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Development of a Novel Framework for the Assessment and Improvement of Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Actions in Europe
Abstract: The greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions in the European Union (EU) are mainly caused by human activity from five sectors—power, industry, transport, buildings, and agriculture. To tackle all these challenges, the EU actions and policies have been encouraging initiatives focusing on a holistic approach but these initiatives are not enough coordinated and connected to reach the much needed impact. To strengthen the important role of regions in climate actions, and stimulate wide stakeholders' engagement including citizens, a conceptual framework for enabling rapid and far-reaching climate actions through multi-sectoral regional adaptation pathways is hereby developed. The target audience for this framework is composed by regional policy makers, developers and fellow scientists. The scale of the framework emphasizes the regional function as an important meeting point and delivery arena for European and national climate strategies and objectives both at urban and rural level. The framework is based on transformative and no-regret measures, prioritizing the Key Community Systems (KCS) that most urgently need to be protected from climate impacts and risks.
Journal: Frontiers in Sustainable Cities
Published: Mar 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Bogetoft
The Rise and Fall of Institutional Entrepreneurship in Islamic Financial Reporting Standardisation Projects
Abstract: This paper explores the institutional entrepreneurship process. It focuses on how institutional entrepreneurs implement their vision of accounting change in the Islamic financial reporting standardisation initiatives while providing insights into why these actors may fail in this process. Research findings informed by semi-structured interviews and document analysis demonstrate that institutional entrepreneurs’ attainment of accounting change is subject to their ability to collectively and skilfully frame, promote and institutionalise their entrepreneurial vision, mobilise allies and alleviate the resistance of field’s “incumbents”. The paper contributes to the accounting change literature by expanding our understanding of the determinants of successful accounting change and of how institutional entrepreneurs can effect change in the contemporary accounting system. It also contributes to the ongoing institutional entrepreneurship theorisation by revealing the contingencies through which actors may overcome the barriers to change in highly institutionalised systems.
Abstract: This paper explores the institutional entrepreneurship process. It focuses on how institutional entrepreneurs implement their vision of accounting change in the Islamic financial reporting standardisation initiatives while providing insights into why these actors may fail in this process. Research findings informed by semi-structured interviews and document analysis demonstrate that institutional entrepreneurs’ attainment of accounting change is subject to their ability to collectively and skilfully frame, promote and institutionalise their entrepreneurial vision, mobilise allies and alleviate the resistance of field’s “incumbents”. The paper contributes to the accounting change literature by expanding our understanding of the determinants of successful accounting change and of how institutional entrepreneurs can effect change in the contemporary accounting system. It also contributes to the ongoing institutional entrepreneurship theorisation by revealing the contingencies through which actors may overcome the barriers to change in highly institutionalised systems.
Journal: Accounting Forum
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Muhammad Al Mahameed
On the Role of Internationalization of Firm-level Corporate Governance: The Case of Audit Committees
Abstract: Research Question/Issue Motivated by the agency theory and the findings of linguistic studies, we analyze the association between the internationalization of a firm's audit committee and its corporate governance.
Research Findings/Insights Based on data from 2159 publicly traded European firms from 15 countries for the period 2000–2018, we find that firms with foreign directors on their audit committees are associated with lower financial reporting quality. The association is mitigated by stronger country-level investor protection and a higher similarity among intra-committee languages. We further find that foreign directors on the audit committee are related to stock prices being less informative about future earnings.
Theoretical/Academic Implication In this study, we argue that language differences create communication difficulties that weaken social integration between foreign directors and the other parties involved in overseeing financial reporting, thus hampering their ability to monitor effectively.
Practitioner/Policy Implications The results indicate that foreign directors on a corporate board increase its independence. However, appointing foreign directors to the firm's audit committee may compromise the board's monitoring function.
Journal: Corporate Governance: An International Review
Published: Dec 22
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Contact CBS researcher: Trond Randøy
Value-capture in Digital Servitization
Abstract: Purpose: Digital capabilities in operations and delivery through constant data acquisition and future predictions have accelerated digital servitization through reduced uncertainty. New flexibility in value-capture concepts like dynamic and value-based pricing is introduced, which was impossible before. This paper explores two things. Firstly, how embracing contractual flexibility of price-variance and contract lengths influences customer perceived value in artificial intelligence (AI) enabled digital offerings. Secondly, the role transparency plays in the perceived value of such offerings.
Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses an experiment-based survey and quantitative assessment within a business-to-business setup with 137 respondents across a couple of industrial manufacturers in the Nordic region.
Findings: The authors observations indicate that value-capture-related flexibilities introduced by digital offerings, namely price fluctuations and longer contract lengths, are perceived to deliver more value to customers than standard offerings with known conditions. The authors findings indicate that introduced flexibilities are perceived as opportunities rather than uncertainties leading to higher perceived value by customers. The increased value perception can be explained by the transparency of these offerings provided by data-driven digital technologies'.
Originality/value: The paper is an original work to understand the value-capture implication of digital servitization. The authors discuss the possibilities of different value-capture strategies that companies can adopt within digital business models.
Abstract: Purpose: Digital capabilities in operations and delivery through constant data acquisition and future predictions have accelerated digital servitization through reduced uncertainty. New flexibility in value-capture concepts like dynamic and value-based pricing is introduced, which was impossible before. This paper explores two things. Firstly, how embracing contractual flexibility of price-variance and contract lengths influences customer perceived value in artificial intelligence (AI) enabled digital offerings. Secondly, the role transparency plays in the perceived value of such offerings.
Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses an experiment-based survey and quantitative assessment within a business-to-business setup with 137 respondents across a couple of industrial manufacturers in the Nordic region.
Findings: The authors observations indicate that value-capture-related flexibilities introduced by digital offerings, namely price fluctuations and longer contract lengths, are perceived to deliver more value to customers than standard offerings with known conditions. The authors findings indicate that introduced flexibilities are perceived as opportunities rather than uncertainties leading to higher perceived value by customers. The increased value perception can be explained by the transparency of these offerings provided by data-driven digital technologies'.
Originality/value: The paper is an original work to understand the value-capture implication of digital servitization. The authors discuss the possibilities of different value-capture strategies that companies can adopt within digital business models.
Journal: Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management
Published: Jul 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Kim Sundtoft Hald
Export Performance and India's Tryst with Self-reliance in the Globalised World
Abstract: India has embarked on the path of self-reliance with no clear road map. This paper highlights the need to demystify the concept and argues that any path to self-reliance would require creating new productive capabilities that would be determined not by what the country can produce but what it can export. Following the "product-space" perspective, promoted by Ricardo Hausmann and others at the Growth Lab of Harvard University stating that a country's capacity to add new capabilities depends strongly on the existing ones, I assess India's export performance since 1988 along three dimensions: growth, diversification, and upgrading, with the objective to understand how well India is prepared to achieve the goal in this globalised world and recommend developing a well-informed export strategy.
Abstract: India has embarked on the path of self-reliance with no clear road map. This paper highlights the need to demystify the concept and argues that any path to self-reliance would require creating new productive capabilities that would be determined not by what the country can produce but what it can export. Following the "product-space" perspective, promoted by Ricardo Hausmann and others at the Growth Lab of Harvard University stating that a country's capacity to add new capabilities depends strongly on the existing ones, I assess India's export performance since 1988 along three dimensions: growth, diversification, and upgrading, with the objective to understand how well India is prepared to achieve the goal in this globalised world and recommend developing a well-informed export strategy.
Journal: Economic and Political Weekly
Published: Jan 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Aradhna Aggarwal
Policy Implications of Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management Research.
Abstract: We identified policy implications of organizational behavior and human resource management (OBHRM) research based on reviewing 4,026 articles in 10 journals (2010–2019). We found that policy implications are underutilized and not part of OBHRM’s zeitgeist because only 1.5% of articles (i.e., n = 61) included them, suggesting that OBHRM risks becoming societally irrelevant. Societal irrelevance may result in lower perceived value-added, less prestige and status compared to other fields that do offer implications for policy, and less support regarding research funding. However, we see potential for OBHRM research to make meaningful contributions to policy-making in the future because we uncovered several areas that do offer some policy implications, such as labor relations, leadership, training and development, justice and fairness, and diversity and inclusion. We offer a dual theory–policy research agenda focused on (a) designing empirical studies with policy-making goals in mind; (b) converting existing exploratory and explanatory research to prescriptive and normative research; (c) deriving policies from bodies of research rather than individual studies; and (d) creating policies based on integrating theories, fields, and levels of analysis. We hope our article will be a catalyst for the creation and implementation of research-based policies in OBHRM and other management subfields.
Abstract: We identified policy implications of organizational behavior and human resource management (OBHRM) research based on reviewing 4,026 articles in 10 journals (2010–2019). We found that policy implications are underutilized and not part of OBHRM’s zeitgeist because only 1.5% of articles (i.e., n = 61) included them, suggesting that OBHRM risks becoming societally irrelevant. Societal irrelevance may result in lower perceived value-added, less prestige and status compared to other fields that do offer implications for policy, and less support regarding research funding. However, we see potential for OBHRM research to make meaningful contributions to policy-making in the future because we uncovered several areas that do offer some policy implications, such as labor relations, leadership, training and development, justice and fairness, and diversity and inclusion. We offer a dual theory–policy research agenda focused on (a) designing empirical studies with policy-making goals in mind; (b) converting existing exploratory and explanatory research to prescriptive and normative research; (c) deriving policies from bodies of research rather than individual studies; and (d) creating policies based on integrating theories, fields, and levels of analysis. We hope our article will be a catalyst for the creation and implementation of research-based policies in OBHRM and other management subfields.
Journal: Academy of Management Perspectives
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Søren Henning Jensen
Transformation and Potentialization: How to Extend the Present and Produce Possibilities
Abstract: Purpose: This article explores how the Danish public sector, over time, has followed different temporal strategies in order to extend the present and handle the system's increasing complexity, thereby counteracting a tendency towards entropy. It proposes that historical changes in the public sector's understandings of the concepts of “time” and “change” can be seen as the answer to the sector's enduring problem of ever-increasing complexity.
Design/methodology/approach: The authors conduct second-order observations of how the Danish public sector, in the period from 1900 until 2020, observes “time” and “change”. More specifically, they first observe how issues over time are temporalized in different forms, before employing the guiding distinction, operation/temporalization, to analyse the differences between temporalities.
Findings: The authors show that, today, the Danish public sector deals with the problems of complexity and entropy through, what is called, potentialization. Potentialization entails operations that aim to increase potentialities, rather than realize possibilities within a given potentiality. It works by extending the present, drawing on a particular temporality which is split into a present present and a future future.
Practical implications: The paper offers managers insights into the implications of their own observations of time and change, including how they might draw on different temporal semantics, through which managerial situations emerge differently. The paper also reveals that issues of transformation are not always about transformation, rather they concern the question of how to handle an increasing internal complexity.
Social implications: The article shows that potentialization and its temporal semantic of “transformation” also comes with a price – namely that it dissolves the certainties of structures, which results in conflicting expectations.
Originality/value: The paper draws on systems theory, including its notions of time and entropy, to analyse the evolution of public administration and management. It thereby produces a diagnosis of the present which offers insights into contemporary conditions for public management.
Abstract: Purpose: This article explores how the Danish public sector, over time, has followed different temporal strategies in order to extend the present and handle the system's increasing complexity, thereby counteracting a tendency towards entropy. It proposes that historical changes in the public sector's understandings of the concepts of “time” and “change” can be seen as the answer to the sector's enduring problem of ever-increasing complexity.
Design/methodology/approach: The authors conduct second-order observations of how the Danish public sector, in the period from 1900 until 2020, observes “time” and “change”. More specifically, they first observe how issues over time are temporalized in different forms, before employing the guiding distinction, operation/temporalization, to analyse the differences between temporalities.
Findings: The authors show that, today, the Danish public sector deals with the problems of complexity and entropy through, what is called, potentialization. Potentialization entails operations that aim to increase potentialities, rather than realize possibilities within a given potentiality. It works by extending the present, drawing on a particular temporality which is split into a present present and a future future.
Practical implications: The paper offers managers insights into the implications of their own observations of time and change, including how they might draw on different temporal semantics, through which managerial situations emerge differently. The paper also reveals that issues of transformation are not always about transformation, rather they concern the question of how to handle an increasing internal complexity.
Social implications: The article shows that potentialization and its temporal semantic of “transformation” also comes with a price – namely that it dissolves the certainties of structures, which results in conflicting expectations.
Originality/value: The paper draws on systems theory, including its notions of time and entropy, to analyse the evolution of public administration and management. It thereby produces a diagnosis of the present which offers insights into contemporary conditions for public management.
Journal: Kybernetes
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen*, Justine Grønbæk Pors
Connectedness of Energy Markets around the World during the COVID-19 Pandemic
Abstract: This paper studies the connectedness among energy equity indices of oil-exporting and oil-importing countries around the world. For each country, we construct time-varying measures of how much shocks this country transmits to other countries and how much shocks this country receives from other countries. We analyze the network of countries and find that, on average, oil-exporting countries are mainly transmitting shocks, and oil-importing countries are mainly receiving shocks. Furthermore, we use panel data regressions to evaluate whether the connectedness among countries is influenced by economic sentiment, uncertainty, and the global COVID-19 pandemic. We find that the connectedness among countries increases significantly in periods of uncertainty, low economic sentiment, and COVID-19 problems. This implies that diversification benefits across countries are severely reduced exactly during crises, that is, during the times when diversification benefits are most important.
Abstract: This paper studies the connectedness among energy equity indices of oil-exporting and oil-importing countries around the world. For each country, we construct time-varying measures of how much shocks this country transmits to other countries and how much shocks this country receives from other countries. We analyze the network of countries and find that, on average, oil-exporting countries are mainly transmitting shocks, and oil-importing countries are mainly receiving shocks. Furthermore, we use panel data regressions to evaluate whether the connectedness among countries is influenced by economic sentiment, uncertainty, and the global COVID-19 pandemic. We find that the connectedness among countries increases significantly in periods of uncertainty, low economic sentiment, and COVID-19 problems. This implies that diversification benefits across countries are severely reduced exactly during crises, that is, during the times when diversification benefits are most important.
Journal: Energy Economics
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
How Connected Is the Agricultural Commodity Market to the News-based Investor Sentiment?
Abstract: Previous studies indicate a substantial time-variation in the co-movement of commodity futures markets and economic fundamentals. This paper examines the connectedness and directional spillovers for both the agricultural commodity futures markets and the corresponding sentiment indices. We first construct dynamic time-varying connectedness measures both for the agricultural commodity returns and sentiments. Then, we use panel data regressions and time-varying Granger causality tests to evaluate whether the spillovers between these returns and sentiments are influenced by the economic and financial uncertainties, including the global COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, we document that the COVID-19 induced uncertainty influences agricultural commodity returns and sentiments significantly around the first cycle of the pandemic in 2020. Last but not least, economic policy and financial market uncertainty are also found to be significant determinants of the connectedness between agricultural commodity returns and sentiment spillovers.
Abstract: Previous studies indicate a substantial time-variation in the co-movement of commodity futures markets and economic fundamentals. This paper examines the connectedness and directional spillovers for both the agricultural commodity futures markets and the corresponding sentiment indices. We first construct dynamic time-varying connectedness measures both for the agricultural commodity returns and sentiments. Then, we use panel data regressions and time-varying Granger causality tests to evaluate whether the spillovers between these returns and sentiments are influenced by the economic and financial uncertainties, including the global COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, we document that the COVID-19 induced uncertainty influences agricultural commodity returns and sentiments significantly around the first cycle of the pandemic in 2020. Last but not least, economic policy and financial market uncertainty are also found to be significant determinants of the connectedness between agricultural commodity returns and sentiment spillovers.
