Guided by theories of “management by exception,” we study the impact of information and communication technology on worker and plant manager autonomy and span of control. The theory suggests that ...information technology is a decentralizing force, whereas communication technology is a centralizing force. Using a new data set of American and European manufacturing firms, we find indeed that better information technologies (enterprise resource planning (ERP) for plant managers and computer-assisted design/computer-assisted manufacturing for production workers) are associated with more autonomy and a wider span of control, whereas technologies that improve communication (like data intranets) decrease autonomy for workers and plant managers. Using instrumental variables (distance from ERP’s place of origin and heterogeneous telecommunication costs arising from regulation) strengthens our results.
Data, as supplemental material, are available at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1287/mnsc.2014.2013
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This paper was accepted by John List, behavioral economics
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Sustainability through information and communication technologies is a complex matter, raising interesting debate among researchers. Pursuing the same, this research investigates the impact of ...information and communication technologies, economic growth, and financial development on carbon dioxide emissions by simultaneously testing the Environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) hypothesis in BRICS countries. In doing so, this study employs Methods of Moments - Quantile Regression, which confirms that the effects of the explanatory variables vary across different quantiles of carbon dioxide emissions. The overall results indicate that economic growth and financial development contribute to carbon dioxide emissions across all quantiles, while information and communication technologies significantly mitigate the level of carbon dioxide emissions only at lower emissions quantiles. Moreover, the results confirm the presence of the EKC hypothesis. Interestingly, the effect of economic growth and information and communication technologies on carbon dioxide emissions is lowest in magnitude at lower quantiles and highest at higher quantiles of carbon dioxide emissions. The empirical findings of DH panel heterogenous causality test confirm bidirectional causality between the model parameters, indicating that any policy intervention concerning explanatory variables significantly causes carbon dioxide emissions and vice versa. The results set out the foundation for policymakers to devise a policy framework to attain the objectives of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
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•ICT mitigates carbon emissions at lower emissions quantiles.•Financial development and economic growth contribute to carbon emissions across all quantiles.•Validity of EKC hypothesis confirmed from Medium-Higher emissions quantiles.•Bi-directional causality exists between ICT, FD, GDP, and Carbon emissions.
Agricultural advisory services generally rely on interpersonal knowledge transfers by agricultural extension agents who visit farmers to provide information. This approach is not always effective and ...has proved hard to scale sustainably, particularly in highly dispersed smallholder farming systems. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have been advanced as a promising way to overcome many of the problems associated with conventional agricultural extension. We evaluate the effectiveness of an ICT‐mediated approach to deliver agricultural information in a field experiment conducted among small‐scale maize farmers in eastern Uganda. Three complementary technologies designed to address both informational and behavioral constraints to technical change are considered. First, we investigate the effectiveness of audiovisual messages (video) as a means of delivering information on input use and improved maize management practices to farmers. Second, we quantify the additional impact of complementing video with an interactive voice response (IVR) service. Third, we estimate the incremental effect of time‐sensitive short message services (SMS) messages designed to remind farmers about applying key practices at specific points during the season. We find that households that were shown a short video on how to become better maize farmers were performing significantly better on a knowledge test, more likely to apply recommended practices, and more likely to use fertilizer than households that did not view the video. These same households also reported maize yields about 10.5% higher than those that did not view the video. We find little evidence of an incremental effect of the IVR service or SMS reminders.
This study aimed to investigate the experiences of people with intellectual disability (ID) using information and communication technologies (ICTs) and the ways these technologies foster social ...connectedness. In partnership with a community mental health organization, this qualitative descriptive study explored the experiences of 10 people with ID using ICTs. Participants described how ICTs Opened the Door to Possibilities in their life – ICTs provided an avenue for connecting with other people, a means to pursue personal interests and a tool for organizing everyday life. Opening the door to possibilities was further understood as movement towards digital inclusion for people with ID, conceptualized as the fit between social opportunity and personal skills. We have identified the prominent role social supports play in creating (and constraining) opportunities for digital inclusion, and that digital inclusion has the potential to enable social connectedness and the development of agency. Consideration of the complex interaction between social opportunity and personal skills, and the mediating influence of supports, will enhance the inclusion of people with ID.
The rapid developments of globalization promote interaction among countries and people around the globe through the fast mode of information and telecommunication technology (ICT). ICT development ...also contributes to economic growth through various channels, but it may influence the environment on the other hand. Considering this concern, the present study focuses on examining the relationship between ICT developments and carbon emissions through the globalization channel. The study employs robust panel data estimation methods, continuously updated fully modified, and continuously updated bias corrected estimators, for the data set of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (BRICS) economies spanning from 1990 to 2015. Findings of the study are robust against heteroskedasticity, endogeneity, and cross‐sectional dependence issues. The robust panel data estimators reveal that ICT has a favourable effect on carbon emissions in BRICS countries. Also, globalization leads to environmental pollution by contributing to an increase in CO2 emissions. These findings provide new insights to the policymakers in combatting environmental challenges.
