Omega-international Journal of Management Science最新文献

{"title":"How do behavioral biases affect backfiring of intensified auditing on corporate social responsibility?","authors":"Luyao Li ,&nbsp;Xiaobo Zhao ,&nbsp;Wanshan Zhu ,&nbsp;Jinxing Xie","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103527","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103527","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Auditing is widely used to motivate suppliers to exert more corporate social responsibility (CSR) efforts. However, trade journals reported that intensified auditing backfired, reducing suppliers’ CSR efforts and prompting them to hide violations to pass audits. We conduct an experiment to examine suppliers’ behavioral biases and their impact on this “backfiring effect”. The experiment provides evidence for two key behavioral biases: loss aversion and probability weighting. Interestingly, the two biases have opposite influences: loss aversion mitigates, but probability weighting aggravates the “backfiring effect”. Despite their conflicting influences, our analysis reveals that loss aversion dominates, resulting in an overall alleviation of the “backfiring effect” by behavioral biases. Our findings imply that, in practice, managers can improve CSR by making good use of behavioral biases’ positive impact.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"142 ","pages":"Article 103527"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146039523","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An explainable and interpretable composite indicator based on decision rules","authors":"Salvatore Corrente ,&nbsp;Salvatore Greco ,&nbsp;Roman Słowiński ,&nbsp;Silvano Zappalà","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103513","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103513","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Composite indicators are widely used to score or classify units evaluated on multiple criteria. Their construction typically involves aggregating criteria evaluations, a common practice in Multiple Criteria Decision Aiding (MCDA). Beyond producing a final score or classification, however, ensuring explainability, interpretability, and transparency is crucial. This paper proposes a novel framework for constructing explainable and interpretable composite indicators using if–then decision rules. We explore four scenarios: (i) decision rules explaining classifications derived from the sum of ordinal indicator codes; (ii) interpretation of an opaque numerical composite indicator used to classify units into quantiles; (iii) construction of a composite indicator from decision-maker preference information, given as classifications of reference units; and (iv) explanation of classifications generated by an existing MCDA method. To induce the rules from scored or classified units, we apply the Dominance-based Rough Set Approach. The resulting rules relate class assignments or scores to threshold conditions on indicator values in a clear and intelligible way, clarifying the underlying rationale and supporting the assessment of new units. Our main methodological contribution is the introduction of a decision-rule-based framework for constructing composite indicators. Moreover, the framework extends naturally to continuous composite indicators by treating each distinct score as an ordered class. This is enabled by a new algorithm that efficiently induces all minimal rules in a single run. Although this may yield many rules, explainability is preserved by showing only those satisfied by the unit of interest. Finally, the methodology can handle datasets with missing values, enhancing its practical applicability.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"142 ","pages":"Article 103513"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189746","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Holding private quality information: implications for unethical practices and social welfare in credence goods markets","authors":"Li Jiang ,&nbsp;Zhongyuan Hao","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103515","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103515","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We investigate how a provider’s private quality information influences the adoption of pricing strategies, with implications for the occurrence of unethical practices and social welfare. Specifically, we consider a market where a provider caters to consumers with various needs. Consumers are uncertain about the intensity of their needs or the provider’s quality. The provider employs either uniform pricing or non-uniform pricing for various service types. After discerning a consumer’s need, the provider may refuse to treat the consumer (termed as consumer dumping) or recommend a service, in which case the provider may recommend a serious service to a consumer with a minor need but perform a minor service (termed as overcharging). The consumer accepts service only when perceiving its value to exceed the price. We demonstrate that the provider signals (conceals) quality with a quality-dependent (quality-invariant) menu when the provider’s likelihood of offering high-quality service is low (high). Depending on cost structure and consumer composition, the provider may dump consumers under uniform pricing or overcharge consumers under non-uniform pricing. Quality revelation eliminates unethical behavior, while it may benefit the provider but has no consequential effects on consumers as a whole. It is noteworthy that even imperfect quality revelation, which is subject to biases in quality disclosure, can improve the profit of the provider and enhance social welfare. Moreover, we alert regulators to market conditions when imposing price caps, as imprudent regulations may drive the market into disorder and incubate unethical behavior.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"142 ","pages":"Article 103515"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146080147","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Ecosystem risk management: A MIP approach to spatial prioritization of multiple management actions","authors":"Matías Moreno-Faguett ,&nbsp;José Salgado-Rojas ,&nbsp;Virgilio Hermoso ,&nbsp;María José Martínez-Harms ,&nbsp;Bárbara Larraín-Barrios ,&nbsp;Eduardo Álvarez-Miranda","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2025.103507","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2025.103507","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Healthy ecosystems are essential for conserving biodiversity and supporting human well-being, yet human activities impose significant pressures, risking ecological features such as species, habitats and ecosystem services. While Systematic Conservation Planning (SCP) has been widely used to address these issues, traditional approaches often result in risk-averse solutions, focusing management efforts on low-impact sites and potentially leading to suboptimal conservation outcomes. To address this gap, we propose a mixed-integer programming (MIP) approach designed to explicitly reduce ecosystem risk