Journal: Energy Economics
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
Exploring Critical Factors Associated with Completion of Childhood Immunisation in the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia Abstract: (1) Background: surveillance data from the Saudi Ministry of Health shows that the Kingdom’s large-scale immunisation programme has significantly reduced the mortality and morbidity of the target diseases among children. In this study, we review relevant literature and test a number of hypotheses related to the association between demographic, socio-economic, clinic-related, and parents-related variables and completion of childhood immunisation. In doing so, this study identifies critical factors associated with completion of childhood immunisation and presents important implications to healthcare practitioners, particularly in Saudi Arabia; (2) Literature review: a systematic literature review was conducted to understand what is currently published concerning parents’ immunisation compliance in Saudi Arabia and the factors associated with immunisation compliance. (3) Methods: from March to May 2022, an online survey was administered to parents attending one of the 27 primary health care (PHC) centres in Qatif. Data from parents (n = 353) were analysed using exploratory factor analysis, correlation, and a series of OLS and logistic regression models; (4) Results: parental (child) age was negatively (positively) associated with the completion status of childhood immunisation (both p < 0.05). Parents with positive attitudes, social norms, perceptions towards immunisation, and those working in private companies were more likely to immunise their children (all p < 0.05). Conversely, living in an apartment building, walking to PHCs, waiting longer at PHCs, and having higher knowledge of immunisation were negatively associated with the completion of childhood immunisation (all p < 0.05); (5) Conclusions: several factors that positively or negatively influence the completion of childhood immunisation have been identified. Future studies may investigate the causal link between these factors and parental decision-making regarding childhood immunisation.
Journal: Vaccines
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Tawfiq Alashoor
Tormented Selves: The Social Imaginary of the Tortured Artist and the Identity Work of Creative Workers.
Abstract: This article examines identity work in the creative industries as a type of identity formation that has been underexplored in the literature on identity work to date. Based on interviews with performing artists in music and theatre, we show how creative workers feel compelled to perform negative (tortured and despondent) identity work in order to attain a positive (coherent, self-sustaining and self-affirming) sense of artistic self. We argue that the dubious link between mental illness and creativity, propagated not only by popular media and pseudo-scientific accounts but also by art history and the creative industries themselves, has served to undergird a social imaginary of the artist as a ‘tortured’ creator. This imaginary in turn provides discursive resources, behavioural cues and affective stimulation for the performance of occupationally desirable yet perilous tormented creative selves. We identify three distinct identity work strategies undertaken by creative workers, namely self-analysis, self-diagnosis and selfmedication, in which social imaginaries purporting an overlap between mental illness and creativity in artistic work play a constitutive role. Our findings contribute to the emergent interdisciplinary literature on identity work in the creative industries and the arts. Moreover, we caution that the negative forms of identity-building practiced by our interviewees, underpinned as they are by social imaginaries of the artist as anguished, dejected and agonized, may in fact be dangerously counterproductive for creative workers coping with the higher rates of depression, anxiety and substance abuse found in precarious creative professions.
Abstract: This article examines identity work in the creative industries as a type of identity formation that has been underexplored in the literature on identity work to date. Based on interviews with performing artists in music and theatre, we show how creative workers feel compelled to perform negative (tortured and despondent) identity work in order to attain a positive (coherent, self-sustaining and self-affirming) sense of artistic self. We argue that the dubious link between mental illness and creativity, propagated not only by popular media and pseudo-scientific accounts but also by art history and the creative industries themselves, has served to undergird a social imaginary of the artist as a ‘tortured’ creator. This imaginary in turn provides discursive resources, behavioural cues and affective stimulation for the performance of occupationally desirable yet perilous tormented creative selves. We identify three distinct identity work strategies undertaken by creative workers, namely self-analysis, self-diagnosis and selfmedication, in which social imaginaries purporting an overlap between mental illness and creativity in artistic work play a constitutive role. Our findings contribute to the emergent interdisciplinary literature on identity work in the creative industries and the arts. Moreover, we caution that the negative forms of identity-building practiced by our interviewees, underpinned as they are by social imaginaries of the artist as anguished, dejected and agonized, may in fact be dangerously counterproductive for creative workers coping with the higher rates of depression, anxiety and substance abuse found in precarious creative professions.
Journal: Organization Studies
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Ana Alacovska*, Dan Kärreman
A Relational Work Perspective on the Gig Economy: Doing Creative Work on Digital Labour Platforms.
Abstract: Based on interviews with 49 visual artists, graphic designers and illustrators working on two leading global digital labour platforms, this article examines how creative workers perform relational work as a means of attenuating labour commodification, precarity, and algorithmic normativity. The article argues that creative work on online labour platforms, rather than being entirely controlled by depersonalised, anonymised and algorithm-driven labour market forces, is also infused in relational infrastructures whose upkeep, solidity and durability depends on the emotional efforts undertaken by workers to match economic transactions and their media of exchange to meaningful client relations. By applying a relational work perspective from economic sociology to the study of platform-mediated gig work, the article elucidates the micro-foundations of creative work in the digital gig economy, including how labour inequalities are produced and reproduced within and around micro-level interpersonal interactions.
Abstract: Based on interviews with 49 visual artists, graphic designers and illustrators working on two leading global digital labour platforms, this article examines how creative workers perform relational work as a means of attenuating labour commodification, precarity, and algorithmic normativity. The article argues that creative work on online labour platforms, rather than being entirely controlled by depersonalised, anonymised and algorithm-driven labour market forces, is also infused in relational infrastructures whose upkeep, solidity and durability depends on the emotional efforts undertaken by workers to match economic transactions and their media of exchange to meaningful client relations. By applying a relational work perspective from economic sociology to the study of platform-mediated gig work, the article elucidates the micro-foundations of creative work in the digital gig economy, including how labour inequalities are produced and reproduced within and around micro-level interpersonal interactions.
Journal: Work, Employment and Society
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Ana Alacovska, Christian Fieseler
Too Tired and in Too Good of a Mood to Worry About Privacy: Explaining the Privacy Paradox Through the Lens of Effort Level in Information Processing
Abstract: The confluence of digital transactions, growing cybersecurity threats, and the internet of the future (e.g., web 3.0 and the metaverse) have made information privacy increasingly important to consumers and companies that rely on consumers willingly shar-ing their personal information. Although information privacy has been of interest to researchers for decades and much has been learned, one thing that perplexes scholars is the privacy paradox, which we define as a mismatch between stated privacy concerns and actual disclosure behaviors. In this paper, we shed light on this phenomenon and show that low-effort information processing triggered by cognitive depletion (Experiment 1), positive mood (Experiment 2), or both (Experiment 3) significantly attenuates the associa-tion between stated privacy concerns and disclosure behaviors. These findings do not indi-cate that individuals do not care about privacy because we find consistent evidence in the three experiments for a significant negative association between stated privacy concerns and disclosure behaviors when individuals have sufficient cognitive capacity (Experiment 1), experience a negative (or neutral) mood (Experiment 2), or have sufficient cognitive capacity coupled with a negative mood state (Experiment 3). Our findings reveal that the paradox is neither an absolute phenomenon nor a myth, but its existence is conditional on contextual factors, including psychological factors related to information processing. We discuss our contribution to privacy theory and provide implications for consumers, compa-nies, and policymakers.
Abstract: The confluence of digital transactions, growing cybersecurity threats, and the internet of the future (e.g., web 3.0 and the metaverse) have made information privacy increasingly important to consumers and companies that rely on consumers willingly shar-ing their personal information. Although information privacy has been of interest to researchers for decades and much has been learned, one thing that perplexes scholars is the privacy paradox, which we define as a mismatch between stated privacy concerns and actual disclosure behaviors. In this paper, we shed light on this phenomenon and show that low-effort information processing triggered by cognitive depletion (Experiment 1), positive mood (Experiment 2), or both (Experiment 3) significantly attenuates the associa-tion between stated privacy concerns and disclosure behaviors. These findings do not indi-cate that individuals do not care about privacy because we find consistent evidence in the three experiments for a significant negative association between stated privacy concerns and disclosure behaviors when individuals have sufficient cognitive capacity (Experiment 1), experience a negative (or neutral) mood (Experiment 2), or have sufficient cognitive capacity coupled with a negative mood state (Experiment 3). Our findings reveal that the paradox is neither an absolute phenomenon nor a myth, but its existence is conditional on contextual factors, including psychological factors related to information processing. We discuss our contribution to privacy theory and provide implications for consumers, compa-nies, and policymakers.
Journal: Information Systems Research
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Tawfiq Alashoor
Betwixt and Between: Trends in Transparency and Secrecy Researc
Abstract: This essay identifies common themes in research on transparency and secrecy and interrogates the intertwined relationship between transparency and secrecy. In this essay, I review four books situated at the intersection of organizational communication (and its related sub-disciplines of information and communication technology and alternative organizing), sociology and cultural studies. These books address different ways of thinking about transparency and secrecy and examine their implications for organizations, institutions and societies. Taken together, these books describe and problematize the dichotomy between transparency and secrecy and their arguments can be used to stimulate a reassessment of secrecy and transparency as ideas, practices and resources in future research. To this end, I discuss in the following some overarching themes of transparency and secrecy, and I conclude with future research directions aimed at understanding the challenges introduced by the transparency secrecy nexus in the present datafied social landscapes.
Abstract: This essay identifies common themes in research on transparency and secrecy and interrogates the intertwined relationship between transparency and secrecy. In this essay, I review four books situated at the intersection of organizational communication (and its related sub-disciplines of information and communication technology and alternative organizing), sociology and cultural studies. These books address different ways of thinking about transparency and secrecy and examine their implications for organizations, institutions and societies. Taken together, these books describe and problematize the dichotomy between transparency and secrecy and their arguments can be used to stimulate a reassessment of secrecy and transparency as ideas, practices and resources in future research. To this end, I discuss in the following some overarching themes of transparency and secrecy, and I conclude with future research directions aimed at understanding the challenges introduced by the transparency secrecy nexus in the present datafied social landscapes.
Journal: Management Communication Quarterly
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oana Brindusa Albu
Managing Visibilities: The Shades and Shadows of NGO Work in Repressive Contexts
Abstract: This study explores how visibilities are produced and managed, and how they transform the work of activists operating in repressive contexts. To advance emerging research, this study blends theoretical perspectives from visibility and activism research and builds on ethnographic methods and fieldwork in a non-profit organization. The contribution of the article to research at the intersection of visibility and activism is twofold: firstly, the article identifies the social and material agencies involved in the production of different dimensions of visibilities (mildly shaded and mostly shadowed). Secondly, the article shows how the three identified relational imbrications of agencies (encryption, obfuscation, and concealment) at times empower and undermine the efforts of both activists and oppressors. The findings provide novel insights concerning the (dis)empowering role of visibilities applicable to many collectives, corporations and institutions that rely on visibility management, as datafication is making it increasingly easy for behaviors to be seen.
Abstract: This study explores how visibilities are produced and managed, and how they transform the work of activists operating in repressive contexts. To advance emerging research, this study blends theoretical perspectives from visibility and activism research and builds on ethnographic methods and fieldwork in a non-profit organization. The contribution of the article to research at the intersection of visibility and activism is twofold: firstly, the article identifies the social and material agencies involved in the production of different dimensions of visibilities (mildly shaded and mostly shadowed). Secondly, the article shows how the three identified relational imbrications of agencies (encryption, obfuscation, and concealment) at times empower and undermine the efforts of both activists and oppressors. The findings provide novel insights concerning the (dis)empowering role of visibilities applicable to many collectives, corporations and institutions that rely on visibility management, as datafication is making it increasingly easy for behaviors to be seen.
Journal: Management Communication Quarterly
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oana Brindusa Albu
Limits of Buyer-driven Governance for Sustainability: Inherent Challenges of Fragmented Supplier Networks
Abstract: This article questions retailers’ role as buyers driving production. Exploring a network involving Indian suppliers of UK retailers’ cotton garments, limitations preventing coercive buyer power from controlling production practices are identified. Overall, the dominant system of large-scale fragmented supplier networks connecting raw materials to final products accommodates commercially viable practices causing social or environmental challenges. While some pressures effectively span complex networks, buyers’ practice-related demands do not. Dissecting the ‘drivenness’ concept, this study shows multipolar governance within an industry often considered buyer-driven. Also, it furthers critiques of private governance’s effectiveness, indicating the need for alternative governance frameworks or network structures.
Abstract: This article questions retailers’ role as buyers driving production. Exploring a network involving Indian suppliers of UK retailers’ cotton garments, limitations preventing coercive buyer power from controlling production practices are identified. Overall, the dominant system of large-scale fragmented supplier networks connecting raw materials to final products accommodates commercially viable practices causing social or environmental challenges. While some pressures effectively span complex networks, buyers’ practice-related demands do not. Dissecting the ‘drivenness’ concept, this study shows multipolar governance within an industry often considered buyer-driven. Also, it furthers critiques of private governance’s effectiveness, indicating the need for alternative governance frameworks or network structures.
Journal: Journal of Economic Geography
Published: Jul 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Rachel Alexander
Challenges and Opportunities of Curbing Urban Corruption and Building Professional Integrity: Experiences of Planners in South Africa and Zambia
Abstract: Urban corruption can hinder integrated planning, skew the equitable distribution of public investments, and capture urban management processes to the detriment of the public. Yet, we argue in this article, the city scale has been largely overlooked in contemporary anti-corruption research, and – by the same token – urban scholars only recently started paying attention to the role of corruption in urban development. Based on extensive quantitative and qualitative research with planning professionals in South Africa and Zambia, we firstly explore the complex dynamics of urban corruption and the challenges it poses in the respective national planning spheres. Based on this exploration, we then motivate for the need to move beyond compliance-focused understandings of corruption as the sole basis for developing strategies against city-level corruption. Finally, we outline an agenda for possible future research and action on urban integrity.
Abstract: Urban corruption can hinder integrated planning, skew the equitable distribution of public investments, and capture urban management processes to the detriment of the public. Yet, we argue in this article, the city scale has been largely overlooked in contemporary anti-corruption research, and – by the same token – urban scholars only recently started paying attention to the role of corruption in urban development. Based on extensive quantitative and qualitative research with planning professionals in South Africa and Zambia, we firstly explore the complex dynamics of urban corruption and the challenges it poses in the respective national planning spheres. Based on this exploration, we then motivate for the need to move beyond compliance-focused understandings of corruption as the sole basis for developing strategies against city-level corruption. Finally, we outline an agenda for possible future research and action on urban integrity.
Journal: Habitat International
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Dieter Zinnbauer
The Distribution of Initial Estimates Moderates the Effect of Social Influence on the Wisdom of the Crowd
Abstract: Whether, and under what conditions, groups exhibit “crowd wisdom” has been a major focus of research across the social and computational sciences. Much of this work has focused on the role of social influence in promoting the wisdom of the crowd versus leading the crowd astray and has resulted in conflicting conclusions about how social network structure determines the impact of social influence. Here, we demonstrate that it is not enough to consider the network structure in isolation. Using theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and reanalysis of four experimental datasets (totaling 2885 human subjects), we find that the wisdom of crowds critically depends on the interaction between (i) the centralization of the social influence network and (ii) the distribution of the initial individual estimates. By adopting a framework that integrates both the structure of the social influence and the distribution of the initial estimates, we bring previously conflicting results under one theoretical framework and clarify the effects of social influence on the wisdom of crowds.
Abstract: Whether, and under what conditions, groups exhibit “crowd wisdom” has been a major focus of research across the social and computational sciences. Much of this work has focused on the role of social influence in promoting the wisdom of the crowd versus leading the crowd astray and has resulted in conflicting conclusions about how social network structure determines the impact of social influence. Here, we demonstrate that it is not enough to consider the network structure in isolation. Using theoretical analysis, numerical simulation, and reanalysis of four experimental datasets (totaling 2885 human subjects), we find that the wisdom of crowds critically depends on the interaction between (i) the centralization of the social influence network and (ii) the distribution of the initial individual estimates. By adopting a framework that integrates both the structure of the social influence and the distribution of the initial estimates, we bring previously conflicting results under one theoretical framework and clarify the effects of social influence on the wisdom of crowds.
