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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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.
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.
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.
This study aims to clarify inconsistencies regarding the term affordances by examining how affordances terminology is used in empirical research on communication and technology. Through an analysis ...of 82 communication‐oriented scholarly works on affordances, we identify 3 inconsistencies regarding the use of this term. First, much research describes a particular affordance without engaging other scholarship addressing that affordance. Second, several studies identify “lists” of affordances without conceptually developing individual affordances within those lists. Third, the affordances perspective is evoked in situations where the purported affordance does not meet commonly accepted definitions. We conclude with a set of criteria to aid scholars in evaluating their assumptions about affordances and to facilitate a more consistent approach to its conceptualization and application.
This study examines the role that business intelligence (BI) and communication technologies play in how firms may achieve organizational sensing agility, decision making agility, and acting agility ...in different organizational and environmental contexts. Based on the information-processing view of organizations and dynamic capability theory, we suggest a configurational analytic framework that departs from the standard linear paradigm to examine how IT's effect on agility is embedded in a configuration of organizational and environmental elements. In line with this approach, we use fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) to analyze field survey data from diverse industries. Our findings suggest equifinal pathways to organizational agility and the specific boundary conditions of our middle-range theory that determine what role BI and communication technologies play in organizations' achieving organizational agility. We discuss implications for theory and practice and discuss future research avenues.
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) increasingly permeate everyday life in industrialized societies. The aim of this paper is to explore ICT-related transformations of everyday ...practices and discuss the implications, particularly for residential electricity consumption. The present socio-technical changes are seen in a historical perspective, and it is argued that the integration of ICT into everyday practices can be seen as a new round of household electrification, comparable to earlier rounds that also led to higher electricity consumption. A case study carried out in Denmark in 2007–2008 explores the present changes in everyday life. Based on qualitative interviews, the study focuses on people's ways of integrating ICTs into their everyday practices, on any significant changes in these practices, and on the influence of the changed practices on electricity consumption. The paper concludes with a discussion on the implications for energy policy.
This article provides evidence-based results regarding current debates on transnationalism. It draws on the content analysis of the 50 most cited (according to the major academic databases and search ...engines in 2020) and the 50 most recent (published or forthcoming in 2019–2020) articles and/or books on transnationalism. The study analysed the main definitions of transnationalism, identified classification criteria for transnational experience, and reviewed the concept of transnationalism in the studied articles and books. In transnationalism, a broad range of economic, sociocultural, and political cross-border activities and practices, and their various combinations, modify people’s sense of belonging to places; affect their citizenship and nationality; change their aspirations, imagination and decisions in everyday life; and influence their identity. In the studied academic literature, transnationalism was often associated with globalisation, migration, cosmopolitanism, multiculturalism, diaspora, post-migration studies, and internationalism. Transnationalism has an inner processual and in-becoming character, leading to difficulty in giving it a precise and clear theoretical definition. Many studies have shown the need for conceptual academic clarity regarding transnationalism, whether considering it from narrow or broad perspectives. Transnationalism is transformative, and powerful enough to trigger changes in contemporary societies. This article suggests a number of particularly intriguing research fields regarding transnationalism: telecommunications (ICT—Information and Communication Technology/the internet/social media), return migration (aspirations to return, and in relation to telecommunications), as well as the connection between bodies and the law (the incorporation of the body into transnational practices and in relation to the law).
This paper outlines a selection of technological and organisational developments in the information and communication technology (ICT) sector and analyses their likely challenges for workers and ...trade unions around the globe. It addresses the convergence of telecommunications and information technology, the related developments of ubiquitous computing, ‘clouds’ and ‘big data’, and the possibilities of crowdsourcing and relates these technologies to the last decades' patterns of value chain restructuring. The paper is based on desk research of European and international sources, on sector analyses and technology forecasts by, for instance, the European Union and Organisation for Economic Co‐operation and Development, and some national actors. These prognoses are analysed through the lens of recent research into ICT working environments and ICT value chains, identifying upcoming and ongoing challenges for both workers and unions, and outlining possible research perspectives.
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