by prioritizing cost-effective actions and sites to manage multiple stressors, while accounting for spatial needs such as connectivity and socio-political boundaries. Our framework integrates a state-of-the-art ecological risk assessment tool (InVEST-Habitat Risk Assessment) with an SCP-based mathematical programming tool (<span>prioriactions</span> <em>R</em> package) for guiding risk management. We applied this framework to Chilean Patagonia, using giant kelp (<em>Macrocystis pyrifera</em>) forests as a proxy for coastal ecosystems under pressure from stressors such as aquaculture, vessel activities, and ocean temperatures. The framework was assessed across five planning scenarios, each with different spatial needs, and was compared with traditional approaches. The results demonstrated that our approach consistently outperforms traditional ones, ensuring risk reduction in all scenarios. In key comparisons, the traditional approaches failed to exceed 47% of the risk reduction target. In addition to meeting higher risk reductions, our approach successfully overcame spatial needs in all scenarios. However, the inclusion of these constraints increased computational difficulty by 36 to 150 times and solution costs by up to 71%. These findings highlight the flexibility of the framework, but also emphasize the need for coordinated planning. This work aims to bridge the gap between risk assessment and risk management in conservation planning by explicitly incorporating risk as a primary objective instead of a secondary outcome. Our framework is applicable to any multi-stressor context, providing a flexible tool for designing cost-effective management strategies. By focusing on risk reduction and incorporating spatial needs, this approach enhances long-term ecosystem resilience.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"142 ","pages":"Article 103507"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146080073","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"E-commerce for social media platforms: Co-opetition and traffic distribution","authors":"Wenju Wang ,&nbsp;Xuedong Liang ,&nbsp;Xiangrui Chao ,&nbsp;Zhongbin Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103524","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103524","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In recent years, social media platforms (SMPs) such as Douyin have amassed large user bases and substantial traffic by offering engaging content services. To capitalize on this traffic, many SMPs have integrated in-app shopping features, seeking to monetize user engagement through self-operated or agency-based e-commerce models. However, this strategic shift inevitably introduces competition with well-established traditional e-commerce platforms (TEPs). Given the complementary strengths of SMPs in traffic volume and TEPs in traffic conversion, fostering cooperation is considered an effective strategy for mitigating this emerging competition. Unfortunately, the dynamics of such co-opetition have not been systematically analyzed. To address this research gap, this paper pioneers a systematic exploration of co-opetition strategies between the SMP and the TEP from the perspective of traffic and its distribution strategy. Our results are as follows. First, while cooperation can enhance the traffic conversion rate (TCR) for the SMP’s self-operated product, it can also intensify market competition. As a result, cooperation may reduce both the SMP’s profits and the e-commerce market’s overall average TCR compared to non-cooperation. Second, although the TEP can gain additional traffic and revenue through cooperation, it can be detrimental when the market size is small. Finally, there is a significant misalignment in the cooperation preferences between the two platforms. Mutual benefits are primarily achievable in moderate-sized markets. Even worse, when the SMP’s relative traffic conversion efficiency is high, cooperation may paradoxically lead to a lose-lose situation. We further extend the model in several directions and demonstrate the robustness of our main findings.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"142 ","pages":"Article 103524"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146039522","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"The value of product-specific first-meet coupons: Enhancing customer acquisitions and sales through causal forest","authors":"Cheng Fang ,&nbsp;Yong-Wu Zhou ,&nbsp;Xiaojing Feng ,&nbsp;Kedi Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103528","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103528","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study investigates the effects of product-specific first-meet coupons, a targeted promotional strategy designed at the product level to attract new customers with various coupon face values across products, on key market outcomes on the online retail platform. Leveraging a unique dataset from a leading Asian online retail platform, spanning three months of transactions across 14,672 products, 760 brands, and over 28 million customers, we employ propensity score matching and difference-in-differences methods within a quasi-experimental framework. Our results demonstrate that first-meet coupons significantly boost new customer acquisition and sales volume without spiking product returns. Heterogeneity analyses reveal that the impact is particularly pronounced for well-known brands, products with moderate discounts or high word-of-mouth volume, and middle-aged female consumers. Building on these findings, we utilize a causal forest model to optimize product-level discount strategies, enhancing customer acquisition efficiency. Our study provides actionable insights to help retail platforms design more effective promotional policies.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"142 ","pages":"Article 103528"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146080146","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Toward resilient green cloud computing: Joint operations of energy storage and spatial task allocation","authors":"Zihao Jiao ,&nbsp;Xiaoxin Xie ,&nbsp;Mengyi Sha ,&nbsp;Wei Qi","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2025.103509","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2025.103509","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In recent years, the surge in advanced internet computing workloads in data centers, has intensified the challenge of ensuring energy efficiency while maintaining stable and resilient computational services. In practice, widely deployed integrated centralized work-scheduling and energy-management systems are designed to optimize power distribution, renewable-energy utilization, and computational efficiency. However, it faces significant sociotechnical challenges that hinder their effective implementation. To address these issues, we integrate reserve regulation and task allocation to further optimize the operations of multiple data centers in a computational resource-sharing platform. We model the problem as a two-stage stochastic integer program. In the first stage, we