Journal: Scientific Reports
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Jason W. Burton
Regenerativ bæredygtig ledelse: Brug FN's Verdensmål til at få økosystemer til at blomstre!
Abstract: New Public Management har lært ledere og medarbejdere at reducere kompleksitet gennem simpel styring og kontrol. Det synes dog ikke længere at være svaret, men derimod kilden til de udfordringer, den offentlige sektor står midt i. Vi lever i det, som nogen sociologer kalder den antropocæne tidsalder. Det er et navn for den geologiske periode, hvor menneskets aktiviteter nu påvirker Jorden i en så høj en grad, at det medfører globale ændringer i jordens tilstand. I forhold til offentlig ledelse betyder den stigende kompleksitet – og behovet for at forholde os til de ekstreme kriser i det antropocæne – at der må iværksættes radikale mønsterbrud.
Denne artikel argumenterer for nødvendigheden af en regenerativ bæredygtig ledelse, der tager afsæt i en kreativ æstetisk rationalitet. Og den viser, hvordan FN’s verdensmål kan omsættes til 6 mønsterbrud, der flytter blikket fra den formelle organisations interne og på forhånd givne ressourcer til et blik for stedets levende økosystemer. I stedet for et funktionsopdelt hierarki, der søger at levere serviceydelser til borgeren, banes vejen for et perspektiv, hvor alle aktører, også nonhumane, er med til at skabe lokal bærekraft. Artiklens hovedpointe er, at regenerativ bæredygtig ledelse bliver et spørgsmål om, at offentlige ledere og medarbejdere må lede den sociale bevægelse af affektive og gensidige berøringer mellem mennesker, planter, dyrearter og steder.
Abstract: New Public Management har lært ledere og medarbejdere at reducere kompleksitet gennem simpel styring og kontrol. Det synes dog ikke længere at være svaret, men derimod kilden til de udfordringer, den offentlige sektor står midt i. Vi lever i det, som nogen sociologer kalder den antropocæne tidsalder. Det er et navn for den geologiske periode, hvor menneskets aktiviteter nu påvirker Jorden i en så høj en grad, at det medfører globale ændringer i jordens tilstand. I forhold til offentlig ledelse betyder den stigende kompleksitet – og behovet for at forholde os til de ekstreme kriser i det antropocæne – at der må iværksættes radikale mønsterbrud.
Denne artikel argumenterer for nødvendigheden af en regenerativ bæredygtig ledelse, der tager afsæt i en kreativ æstetisk rationalitet. Og den viser, hvordan FN’s verdensmål kan omsættes til 6 mønsterbrud, der flytter blikket fra den formelle organisations interne og på forhånd givne ressourcer til et blik for stedets levende økosystemer. I stedet for et funktionsopdelt hierarki, der søger at levere serviceydelser til borgeren, banes vejen for et perspektiv, hvor alle aktører, også nonhumane, er med til at skabe lokal bærekraft. Artiklens hovedpointe er, at regenerativ bæredygtig ledelse bliver et spørgsmål om, at offentlige ledere og medarbejdere må lede den sociale bevægelse af affektive og gensidige berøringer mellem mennesker, planter, dyrearter og steder.
Journal: Erhvervspsykologi
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Christa Breum Amhøj
Decarbonisation Policies and Energy Price Reforms in Bangladesh
Abstract: Bangladesh electricity sector suffers from heavy subsidization of fossil fuels and regulated electricity prices. These interventions distort the fuel mix in electricity production, promote overconsumption of fossil fuels and slow down the low-carbon transition. As a signatory of the 2015 UNFCCC Paris Agreement, Bangladesh has pledged to reduce GHG emissions by 15% (of which 5% is unconditional) with respect to Business as Usual by 2030, yet its overall CO2 emissions are increasing. Urgent actions are needed for Bangladesh to fulfil its climate pledge. We use a fit-for-purpose Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model to evaluate the effects of several decarbonisation policies, namely the implementation of carbon taxes and the removal of fossil fuel subsidies and intra-sectoral electricity price distortions. We find that all policies can deliver a win-win situation in terms of macroeconomic variables and CO2 emissions with respect to a benchmark scenario that includes existing price distortions and no carbon taxes. The reduction of 4.6% in CO2 emissions achieved in the price reform policy experiment indicates that liberalised energy markets can help achieve its Paris Agreement target. Thus, we recommend that the government considers reforming electricity and fossil fuel price structure to foster economic development and environmental sustainability.
Abstract: Bangladesh electricity sector suffers from heavy subsidization of fossil fuels and regulated electricity prices. These interventions distort the fuel mix in electricity production, promote overconsumption of fossil fuels and slow down the low-carbon transition. As a signatory of the 2015 UNFCCC Paris Agreement, Bangladesh has pledged to reduce GHG emissions by 15% (of which 5% is unconditional) with respect to Business as Usual by 2030, yet its overall CO2 emissions are increasing. Urgent actions are needed for Bangladesh to fulfil its climate pledge. We use a fit-for-purpose Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE) model to evaluate the effects of several decarbonisation policies, namely the implementation of carbon taxes and the removal of fossil fuel subsidies and intra-sectoral electricity price distortions. We find that all policies can deliver a win-win situation in terms of macroeconomic variables and CO2 emissions with respect to a benchmark scenario that includes existing price distortions and no carbon taxes. The reduction of 4.6% in CO2 emissions achieved in the price reform policy experiment indicates that liberalised energy markets can help achieve its Paris Agreement target. Thus, we recommend that the government considers reforming electricity and fossil fuel price structure to foster economic development and environmental sustainability.
Journal: Energy Policy
Published: Nov 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Tooraj Jamasb, Manuel Llorca
Coins for Bombs: The Predictive Ability of On-chain Transfers for Terrorist Attacks
Abstract:This study examines whether we can learn from the behavior of blockchain-based transfers to predict the financing of terrorist attacks. We exploit blockchain transaction transparency to map millions of transfers for hundreds of large on-chain service providers. The mapped dataset permits us to empirically conduct several analyses. First, we analyze abnormal transfer volume in the vicinity of large-scale highly visible terrorist attacks. We document evidence consistent with heightened activity in coin wallets belonging to unregulated exchanges and mixer services –central to laundering funds between terrorist groups and operatives on the ground. Next, we use forensic accounting techniques to follow the trails of funds associated with the Sri Lanka Easter bombing. Insights from this event corroborateour findings and aid in our construction of a blockchain-based predictive model. Finally, using machine-learning algorithms, we demonstrate that fund trails have predictive power in out-of-the sample analysis. Our study is informative to researchers, regulators, and market players, in providing methods for detecting the flow of terrorist funds on blockchain-based systems using accounting knowledge and techniques.
Abstract:This study examines whether we can learn from the behavior of blockchain-based transfers to predict the financing of terrorist attacks. We exploit blockchain transaction transparency to map millions of transfers for hundreds of large on-chain service providers. The mapped dataset permits us to empirically conduct several analyses. First, we analyze abnormal transfer volume in the vicinity of large-scale highly visible terrorist attacks. We document evidence consistent with heightened activity in coin wallets belonging to unregulated exchanges and mixer services –central to laundering funds between terrorist groups and operatives on the ground. Next, we use forensic accounting techniques to follow the trails of funds associated with the Sri Lanka Easter bombing. Insights from this event corroborateour findings and aid in our construction of a blockchain-based predictive model. Finally, using machine-learning algorithms, we demonstrate that fund trails have predictive power in out-of-the sample analysis. Our study is informative to researchers, regulators, and market players, in providing methods for detecting the flow of terrorist funds on blockchain-based systems using accounting knowledge and techniques.
Journal: Journal of Accounting Research
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Bjørn N. Jørgensen
How Leaders Influence (un)Ethical Behaviors within Organizations: A Laboratory Experiment on Reporting Choices
Abstract:We use a lab experiment to examine whether and how leaders influence workers’ (un)ethical behavior through financial reporting choices. We randomly assign the role of leaders or workers to subjects, who can choose to report an outcome via automatic or self-reporting. Self-reporting allows for profitable and undetectable earnings manipulation. We vary the leaders’ ability to choose the reporting method and to punish workers. We show that workers are more likely to choose automatic reporting when their leader voluntarily does so and can assign punishment. Even workers who choose self-reporting tend to cheat less when their leader chooses automatic reporting. Nonetheless, most leaders do not opt for automatic reporting in the first place: they often choose self-reporting and punish workers who rather choose automatic reporting. Collectively, our results reveal a dual effect of leadership on ethical behaviors in organizations: workers behave more ethically if their leader makes ethical choices, but often leaders do not make ethical choices in the first place. Hence, leading by example can backfire.
Abstract:We use a lab experiment to examine whether and how leaders influence workers’ (un)ethical behavior through financial reporting choices. We randomly assign the role of leaders or workers to subjects, who can choose to report an outcome via automatic or self-reporting. Self-reporting allows for profitable and undetectable earnings manipulation. We vary the leaders’ ability to choose the reporting method and to punish workers. We show that workers are more likely to choose automatic reporting when their leader voluntarily does so and can assign punishment. Even workers who choose self-reporting tend to cheat less when their leader chooses automatic reporting. Nonetheless, most leaders do not opt for automatic reporting in the first place: they often choose self-reporting and punish workers who rather choose automatic reporting. Collectively, our results reveal a dual effect of leadership on ethical behaviors in organizations: workers behave more ethically if their leader makes ethical choices, but often leaders do not make ethical choices in the first place. Hence, leading by example can backfire.
Journal: Journal of Business Ethics
Published: Mar 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Orsola Garofalo
Dispositional Optimism and Business Recovery during a Pandemic
Abstract: A large literature at the crossroads of biology and cognitive psychology has shown that individuals hold generally positive expectations about future events. Despite this evidence, to date it remains unclear whether optimism has positive or negative implications for entrepreneurial activities. We examine this question in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which provides a unique way to study the role of optimism on the (in)ability of firms to overcome exogenous shocks. Using a large-scale longitudinal survey covering 1,632 UK firms, we find that entrepreneurs who score high on optimism were more likely to innovate and make organizational changes to their firms during the Covid-19 outbreak. Moreover, optimistic entrepreneurs experienced higher revenue growth during the pandemic. Collectively, our study sheds light on one of the psychological factors explaining why some firms can prosper and some others struggle in the wake of an external shock.
Abstract: A large literature at the crossroads of biology and cognitive psychology has shown that individuals hold generally positive expectations about future events. Despite this evidence, to date it remains unclear whether optimism has positive or negative implications for entrepreneurial activities. We examine this question in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic, which provides a unique way to study the role of optimism on the (in)ability of firms to overcome exogenous shocks. Using a large-scale longitudinal survey covering 1,632 UK firms, we find that entrepreneurs who score high on optimism were more likely to innovate and make organizational changes to their firms during the Covid-19 outbreak. Moreover, optimistic entrepreneurs experienced higher revenue growth during the pandemic. Collectively, our study sheds light on one of the psychological factors explaining why some firms can prosper and some others struggle in the wake of an external shock.
Journal: PLOS ONE
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Orsola Garofalo
Fem facts om danske investorers (under-)diversificering
Abstract: Denne artikel analyserer graden af (under-)diversificering i danskernes frie midler og private pensionsopsparing. Vi estimerer, at den samlede gevinst ved optimal diversificering af danskernes investeringer er mellem 6 og 8 mia. kr. om året. Vi udleder desuden fem facts om danske investorers (under-)diversificering: 1. Mere end halvdelen af investorerne har investeret deres frie midler i en investeringsforening; 2. Frie midler er mindre diversificerede end pensionsmidler; 3. Underdiversificering i frie midler er udbredt i alderen 40 til 70 år; 4. Der er relativt lille forskel på mænd og kvinder; og 5. Omkostningen forbundet med underdiversificering kan mindskes med målrettet rådgivning af investorerne.
Abstract: Denne artikel analyserer graden af (under-)diversificering i danskernes frie midler og private pensionsopsparing. Vi estimerer, at den samlede gevinst ved optimal diversificering af danskernes investeringer er mellem 6 og 8 mia. kr. om året. Vi udleder desuden fem facts om danske investorers (under-)diversificering: 1. Mere end halvdelen af investorerne har investeret deres frie midler i en investeringsforening; 2. Frie midler er mindre diversificerede end pensionsmidler; 3. Underdiversificering i frie midler er udbredt i alderen 40 til 70 år; 4. Der er relativt lille forskel på mænd og kvinder; og 5. Omkostningen forbundet med underdiversificering kan mindskes med målrettet rådgivning af investorerne.
Journal: Finans/Invest
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Steffen Andersen, Kasper Meisner Nielsen
Time to Reconsider Direct Applicability of WTO Law to ECJ Jurisprudence? The Three Arguments from Commission v Hungary (Higher Education)
Journal: European Law Review
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Henrik Andersen
Consistent Local Spectrum Inference for Predictive Return Regressions
Abstract: This paper studies the properties of predictive regressions for asset returns in economic systems governed by persistent vector autoregressive dynamics. In particular, we allow for the state variables to be fractionally integrated, potentially of different orders, and for the returns to have a latent persistent conditional mean, whose memory is difficult to estimate consistently by standard techniques in finite samples. Moreover, the predictors may be endogenous and “imperfect.” In this setting, we develop a consistent local spectrum (LCM) estimation procedure, that delivers asymptotic Gaussian inference. Furthermore, we provide a new LCM-based estimator of the conditional mean persistence, that leverages biased regression slopes as well as new LCM-based tests for significance of (a subset of) the predictors, which are valid even without estimating the return persistence. Simulations illustrate the theoretical arguments. Finally, an empirical application to monthly S&P 500 return predictions provides evidence for a fractionally integrated conditional mean component. Our new LCM procedure and tools indicate significant predictive power for future returns stemming from key state variables such as the default spread and treasury interest rates.
Abstract: This paper studies the properties of predictive regressions for asset returns in economic systems governed by persistent vector autoregressive dynamics. In particular, we allow for the state variables to be fractionally integrated, potentially of different orders, and for the returns to have a latent persistent conditional mean, whose memory is difficult to estimate consistently by standard techniques in finite samples. Moreover, the predictors may be endogenous and “imperfect.” In this setting, we develop a consistent local spectrum (LCM) estimation procedure, that delivers asymptotic Gaussian inference. Furthermore, we provide a new LCM-based estimator of the conditional mean persistence, that leverages biased regression slopes as well as new LCM-based tests for significance of (a subset of) the predictors, which are valid even without estimating the return persistence. Simulations illustrate the theoretical arguments. Finally, an empirical application to monthly S&P 500 return predictions provides evidence for a fractionally integrated conditional mean component. Our new LCM procedure and tools indicate significant predictive power for future returns stemming from key state variables such as the default spread and treasury interest rates.
Journal: Econometric Theory
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Rasmus T. Varneskov
EU’s ‘Distorted Economy’ Antidumping Approach Towards China: Improvement of Legal Certainty or New Legal Distortions? Some Overall Observations
Abstract: In 2017, the EU introduced the ‘distorted economy’ rules in EU antidumping law. The new rules target in particular China. The question is whether the new rules and their application by the Commission provide an improvement of legal certainty for Chinese exporters and EU importers compared to the old antidumping regime of non-market economy treatment of China. This article makes a comparison between the new and old rules and their application by the EU institutions. The article argues that the new rules slightly improve legal certainty but that new uncertainties emerge as well. For example, the context of international labour law and international environmental law raises new questions.
Abstract: In 2017, the EU introduced the ‘distorted economy’ rules in EU antidumping law. The new rules target in particular China. The question is whether the new rules and their application by the Commission provide an improvement of legal certainty for Chinese exporters and EU importers compared to the old antidumping regime of non-market economy treatment of China. This article makes a comparison between the new and old rules and their application by the EU institutions. The article argues that the new rules slightly improve legal certainty but that new uncertainties emerge as well. For example, the context of international labour law and international environmental law raises new questions.
Journal: Journal of World Trade
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Henrik Andersen
Reference Dependence in the Housing Market.
