Showing papers on "Dilemma published in 2020"

Common method bias in applied settings: The dilemma of researching in organizations:

Abstract: Authors are experiencing increasing competition for their articles to be published. One way of ensuring their work is given the best chance of being published is to underpin their research with rig...

Prisoners of the Wrong Dilemma: Why Distributive Conflict, Not Collective Action, Characterizes the Politics of Climate Change

Abstract: Climate change policy is generally modeled as a global collective action problem structured by free-riding concerns. Drawing on quantitative data, archival work, and elite interviews, we review emp...

Social efficiency deficit deciphers social dilemmas

Abstract: What do corruption, resource overexploitation, climate inaction, vaccine hesitancy, traffic congestion, and even cancer metastasis have in common? All these socioeconomic and sociobiological phenomena are known as social dilemmas because they embody in one form or another a fundamental conflict between immediate self-interest and long-term collective interest. A shortcut to the resolution of social dilemmas has thus far been reserved solely for highly stylised cases reducible to dyadic games (e.g., the Prisoner’s Dilemma), whose nature and outcome coalesce in the concept of dilemma strength. We show that a social efficiency deficit, measuring an actor’s potential gain in utility or fitness by switching from an evolutionary equilibrium to a social optimum, generalises dilemma strength irrespective of the underlying social dilemma’s complexity. We progressively build from the simplicity of dyadic games for which the social efficiency deficit and dilemma strength are mathematical duals, to the complexity of carcinogenesis and a vaccination dilemma for which only the social efficiency deficit is numerically calculable. The results send a clear message to policymakers to enact measures that increase the social efficiency deficit until the strain between what is and what could be incentivises society to switch to a more desirable state.

Centralized or Decentralized? The Contact Tracing Dilemma

Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic created a noticeable challenge to the cryptographic community with the development of contact tracing applications. The media reported a dispute between designers proposing a centralized or a decentralized solution (namely, the PEPP-PT and the DP3T projects). Perhaps, the time constraints to develop and deploy efficient solutions led to non-optimal (in terms of privacy) solutions. Moreover, arguments have been severely biased and the scientific debate did not really happen until recently. In this paper, we show the vulnerabilities and the advantages of both solutions systematically. We believe that none offers any sufficient level of privacy protection and the decision to use one or another is as hard as using automated contact tracing at the first place. A third way could be explored. We list here a few possible directions.

Work intensification and employee involvement in lean production: new light on a classic dilemma

Abstract: This paper contributes to the literature on lean production by exploring whether and how the involvement of employees in continuous improvement and their work outcomes are jeopardized by the intens...

Competence versus control : The governor’s dilemma

Abstract: Most governance is indirect, carried out through intermediaries. Principal–agent theory views indirect governance primarily as a problem of information: the agent has an informational advantage over the principal, which it can exploit to evade principal control. But indirect governance creates a more fundamental problem of power. Competent intermediaries with needed expertise, credibility, legitimacy, and/or operational capacity are inherently difficult to control because the policy benefits they can create (or the trouble they can cause) give them leverage. Conversely, tight governor control constrains intermediaries. The governor thus faces a dilemma: emphasizing control limits intermediary competence and risks policy failure; emphasizing intermediary competence risks control failure. This “governor's dilemma” helps to explain puzzling features of indirect governance: why it is not limited to principal–agent delegation but takes multiple forms; why governors choose forms that appear counterproductive in an informational perspective; and why arrangements are frequently unstable.

Communicating sentiment and outlook reverses inaction against collective risks

Abstract: Collective risks permeate society, triggering social dilemmas in which working toward a common goal is impeded by selfish interests. One such dilemma is mitigating runaway climate change. To study the social aspects of climate-change mitigation, we organized an experimental game and asked volunteer groups of three different sizes to invest toward a common mitigation goal. If investments reached a preset target, volunteers would avoid all consequences and convert their remaining capital into monetary payouts. In the opposite case, however, volunteers would lose all their capital with 50% probability. The dilemma was, therefore, whether to invest one's own capital or wait for others to step in. We find that communicating sentiment and outlook helps to resolve the dilemma by a fundamental shift in investment patterns. Groups in which communication is allowed invest persistently and hardly ever give up, even when their current investment deficits are substantial. The improved investment patterns are robust to group size, although larger groups are harder to coordinate, as evidenced by their overall lower success frequencies. A clustering algorithm reveals three behavioral types and shows that communication reduces the abundance of the free-riding type. Climate-change mitigation, however, is achieved mainly by cooperator and altruist types stepping up and increasing contributions as the failure looms. Meanwhile, contributions from free riders remain flat throughout the game. This reveals that the mechanisms behind avoiding collective risks depend on an interaction between behavioral type, communication, and timing.

