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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/2451/14112
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| Title: | Software Versioning and Quality Degradation? An Exploratory Study of
the Evidence |
| Authors: | Ghose, Anindya
Sundararajan, Arun |
| Keywords: | software quality
vertical differentiation
price discrimination
quality distortion
information goods
Internet
electronic commerce
economics of IS
econometrics
analytical modeling
salesrank |
| Issue Date: | Jul-2005 |
| Publisher: | Stern School of Business, New York University |
| Series/Report no.: | CeDER-05-20 |
| Abstract: | We present a framework for measuring software quality using pricing and
demand data, and empirical estimates that quantify the extent of quality
degradation associated with software versioning. Using a 7-month,
108-product panel of software sales from Amazon.com, we document the
extent to which quality varies across different software versions,
estimating quality degradation that ranges from as little as 8% to as
much as 56% below that of the corresponding flagship version. Consistent
with prescriptions from the theory of vertical differentiation, we also
find that an increase in the total number of versions is associated with
an increase in the difference in quality between the highest and lowest
quality versions, and a decrease in the quality difference between
"neighboring" versions. We compare our estimates with those
derived from two sets of subjective measures of quality, based on CNET
editorial ratings and Amazon.com user reviews, and discuss competing
interpretations of the significant differences that emerge from this
comparison. As the first empirical study of software versioning that is
based on both subjective and econometrically estimated measures of
quality, this paper provides a framework for testing a wide variety of
results in IS that are based on related models of vertical
differentiation, and its findings have important implications for
studies that treat web-based user ratings as cardinal data. |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/2451/14112 |
| Appears in Collections: | CeDER Working Papers
IOMS: Information Systems Working Papers
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