Abstract: We quantify reference dependence and loss aversion in the housing market using rich Danish administrative data. Our structural model includes loss aversion, reference dependence, financial constraints, and a sale decision, and matches key nonparametric moments, including a "hockey stick" in listing prices with nominal gains, and bunching at zero realized nominal gains. Households derive substantial utility from gains over the original house purchase price; losses affect households roughly 2.5 times more than gains. The model helps explain the positive correlation between aggregate house prices and turnover, but cannot explain visible attenuation in reference dependence when households are more financially constrained.
Abstract: We quantify reference dependence and loss aversion in the housing market using rich Danish administrative data. Our structural model includes loss aversion, reference dependence, financial constraints, and a sale decision, and matches key nonparametric moments, including a "hockey stick" in listing prices with nominal gains, and bunching at zero realized nominal gains. Households derive substantial utility from gains over the original house purchase price; losses affect households roughly 2.5 times more than gains. The model helps explain the positive correlation between aggregate house prices and turnover, but cannot explain visible attenuation in reference dependence when households are more financially constrained.
Journal: American Economic Review
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Steffen Andersen, Julie Marx
And the Subsidiary Lives On: Harnessing Complex Realities in the Contemporary MNE
Journal: Journal of International Business Studies
Published: Jul 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Phillip C. Nell
Diversifier or More? Hedge and Safe Haven Properties of Green Bonds during COVID-19.
Abstract: Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, this study explores the hedging and safe-haven potential of green bonds for conventional equity, fixed income, commodity, and forex investments. We use the cross-quantilogram approach that provides a better understanding of the dynamic relationship between assets under different market conditions. Our full sample results show that the green bond index could serve as a diversifier asset for medium- and long-term equity investors. Besides, it can also serve as a hedging and safe haven instrument for currency and commodity investments. Moreover, the sub-sample analysis of the pandemic crisis period shows a heightened short- and medium-term lead-lag association between the green bond index and conventional investment returns. However, the green bond index emerges as a significant hedging and safe-haven asset for the long-term investors of conventional financial assets. Our results offer insights for long-term investors whose portfolios comprise conventional assets such as equities, commodities, forex, and fixed income securities. Further, our findings reveal the potential role that the green bond investments could play in global financial recovery efforts without compromising the low-carbon transition targets.
Abstract: Against the backdrop of the Covid-19 pandemic, this study explores the hedging and safe-haven potential of green bonds for conventional equity, fixed income, commodity, and forex investments. We use the cross-quantilogram approach that provides a better understanding of the dynamic relationship between assets under different market conditions. Our full sample results show that the green bond index could serve as a diversifier asset for medium- and long-term equity investors. Besides, it can also serve as a hedging and safe haven instrument for currency and commodity investments. Moreover, the sub-sample analysis of the pandemic crisis period shows a heightened short- and medium-term lead-lag association between the green bond index and conventional investment returns. However, the green bond index emerges as a significant hedging and safe-haven asset for the long-term investors of conventional financial assets. Our results offer insights for long-term investors whose portfolios comprise conventional assets such as equities, commodities, forex, and fixed income securities. Further, our findings reveal the potential role that the green bond investments could play in global financial recovery efforts without compromising the low-carbon transition targets.
Journal: Energy Policy
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Tooraj Jamasb
Voices from the Past: Economic and Political Vulnerabilities in the Making of Next Generation EU
Abstract: In this article, we show that Next Generation EU (NGEU) is mainly a response to the economic and political imbalances left over from the Eurozone crisis. It is a pre-emptive intervention, especially targeted at structurally weak economies with rising Euroscepticism, to avoid costly ex-post bailouts as in the Great Recession. We demonstrate, using quantitative analysis, that pre-existing vulnerabilities, rather than the impact of the pandemic, drove the allocation of NGEU resources: per capita grants largely correspond to past economic vulnerabilities, as well as to political ones. Countries most vulnerable to another adjustment by austerity after the COVID-19 economic crisis receive most resources. Also, countries with strong anti-EU sentiments are entitled to larger NGEU grants per capita. In contrast, grants are not correlated with the severity of the health crisis. Then, we show the domestic relevance of economic and political vulnerabilities through qualitative case studies of national political debates and domestic positions on NGEU in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. Despite its innovative traits, NGEU is a politically constrained solution to address the mess from the previous decade, and as such, it is a Janus solution: promising a fresh start, but haunted by the past.
Abstract: In this article, we show that Next Generation EU (NGEU) is mainly a response to the economic and political imbalances left over from the Eurozone crisis. It is a pre-emptive intervention, especially targeted at structurally weak economies with rising Euroscepticism, to avoid costly ex-post bailouts as in the Great Recession. We demonstrate, using quantitative analysis, that pre-existing vulnerabilities, rather than the impact of the pandemic, drove the allocation of NGEU resources: per capita grants largely correspond to past economic vulnerabilities, as well as to political ones. Countries most vulnerable to another adjustment by austerity after the COVID-19 economic crisis receive most resources. Also, countries with strong anti-EU sentiments are entitled to larger NGEU grants per capita. In contrast, grants are not correlated with the severity of the health crisis. Then, we show the domestic relevance of economic and political vulnerabilities through qualitative case studies of national political debates and domestic positions on NGEU in Italy, Germany and the Netherlands. Despite its innovative traits, NGEU is a politically constrained solution to address the mess from the previous decade, and as such, it is a Janus solution: promising a fresh start, but haunted by the past.
Journal: Comparative European Politics
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Caroline de la Porte
Debt Renegotiations Outside Distress
Abstract: This article develops a model to explore the implications of nondistressed debt renegotiation on debt prices and corporate policies. The model incorporates the empirical observation that creditors can influence firms also outside corporate distress through debt covenant renegotiation and not only in distress. We find that considering both distressed and nondistressed creditor interventions is key to investigating how creditor governance affects firms. The model explains cross-sectional patterns of control premiums and credit spreads that traditional debt renegotiation models do not capture. We also derive novel implications for the impact of firm characteristics associated with renegotiation on debt prices and corporate policies.
Abstract: This article develops a model to explore the implications of nondistressed debt renegotiation on debt prices and corporate policies. The model incorporates the empirical observation that creditors can influence firms also outside corporate distress through debt covenant renegotiation and not only in distress. We find that considering both distressed and nondistressed creditor interventions is key to investigating how creditor governance affects firms. The model explains cross-sectional patterns of control premiums and credit spreads that traditional debt renegotiation models do not capture. We also derive novel implications for the impact of firm characteristics associated with renegotiation on debt prices and corporate policies.
Journal: Review of Finance
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Ramona Westermann
De nye danske regler om lovvalget for formueforholdet mellem ægtefæller
Abstract: Forfatteren redegør for og analyserer de nye regler i ægtefællelovens afsnit VI om lovvalget for formueforholdet mellem ægtefæller. De nye regler er inspireret af dels ændringen af Den Nordiske Ægteskabskonvention i 2006, dels EU's Ægteskabsforordning fra 2016. De nye lovregler er et markant brud med de gamle regler, som blev skabt i retspraksis og stammer fra Ørsteds tid. I 1990'erne blev de gamle regler kritiseret, og med en åbenbart urimelig dom fra 2002 blev det klart, at området skulle lovreguleres. De nye regler bygger i langt overvejende grad på de udkast til regler, som Retsvirkningslovudvalget foreslog i Betænkning 1552/2015. Det konkluderes, at de nye regler er meget moderne og imødekommer internationale ægtepars behov for begrænset partsautonomi, ligesom de lovvalgsregler, der gælder, når der ikke er aftalt et lovvalg, er meget hensigtsmæssige. Også de lovfastsatte begrænsninger for lovvalget er særdeles rimelige. Endelig er både loven og forarbejderne testet i retspraksis.
Abstract: Forfatteren redegør for og analyserer de nye regler i ægtefællelovens afsnit VI om lovvalget for formueforholdet mellem ægtefæller. De nye regler er inspireret af dels ændringen af Den Nordiske Ægteskabskonvention i 2006, dels EU's Ægteskabsforordning fra 2016. De nye lovregler er et markant brud med de gamle regler, som blev skabt i retspraksis og stammer fra Ørsteds tid. I 1990'erne blev de gamle regler kritiseret, og med en åbenbart urimelig dom fra 2002 blev det klart, at området skulle lovreguleres. De nye regler bygger i langt overvejende grad på de udkast til regler, som Retsvirkningslovudvalget foreslog i Betænkning 1552/2015. Det konkluderes, at de nye regler er meget moderne og imødekommer internationale ægtepars behov for begrænset partsautonomi, ligesom de lovvalgsregler, der gælder, når der ikke er aftalt et lovvalg, er meget hensigtsmæssige. Også de lovfastsatte begrænsninger for lovvalget er særdeles rimelige. Endelig er både loven og forarbejderne testet i retspraksis.
Journal: Juristen
Published: Feb 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Arnt Nielsen
De nye regler om forbrugerkøb i købeloven
Abstract: Der redegøres for købelovens (kbl.) nye regler om forbrugerkøb efter implementeringen af varedirektivet og direktivet om digitalt indhold i dansk ret pr. 1. januar 2022 på grundlag af de fyldige lovbemærkninger. De to direktiver udvider loven, så den også gælder forbrugerkøb af digitalt indhold og digitale tjenester med en række særregler til følge for sådanne aftaler. Også reglerne om mangler og parternes forpligtelser ved ophævelse af forbrugerkøbet er ændret.
Abstract: Der redegøres for købelovens (kbl.) nye regler om forbrugerkøb efter implementeringen af varedirektivet og direktivet om digitalt indhold i dansk ret pr. 1. januar 2022 på grundlag af de fyldige lovbemærkninger. De to direktiver udvider loven, så den også gælder forbrugerkøb af digitalt indhold og digitale tjenester med en række særregler til følge for sådanne aftaler. Også reglerne om mangler og parternes forpligtelser ved ophævelse af forbrugerkøbet er ændret.
Journal: Erhvervsjuridisk Tidsskrift
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Arnt Nielsen
The Nordic Nomination Committee and Board Tenure: An Empirical Investigation.
Abstract: This paper contributes empirically to the debate on who should nominate new directors: shareholders or the board? While nomination committees composed of incumbent board members are common around the world, the use of nomination committees composed of shareholders (SNBs) is recommended in several Nordic countries. We use the unique case of Finland as a quasi-experiment to examine the relation between the type of nomination procedure and board turnover. We find that firms with SNBs have boards with shorter average tenure, and fewer long-serving directors. We also find evidence suggesting a higher turnover performance sensitivity in the case of SNB firms: the average board tenure is more strongly related to firm performance in the case of SNB firms, and the relation between board tenure and the presence of experienced directors is more related to performance in SNB firms. In all, our results support the claim that SNBs might be useful tools to turn around board structures and tie individual director´s performance to company performance.
Abstract: This paper contributes empirically to the debate on who should nominate new directors: shareholders or the board? While nomination committees composed of incumbent board members are common around the world, the use of nomination committees composed of shareholders (SNBs) is recommended in several Nordic countries. We use the unique case of Finland as a quasi-experiment to examine the relation between the type of nomination procedure and board turnover. We find that firms with SNBs have boards with shorter average tenure, and fewer long-serving directors. We also find evidence suggesting a higher turnover performance sensitivity in the case of SNB firms: the average board tenure is more strongly related to firm performance in the case of SNB firms, and the relation between board tenure and the presence of experienced directors is more related to performance in SNB firms. In all, our results support the claim that SNBs might be useful tools to turn around board structures and tie individual director´s performance to company performance.
Journal: Spanish Journal of Finance and Accounting / Revista Española de Financiación y Contabilidad
Published: Feb 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Therese Strand
Electricity Sector Reform Performance in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Parametric Distance Function Approach
Abstract: Electricity sector reforms have transformed the structure and organization of the sector worldwide. While outcomes of reforms in developed and developing countries have been extensively examined, there is limited analysis of the reforms in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper analyses the performance of electricity sector reforms in 37 SSA countries between 2000 and 2017. We use a stochastic frontier analysis approach to estimate a multi-input multi-output distance function to assess the impact of reform steps and institutional features on indicators of investment and technical efficiency. Results indicate a positive correlation between reforms and installed generation capacity per capita, plant load factor, and technical network losses. The presence of an electricity law, sector regulator, vertical unbundling, and private participation in the management of assets were positively correlated with reform performance. Perceptions of non-violent institutional features such as corruption, regulatory quality and governance effectiveness do not seem to have had a significant effect, but perceptions of political stability, violence, and terrorism influenced reform outcomes. We conclude that a workable reform in SSA involves vertical unbundling with an electricity law, a regulator, and private ownership and management of assets where feasible. However, positive outcomes go hand in hand with higher technical network energy losses which indicates higher investment in the generation segment than in the network segment. Hence, emphasis should be placed on decoupling the energy losses from power generation.
Abstract: Electricity sector reforms have transformed the structure and organization of the sector worldwide. While outcomes of reforms in developed and developing countries have been extensively examined, there is limited analysis of the reforms in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). This paper analyses the performance of electricity sector reforms in 37 SSA countries between 2000 and 2017. We use a stochastic frontier analysis approach to estimate a multi-input multi-output distance function to assess the impact of reform steps and institutional features on indicators of investment and technical efficiency. Results indicate a positive correlation between reforms and installed generation capacity per capita, plant load factor, and technical network losses. The presence of an electricity law, sector regulator, vertical unbundling, and private participation in the management of assets were positively correlated with reform performance. Perceptions of non-violent institutional features such as corruption, regulatory quality and governance effectiveness do not seem to have had a significant effect, but perceptions of political stability, violence, and terrorism influenced reform outcomes. We conclude that a workable reform in SSA involves vertical unbundling with an electricity law, a regulator, and private ownership and management of assets where feasible. However, positive outcomes go hand in hand with higher technical network energy losses which indicates higher investment in the generation segment than in the network segment. Hence, emphasis should be placed on decoupling the energy losses from power generation.
Journal: Energies
Published: Mar 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Tooraj Jamasb, Manuel Llorca
China, the American Jobs Plan, and the Impact of ‘Strategic Competition’
Abstract: Commentators were struck by the ambition of the American Jobs Plan, the US$2.6 trillion infrastructure proposals put forward by President Biden during 2021. The article considers the reasons why, despite hyper-partisanship and entrenched institutional obstacles that were to doom many of the proposals, the Biden administration put forward plans on a scale that dwarfed those of earlier reforming presidents. It argues that a large part of the answer lies in the character of framing processes and shifting perceptions of China. A policy that cannot be framed in ways deemed to be credible cannot secure traction. The US turn against Beijing and the concept of ‘strategic competition’ provided the Biden administration and Democrats with the basis for constructing a frame that legitimized their hopes of modernizing and transforming the structural character of the American economy so as to fend off the economic and strategic challenge posed by China. Although much of the Plan did not come to legislative fruition, this was a frame that the Biden White House saw as a way of building a broad coalitional bloc that could advance a progressive economic agenda.
Abstract: Commentators were struck by the ambition of the American Jobs Plan, the US$2.6 trillion infrastructure proposals put forward by President Biden during 2021. The article considers the reasons why, despite hyper-partisanship and entrenched institutional obstacles that were to doom many of the proposals, the Biden administration put forward plans on a scale that dwarfed those of earlier reforming presidents. It argues that a large part of the answer lies in the character of framing processes and shifting perceptions of China. A policy that cannot be framed in ways deemed to be credible cannot secure traction. The US turn against Beijing and the concept of ‘strategic competition’ provided the Biden administration and Democrats with the basis for constructing a frame that legitimized their hopes of modernizing and transforming the structural character of the American economy so as to fend off the economic and strategic challenge posed by China. Although much of the Plan did not come to legislative fruition, this was a frame that the Biden White House saw as a way of building a broad coalitional bloc that could advance a progressive economic agenda.
Journal: Jadavpur Journal of International Relations
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Edward Ashbee
Does Climate Change Affect Bank Lending Behavior?