A Review of Theoretical Studies on Indirect Reciprocity

Abstract: Despite the accumulation of research on indirect reciprocity over the past 30 years and the publication of over 100,000 related papers, there are still many issues to be addressed. Here, we look back on the research that has been done on indirect reciprocity and identify the issues that have been resolved and the ones that remain to be resolved. This manuscript introduces indirect reciprocity in the context of the evolution of cooperation, basic models of social dilemma situations, the path taken in the elaboration of mathematical analysis using evolutionary game theory, the discovery of image scoring norms, and the breakthroughs brought about by the analysis of the evolutionary instability of the norms. Moreover, it presents key results obtained by refining the assessment function, resolving the punishment dilemma, and presenting a complete solution to the social dilemma problem. Finally, it discusses the application of indirect reciprocity in various disciplines.

Introducing the pervert’s dilemma: a contribution to the critique of Deepfake Pornography

Abstract: Recent technological innovation has made video doctoring increasingly accessible. This has given rise to Deepfake Pornography, an emerging phenomenon in which Deep Learning algorithms are used to superimpose a person’s face onto a pornographic video. Although to most people, Deepfake Pornography is intuitively unethical, it seems difficult to justify this intuition without simultaneously condemning other actions that we do not ordinarily find morally objectionable, such as sexual fantasies. In the present article, I refer to this contradiction as the pervert’s dilemma. I propose that the method of Levels of Abstraction, a philosophical mode of enquiry inspired by Formal Methods in computer science, can be employed to formulate at least one possible solution to the dilemma. From this perspective, the permissibility of some actions appears to depend on the degree to which they are abstracted from their natural context. I conclude that the dilemma can only be solved when considered at low levels of abstractions, when Deepfakes are situated in the macro-context of gender inequality.

Effects of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic on Social Behaviours: From a Social Dilemma Perspective

Abstract: The health crisis of the COVID-19 outbreak has global impacts on humanity and theeconomy. Such pandemic effects are believed to have influenced human behaviour; issues ofpanic buying (overbuying) and noncompliance among individuals are shown evident. However,the underlying understanding on such behaviours due to the pandemic remains unclear.Therefore, this perspective paper adopts the social dilemma theory and microeconomics conceptsto analyse and explain the effects of COVID-19 on social behavioural reactions. It attempts toaddress the questions of what and why are the behaviours of individuals shown during thecoronavirus pandemic and showcase how the theory is associated with current social phenomena.Real scenarios based on media reporting from the sociodemographic context of Malaysia,concerning the following issues; (i) competition over daily essentials; (ii) self-honesty ofindividuals; and (iii) adherence to government policies and measures enforcement (governance)were discussed. A conceptual framework was developed to illustrate interrelationships betweensocial dilemma concepts and the phenomena. In essence, due to fear, uncertainty and greed, selfinterestand opportunistic (defective/unethical) behaviours of most individuals prevailing oversocietal collective interest amid the pandemic have been prevalently observed in the aboveinstances, although a cooperative choice can eventually result in a better outcome for everyone.Not only do these non-cooperative behaviours of individuals create inconveniences,dissatisfactions and other forms of negative externalities, they also incentivise others to actselfishly, if no restrictions are imposed, that may eventually cause government interventionsfailures. This paper demonstrates the relevancy of the social dilemmas theory in betterunderstanding fundamental human behavioural reactions amid the health crisis and theimportance of incorporating the findings into government policymaking. Thesesociopsychological considerations help the government formulate holistic measures, namelystringent sanctions and monitoring enforcement, as well as incentivising cooperative andcompliant behaviours of the public, which then contribute to curbing the COVID-19 pandemicmore effectively.

