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This dissertation explores an unintended consequence of using personalized recommendations, that is, recommendations that are targeted to an individual consumer (e.g., personalized music playlists). I conceptualize that using personalized recommender systems can impede consumers’ learning of their own preferences and tastes from product experiences. Therefore, using these systems can decrease preference clarity, which is defined as certainty about individuals’ own preferences. For example, people may feel less certain about their own music preferences after listening to auto-generated personalized playlists. This reduced preference clarity, in turn, reduces consumer willingness to generate word-of-mouth (WOM) about their consumption experiences, such as their intent to talk about music they listened to with others, or to post social media content on their favorite musicians. Eight studies, using correlational and experimental designs and conducted with consumers who actively use personalization services (in the fashion and music domains), support this theorization. I end with a discussion of the potential theoretical extensions of this novel finding, as well as its practical implications.

A dissertation submitted to the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters of Science in Engineering 2019 / Successful adoption of new technologies is critical for the improvement of efficiency and the enhancement of health and safety in South African mining industry operations. However, the process of new digital technology adoption in the South African mining industry has been slow and difficult. This research is aimed at addressing some of the problems associated with the process. As part of this research, a new blueprint has been developed to guide the commissioning entity through the entire process of new digital technology adoption and installation. The new blueprint will provide capability to monitor the quality of the work during adoption, as well as assessment of the outcome of the adoption by measuring the level of compliance for every activity performed by the commissioning entity during the adoption. The reliability of the new blueprint was verified by assessing the performance of the Wits Mining Institute (WMI) in its installation project of the Schauenburg system. The outcome of the new blueprint verification reveals poor planning and inadequate preparation during the installation of this project. The outcome also indicates that application of the new blueprint will reduce the problems associated with the adoption and speed up new digital technology adoption and its installation for better functionality. / NG (2020)

M.S.

This dissertation looks at models in which agents make decisions under various economic frictions, and examines the role of their preferences. The first two chapters analytically characterize an infinite-horizon open economy under the friction of a stock collateral constraint, whereby borrowing is limited by the value of capital assets available. The model that is considered allows for general subjective discounting of households and fully variable productivity. The third chapter looks at a model of an ambiguity-averse benevolent mediator tasked with choosing a price contract at which a risk neutral buyer and seller transact an indivisible good under the friction of unquantifiable uncertainty of their reservation values. The first chapter establishes that it is possible for households to enjoy the allocation they would obtain absent a stock collateral constraint under a condition that relates to their patience; this condition requires a long-run depression when agents are impatient relative to the market, and allows for an economic expansion when agents are more patient relative to the market. When this condition is not met, households are tightly constrained at least once and experience debt deleveraging in all periods and deflation of asset prices in periods preceding the constrained period relative to their unconstrained allocation. Households also ration their consumption more when they expect to be more tightly constrained in the future. The second chapter is a sequel to the first chapter and shows that under constant output, agents who are impatient relative to the market can face two and three-period cycles in consumption, debt, and asset prices. Further, large initial debt can lead to multiple equilibria. The third chapter considers a mediator who plays a Stackelberg game against Nature to maximize the distributionally worst-case expected weighted Nash product subject to known mean and boundary constraints on buyer and seller reservation values. We study the role of bargaining power and show that relative to what the buyer and seller themselves would choose when equipped with the mediator's information, the mediator's price contract has a shallow dependency on bargaining power, which is only exacerbated by the possibility of dependent buyer and seller values. Comparative statics results are obtained.

Chinese business leaders suffered from the crisis of COVID-19 and the Double Reduction Policy, and used various strategies and learning practices to survive the crisis. The purpose of this modified exploratory multicase study was to explore how leaders in the Chinese tutoring industry made sense of the crisis of the Pandemic and the Double Reduction Policy and learned to think strategically in a time of crisis. The study not only uncovered how Chinese business leaders used different strategies to deal with a crisis and learned to think strategically while adapting to the new environment but also brought implications and insights to business leaders about effective strategies and learning practices to cultivate strategic thinking in a complex and fast-changing world. The study addressed the following four research questions: 1.How did the business leaders in tutoring companies make sense of the complexities of the crisis of COVID-19 and the Double Reduction Policy? 2.What strategies, if any, did the business leaders develop to deal with the crisis? 3.In what ways, if at all, did the business leaders learn to think strategically while dealing with challenges? 4.What other factors helped or hindered the business leaders’ learning to think strategically in a time of crisis? Qualitative semi-structured interviews (critical incident interviews included), surveys, and a focus group discussion were used to collect data from 15 Chinese business leaders from the tutoring industry. The study generated four findings: Finding 1: The crisis negatively impacted the participants and their companies at different levels, but it also served as a valuable learning opportunity for their long-term development. Finding 2: The participants developed strategies to deal with the crisis at personal, organizational, and social levels. Finding 3: The participants learned to think strategically from direct experiences, indirect experiences, and two thinking processes—systems thinking and metaphorical thinking. Finding 4: Policies and relationships were two outstanding factors that hindered or helped their learning to think strategically. These findings indicated that (1) unprecedented crises like COVID-19 and the Double Reduction Policy can bring people benefits and valuable insights, (2) business leaders can develop critical strategies by combining their own and others' experiences and strategic insights into dealing with crises, (3) business leaders can use informal learning practices and deliberately use them to cultivate their strategic thinking, and (4) business leaders need to combine learning and action for cultivating strategic thinking capabilities. Lastly, business leaders should consider the influence of policies and relationships in their strategy formulation and learning process.

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