Abstract: We examine how banks adjust credit supply in areas with higher exposure to climate risks by utilizing the province-level air pollution and loan growth data of a large emerging market, Turkey, following the Paris Agreement in 2015. Our results show that banks limit their credit extension to more polluted provinces in the post-agreement interval, implying that banks consider climate change-related risks and adjust their credit provisioning accordingly. Our baseline findings are intact against a myriad of robustness checks. We also find that the shift in the climate risk-credit provisioning nexus is asymmetric depending on the levels of air pollution.
Abstract: We examine how banks adjust credit supply in areas with higher exposure to climate risks by utilizing the province-level air pollution and loan growth data of a large emerging market, Turkey, following the Paris Agreement in 2015. Our results show that banks limit their credit extension to more polluted provinces in the post-agreement interval, implying that banks consider climate change-related risks and adjust their credit provisioning accordingly. Our baseline findings are intact against a myriad of robustness checks. We also find that the shift in the climate risk-credit provisioning nexus is asymmetric depending on the levels of air pollution.
Journal: Economic Letters
Published: Nov 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
Wie entstehen Märkte? Ein Vergleich idealtypischer Erklärungsansätze in Ökonomie und Wirtschaftssoziologie
Abstract: The question of how markets emerge has gained comparatively little attention in economic theory. As the paper demonstrates, the dominant patterns of explanation can be distinguished into three groups, each of which representing an ideal-typical approach regarding market fashioning: mutual adjustment, organization, and fields. Whereas theories of mutual adjustment assume markets to emerge in a “natural” manner from market actors’ mutual orientation, theories of organization focus on the deliberate design of relevant institutions by the state and equivalent actors. Field theories of Bourdieu and Fligstein center on how processes of markets emerging are embedded into contexts, yet do not provide a genuine explanation of these processes in a narrower sense. Comparing the relevant literature permits identifying which processes each pattern serves to explain empirically. While mutual adjustment applies to undesigned processes and markets characterized by a vastly differentiated set of products, organization as a phenomenon can be found primarily in “framed” markets for standardized products and in the securities market. Social field theories address the overarching social contexts and power struggles concerning markets as political and cultural structures. Based on these observations, the paper argues for an integrating perspective which benefits from the advantages of each approach but rejects being pinned down to one single paradigm.
Abstract: The question of how markets emerge has gained comparatively little attention in economic theory. As the paper demonstrates, the dominant patterns of explanation can be distinguished into three groups, each of which representing an ideal-typical approach regarding market fashioning: mutual adjustment, organization, and fields. Whereas theories of mutual adjustment assume markets to emerge in a “natural” manner from market actors’ mutual orientation, theories of organization focus on the deliberate design of relevant institutions by the state and equivalent actors. Field theories of Bourdieu and Fligstein center on how processes of markets emerging are embedded into contexts, yet do not provide a genuine explanation of these processes in a narrower sense. Comparing the relevant literature permits identifying which processes each pattern serves to explain empirically. While mutual adjustment applies to undesigned processes and markets characterized by a vastly differentiated set of products, organization as a phenomenon can be found primarily in “framed” markets for standardized products and in the securities market. Social field theories address the overarching social contexts and power struggles concerning markets as political and cultural structures. Based on these observations, the paper argues for an integrating perspective which benefits from the advantages of each approach but rejects being pinned down to one single paradigm.
Journal: Berliner Journal für Soziologie
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Alexander Dobeson
More General Panel Data Models for Hospitality and Tourism Research
Abstract:
Purpose
This paper introduces more advanced panel data specifications that would exploit heterogeneity and allow for arbitrary forms of autocorrelation and heteroskedasticity in the error terms.
Design/methodology/approach
In line with Assaf and Tsionas (2019a, 2019b), this paper builds on the Mundlak device to propose panel data models to allow for random slope coefficients, as well as time slope coefficients. This paper allows for arbitrary heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation, thus mitigating possible model misspecification. This paper develops and estimates the model in a Bayesian framework. This paper’s methods can be generalized to many nonlinear models including limited dependent variable models.
Findings
This paper compares several competing models such as a classical panel data model, which has only firm effects. This paper also examines the role of standard deviations in the formation of firm effects and time effects in the Mundlak device. This paper clearly shows that our framework introduces the best flexibility and model fit.
Research limitations/implications
This paper illustrates the importance of using more flexible models (i.e. unit-specific and time-varying coefficients) for future estimation of panel data in the field.
Originality/value
This paper discusses techniques that will improve panel data estimation in the hospitality and tourism literature.
Abstract:
Purpose
This paper introduces more advanced panel data specifications that would exploit heterogeneity and allow for arbitrary forms of autocorrelation and heteroskedasticity in the error terms.
Design/methodology/approach
In line with Assaf and Tsionas (2019a, 2019b), this paper builds on the Mundlak device to propose panel data models to allow for random slope coefficients, as well as time slope coefficients. This paper allows for arbitrary heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation, thus mitigating possible model misspecification. This paper develops and estimates the model in a Bayesian framework. This paper’s methods can be generalized to many nonlinear models including limited dependent variable models.
Findings
This paper compares several competing models such as a classical panel data model, which has only firm effects. This paper also examines the role of standard deviations in the formation of firm effects and time effects in the Mundlak device. This paper clearly shows that our framework introduces the best flexibility and model fit.
Research limitations/implications
This paper illustrates the importance of using more flexible models (i.e. unit-specific and time-varying coefficients) for future estimation of panel data in the field.
Originality/value
This paper discusses techniques that will improve panel data estimation in the hospitality and tourism literature.
Journal: International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
Published: 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Florian Kock
Towards Blockchain-IoT Based Shared Mobility: Car-sharing and Leasing as a Case Study
Abstract: The shared mobility concept is seen as disruptive and transformative for the automotive industry. Shared mobility is changing the way we choose our travel mode, from just owning a car to e-hailing, car-sharing, and other relevant mobility solutions. There is a growing interest of car manufacturers (original equipment manufacturers or OEMs) in car-sharing as an expansion strategy. Similarly, blockchain technology is seen as another disruptive technology, which can potentially change how the data is stored and accessible via its immutable, transparent, and trustworthy features. Motivated by these two current trends, this paper aims to explore how blockchain and IoT technologies together can drive shared mobility forward. We have presented a high-level architecture for a blockchain-IoT-based platform for promoting shared mobility combining car-sharing and car-leasing. We also demonstrated a prototype implemented from the OEM’s point of view by developing a blockchain-IoT-based platform streamlining car-sharing and leasing processes by taking into consideration of primary stakeholders (such as OEMs, a peer-to-peer car-sharing provider, leasing company and insurance provider as well as public authorities). This work also demonstrates that the design of such an integrated platform depends on the right balance between the key design principles (such as security and privacy, authenticity, traceability and reliability, scalability, and interoperability) in the context of car-sharing platforms.
Abstract: The shared mobility concept is seen as disruptive and transformative for the automotive industry. Shared mobility is changing the way we choose our travel mode, from just owning a car to e-hailing, car-sharing, and other relevant mobility solutions. There is a growing interest of car manufacturers (original equipment manufacturers or OEMs) in car-sharing as an expansion strategy. Similarly, blockchain technology is seen as another disruptive technology, which can potentially change how the data is stored and accessible via its immutable, transparent, and trustworthy features. Motivated by these two current trends, this paper aims to explore how blockchain and IoT technologies together can drive shared mobility forward. We have presented a high-level architecture for a blockchain-IoT-based platform for promoting shared mobility combining car-sharing and car-leasing. We also demonstrated a prototype implemented from the OEM’s point of view by developing a blockchain-IoT-based platform streamlining car-sharing and leasing processes by taking into consideration of primary stakeholders (such as OEMs, a peer-to-peer car-sharing provider, leasing company and insurance provider as well as public authorities). This work also demonstrates that the design of such an integrated platform depends on the right balance between the key design principles (such as security and privacy, authenticity, traceability and reliability, scalability, and interoperability) in the context of car-sharing platforms.
Journal: Journal of Network and Computer Applications
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Somnath Mazumdar, Raghava Rao Mukkamala
"The Era of Ferment": How Practitioners and Educators Frame HCI
Abstract: This study examined various roles in HCI and incongruences between practitioners’ and educators’ perceptions and experiences. The incongruences are articulated through the conceptual lens of Technological Frames (TF), which are evidenced by shared understanding of theory, practice, and a common approach to practice. We conducted 21 interviews with HCI practitioners, educators, and people who both practice and teach. We adopted a template analysis approach with matrix queries to identify similarities and distinctions between the different TFs of these roles. Our findings include incongruences between these roles in how they frame and elicit users’ mental models, how they define HCI success, and their levels of enthusiasm for HCI. Congruence was found in framing communication skills, collaboration, and creativity. We contribute proposals for new requirements to frames and skills within HCI curricula that may help close the gap between education and practice. We conclude that despite some convergence across and within groups, perceptions of the HCI field are still unstable, resembling an “era of ferment.”
Abstract: This study examined various roles in HCI and incongruences between practitioners’ and educators’ perceptions and experiences. The incongruences are articulated through the conceptual lens of Technological Frames (TF), which are evidenced by shared understanding of theory, practice, and a common approach to practice. We conducted 21 interviews with HCI practitioners, educators, and people who both practice and teach. We adopted a template analysis approach with matrix queries to identify similarities and distinctions between the different TFs of these roles. Our findings include incongruences between these roles in how they frame and elicit users’ mental models, how they define HCI success, and their levels of enthusiasm for HCI. Congruence was found in framing communication skills, collaboration, and creativity. We contribute proposals for new requirements to frames and skills within HCI curricula that may help close the gap between education and practice. We conclude that despite some convergence across and within groups, perceptions of the HCI field are still unstable, resembling an “era of ferment.”
Journal: Journal of User Experience
Published: 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Torkil Clemmensen
Machine Learning Time Series Regressions With an Application to Nowcasting
Abstract: This article introduces structured machine learning regressions for high-dimensional time series data potentially sampled at different frequencies. The sparse-group LASSO estimator can take advantage of such time series data structures and outperforms the unstructured LASSO. We establish oracle inequalities for the sparse-group LASSO estimator within a framework that allows for the mixing processes and recognizes that the financial and the macroeconomic data may have heavier than exponential tails. An empirical application to nowcasting US GDP growth indicates that the estimator performs favorably compared to other alternatives and that text data can be a useful addition to more traditional numerical data. Our methodology is implemented in the R package midasml, available from CRAN.
Abstract: This article introduces structured machine learning regressions for high-dimensional time series data potentially sampled at different frequencies. The sparse-group LASSO estimator can take advantage of such time series data structures and outperforms the unstructured LASSO. We establish oracle inequalities for the sparse-group LASSO estimator within a framework that allows for the mixing processes and recognizes that the financial and the macroeconomic data may have heavier than exponential tails. An empirical application to nowcasting US GDP growth indicates that the estimator performs favorably compared to other alternatives and that text data can be a useful addition to more traditional numerical data. Our methodology is implemented in the R package midasml, available from CRAN.
Journal: Journal of Business and Economic Statistics
Published: 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Jonas Striaukas
Legal Borderlands in the Global Economy of Care
Abstract: This article examines the role of law in the global economy of care. Drawing upon decolonial theory, transnational labour law, and scholarship in International Political Economy (IPE), it develops the concept of legal borderlands and applies it to an analysis of outsourcing domestic care work to female migrant workers in the Danish au pair scheme. The article argues that law constructs liminal legal subjects with limited rights who are ambiguously situated at the intersection of different legal regimes by differentiating between public/private, work/non-work, and citizen/migrant. These differentiations displace legal subjects outside the scope of labour law protection. The case reflects broader labour market trends of increasing flexibility and deregulation, and the complex transnational interplay of law and migration policies. Legal borderlands is a transnational space of socio-legal relations sitting at the intersection of, and in frictions between legal regimes and hierarchies of oppression, including race, gender, and migrant status.
Abstract: This article examines the role of law in the global economy of care. Drawing upon decolonial theory, transnational labour law, and scholarship in International Political Economy (IPE), it develops the concept of legal borderlands and applies it to an analysis of outsourcing domestic care work to female migrant workers in the Danish au pair scheme. The article argues that law constructs liminal legal subjects with limited rights who are ambiguously situated at the intersection of different legal regimes by differentiating between public/private, work/non-work, and citizen/migrant. These differentiations displace legal subjects outside the scope of labour law protection. The case reflects broader labour market trends of increasing flexibility and deregulation, and the complex transnational interplay of law and migration policies. Legal borderlands is a transnational space of socio-legal relations sitting at the intersection of, and in frictions between legal regimes and hierarchies of oppression, including race, gender, and migrant status.
Journal: Transnational Legal Theory
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Maj Grasten
Law and Gender in Translation: Introduction
Abstract: Translation provides both an analytical tool and conceptual model for feminist legal research. Drawing on translation studies, feminist theory, and scholarship on gender and legal language, we show how translation assists in identifying how gendered points of difference and friction in law are articulated in communicative practice. The article moves from translation as the mechanical movement of meaning across linguistic boundaries to a sociocultural conception of translation as transformative of meanings assigned to ideas, knowledge, representations, and practices. We outline a conceptual agenda that addresses the relationship between law, gender and translation showing how focus on context, circulation and change harnesses and enables feminist legal method and research. Gendered aspects of linguistic practice and discourse include the power to interpret, translate and provide particularistic representations that both silence and enable. The article proposes a framework of use in promoting new modes of interdisciplinary research and dialogue in feminist legal studies.
Abstract: Translation provides both an analytical tool and conceptual model for feminist legal research. Drawing on translation studies, feminist theory, and scholarship on gender and legal language, we show how translation assists in identifying how gendered points of difference and friction in law are articulated in communicative practice. The article moves from translation as the mechanical movement of meaning across linguistic boundaries to a sociocultural conception of translation as transformative of meanings assigned to ideas, knowledge, representations, and practices. We outline a conceptual agenda that addresses the relationship between law, gender and translation showing how focus on context, circulation and change harnesses and enables feminist legal method and research. Gendered aspects of linguistic practice and discourse include the power to interpret, translate and provide particularistic representations that both silence and enable. The article proposes a framework of use in promoting new modes of interdisciplinary research and dialogue in feminist legal studies.
Journal: Australian Feminist Law Journal
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Maj Grasten
A Perfect Storm: COVID-19 and the Reorganisation of the German Meat Industry
Abstract: An advocacy coalition of trade unions, churches and NGOs had been trying for a long time to mobilise domestic media and politicians in order to re-regulate the German meat industry. The meat industry’s low-cost business model, using employee posting and subcontracting on a massive scale, has led to extreme forms of unsafe working and poor living conditions for large numbers of Central and Eastern European workers. But it is only in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that the German government decided to ban subcontracting, posting and temporary work in this industry. Why did COVID-19 make a difference? In an industry in which the livelihoods of local communities in Germany’s pig belt and in deprived rural parts of Romania have become structurally dependent on subcontracting, institutional change would not have happened without the pre-existing mobilisation of the above-mentioned advocacy coalition. But COVID-19 created a ‘perfect storm’ that empowered this coalition by helping reframe the meat industry issue away from a ‘narrow’ employment regulation problem into a ‘broader’ public health threat. Indeed, after becoming a virus hotspot, the meat industry was no longer just a threat to the livelihoods of its own workers, but to those of the wider local community.
Abstract: An advocacy coalition of trade unions, churches and NGOs had been trying for a long time to mobilise domestic media and politicians in order to re-regulate the German meat industry. The meat industry’s low-cost business model, using employee posting and subcontracting on a massive scale, has led to extreme forms of unsafe working and poor living conditions for large numbers of Central and Eastern European workers. But it is only in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that the German government decided to ban subcontracting, posting and temporary work in this industry. Why did COVID-19 make a difference? In an industry in which the livelihoods of local communities in Germany’s pig belt and in deprived rural parts of Romania have become structurally dependent on subcontracting, institutional change would not have happened without the pre-existing mobilisation of the above-mentioned advocacy coalition. But COVID-19 created a ‘perfect storm’ that empowered this coalition by helping reframe the meat industry issue away from a ‘narrow’ employment regulation problem into a ‘broader’ public health threat. Indeed, after becoming a virus hotspot, the meat industry was no longer just a threat to the livelihoods of its own workers, but to those of the wider local community.
