Internal Lunch Seminars

Internal Lunch Seminars provide an informal forum for local researchers to present their work in progress and receive feedback and criticism from colleagues. Talks should last no longer than 30 minutes, leaving ample time for discussion. All interested parties are welcome to attend these events, and we encourage participants to bring their own lunch or sandwich. If you wish to present your work, please drop us an email.

Upcoming seminars

17 Oct

14:00

Strategic uncertainty in games

Ondřej Krčál (Masaryk University) ESF Room MT205 Personal website

Strategic uncertainty is the uncertainty that people face with respect to the purposeful behavior of others in interactive situations. Previous literature measures strategic uncertainty by varying the source of uncertainty. We suggest that strategic uncertainty varies not only between strategic and non-strategic decisions but also that different games are associated with varying degrees of strategic uncertainty. We use the expected volatility of probabilities as a measurement of strategic uncertainty. Our experimental design manipulates strategic uncertainty by changing the payoff structure of a 2x2 strategic game with incomplete information. Our manipulation changes the expected volatility of probability assigned to either action. However, it does not change the equilibrium actions or equilibrium payoffs. We elicit participants' action choices and preferences with respect to the varying degrees of strategic uncertainty in a series of binary choices. Our results show that participants exhibit strategic uncertainty aversion.

24 Oct

14:00

Before It’s Gone! How Travelers Respond to Time-Limited Scarcity Cues?

Dušan Mladenović (Masaryk University) ESF Room MT205

This study addresses a critical gap in the existing literature on the efficacy of time-based scarcity cues in the online travel sector. Despite extensive research on scarcity cues influencing tourism-related behaviors such as booking intentions and destination attractiveness, little is known about the real-world impact of time-based scarcity cues, especially their potential negative effects. Moreover, the role of mobile push notifications in mediating these effects remains largely unexplored. By utilizing psychological postulates of the “get-it-before-it's-gone” effect, scarcity principles, and randomized experimental design, this research note quantifies the influence of time-based scarcity cues on traveler behavior - specifically concerning push notifications affecting click-through and conversion (booking) rates. The findings provide actionable insights for online travel platforms and contribute to a theoretical understanding of mobile marketing and travel research.

Keywords: push notifications, before-its-gone effect, randomized experiments, booking, time-based scarcity cues

21 Nov

14:00

Cohesion Policy Grants and Corporate Performance: Insights from Slovakia

Eva Výrostová (Masaryk University) ESF Room MT205

The evaluation of the EU Cohesion policy’s effectiveness in the literature is usually macroeconomic in nature. As recent studies highlight the importance of conducting analyses also at the micro-level, this paper estimates the effect of EU Cohesion policy grants on firms’ performance in Slovakia. Our firm-level database is based on Slovak firms’ financial statements and business activities combined with a dataset of enterprises receiving EU funding from Cohesion policy grants. The difference-in-difference method is used to compare two groups of enterprises: those that obtained support from EU funds and a control group of non-participating entities. Our results show that the major differences for participating firms include a significant increase in debt ratio dynamics in the initial years, higher debt levels that are persistent over longer periods, a significant increase in total assets, and a decrease in profitability and rentability. The results are robust with respect to sample matching techniques and matched sample sizes.