Essays on electronic commerce in higher-education and expert opinion sectors

Zafer D Ozdemir, Purdue University

Abstract

This dissertation is composed of two essays, each of which examines the use of electronic commerce in a sector. The first one explores the incentives of different types of institutions in adopting Technology-Mediated Distance Education (TMDE) by developing and testing an analytical model. The model studies the problem of an institution that chooses an admission policy, tuition policy, and the extent of TMDE to be incorporated into its curriculum. Using two extensive data sets on 1997–1998 and 2000–2001 academic years, our empirical work supports the main hypotheses of the model, including the significance of the quality of on-campus education, the relevant market (national vs. regional), and public/private status in determining the extent of TMDE adoption. The results have direct implications on the design of degree programs. The second essay focuses on the online consultation market. Although online consultations are convenient for consumers, the diagnostic accuracy may be lower. Still, reputed institutions such as Harvard University hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic provide online opinions. We develop a duopoly model and study the strategies of high-quality experts in business-to-consumer consultation markets. Experts decide to provide first or second opinions and whether to serve face-to-face or online. The experts' skills and the offered quality levels differ. We show that both the transaction cost and the reduction in the diagnostic precision in online markets impact the value of the first opinion more adversely than that of the second opinion, which provides incentives for the high-quality experts to specialize as second opinion providers. We also show that high-quality experts can charge higher face-to-face prices by adopting the online channel.

Degree

Ph.D.

Advisors

Altinkemer, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Management|Higher education|Educational software

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