Journal: Transfer: European review of Labour and Research
Published: Feb 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Cornel Ban
Inter-imperiality: A Political Economy Reading
Abstract: The concepts of “creolization” and “inter-imperiality” proposed in Anca Parvulescu and Manuela Boatcă’s Creolizing the Modern are superb interventions in the study of society in Europe’s semi-peripheries. These concepts usefully complicate conventional readings in orthodox, decolonial and postcolonial studies at both the conceptual and methodological level. From a historically-minded political economy approach, the book is an opportunity to ask further questions about the scope of inter-imperiality in early 20th century Transylvania, the paucity of analysis of the British-managed Gold Standard finance in shaping the political economy of late Habsburg Transylvania and the ambiguous foundations of ethnic and class relations in this part of Europe.
Abstract: The concepts of “creolization” and “inter-imperiality” proposed in Anca Parvulescu and Manuela Boatcă’s Creolizing the Modern are superb interventions in the study of society in Europe’s semi-peripheries. These concepts usefully complicate conventional readings in orthodox, decolonial and postcolonial studies at both the conceptual and methodological level. From a historically-minded political economy approach, the book is an opportunity to ask further questions about the scope of inter-imperiality in early 20th century Transylvania, the paucity of analysis of the British-managed Gold Standard finance in shaping the political economy of late Habsburg Transylvania and the ambiguous foundations of ethnic and class relations in this part of Europe.
Journal: Transilvania
Published: 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Cornel Ban
A Success versus Failure Prediction Model for Small Firms
Abstract: Understanding the reasons behind the success and failure of SMEs is an important research endeavor. This study develops a success versus prediction model for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Data were collected from SMEs in Mauritius. Both models were found to be valid and reliable and had good prediction accuracies. The full model, however, was found to have a slight advantage over the reduced model. Capital, financial record keeping and control, management experience, business planning and use of professional advisors were significant predictors SMEs’ success. The theoretical implications of the findings are discussed. The study also provides practical implications for stakeholders.
Abstract: Understanding the reasons behind the success and failure of SMEs is an important research endeavor. This study develops a success versus prediction model for small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Data were collected from SMEs in Mauritius. Both models were found to be valid and reliable and had good prediction accuracies. The full model, however, was found to have a slight advantage over the reduced model. Capital, financial record keeping and control, management experience, business planning and use of professional advisors were significant predictors SMEs’ success. The theoretical implications of the findings are discussed. The study also provides practical implications for stakeholders.
Journal: Journal of African Business
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Robin Nunkoo
Revisiting Pay-performance Sensitivity around IFRS Adoption in Europe: The Dominant Role of Germany.
Abstract: In this study, we investigate the effect of IFRS adoption on pay-performance sensitivity (PPS) in the European Economic Area (EEA) and show that the documented positive effect is driven by one country: Germany. In pooled country tests, we explore the effect of individual institutional attributes and find that differences between IFRS and local GAAP, as well as proxies for different types of enforcement, moderate the IFRS effect. However, these findings are contingent on including Germany in the sample. This raises the possibility that the studied institutional attributes proxy for Germany, and that it is the unique combination of institutional attributes in Germany that explains the increase in PPS at the time of IFRS adoption. Our findings suggest that researchers should be careful when generalising results from multi-country studies or attributing the IFRS effects to individual institutional variables.
Abstract: In this study, we investigate the effect of IFRS adoption on pay-performance sensitivity (PPS) in the European Economic Area (EEA) and show that the documented positive effect is driven by one country: Germany. In pooled country tests, we explore the effect of individual institutional attributes and find that differences between IFRS and local GAAP, as well as proxies for different types of enforcement, moderate the IFRS effect. However, these findings are contingent on including Germany in the sample. This raises the possibility that the studied institutional attributes proxy for Germany, and that it is the unique combination of institutional attributes in Germany that explains the increase in PPS at the time of IFRS adoption. Our findings suggest that researchers should be careful when generalising results from multi-country studies or attributing the IFRS effects to individual institutional variables.
Journal: Accounting and Business Research
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Jesper Banghøj, Thomas Plenborg
Corporate Decline and Turnarounds in Times of Digitalization
Journal: Long Range Planning
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Johannes Luger
Battle of the Primes: The Effect and Interplay of Health and Hedonic Primes on Food Choice.
Abstract: People making food choices are often exposed to different cues that can activate relevant goals that influence the choice outcome. Hedonic goals are frequently primed by advertising while health policy enlists primes that activate health goals in the moment of food decision-making – e.g., healthy food labels. However, little is known about the effect of such goal-priming cues on the population level and how people respond when exposed to both types of primes simultaneously. The results of this study, based on a large, representative sample (N = 1200), show no effect of health-goal priming on healthy food choices. Being exposed to a sole hedonic prime, however, reduces healthy choices by 3%. This effect completely disappeared when both primes were presented at the same time. All effects remained insensitive to people's gender, hunger status, level of dietary restraint, and BMI. These findings cast doubt over the effectiveness of health goal primes as a tool to increase healthy food choices but suggest a protective effect against competing hedonic primes and could thereby prevent less healthy choices.
Abstract: People making food choices are often exposed to different cues that can activate relevant goals that influence the choice outcome. Hedonic goals are frequently primed by advertising while health policy enlists primes that activate health goals in the moment of food decision-making – e.g., healthy food labels. However, little is known about the effect of such goal-priming cues on the population level and how people respond when exposed to both types of primes simultaneously. The results of this study, based on a large, representative sample (N = 1200), show no effect of health-goal priming on healthy food choices. Being exposed to a sole hedonic prime, however, reduces healthy choices by 3%. This effect completely disappeared when both primes were presented at the same time. All effects remained insensitive to people's gender, hunger status, level of dietary restraint, and BMI. These findings cast doubt over the effectiveness of health goal primes as a tool to increase healthy food choices but suggest a protective effect against competing hedonic primes and could thereby prevent less healthy choices.
Journal: Appetite
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Jan Michael Bauer, Lucia A. Reisch
Healthy Eating in the Wild: An Experience-sampling Study of how Food Environments and Situational Factors Shape Out-of-Home Dietary Success
Abstract: Across many parts of the world, people increasingly eat out-of-home. Simultaneously, many people strive to eat a healthier diet, but it remains unclear to what extent and how eating out helps or hinders people in achieving their dietary goals. The present study investigated how characteristics of the physical micro-environment in out-of-home food outlets (e.g., cafeterias, supermarkets, and restaurants) influence the healthiness of food choices among a sample of German adults with a goal to eat healthier. We used an experience sampling method to obtain detailed information about people's motivation for selecting a specific food outlet and the outlet's micro-environment. We further asked for people's mood, visceral state, and thoughts during their food choice and obtained evaluations of food choices reported near their occurrence and in externally valid conditions. The data was collected via a mobile app over a period of six to eleven days between November and December of 2018 in Germany with a sample of 409 participants (nobs = 6447). We find that even health-conscious people select food outlets and their respective micro-environments based on short-term goals, such as ease, taste, and speed of a consumption episode rather than long-term health outcomes. Using multiple regression, we show that micro-environments that promote healthy food, make such food more appealing and easier to select facilitate healthy food choices. We further identify some of the psychological mechanisms through which the micro-environment can affect food choices, as well as how individual characteristics moderate the relationship between specific micro-environmental factors and goal success. Taken together, our findings suggest the opportunity for, and arguably also necessity of, reshaping food environments to better facilitate healthier choices and support public health in the face of increasing out-of-home food consumption and the adverse consequences of unhealthy diets.
Abstract: Across many parts of the world, people increasingly eat out-of-home. Simultaneously, many people strive to eat a healthier diet, but it remains unclear to what extent and how eating out helps or hinders people in achieving their dietary goals. The present study investigated how characteristics of the physical micro-environment in out-of-home food outlets (e.g., cafeterias, supermarkets, and restaurants) influence the healthiness of food choices among a sample of German adults with a goal to eat healthier. We used an experience sampling method to obtain detailed information about people's motivation for selecting a specific food outlet and the outlet's micro-environment. We further asked for people's mood, visceral state, and thoughts during their food choice and obtained evaluations of food choices reported near their occurrence and in externally valid conditions. The data was collected via a mobile app over a period of six to eleven days between November and December of 2018 in Germany with a sample of 409 participants (nobs = 6447). We find that even health-conscious people select food outlets and their respective micro-environments based on short-term goals, such as ease, taste, and speed of a consumption episode rather than long-term health outcomes. Using multiple regression, we show that micro-environments that promote healthy food, make such food more appealing and easier to select facilitate healthy food choices. We further identify some of the psychological mechanisms through which the micro-environment can affect food choices, as well as how individual characteristics moderate the relationship between specific micro-environmental factors and goal success. Taken together, our findings suggest the opportunity for, and arguably also necessity of, reshaping food environments to better facilitate healthier choices and support public health in the face of increasing out-of-home food consumption and the adverse consequences of unhealthy diets.
Journal: Social Science & Medicine
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Jan Michael Bauer, Lucia A. Reisch
Nudging More Sustainable Grocery Purchases: Behavioural Innovations in a Supermarket Setting
Abstract: Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in a shift towards more plant-based foods is considered a key component of a healthy and sustainable diet. Recent experimental work suggests that behavioural insights-based interventions in the immediate choice context may create opportunities for sustainable food-behaviour change. Among the many actors and elements of a complex food system, supermarkets are in a unique position as main gatekeepers to curate the interface between supply and demand and steer both in more sustainable directions. Sustainability-oriented retailers can use innovative behavioural tools to promote healthier and climate-friendlier foods (such as vegetables) while meeting the “triple bottom line”. A real-life supermarket trial in Denmark tested if multi-layered nudges can increase the purchase of fruit and vegetables. The intervention led to small increases in sales. These findings showcase the possibility that supermarkets, in principle, have agency and ability to nudge consumers towards more sustainable diets. To meaningfully shift consumers’ consumption patterns, supermarkets need an open sharing of best practices and the use of a sound methodology to better understand and effectively change consumer behaviour. In partnership with stakeholders, supermarkets could play a more active role in fostering a sustainable food transition by employing “nudges for good”.
Abstract: Increasing fruit and vegetable consumption in a shift towards more plant-based foods is considered a key component of a healthy and sustainable diet. Recent experimental work suggests that behavioural insights-based interventions in the immediate choice context may create opportunities for sustainable food-behaviour change. Among the many actors and elements of a complex food system, supermarkets are in a unique position as main gatekeepers to curate the interface between supply and demand and steer both in more sustainable directions. Sustainability-oriented retailers can use innovative behavioural tools to promote healthier and climate-friendlier foods (such as vegetables) while meeting the “triple bottom line”. A real-life supermarket trial in Denmark tested if multi-layered nudges can increase the purchase of fruit and vegetables. The intervention led to small increases in sales. These findings showcase the possibility that supermarkets, in principle, have agency and ability to nudge consumers towards more sustainable diets. To meaningfully shift consumers’ consumption patterns, supermarkets need an open sharing of best practices and the use of a sound methodology to better understand and effectively change consumer behaviour. In partnership with stakeholders, supermarkets could play a more active role in fostering a sustainable food transition by employing “nudges for good”.
Journal: Technological Forecasting and Social Change
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Jan Michael Bauer, Lucia A. Reisch
Multi-party Certification on Blockchain and its Impact in the Market for Lemons
Abstract: Markets in which similar goods of different qualities are sold suffer from information asymmetries and their negative consequences. Dealers have established themselves, and mediate these markets through their use of quality signals. While these signals help to mitigate information asymmetries, these markets still function well below their optimum: a large share of goods sold are overpriced, and most of the benefits are reaped by intermediaries. In this paper we build on prior research that proposes the use of blockchain as an enabler for trusted, decentralized asset documentation. Applying a socio-technical lens, we describe how blockchain-enabled multi-party certification affords dealers the action potential to send signals that are more closely correlated to the unobservable quality of the underlying good (i.e., signals with a higher fit) than the signals they send today. We then both theorize and experimentally explore the market effects of the two types of signals. Using data from a laboratory market experiment with 210 participants, we find empirical evidence that multi-party certification affords dealers the action potential to send signals of significantly higher fit than those sent by intermediaries alone, leading to a reduction in information asymmetries, a more efficient allocation of goods, and an increase in market fairness.
Abstract: Markets in which similar goods of different qualities are sold suffer from information asymmetries and their negative consequences. Dealers have established themselves, and mediate these markets through their use of quality signals. While these signals help to mitigate information asymmetries, these markets still function well below their optimum: a large share of goods sold are overpriced, and most of the benefits are reaped by intermediaries. In this paper we build on prior research that proposes the use of blockchain as an enabler for trusted, decentralized asset documentation. Applying a socio-technical lens, we describe how blockchain-enabled multi-party certification affords dealers the action potential to send signals that are more closely correlated to the unobservable quality of the underlying good (i.e., signals with a higher fit) than the signals they send today. We then both theorize and experimentally explore the market effects of the two types of signals. Using data from a laboratory market experiment with 210 participants, we find empirical evidence that multi-party certification affords dealers the action potential to send signals of significantly higher fit than those sent by intermediaries alone, leading to a reduction in information asymmetries, a more efficient allocation of goods, and an increase in market fairness.
Journal: Journal of Management Information Systems
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: José Parra Moyano
Markedsrisikopræmien: En diskussion af metoder og det aktuelle niveau
Abstract: Markedsrisikopræmien spiller en vigtig rolle i forbindelse med værdiansættelse af aktier, investeringsbeslutninger og vurdering af afkast og performance. Til trods herfor findes der ikke en generelt accepteret metode til fastlæggelsen af markedsrisikopræmien, og der er i forskellige sammenhænge set – nogle gange næsten ophedede – diskussioner af niveauet for markedsrisikopræmien. Denne artikel diskuterer forskellige metoder til fastlæggelse af præmien, udvalgte resultater fra anvendelsen af metoderne, og hvad det samlet siger om det aktuelle niveau.
Abstract: Markedsrisikopræmien spiller en vigtig rolle i forbindelse med værdiansættelse af aktier, investeringsbeslutninger og vurdering af afkast og performance. Til trods herfor findes der ikke en generelt accepteret metode til fastlæggelsen af markedsrisikopræmien, og der er i forskellige sammenhænge set – nogle gange næsten ophedede – diskussioner af niveauet for markedsrisikopræmien. Denne artikel diskuterer forskellige metoder til fastlæggelse af præmien, udvalgte resultater fra anvendelsen af metoderne, og hvad det samlet siger om det aktuelle niveau.
Journal: Finans/Invest
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Ken L. Bechmann
Corporate Governance with Chinese Characteristics: Party Organization in State-owned Enterprises
Abstract: This article analyses the role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the corporate governance of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including a case study of a central-level SOE holding group. Relying on official documents, secondary literature and interviews with enterprise managers, government officials and academics, the article documents how the CCP has actively formalized its role in Chinese business by embedding itself in the corporate governance structure of SOEs. Through the application of Chinese indigenous administrative corporate governance concepts such as “bidirectional entry, cross appointment” and “three majors, one big,” the CCP has consolidated its dominance of enterprise decision-making procedures and personnel appointment and created a hybrid, Party-led model of corporate governance. While this hybrid model can secure enterprise compliance, communication with higher state and Party organs, as well as long-term development planning, it is unlikely to help solve SOE efficiency problems and may even undermine other SOE reforms.
