In this paper the Naïve Associative Classifier (NAC), a novel supervised learning model, is presented. Its strengths lie in its simplicity, transparency, transportability and accuracy. The creation, ...design, implementation and application of the NAC are sustained by an original similarity operator of our own design, the Mixed and Incomplete Data Similarity Operator (MIDSO). One of the key features of MIDSO is its ability to handle missing values as well as mixed numerical and categorical data types. The proposed model was tested by performing numerical experiments using finance-related datasets including credit assignment, bank telemarketing, bankruptcy, and banknote authentication. The experimental results show the adequacy of the model for decision support in those environments, outperforming several state-of-the-art pattern classifiers. Additionally, the advantages and limitations of the NAC, as well as possible improvements, are discussed.
•Gamified work has a negative impact on FLEs’ job satisfaction and engagement.•FLE engagement is a driver of job performance.•Willingness to participate moderates gamified work effects on FLEs’ job ...satisfaction and engagement.
Rethinking the workplace experience as a means for enhancing the well-being of frontline employees (FLEs) represents a key priority for services. The well-being of frontline employees leads to improved performance and better customer service, such that it enhances the firm’s overall competitive advantage and revenue. Therefore, engagement-facilitating technologies that can increase FLEs’ well-being, such as gamified work, hold promise in terms of their effects on job satisfaction and engagement. Using a mixed-method design, including in-depth interviews with FLEs and their managers, and two large field experiments, this research considers two key sectors in which FLEs are critical: retailing and telemarketing. The results highlight the negative impacts of gamified work on employee engagement and well-being, although the willingness of employees to participate in such gamified work moderates these negative impacts. By revealing how gamification affects FLEs’ well-being, job engagement, and job satisfaction, this research provides actionable insights for managers.
Artificial intelligence (AI) applications in the market have become a buzzing trend. The current research proposed that consumers feel less empathy toward AI (vs. human) telesellers and thus tend to ...hang up on AI telesellers faster. Moreover, anthropomorphism (i.e., an individual tendency to attribute human qualities to nonhuman entities) moderates the above effect. Three studies provided evidence for the mediating role of empathy in the relationship between teleseller type and call duration and for the moderating role of anthropomorphism. We indeed found that the relationship between teleseller type and call duration via empathy is mitigated for consumers high in anthropomorphism.
•Consumers hang up on AI tele-sellers faster than their human counterparts.•Empathy toward tele-sellers serves as the underlying mechanism.•Consumers possessing higher anthropomorphism treat AI and human more similarly.
We propose a dynamic ensemble selection method, META-DES-AAP, to predict the success of bank telemarketing sales of time deposits. Unlike existing machine learning-based marketing sales prediction ...methods focusing only on prediction accuracy, META-DES-AAP considers the accuracy and average profit maximization. In META-DES-AAP, to consider both accuracy and average profit in the framework of dynamic ensemble selection using meta-training, a multi-objective optimization algorithm is designed to maximize the accuracy and average profit for base classifiers selection. Base classifiers suitable for each test telemarketing campaign are integrated according to the dynamic-based base classifiers integration method. Experimental results on bank telemarketing data show that META-DES-AAP achieves the best accuracy and the largest average profit when compared across several state-of-the-art machine learning methods. In addition, the factors influencing telemarketing on the average predicted probability of telemarketing success and average profit obtained by META-DES-AAP are analyzed.
Consumers have an increasingly wide variety of options available to entertain themselves. This poses a challenge for content aggregators who want to effectively promote their video content online ...through original trailers of movies, sitcoms, and video games. Marketers are now trying to produce much shorter video clips to promote their content on a variety of digital channels. This research is the first to propose an approach to produce such clips and to study their effectiveness, focusing on comedy movies as an application. Web-based facial-expression tracking is used to study viewers' real-time emotional responses when watching comedy movie trailers online. These data are used to predict both viewers' intentions to watch the movie and the movie's box office success. The authors then propose an optimization procedure for cutting scenes from trailers to produce clips and test it in an online experiment and in a field experiment. The results provide evidence that the production of short clips using the proposed methodology can be an effective tool to market movies and other online content.
Can artificial intelligence (AI) assist human employees in increasing employee creativity? Drawing on research on AI–human collaboration, job design, and employee creativity, we examine AI assistance ...in the form of a sequential division of labor within organizations: in a task, AI handles the initial portion, which is well-codified and repetitive, and employees focus on the subsequent portion, involving higher-level problem-solving. First, we provide causal evidence from a field experiment conducted at a telemarketing company. We find that AI assistance in generating sales leads, on average, increases employees' creativity in answering customers' questions during subsequent sales persuasion. Enhanced creativity leads to increased sales. However, this effect is much more pronounced for higher-skilled employees. Next, we conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with the employees. We found that AI assistance changes job design by intensifying employees' interactions with more serious customers. This change enables higher-skilled employees to generate innovative scripts and develop positive emotions at work, which are conducive to creativity. By contrast, with AI assistance, lower-skilled employees make limited improvements to scripts and experience negative emotions at work. We conclude that employees can achieve AI-augmented creativity, but this desirable outcome is skill-biased by favoring experts with greater job skills.
We propose a data mining (DM) approach to predict the success of telemarketing calls for selling bank long-term deposits. A Portuguese retail bank was addressed, with data collected from 2008 to ...2013, thus including the effects of the recent financial crisis. We analyzed a large set of 150 features related with bank client, product and social-economic attributes. A semi-automatic feature selection was explored in the modeling phase, performed with the data prior to July 2012 and that allowed to select a reduced set of 22 features. We also compared four DM models: logistic regression, decision trees (DTs), neural network (NN) and support vector machine. Using two metrics, area of the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) and area of the LIFT cumulative curve (ALIFT), the four models were tested on an evaluation set, using the most recent data (after July 2012) and a rolling window scheme. The NN presented the best results (AUC=0.8 and ALIFT=0.7), allowing to reach 79% of the subscribers by selecting the half better classified clients. Also, two knowledge extraction methods, a sensitivity analysis and a DT, were applied to the NN model and revealed several key attributes (e.g., Euribor rate, direction of the call and bank agent experience). Such knowledge extraction confirmed the obtained model as credible and valuable for telemarketing campaign managers.
•Assessment of a real problem of bank telemarketing to sell long-term deposits•A data-driven approach using newly proposed social and economic characteristics•Focus on feature engineering, resulting in a highly tuned model of 22 features•Comparison of four data mining models under a realistic rolling-window scheme•Results allow targeting 79% of buyers by selecting the half better classified.
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