Can we think about the role of media and information and communication technologies in the lives of forced migrants through the lens of immobility? The dominant focus in the communication studies ...literature is on mobility, movement and connectivity. Migration studies and anthropology however offer productive ways to conceptualize the mobility–immobility spectrum as well as the imaginative dimensions of (im)mobility. Building on two studies that were situated at the temporal and geographical edges of the ‘European refugee crisis’ – a 2015 study in a Syrian refugee camp in Turkey and a 2017–2018 study with Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi refugees in Belgium – this article develops a conceptual framework of media and immobility in the context of forced migration. It coins the pair concepts affective immobility and symbolic immobility to highlight and understand practices of disengagement with media and information and communication technologies, agentic disconnectivity and feelings of symbolic fixedness.
Using the panel data of 66 countries for the period 1996–2019, the current research explores the influences of information and communication technology (ICT) on energy security. We consider the role ...of financial development, human capital and technological development to explore the channels through which ICT influences energy security. Our empirical results reveal the adverse impact of ICT on energy demand and energy security. In addition, ICT mainly affects energy security through financial development and technological progress. Although human capital can significantly affect energy security, ICT cannot affect energy security through human capital channels. Furthermore, using economic risk as the threshold variable to study the link between ICT and energy security, we note that the impact of ICT on energy security is inverted U-shape with an improvement of economic risk. Specifically, ICT tends to increase the energy security in the lower stages of economic risk, while it weakens energy security reaching a certain level of said risk. In a similar vein, if financial risk is considered as the threshold variable, which is same as economic risk. Finally, the impact of ICT on energy security shows an upward trend in fluctuation with the passage of time. Our results provide policy implications to governments and future researchers.
•Shed new light on the relationship between information and communication technology (ICT) and energy security.•Confirm ICT has a significant negative impact on energy security.•ICT can affect energy security through financial development and technological progress.•Verify the impact of ICT on energy security is inverted U-shape using economic risk as the threshold variable.•The impact of ICT on energy security shows an upward trend in fluctuation with the passage of time.
•Conceptualises the idea of e-lienation as a specific form of alienation in ICT-enabled tourism.•Combines philosophic questions of meaning, sociological theory and empirical research.•Demonstrates ...the meanings of e-lienation, its dimensions, causes, consequences and strategies of resistance.
The concept of alienation was adapted to tourism by MacCannell who identified it as a key feature of modernity and a strong driver of tourism where tourists seek to reconnect to authentic places and selves. Meanwhile the post-modern world has witnessed a revolution in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) especially in the realm of smart tourism where its advocates talk eagerly of the internet of everything. Such a totalising prospect demands serious review and this article fills a critical gap by conceptualising the idea of e-lienation as a specific form of alienation in ICT-enabled tourism. It combines philosophic questions of meaning, sociological theory and empirical research to demonstrate the meanings of e-lienation, its dimensions, causes, consequences and strategies of resistance.
Smart Farming is a development that emphasizes the use of information and communication technology in the cyber-physical farm management cycle. New technologies such as the Internet of Things and ...Cloud Computing are expected to leverage this development and introduce more robots and artificial intelligence in farming. This is encompassed by the phenomenon of Big Data, massive volumes of data with a wide variety that can be captured, analysed and used for decision-making. This review aims to gain insight into the state-of-the-art of Big Data applications in Smart Farming and identify the related socio-economic challenges to be addressed. Following a structured approach, a conceptual framework for analysis was developed that can also be used for future studies on this topic. The review shows that the scope of Big Data applications in Smart Farming goes beyond primary production; it is influencing the entire food supply chain. Big data are being used to provide predictive insights in farming operations, drive real-time operational decisions, and redesign business processes for game-changing business models. Several authors therefore suggest that Big Data will cause major shifts in roles and power relations among different players in current food supply chain networks. The landscape of stakeholders exhibits an interesting game between powerful tech companies, venture capitalists and often small start-ups and new entrants. At the same time there are several public institutions that publish open data, under the condition that the privacy of persons must be guaranteed. The future of Smart Farming may unravel in a continuum of two extreme scenarios: 1) closed, proprietary systems in which the farmer is part of a highly integrated food supply chain or 2) open, collaborative systems in which the farmer and every other stakeholder in the chain network is flexible in choosing business partners as well for the technology as for the food production side. The further development of data and application infrastructures (platforms and standards) and their institutional embedment will play a crucial role in the battle between these scenarios. From a socio-economic perspective, the authors propose to give research priority to organizational issues concerning governance issues and suitable business models for data sharing in different supply chain scenarios.
•Big Data is expected to have a large impact on Smart Farming and involves the whole supply chain.•Smart sensors and devices produce big amounts of data that provide unprecedented decision-making capabilities.•Big Data is expected to cause major shifts in roles and power relations among traditional and non-traditional players.•Governance (incl. data ownership, privacy, security) and business models are key issues to be addressed in future research.
We address the question: which countries-rich (high-income countries) or poor (middle-income and low-income countries) - tend to gain more from the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) ...revolution? By employing a panel of 123 countries consisting of 45 high-income countries, 58 middle-income countries, and 20 low-income countries from 2002 to 2017 and by constructing ICT index from mobile, internet, and fixed broadband, we find that in general ICT increases economic growth in both countries, however, poor countries tend to gain more from the ICT revolution.
•Examine the impact of ICT on economic growth by comparing rich and poor countries.•Employ a panel of 123 countries for the period 2002–2017.•Construct ICT index from mobile, internet, and fixed broadband use.•ICT increases economic growth in both countries.•Poor countries tend to benefit more than rich countries from the ICT revolution.
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