Abstract: This article analyses the role of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in the corporate governance of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOEs), including a case study of a central-level SOE holding group. Relying on official documents, secondary literature and interviews with enterprise managers, government officials and academics, the article documents how the CCP has actively formalized its role in Chinese business by embedding itself in the corporate governance structure of SOEs. Through the application of Chinese indigenous administrative corporate governance concepts such as “bidirectional entry, cross appointment” and “three majors, one big,” the CCP has consolidated its dominance of enterprise decision-making procedures and personnel appointment and created a hybrid, Party-led model of corporate governance. While this hybrid model can secure enterprise compliance, communication with higher state and Party organs, as well as long-term development planning, it is unlikely to help solve SOE efficiency problems and may even undermine other SOE reforms.
Journal: China Quarterly
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Kasper Ingeman Beck, Kjeld Erik Brødsgaard
Crowdsourcing Research Questions in Science
Abstract: Scientists are increasingly crossing the boundaries of the professional system by involving the general public (the crowd) directly in their research. However, this crowd involvement tends to be confined to empirical work and it is not clear whether and how crowds can also be involved in conceptual stages such as formulating the questions that research is trying to address. Drawing on five different “paradigms” of crowdsourcing and related mechanisms, we first discuss potential merits of involving crowds in the formulation of research questions (RQs). We then analyze data from two crowdsourcing projects in the medical sciences to describe key features of RQs generated by crowd members and compare the quality of crowd contributions to that of RQs generated in the conventional scientific process. We find that the majority of crowd contributions are problem restatements that can be useful to assess problem importance but provide little guidance regarding potential causes or solutions. At the same time, crowd-generated research questions frequently cross disciplinary boundaries by combining elements from different fields within and especially outside medicine. Using evaluations by professional scientists, we find that the average crowd contribution has lower novelty and potential scientific impact than professional research questions, but comparable practical impact. Crowd contributions outperform professional RQs once we apply selection mechanisms at the level of individual contributors or across contributors. Our findings advance research on crowd and citizen science, crowdsourcing and distributed knowledge production, as well as the organization of science. We also inform ongoing policy debates around the involvement of citizens in research in general, and agenda setting in particular.
Abstract: Scientists are increasingly crossing the boundaries of the professional system by involving the general public (the crowd) directly in their research. However, this crowd involvement tends to be confined to empirical work and it is not clear whether and how crowds can also be involved in conceptual stages such as formulating the questions that research is trying to address. Drawing on five different “paradigms” of crowdsourcing and related mechanisms, we first discuss potential merits of involving crowds in the formulation of research questions (RQs). We then analyze data from two crowdsourcing projects in the medical sciences to describe key features of RQs generated by crowd members and compare the quality of crowd contributions to that of RQs generated in the conventional scientific process. We find that the majority of crowd contributions are problem restatements that can be useful to assess problem importance but provide little guidance regarding potential causes or solutions. At the same time, crowd-generated research questions frequently cross disciplinary boundaries by combining elements from different fields within and especially outside medicine. Using evaluations by professional scientists, we find that the average crowd contribution has lower novelty and potential scientific impact than professional research questions, but comparable practical impact. Crowd contributions outperform professional RQs once we apply selection mechanisms at the level of individual contributors or across contributors. Our findings advance research on crowd and citizen science, crowdsourcing and distributed knowledge production, as well as the organization of science. We also inform ongoing policy debates around the involvement of citizens in research in general, and agenda setting in particular.
Journal: Research Policy
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Susanne Beck, Marion Poetz
Reforming the Chinese State Sector: Mixed Ownership Reforms and State-Business Relations
Abstract: This article offers a detailed analysis of the policy design of the current fourth round of state-owned enterprise (SOE) corporate restructuring in China. This time, the state’s efforts to improve SOE performance hinged on attracting private capital to take ownership shares in state firms—or so-called mixed-ownership reforms. The article relies on an analysis of policy documents, interviews with policy experts in China, and a case study of local mixed-ownership reform implementation in the city of Nanjing. It discusses implications of mixed ownership for corporate governance amid changing state–Party–business relations in China. It concludes that the reform agenda consolidates a hybrid political-economic system that organically blends planning and market modes of economic coordination, as well as public and private modes of ownership.This article offers a detailed analysis of the policy design of the current fourth round of state-owned enterprise (SOE) corporate restructuring in China. This time, the state’s efforts to improve SOE performance hinged on attracting private capital to take ownership shares in state firms—or so-called mixed-ownership reforms. The article relies on an analysis of policy documents, interviews with policy experts in China, and a case study of local mixed-ownership reform implementation in the city of Nanjing. It discusses implications of mixed ownership for corporate governance amid changing state–Party–business relations in China. It concludes that the reform agenda consolidates a hybrid political-economic system that organically blends planning and market modes of economic coordination, as well as public and private modes of ownership.
Abstract: This article offers a detailed analysis of the policy design of the current fourth round of state-owned enterprise (SOE) corporate restructuring in China. This time, the state’s efforts to improve SOE performance hinged on attracting private capital to take ownership shares in state firms—or so-called mixed-ownership reforms. The article relies on an analysis of policy documents, interviews with policy experts in China, and a case study of local mixed-ownership reform implementation in the city of Nanjing. It discusses implications of mixed ownership for corporate governance amid changing state–Party–business relations in China. It concludes that the reform agenda consolidates a hybrid political-economic system that organically blends planning and market modes of economic coordination, as well as public and private modes of ownership.This article offers a detailed analysis of the policy design of the current fourth round of state-owned enterprise (SOE) corporate restructuring in China. This time, the state’s efforts to improve SOE performance hinged on attracting private capital to take ownership shares in state firms—or so-called mixed-ownership reforms. The article relies on an analysis of policy documents, interviews with policy experts in China, and a case study of local mixed-ownership reform implementation in the city of Nanjing. It discusses implications of mixed ownership for corporate governance amid changing state–Party–business relations in China. It concludes that the reform agenda consolidates a hybrid political-economic system that organically blends planning and market modes of economic coordination, as well as public and private modes of ownership.
Journal: Journal of Contemporary China
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Kasper Ingeman Beck
The Political Economy of State Sector Restructuring in China: Cross-provincial Evidence 2008–2017
Abstract: Results reported in this article, on local implementation of mixed-ownership reforms and the corporatization of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE) in the period 2008–2017, confirm that political and economic factors determine the possibility, objective, and pace of SOE corporate restructuring. With a starting point in a comprehensive review of the literature on Chinese SOE reforms in the late 1990s and early 2000s, hypotheses on the effects of 1) market supporting institutions, 2) fiscal and financial stability constraints, and 3) social stability constraints on state sector ownership reforms were identified. Industrial economy statistics found in province-level statistical yearbooks were used to test the continuing relevance of these hypotheses and to provide the basis for an updated analysis of the ownership structure of local state-owned enterprises in a new phase of SOE reforms. Most of the firm-level findings reported here are consistent with those of previous studies. However, in contrast to earlier stages of SOE reforms, we find that fiscal pressure on local governments no longer functions as a driver of local-state-sector ownership restructuring. The analysis implies that the Chinese government’s current SOE reform strategy, which this time focus on mixed ownership, is mainly relevant for high-performing SOEs located in rich provinces with well-developed market-supporting institutions.
Abstract: Results reported in this article, on local implementation of mixed-ownership reforms and the corporatization of Chinese state-owned enterprises (SOE) in the period 2008–2017, confirm that political and economic factors determine the possibility, objective, and pace of SOE corporate restructuring. With a starting point in a comprehensive review of the literature on Chinese SOE reforms in the late 1990s and early 2000s, hypotheses on the effects of 1) market supporting institutions, 2) fiscal and financial stability constraints, and 3) social stability constraints on state sector ownership reforms were identified. Industrial economy statistics found in province-level statistical yearbooks were used to test the continuing relevance of these hypotheses and to provide the basis for an updated analysis of the ownership structure of local state-owned enterprises in a new phase of SOE reforms. Most of the firm-level findings reported here are consistent with those of previous studies. However, in contrast to earlier stages of SOE reforms, we find that fiscal pressure on local governments no longer functions as a driver of local-state-sector ownership restructuring. The analysis implies that the Chinese government’s current SOE reform strategy, which this time focus on mixed ownership, is mainly relevant for high-performing SOEs located in rich provinces with well-developed market-supporting institutions.
Journal: Journal of Chinese Political Science
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Kasper Ingeman Beck
IFRS Adoption in the United States: An Analysis of the Role of the SEC’s Chairs
Abstract: In this paper, we study the role of the SEC’s Chairs in the possible adoption of IFRS in the United States between 2005 and 2017. We mobilize the theoretical framework of institutional entrepreneurship to analyze the multidimensional institutional process which involves the streams of problem recognition, policy development and politics. Our qualitative empirical study finds that the SEC Chairs attempted to couple the three streams to different extents to achieve policy breakthroughs on IFRS adoption. We show how the coupling endeavors of Chair Cox opened a temporal window of opportunity for IFRS adoption, while Chairs Schapiro and White were unsuccessful in coupling the streams due to limited recognition of IFRS adoption as a central problem for the SEC, the inability to develop a practicable policy solution and unfavorable conditions in the policy stream. Our paper offers insights into the reasons for the SEC’s substantial efforts to introduce IFRS to U.S. capital markets and why these efforts never resulted in a formal decision on adopting IFRS for U.S. issuers. Our findings contribute to literatures on IFRS adoption, the temporal dimension of institutional entrepreneurship and the U.S. debate on IFRS.
Abstract: In this paper, we study the role of the SEC’s Chairs in the possible adoption of IFRS in the United States between 2005 and 2017. We mobilize the theoretical framework of institutional entrepreneurship to analyze the multidimensional institutional process which involves the streams of problem recognition, policy development and politics. Our qualitative empirical study finds that the SEC Chairs attempted to couple the three streams to different extents to achieve policy breakthroughs on IFRS adoption. We show how the coupling endeavors of Chair Cox opened a temporal window of opportunity for IFRS adoption, while Chairs Schapiro and White were unsuccessful in coupling the streams due to limited recognition of IFRS adoption as a central problem for the SEC, the inability to develop a practicable policy solution and unfavorable conditions in the policy stream. Our paper offers insights into the reasons for the SEC’s substantial efforts to introduce IFRS to U.S. capital markets and why these efforts never resulted in a formal decision on adopting IFRS for U.S. issuers. Our findings contribute to literatures on IFRS adoption, the temporal dimension of institutional entrepreneurship and the U.S. debate on IFRS.
Journal: Journal of Accounting and Public Policy
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Kirstin Becker
Give Me Your Rested, Your Wealthy, Your Educated Few? A Critical Discussion of the Current Literature on Immigrant Self-employment
Abstract: Purpose
The finding that immigrants are more likely to self-employ than natives has been consistently shown by different researchers. At the same time, many call for the prioritization of high-skilled immigration as they believe low-skilled entrepreneurs are not particularly innovative or high-growth-oriented. The purpose of this study is to critically review and synthesize the current literature on immigrant self-employment, paying particular attention to low-skilled immigrant entrepreneurship and the popular policy recommendation that high-skilled immigrants should be prioritized.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors survey the existing literature on immigrant self-employment and discuss recurring data issues, how those issues have or have not been addressed, as well as how these data issues impact the validity of policy recommendations that favor high-skilled immigrants and disfavor low-skilled immigrants. In particular, the authors examine how length of stay in the host country and host country institutions impact immigrant self-employment, especially low-skilled immigrant self-employment. The authors also point out unintended consequences of low-skilled immigration.
Findings
The authors find data issues significantly impact the potential justifications behind calls to favor high-skilled immigrants. In particular, many researchers underestimate the positive impacts of low-skilled immigrant self-employment by not accounting for institutions and length of stay in the host country. The authors conclude with policy recommendations that prioritize high-skilled immigration should be re-examined in light of recurring omitted variable biases within previous studies and evidence of a number of positive unintended consequences associated with low-skilled migration.
Originality/value
The authors review current literature and discuss how important confounding variables, like the number of years an immigrant entrepreneur has lived in a host country and the institutions of a host country, make common policy recommendations suggesting prioritization of high-skilled immigration problematic. The authors also discuss potential solutions to these data issues, ways these issues have been solved already, and possible ways forward. Finally, after considering the literature, the authors offer our own set of policy recommendations.
Abstract: Purpose
The finding that immigrants are more likely to self-employ than natives has been consistently shown by different researchers. At the same time, many call for the prioritization of high-skilled immigration as they believe low-skilled entrepreneurs are not particularly innovative or high-growth-oriented. The purpose of this study is to critically review and synthesize the current literature on immigrant self-employment, paying particular attention to low-skilled immigrant entrepreneurship and the popular policy recommendation that high-skilled immigrants should be prioritized.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors survey the existing literature on immigrant self-employment and discuss recurring data issues, how those issues have or have not been addressed, as well as how these data issues impact the validity of policy recommendations that favor high-skilled immigrants and disfavor low-skilled immigrants. In particular, the authors examine how length of stay in the host country and host country institutions impact immigrant self-employment, especially low-skilled immigrant self-employment. The authors also point out unintended consequences of low-skilled immigration.
Findings
The authors find data issues significantly impact the potential justifications behind calls to favor high-skilled immigrants. In particular, many researchers underestimate the positive impacts of low-skilled immigrant self-employment by not accounting for institutions and length of stay in the host country. The authors conclude with policy recommendations that prioritize high-skilled immigration should be re-examined in light of recurring omitted variable biases within previous studies and evidence of a number of positive unintended consequences associated with low-skilled migration.
Originality/value
The authors review current literature and discuss how important confounding variables, like the number of years an immigrant entrepreneur has lived in a host country and the institutions of a host country, make common policy recommendations suggesting prioritization of high-skilled immigration problematic. The authors also discuss potential solutions to these data issues, ways these issues have been solved already, and possible ways forward. Finally, after considering the literature, the authors offer our own set of policy recommendations.
Journal: Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy
Published: 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Joshua Bedi
What Kind of EU Fiscal Capacity? Evidence from a Randomized Survey Experiment in five European Countries in Times of Corona
Abstract: Based on a conjoint survey experiment we explore the support among European citizens for a European Union (EU) budgetary assistance instrument to combat adverse temporary or permanent economic shocks hitting Member States. Suitably designed, there is substantial support for such an EU instrument generally and across the sample countries. Support is broader when budgetary support is conditional on debt reduction in good times and on monies being spent in specific policy areas, in particular healthcare and education. Support also increases when there is a role for the European Commission in terms of monitoring and providing guidance. However, there is little support for policy packages that terminate a program and impose fines in the case of non-compliance. Further, there is broad acceptance of programs that entail long-run redistribution towards poorer countries. Financing the assistance through a progressive tax increase is more popular than through a flat tax increase. In general, there is substantial scope for constructing assistance packages that command majority support in all sample countries, particularly if programs have spending conditionality and progressive tax financing.
Abstract: Based on a conjoint survey experiment we explore the support among European citizens for a European Union (EU) budgetary assistance instrument to combat adverse temporary or permanent economic shocks hitting Member States. Suitably designed, there is substantial support for such an EU instrument generally and across the sample countries. Support is broader when budgetary support is conditional on debt reduction in good times and on monies being spent in specific policy areas, in particular healthcare and education. Support also increases when there is a role for the European Commission in terms of monitoring and providing guidance. However, there is little support for policy packages that terminate a program and impose fines in the case of non-compliance. Further, there is broad acceptance of programs that entail long-run redistribution towards poorer countries. Financing the assistance through a progressive tax increase is more popular than through a flat tax increase. In general, there is substantial scope for constructing assistance packages that command majority support in all sample countries, particularly if programs have spending conditionality and progressive tax financing.
