Show or Tell? Improving Agent Decision Making in a Tanzanian Mobile Money Field Experiment

Acimovic, Jason; Parker, C.; Drake, David F.; Balasubramanian, Karthik

doi:10.2139/ssrn.3186575

Cited by 7 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…Recent examples in this literature include Chen and Tang (), Acimovic et al. () and Kalkanci et al. ().…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In operations management (OM), Lee and Tang (2018) and Sodhi and Tang (2014) provided an overview of problems relevant for the operations of firms in emerging markets. Recent examples in this literature include Chen and Tang (2015), Acimovic et al (2018) and Kalkanci et al (2018). Marketing issues in developing economies have been similarly highlighted (Narasimhan et al 2015), with recent applications including Miller and Mobarak's (2015) and Economides and Jeziorski's (2017).…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

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How Do Usage and Payment Behavior Interact in Rent‐to‐Own Business Models? Evidence from Developing Economies

Guajardo

2019

Production and Operations Management

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The diffusion of technological innovations in developing economies has been facilitated by the use of rent‐to‐own business models, which give flexibility to customers by allowing them to make incremental payments over time. Understanding the implications of this flexibility is a fundamental problem for an increasing number of firms operating in these markets. In this study, we empirically analyze how consumer usage and payment behaviors interact in an application of rent‐to‐own to the distribution of solar lamps in developing countries. By exploiting the longitudinal variation in the data—and hence accounting for intrinsic differences between customers—the analysis led to three main insights. First, higher usage rates lowered the probability of late payments by customers. Our characterization of this engagement effect enhances existing knowledge of the drivers of payment behavior in these environments. Second, customers often “bundled” payments, making advance payments for future product access. We showed that bundling the initial payment led to lower usage rates (bundling effect), suggesting that firms may not benefit from advance payments upfront, and that they should closely track usage patterns from these customers. Finally, we showed that first‐period usage information can improve the accuracy of predictive models of default and that observing usage rates in subsequent periods does not lead to further improvements. Overall, the analysis highlights the importance for firms of jointly tracking and analyzing payment and usage behavior by customers, particularly in initial stages of the adoption process.

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“…Recent examples in this literature include Chen and Tang (), Acimovic et al. () and Kalkanci et al. ().…”

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Related Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

How Do Usage and Payment Behavior Interact in Rent‐to‐Own Business Models? Evidence from Developing Economies

Guajardo

2019

Production and Operations Management

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“…Frameworks such as these highlight challenges in poverty alleviation and opportunities to use innovative business-model thinking to overcome them. OM researchers have evaluated the impact of new business models that target underprivileged populations (e.g., Parker et al (2016) study an information service for poor Indian farmers; Delana et al (2019) study telemedicine in India; Guajardo (2019) examines payment and usage behavior for rent-to-own solar lamps in developing countries in Asia and Africa; and Kundu and Ramdas (2019) study how aftersales service impacts solar technology adoption in Uganda) and examined operational aspects of new business models using the needed methodologies (e.g., Acimovic et al (2018) study mobile-money agents' training in Kenya, and Araman et al (2019) study quality feedback to artisans, also in Kenya; Jónasson et al (2017) study optimized AIDS diagnostic testing in Mozambique; and Chen et al (2017) study healthcare product delivery in Africa). OM insight on how donors can best increase access to antimalarial drugs (Taylor and Xiao 2014, Kazaz et al 2016, Levi et al 2017) could extend to increasing access to contraceptives.…”

Section: Alleviating Poverty-growth Direction For Mandsommentioning

confidence: 99%

Alleviating Poverty by Empowering Women Through Business Model Innovation: Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Insights and Opportunities

Plambeck

Ramdas

2020

M&SOM

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Please scroll down for article-it is on subsequent pages With 12,500 members from nearly 90 countries, INFORMS is the largest international association of operations research (O.R.) and analytics professionals and students. INFORMS provides unique networking and learning opportunities for individual professionals, and organizations of all types and sizes, to better understand and use O.R. and analytics tools and methods to transform strategic visions and achieve better outcomes. For more information on INFORMS, its publications, membership, or meetings visit http://www.informs.org

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“…Adoption and continued use of novel life-changing technologies across sectors including energy, healthcare, education and telecommunication has the potential to significantly accelerate social and economic development in emerging markets (Akcigit 2017). Examples include mobile payment systems that have brought millions of unbanked individuals into the financial system (Acimovic et al 2019), pay-as-you-go distributed solar technology that provides electricity to off-grid communities (Guajardo 2019) and drones that supply medicine to remote communities or food to refugees (The Economist 2015). Technological innovation is only part of the solution to tackling challenges to development.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Timely After-Sales Service and Technology Adoption: Evidence from the Off-Grid Solar Market in Uganda

Kundu

Ramdas

2022

M&SOM

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Problem definition: Adoption and continued use of novel technologies have the potential to significantly accelerate social and economic development in emerging markets. In this paper, we examine to what extent timely after-sales service—that is, faster resolution of repair tasks—impacts technology adoption. In particular, we empirically assess the impact of service wait times on the adoption of solar home systems by first-time users (i.e., adopters of the technology) in off-grid Uganda. Academic/practical relevance: Our study sheds light on a previously understudied driver of technology adoption—customers’ postpurchase experience related to after-sales service. We also provide evidence on how negative word-of-mouth stemming from long service wait times hampers customer acquisition. Methodology: We address our research question using detailed customer-level sales and service data from a leading assembler and distributor of solar home systems in Uganda. We develop a fixed-effects base specification and two instrumental variables specifications that leverage different sources of exogenous geospatial variation—in service-task locations, weather, and road quality. Results: We find that timely after-sales service experienced by existing customers is a strong driver of adoption by first-time users. A one-week increase in average wait time for service decreases adoption by up to 32.4%. The relationship between wait times and adoptions is heterogeneous and depends on the types of pending service cases. We also find that the number of customers acquired through referrals from an existing customer depends on the referring customer’s service wait time. This provides evidence of a strong word-of-mouth channel of information sharing. Managerial implications: Our findings have direct implications for the customer-acquisition strategies of technology firms and for technology investors in emerging markets. Our results are also relevant for policy makers who aim to harness technology to improve the socioeconomic lives of people living in these regions. Importantly, we provide empirical evidence of a direct link between after-sales service and technology adoption, which is of relevance to managers outside of emerging markets as well.

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Show or Tell? Improving Agent Decision Making in a Tanzanian Mobile Money Field Experiment

Cited by 7 publications

References 23 publications

How Do Usage and Payment Behavior Interact in Rent‐to‐Own Business Models? Evidence from Developing Economies

How Do Usage and Payment Behavior Interact in Rent‐to‐Own Business Models? Evidence from Developing Economies

Alleviating Poverty by Empowering Women Through Business Model Innovation: Manufacturing & Service Operations Management Insights and Opportunities

Timely After-Sales Service and Technology Adoption: Evidence from the Off-Grid Solar Market in Uganda

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