The Uncertainty Contagion: Revealing the Interrelated, Cascading Uncertainties of Managed Retreat

Abstract: Managed retreat presents a dilemma for at-risk communities, and the planning practitioners and decisionmakers working to address natural hazard and climate change risks. The dilemma boils down to the countervailing imperatives of moving out of harm’s way versus retaining ties to community and place. While there are growing calls for its use, managed retreat remains challenging in practice—across diverse settings. The approach has been tested with varied success in a number of countries, but significant uncertainties remain, such as regarding who ‘manages’ it, when and how it should occur, at whose cost, and to where? Drawing upon a case study of managed retreat in New Zealand, this research uncovers intersecting and compounding arenas of uncertainty regarding the approach, responsibilities, legality, funding, politics and logistics of managed retreat. Where uncertainty is present in one domain, it spreads into others creating a cascading series of political, personal and professional risks that impact trust in science and authority and affect people’s lives and risk exposure. In revealing these mutually dependent dimensions of uncertainty, we argue there is merit in refocusing attention away from policy deficits, barrier approaches or technical assessments as a means to provide ‘certainty’, to instead focus on the relations between forms of knowledge and coordinating interactions between the diverse arenas: scientific, governance, financial, political and socio-cultural; otherwise uncertainty can spread like a contagion, making inaction more likely.

Speaker’s reference, stipulation, and a dilemma for conceptual engineers

Abstract: Advocates of conceptual engineering as a method of philosophy face a dilemma: either they are ignorant of how conceptual engineering can be implemented, or else it is trivial to implement but of very little value, representing no new or especially fruitful method of philosophizing. Two key distinctions frame this dilemma and explain its two horns. First, the distinction between speaker’s meaning and reference and semantic meaning and reference reveals a severe implementation problem for one construal of conceptual engineering. Second, the distinction between stipulating meanings and conceptually analyzing allows us to see why, on another construal of what conceptual engineering involves, the practice is neither a new nor neglected philosophical methodology. The article also argues that semantic externalism is not the root of the implementation problem for conceptual engineering, and that the usual rationale for adopting the practice, one that ties its value to the amelioration of “conceptual defects”, is unsound.

Power, authority and security: the EU’s Russian gas dilemma

Abstract: This paper investigates contestation of authority in EU energy policy, with a focus on natural gas. It argues that the main challenge centers on the EU’s goals and means of energy security policy, ...

Sustainability education in risks and crises: Lessons from Covid-19

Abstract: Humans have always lived in eras of more or less obvious crises and risks When Ulrich Beck wrote about the risk society in 1986, he talked about risks as invisibility lacking spatial and temporal boundaries The environmental risks of the modern society may often appear diffuse, even if, for example, the climate change dilemma has progressively become noticeable However, this year, people on Earth have had to face a most obvious risk The effects of Covid-19 have reached such proportions that the human world probably will never be the same again However, the extent of jeopardies is not similar for all world inhabitants, neither are the tools to handle the risks To face the threat and learn from it, humans need to change manners on many levels and in many social and physical areas Some of the main questions to reflect on and discuss in this feature issue of Sustainability are: What will the most urgent role of sustainability education be now and in the future? What kind of teaching, learning and educational policies are most relevant? What issues are most crucial in sustainability education research?

Should HR managers allow employees to use social media at work? Behavioral and motivational outcomes of employee blogging

Abstract: There is a dilemma for HR executives concerning social media policies: Should HR managers allow employees to use social media while at work? The question has no easy answer because there ar...

The interplay of emotion expressions and strategy in promoting cooperation in the iterated prisoner's dilemma.

Abstract: The iterated prisoner’s dilemma has been used to study human cooperation for decades. The recent discovery of extortion and generous strategies renewed interest on the role of strategy in shaping behavior in this dilemma. But what if players could perceive each other’s emotional expressions? Despite increasing evidence that emotion signals influence decision making, the effects of emotion in this dilemma have been mostly neglected. Here we show that emotion expressions moderate the effect of generous strategies, increasing or reducing cooperation according to the intention communicated by the signal; in contrast, expressions by extortionists had no effect on participants’ behavior, revealing a limitation of highly competitive strategies. We provide evidence that these effects are mediated mostly by inferences about other’s intentions made from strategy and emotion. These findings provide insight into the value, as well as the limits, of behavioral strategies and emotion signals for cooperation.

Public Service Media Online, Advertising and the Third-Party User Data Business: A Trade versus Trust Dilemma?

Abstract: News and media web pages generate valuable consumer data, collected by third-party servers. Using longitudinal experiments, this article shows that third-party servers are active in 34 cases of Eur...