optimize backup battery capacity for each data center, and in the second, we introduce a non-preemptive M/M/1 queue with task priorities. We then analyze stationary processing times and apply second-order cone programming for improved computational tractability. We develop an outer-approximation algorithm to improve computational efficiency for large-scale problems, while our integrated strategy balances cost efficiency, environmental sustainability, and resilience at minimal costs. A case study demonstrates that the integrated strategy for multiple data centers reduces total costs by 10.39% and 10.88% compared to task allocation and backup-battery reserve regulation strategies, respectively. Task priorities save 3%–4% in operational costs, while the strategy ensures stable operations and stronger resilience during power interruptions. The outer-approximation algorithm outperforms commercial solvers by 30%, and task replication improves renewable-energy utilization and energy efficiency in smaller data centers. These findings highlight the potential of our strategy to enhance data center efficiency, sustainability, and resilience.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"142 ","pages":"Article 103509"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146039524","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Linearization of the additive two-stage network data envelopment analysis model","authors":"Dariush Khezrimotlagh","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103530","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103530","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>In solving the additive two-stage network data envelopment analysis (2SN DEA), a line-search method has been proposed that reformulates the model as a family of linear programs indexed by a positive parameter and computes the global optimum to any desired tolerance through a search over a bounded interval for this parameter. However, subsequent studies continued to rely on similar iterative schemes with substantial computational effort. In this short communication, we linearize the problem using the McCormick envelope method, which provides a global optimal solution directly and eliminates the computational burden associated with the earlier line-search approaches.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"142 ","pages":"Article 103530"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189743","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"An exact scenario-independent deterministic equivalent form of stochastic programs embedding Multivariate Extreme Value discrete choice problems","authors":"Michel Bierlaire ,&nbsp;Edoardo Fadda ,&nbsp;Lohic Fotio Tiotsop ,&nbsp;Daniele Manerba","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103514","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103514","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>We address the class of two-stage Stochastic Programs embedding, in their second stage, a set of Discrete Choice Problems (tsSP-DCPs), one independent from the other, but all linked by the first-stage decisions This decisional structure can be found within many managerial and organizational contexts in relation to several applications such as location–allocation, routing, scheduling, and sequencing. Generally, solving a two-stage stochastic program requires the analytical derivation of the second-stage problem’s expected optimum, which in turn implies calculating a multidimensional integral. Therefore, a common practice is approximating the random variables involved through a finite set of scenarios and solving a huge scenario-dependent program, which affects the scalability of making optimal decisions under uncertainty. However, under some assumptions commonly adopted in the discrete choice context, we can prove that a closed-form analytical expression of the expected second-stage optimum of a tsSP-DCP can be derived, and an exact scenario-independent equivalent deterministic program can be obtained. Through a numerical showcase, we validate our approach in terms of efficiency and effectiveness. Our equivalent deterministic form, which only requires estimating a few parameters in practice, is far less computationally demanding than any scenario-based deterministic equivalent forms, thereby simplifying the decision-making process. Finally, we show that our methodology can be generalized to address a larger class of two-stage stochastic programs, i.e., those in which the second-stage expected optimum is decomposable into a finite number of expectations of Extreme Values and in which second-stage utilities may also depend on first-stage decisions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"142 ","pages":"Article 103514"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146001714","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Combining benders decomposition and column generation for server allocation and scheduling in multiple queues","authors":"Chengkai Wang,&nbsp;Ran Liu,&nbsp;Ershun Pan,&nbsp;Ding Jin,&nbsp;Xiaoyu Fan","doi":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103536","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.omega.2026.103536","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper addresses the server allocation and scheduling problem in a service system with multiple queues at different locations. Each queue experiences stochastic and time-varying customer arrivals. In addition to fixed servers, mobile servers can relocate to cope with fluctuating demands. Our motivation stems from applications in large scenic spots and airports. For example, at a partner large scenic spot, employees are dynamically allocated to various entrances to shorten queues for tourists. Similarly, in large airports, security teams are dynamically assigned to different terminals to reduce passengers’ security queues. The introduction of mobile servers enhances service levels and reduces queue lengths but complicates routing and scheduling due to time-varying travel times. We formulate a nonlinear mixed-integer model of the problem. By exploiting the structural properties of the original model, a mixed-integer convex programming model is developed. We then develop efficient exact algorithms based on Benders decomposition and column generation, providing high-quality solutions. Evaluation using a real-world dataset from a large partner scenic spot shows that the proposed framework reduces employee working time by an average of 14.13% compared to current schedules. The results also reveal two key roles of mobile servers: peak support and off-peak continuity. Airport datasets further confirm that our approach reduces server workloads while satisfying all queue-length constraints, outperforming state-of-the-art methods.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":19529,"journal":{"name":"Omega-international Journal of Management Science","volume":"142 ","pages":"Article 103536"},"PeriodicalIF":7.2,"publicationDate":"2026-07-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146189744","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}