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The Cost Impact of Spam Filters: Measuring the Effect of Information System Technologies in Organizations

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Author Info
Caliendo, Marco () (IZA)
Clement, Michel () (University of Hamburg)
Papies, Dominik () (University of Hamburg)
Scheel-Kopeinig, Sabine () (University of Cologne)

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Abstract

More than 70% of global e-mail traffic consists of unsolicited and commercial direct marketing, also known as spam. Dealing with spam incurs high costs for organizations, prompting efforts to try to reduce spam-related costs by installing spam filters. Using modern econometric methods to reduce the selection bias of installing a spam filter, we deploy a unique data setting implemented at a German university to measure the costs associated with spam and the costs savings of spam filters. The applied methodological framework can easily be transferred to estimate the effect of other IS technologies (e.g., SAP) implemented in organizations. Our findings indicate that central IT costs are of little relevance since the majority of spam costs stem from employees who spend working time identifying and deleting spam. The working time losses caused by spam are approximately 1,200 minutes per employee per year; these costs could be reduced by roughly 35% through the installation of a spam filter mechanism. The individual efficiency of a spam filter installation depends on the amount of spam that is received and on the level of knowledge about spam.

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Publisher Info
Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 3755.

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Date of creation: Oct 2008
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Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp3755

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Related research
Keywords: propensity score matching; treatment effects; spam filter; spam;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
M12 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Business Administration - - - Personnel Management; Executive Compensation
M15 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting - - Business Administration - - - IT Management

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Glenn W. Harrison & John A. List, 2004. "Field Experiments," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 42(4), pages 1009-1055, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Seung-Hoon Yoo & Chul-Oh Shin & Seung-Jun Kwak, 2006. "Inconvenience cost of spam mail: a contingent valuation study," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 13(14), pages 933-936, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. James Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Jeffrey Smith & Petra Todd, 1998. "Characterizing Selection Bias Using Experimental Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(5), pages 1017-1098, September.
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  4. Josef Falkinger, 2003. "Attention Economies," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Oecd, 2005. "Spam Issues in Developing Countries," OECD Digital Economy Papers 99, OECD, Directorate for Science, Technology and Industry. [Downloadable!]
  6. Barbara Sianesi, 2002. "An evaluation of the Swedish system of active labour market programmes in the 1990s," IFS Working Papers W02/01, Institute for Fiscal Studies. [Downloadable!]
  7. Sascha O. Becker & Marco Caliendo, 2007. "Sensitivity analysis for average treatment effects," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 7(1), pages 71-83, February. [Downloadable!]
  8. A. Smith, Jeffrey & E. Todd, Petra, 2005. "Does matching overcome LaLonde's critique of nonexperimental estimators?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 125(1-2), pages 305-353. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Michael Lechner, 2002. "Some practical issues in the evaluation of heterogeneous labour market programmes by matching methods," Journal Of The Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 165(1), pages 59-82. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  10. Heckman, James J. & Lalonde, Robert J. & Smith, Jeffrey A., 1999. "The economics and econometrics of active labor market programs," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 31, pages 1865-2097 Elsevier. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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