Working with AI vs Humans: The Impact on Wellbeing (joint work with Karen Zheng, Tim Kraft and Shawn Mankad)
Our study aims to identify the impact of working with AI versus working with a human partner on employee well-being. We design an experiment in which participants are tasked with completing two operations management tasks, one at the strategic level, which requires a qualitative approach and creative thinking, and the other at the planning level, which requires a more quantitative approach and analytical thinking. We find that participants' wellbeing is significantly lower after working with AI versus another human. Working with another human helps to decrease negative emotions and slightly increase positive emotions during the experiment.
Authentication Service as a Signal of Quality on Second-Hand Platforms (joint work with Masoud Fazlavi and Chong Zhang)
The potential of second-hand product markets to decrease the negative environmental impact of production is high. One obstacle to developing such online markets is consumers’ uncertainty about products' quality. This work investigates the potential of an authentication service, offered by the platform, to mitigate such quality uncertainty for second-hand products. Using a signaling model, we find that a product authentication service offered as an option at a cost can act as a reliable signal of high-quality sellers. This service increases the high-quality sellers’ probability of sale and also their profits, making the platform more attractive for such sellers.
Unbounded rampups under bounded rationality: the case of COVID-19 distribution in The Netherlands (joint work with Henk Akkermans and Albert Mandemakers)
Very fast and coordinated ramp-ups of new products or services are almost always problematic. Typically, managers are inherently boundedly rational, overestimate the scalability of their supply chains, consider fewer alternatives, and coordinate less with other supply chain actors. One notable exception to the phenomenon is COVID-19 production and distribution. In many countries, including European countries such as The Netherlands, vaccines could be designed, produced and distributed much faster than was anticipated. This is all the more surprising, because these ramp-ups were so risky. Why was this? We study the case of the Dutch COVID-19 distribution. The first mile of distribution, from the manufacturing sites to the regional distribution point, worked efficiently, despite the extreme challenges. The logistic service providers coordinated very well and prioritized COVID-vaccines leveraging their broad portfolio. Last mile distribution and vaccination was the responsibility of the regulator in The Netherlands. Outside industry expertise was insufficiently sought, alternative solutions were inadequately evaluated, and adjustments to prior choices were not made easily.