly prevalent behavior, or whether new business models will emerge to bridge the gap between legality and reality.     

What limits limits?

There are fundamental rules and prin-ciples setting the limits of physical sys-tems.It triggers an interesting thought-can we break the limits under specific ci...     

What are you doing?

故事教学,采用大家都喜欢的故事为教学材料,语言丰富,教学方法多样不仅学生爱学,教师也爱教。     

What have we learned so far? The development and application of an organisational learning narrative

The use of narratives and stories has been growing in popularity in the field of knowledge management. Narratives may be used as useful vehicles for several knowledge-based activities within organisational (and other) contexts. These include acquiring and sharing knowledge in the form of personal experiences; the storage of explicit knowledge; and significantly, the development of personal knowledge and understanding through the use of narratives for sense-making. This paper presents research into the development and application of a method for the construction of a ‘learning narrative’: an organisational narrative developed for the specific purpose of sharing experiential knowledge. The paper presents a rationale for the use of narratives within knowledge management; details a methodological approach for the development of learning narratives; and highlights a number of benefits of the use of learning narratives, notably their use in sustaining and enhancing the quality of project-based work.