Caring or Not Caring for Coworkers? An Empirical Exploration of the Dilemma of Care Allocation in the Workplace

Abstract: Organization and management researchers praise the value of care in the workplace. However, they overlook the conflict between caring for work and for coworkers, which resonates with the dilemma of care allocation highlighted by ethicists of care. Through an in-depth qualitative study of two organizations, we examine how this dilemma is confronted in everyday organizational life. We draw on the concept of boundary work to explain how employees negotiate the boundary of their caring responsibilities in ways that grants or denies care to coworkers. We argue that the possibility of an ethics of care for coworkers requires boundary work that suspends the separation of personal and professional selves and constitutes the worker as a whole person. We contribute to research on care in organizations by showing how care for coworkers may be enabled or undermined by maintaining or suppressing the care allocation dilemma.

Trolley Dilemma in Papua. Yali horticulturalists refuse to pull the lever

Abstract: Although many studies show cultural or ecological variability in moral judgments, cross-cultural responses to the trolley problem (kill one person to save five others) indicate that certain moral principles might be prevalent in human populations. We conducted a study in a traditional, indigenous, non-Western society inhabiting the remote Yalimo valley in Papua, Indonesia. We modified the original trolley dilemma to produce an ecologically valid "falling tree dilemma." Our experiment showed that the Yali are significantly less willing than Western people to sacrifice one person to save five others in this moral dilemma. The results indicate that utilitarian moral judgments to the trolley dilemma might be less widespread than previously supposed. On the contrary, they are likely to be mediated by sociocultural factors.

Folk standards of sound judgment: Rationality Versus Reasonableness.

Abstract: Normative theories of judgment either focus on rationality (decontextualized preference maximization) or reasonableness (pragmatic balance of preferences and socially conscious norms). Despite centuries of work on these concepts, a critical question appears overlooked: How do people's intuitions and behavior align with the concepts of rationality from game theory and reasonableness from legal scholarship? We show that laypeople view rationality as abstract and preference maximizing, simultaneously viewing reasonableness as sensitive to social context, as evidenced in spontaneous descriptions, social perceptions, and linguistic analyses of cultural products (news, soap operas, legal opinions, and Google books). Further, experiments among North Americans and Pakistani bankers, street merchants, and samples engaging in exchange (versus market) economy show that rationality and reasonableness lead people to different conclusions about what constitutes good judgment in Dictator Games, Commons Dilemma, and Prisoner's Dilemma: Lay rationality is reductionist and instrumental, whereas reasonableness integrates preferences with particulars and moral concerns.

The American and Japanese auto industries in transition : report of the Joint U.S.-Japan Automotive Study

Abstract: In view of the importance of stable, long-term economic and political relationships between Japan and the U.S., automotive issues have to be dealt with in ways consistent with the joint prosperity of both countries. With these considerations in mind, the Joint U.S.-Japan Automotive Study project identified 4 forces that will determine the future course of the industry in both countries: (1) consumers demands vis-a-vis automobiles; (2) flexible manufacturing systems (FMS); (3) rapidly evolving technology and (4) the internalization of the automotive industry. The dilemma facing the industrialized nations is the problem of making short-term adjustments to the macro political and economic problems without succumbing to a deteriorating cycle of long-term restrictions, stagnation and decline. With the objective of resolving this dilemma and furthering the adjustments to new competitive forces, the study narrowed the problems to the following areas: (1) macroeconomic policy; (2) exchange rate; (3) market access; (4) technological progress; (5) manufacturing cost differences; (6) manufacturer-supplier relations; (7) human resource management; and (8) public policy.

Big data and big techs: understanding the value of information in platform capitalism

Abstract: One of the major challenges that result from the digital transformation occurring in our societies bears on its impact on the organization and regulation of the economy. This leads to a dramatic change to the economic institutions of capitalism—into what could be defined as platform capitalism—that rests on a fundamental dilemma between ‘decentralization’ on the one side and ‘concentration’ on the other. This is the main puzzle that the emergence of a big data driven economy is actually offering to law and economics scholars and to policy makers. This paper introduces to some of the major aspects of this dilemma.

Flexibility and Reputation in Repeated Prisoner’s Dilemma Games

Abstract: We study how three matching institutions, differing in how relationships are dissolved, affect cooperation in a repeated prisoner’s dilemma and how cooperation rates are affected by the presence of...

Inclusive education: why it poses a dilemma to some teachers

Abstract: Inclusive education is a contested domain with positions ranging from strident opposition through cautious support to strong advocacy. Some stakeholders have taken a middle-of-the-road position bec...