Journal: Economic Policy
Published: Jul 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Roel Beetsma
Restarting the Dutch Economy after the Covid-19 Crisis
Journal: CESifo Forum
Published: Nov 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Roel Beetsma
The Political Economy of Fiscal Transparency and Independent Fiscal Councils
Abstract: This paper develops a theory of fiscal transparency aimed at highlighting the potential contribution of independent fiscal councils to fiscal responsibility. In a political economy model with electoral competition, voters care about the candidates’ competence to supply valuable public goods and about their congruence (subjective sense of proximity). Voters observe candidates’ congruence but must form views about their competence based on the expected amount of public goods they could provide, and on other random signs about competence, public debt and the state of the economy. More transparency reduces noise around these relevant considerations. The model exhibits a bias towards excessive public debt for both “partisan” (myopia) and “opportunistic” (signaling competence through additional spending) motives so that institutional arrangements mitigating the debt bias carry welfare gains. While transparency about public debt itself is irrelevant, clearer signals about competence raise public debt if the incumbent enjoys a sufficiently large electoral advantage but reduce debt otherwise. Increased transparency about the state of the economy raises debt and is less valued by voters and the incumbent than greater transparency about competence. The latter is preferred by all players if the incumbent does not hold too large an electoral advantage. Otherwise, the incumbent and the public may have diverging preferences regarding greater transparency. Our analysis reveals the ambiguity about the potential contribution of independent fiscal councils (IFCs) to fiscal responsibility through increased transparency, and points to the inherent fragility of the political backing for such institutions.
Abstract: This paper develops a theory of fiscal transparency aimed at highlighting the potential contribution of independent fiscal councils to fiscal responsibility. In a political economy model with electoral competition, voters care about the candidates’ competence to supply valuable public goods and about their congruence (subjective sense of proximity). Voters observe candidates’ congruence but must form views about their competence based on the expected amount of public goods they could provide, and on other random signs about competence, public debt and the state of the economy. More transparency reduces noise around these relevant considerations. The model exhibits a bias towards excessive public debt for both “partisan” (myopia) and “opportunistic” (signaling competence through additional spending) motives so that institutional arrangements mitigating the debt bias carry welfare gains. While transparency about public debt itself is irrelevant, clearer signals about competence raise public debt if the incumbent enjoys a sufficiently large electoral advantage but reduce debt otherwise. Increased transparency about the state of the economy raises debt and is less valued by voters and the incumbent than greater transparency about competence. The latter is preferred by all players if the incumbent does not hold too large an electoral advantage. Otherwise, the incumbent and the public may have diverging preferences regarding greater transparency. Our analysis reveals the ambiguity about the potential contribution of independent fiscal councils (IFCs) to fiscal responsibility through increased transparency, and points to the inherent fragility of the political backing for such institutions.
Journal: European Economic Review
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Roel Beetsma
Measuring Belief-dependent Preferences without Data on Beliefs
Abstract: We derive bounds on the causal effect of belief-dependent preferences (reciprocity and guilt aversion) on choices in sequential two-player games without data on the (higher-order) beliefs of players. We show how informative bounds can be derived by exploiting a specific invariance property common to those preferences. We illustrate our approach by analyzing data from an experiment conducted in Denmark. Our approach produces tight bounds on the causal effect of reciprocity in the games we consider. These bounds suggest there exists significant reciprocity in our population — a result also substantiated by the participants' answers to a post-experimental questionnaire. On the other hand, our approach yields high implausible estimates of guilt aversion — participants would be willing, in some games, to pay at least 3 Danish crowns (DKK) to avoid letting others down by one DKK. We contrast our estimated bounds with point estimates obtained using data on stated higher-order beliefs, keeping all other aspects of the model unchanged. We find that point estimates fall within our estimated bounds, suggesting that elicited higher-order belief data in our experiment is weakly (if at all) affected by various reporting biases.
Abstract: We derive bounds on the causal effect of belief-dependent preferences (reciprocity and guilt aversion) on choices in sequential two-player games without data on the (higher-order) beliefs of players. We show how informative bounds can be derived by exploiting a specific invariance property common to those preferences. We illustrate our approach by analyzing data from an experiment conducted in Denmark. Our approach produces tight bounds on the causal effect of reciprocity in the games we consider. These bounds suggest there exists significant reciprocity in our population — a result also substantiated by the participants' answers to a post-experimental questionnaire. On the other hand, our approach yields high implausible estimates of guilt aversion — participants would be willing, in some games, to pay at least 3 Danish crowns (DKK) to avoid letting others down by one DKK. We contrast our estimated bounds with point estimates obtained using data on stated higher-order beliefs, keeping all other aspects of the model unchanged. We find that point estimates fall within our estimated bounds, suggesting that elicited higher-order belief data in our experiment is weakly (if at all) affected by various reporting biases.
Journal: Review of Economic Studies
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Alexander C. Sebald
Settling Hybrid Identity through Impact Assessment? The Case of B Corps
Abstract: This paper investigates the capacity of impact assessment processes to settle the category of hybrid entrepreneurial organisations. This potential lies in two main endeavours: the integrated and holistic assessment of the economic and socio-environmental fields, and the provision of robust and comparable results balanced with a tailored representation of an organisation’s specifics. We provide an empirical test on B Corps analysing the B Impact Assessment (BIA). Results reveal that the BIA has capacity for holistic accountability and provides comparable results through sectors, geographic areas, and legal forms. We raise concerns about its ability to accurately represent context-based specific identities.
Abstract: This paper investigates the capacity of impact assessment processes to settle the category of hybrid entrepreneurial organisations. This potential lies in two main endeavours: the integrated and holistic assessment of the economic and socio-environmental fields, and the provision of robust and comparable results balanced with a tailored representation of an organisation’s specifics. We provide an empirical test on B Corps analysing the B Impact Assessment (BIA). Results reveal that the BIA has capacity for holistic accountability and provides comparable results through sectors, geographic areas, and legal forms. We raise concerns about its ability to accurately represent context-based specific identities.
Journal: Journal of Social Entrepreneurship
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Francesco Gerli
Are Cryptocurrencies Homogeneous?
Abstract: This article investigates if cryptocurrencies returns' are similarly affected by a selection of demand- and supply-side determinants. Homogeneity among cryptocurrencies is tested via a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) model where determinants of Bitcoin returns are applied to a sample of 12 cryptocurrencies. The analysis goes beyond existing research by simultaneously covering different periods and design choices of cryptocurrencies. The results show that cryptocurrencies are heterogeneous, apart from some similarities in the impact of technical determinants and cybercrime. The cryptocurrency market displays evidence of substitution effects, and design choices related explain the impact of the determinants of return.
Abstract: This article investigates if cryptocurrencies returns' are similarly affected by a selection of demand- and supply-side determinants. Homogeneity among cryptocurrencies is tested via a least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) model where determinants of Bitcoin returns are applied to a sample of 12 cryptocurrencies. The analysis goes beyond existing research by simultaneously covering different periods and design choices of cryptocurrencies. The results show that cryptocurrencies are heterogeneous, apart from some similarities in the impact of technical determinants and cybercrime. The cryptocurrency market displays evidence of substitution effects, and design choices related explain the impact of the determinants of return.
Journal: European Financial Management
Published: Oct 2033
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Contact CBS researcher: Elias Bengtsson
Hyperloop, une mythologie de marchés. Revue Francaise de Gestion
Abstract: This paper studies how a market is being structured around Hyperloop, the hyper-speed train proposed in 2013 by Elon Musk. We show that Hyperloop carries the mythology, in the Barthian sense, of the possibility for humans to master time and space. We link semiology and materiality and show that meaning is constructed through texts and narrative. Their specificity can influence the structure of markets and what circulates in them. We develop the concept of ambiguous materiality: a dichotomy between the materiality of a technological object and its markets, enabled by the mythological nature of the object.
Abstract: This paper studies how a market is being structured around Hyperloop, the hyper-speed train proposed in 2013 by Elon Musk. We show that Hyperloop carries the mythology, in the Barthian sense, of the possibility for humans to master time and space. We link semiology and materiality and show that meaning is constructed through texts and narrative. Their specificity can influence the structure of markets and what circulates in them. We develop the concept of ambiguous materiality: a dichotomy between the materiality of a technological object and its markets, enabled by the mythological nature of the object.
Journal: Revue Francaise de Gestion
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Elise Berlinski
The Virtues of Joint Production: Ethical Foundations for Collaborative Organization
Abstract: Organizations involve joint production where members engage in purposive coordination and cooperation with others. Scholars have often noted the importance of “moral factors” in facilitating such collaboration but previous research has not adequately explained the nature of these moral factors, how they are embodied within joint production, or why organization members willingly adhere to them. We draw upon virtue ethics to address these questions. We argue that joint production represents a distinct, organization-level practice embodying morally salient standards of professional excellence that contribute to the development of members’ virtues through habituation. We then elaborate microfoundations for this account, developing a virtue ethical account of human agency as directed toward human flourishing such that members willingly adhere to organizational norms and values when they coherently embody goods that contribute to human flourishing.
Abstract: Organizations involve joint production where members engage in purposive coordination and cooperation with others. Scholars have often noted the importance of “moral factors” in facilitating such collaboration but previous research has not adequately explained the nature of these moral factors, how they are embodied within joint production, or why organization members willingly adhere to them. We draw upon virtue ethics to address these questions. We argue that joint production represents a distinct, organization-level practice embodying morally salient standards of professional excellence that contribute to the development of members’ virtues through habituation. We then elaborate microfoundations for this account, developing a virtue ethical account of human agency as directed toward human flourishing such that members willingly adhere to organizational norms and values when they coherently embody goods that contribute to human flourishing.
Journal: Academy of Management Review
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researchers Nicolai J. Foss
Why Do Firms Down-list or Exit from Securities Markets? Evidence from the German Stock Exchange
Abstract: In 2003, the German Stock Exchange instituted the Prime Standard as the highest regulated stock market segment in Germany. We analyze the firms’ delisting decisions from this market segment between 2003 and 2015, with a focus on different delisting reasons and firm characteristics. We identify 518 firms that listed on the Prime Standard at least once during the sample period of which 243 firms left this market segment. Of these firms, 107 down-listed and transferred to lower market segments and 136 firms exited the public equity market for the following reasons: 61 firms merged, 53 were insolvent, and 22 firms went private. Using cross-sectional and firm-fixed effects logit regressions, we provide new evidence for firms’ market segment and delisting decisions. Consistent with a cost–benefit analysis, we observe that inferior growth opportunities, low stock liquidity, smaller firm size, poor operating performance, higher audit fees, and more agency conflicts increase the probability that firms opt for a less regulated stock market segment or voluntarily go private. This raises the important issue of securities market reforms that best meet firms and investors preferences.
Abstract: In 2003, the German Stock Exchange instituted the Prime Standard as the highest regulated stock market segment in Germany. We analyze the firms’ delisting decisions from this market segment between 2003 and 2015, with a focus on different delisting reasons and firm characteristics. We identify 518 firms that listed on the Prime Standard at least once during the sample period of which 243 firms left this market segment. Of these firms, 107 down-listed and transferred to lower market segments and 136 firms exited the public equity market for the following reasons: 61 firms merged, 53 were insolvent, and 22 firms went private. Using cross-sectional and firm-fixed effects logit regressions, we provide new evidence for firms’ market segment and delisting decisions. Consistent with a cost–benefit analysis, we observe that inferior growth opportunities, low stock liquidity, smaller firm size, poor operating performance, higher audit fees, and more agency conflicts increase the probability that firms opt for a less regulated stock market segment or voluntarily go private. This raises the important issue of securities market reforms that best meet firms and investors preferences.
Journal: Review of Managerial Science
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Marc Steffen Rapp
Vegans and Vaccines: A Tale of Competing Identity Goals
Journal: NIM Marketing Intelligence Review
Published: 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Michael Beverland
From Private Digital Platforms to Public Data Spaces: Implications for the Digital Transformation
Abstract: Technological developments such as Cloud Computing, the Internet of Things, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence continue to drive the digital transformation of business and society. With the advent of platform-based ecosystems and their potential to address complex challenges, there is a trend towards greater interconnectedness between different stakeholders to co-create services based on the provision and use of data. While previous research on digital transformation mainly focused on digital transformation within organizations, it is of growing importance to understand the implications for digital transformation on different layers (e.g., interorganizational cooperation and platform ecosystems). In particular, the conceptualization and implications of public data spaces and related ecosystems provide promising research opportunities. This special issue contains five papers on the topic of digital transformation and, with the editorial, further contributes by providing an initial conceptualization of public data spaces' potential to foster innovative progress and digital transformation from a management perspective.
Abstract: Technological developments such as Cloud Computing, the Internet of Things, Big Data and Artificial Intelligence continue to drive the digital transformation of business and society. With the advent of platform-based ecosystems and their potential to address complex challenges, there is a trend towards greater interconnectedness between different stakeholders to co-create services based on the provision and use of data. While previous research on digital transformation mainly focused on digital transformation within organizations, it is of growing importance to understand the implications for digital transformation on different layers (e.g., interorganizational cooperation and platform ecosystems). In particular, the conceptualization and implications of public data spaces and related ecosystems provide promising research opportunities. This special issue contains five papers on the topic of digital transformation and, with the editorial, further contributes by providing an initial conceptualization of public data spaces' potential to foster innovative progress and digital transformation from a management perspective.
Journal: Electronic Markets
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Christiane Lehrer
Ten Theses on Technology and Organization: Introduction to the Special Issue
Abstract: We advance ten theses on the nature of technology and organization studies. We suggest there has been very little theorizing and reflection on technology (as technology) in the study of organization. Though technology has been addressed extensively, it is nearly always as a tool deployed for organizational ends; technology itself is assumed to have no consequence. In contrast, the ten theses state, in various ways, what it is to think organization through the mediation of technology, and to think of technology as more than an array of (mute) material objects.
Abstract: We advance ten theses on the nature of technology and organization studies. We suggest there has been very little theorizing and reflection on technology (as technology) in the study of organization. Though technology has been addressed extensively, it is nearly always as a tool deployed for organizational ends; technology itself is assumed to have no consequence. In contrast, the ten theses state, in various ways, what it is to think organization through the mediation of technology, and to think of technology as more than an array of (mute) material objects.
Journal: Organization Studies
Published: Jul 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Mikkel Flyverbom, Robin Holt
Pre-grant Patent Disclosure and Analyst Forecast Accuracy
Abstract: We examine the relationship between pre-grant patent disclosure and analyst forecast accuracy. We take advantage of the passage of the American Inventor’s Protection Act (1999), which mandates the pre-grant public disclosure of all information in patent application documents within 18 months of the initial filings. We find that, on average, the pre-grant patent disclosure of corporate inventions significantly improves the accuracy of analyst forecasts about the patenting firm and this improvement is greater for firms with higher research and development intensity. Nevertheless, improvements in the accuracy of analysts’ forecasts are smaller when firms issue more original and scientifically broader patents. Also, this effect is weaker for firms in states without legal protection for trade secrets.
Abstract: We examine the relationship between pre-grant patent disclosure and analyst forecast accuracy. We take advantage of the passage of the American Inventor’s Protection Act (1999), which mandates the pre-grant public disclosure of all information in patent application documents within 18 months of the initial filings. We find that, on average, the pre-grant patent disclosure of corporate inventions significantly improves the accuracy of analyst forecasts about the patenting firm and this improvement is greater for firms with higher research and development intensity. Nevertheless, improvements in the accuracy of analysts’ forecasts are smaller when firms issue more original and scientifically broader patents. Also, this effect is weaker for firms in states without legal protection for trade secrets.
Journal: Management Science
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Ali Mohammadi
A Context- and Trajectory-based Destination Prediction of Public Transportation Users
Abstract: Location prediction based on contextual information is the core of a plethora of personalized locationbased services (LBSs). Several applications require the use of techniques for predicting travel destinations based on human movement. Network analyses of human behavioral data show how the spatial-temporal regularity of human movement can be harnessed for inferring human mobility patterns. However, techniques are often based on a limited number of contextual features, which may limit prediction accuracy, especially if only historical location data are used. Using movement data obtained from public transportation users, we investigate the utility of contextual features derived via the installation of Bluetooth beacons in transportation vehicles and software tools in end-users’ travel applications. Using a multiclass random forest classifier, we show that contextual information of a user’s past travel history and at journey onset goes beyond spatial information and boosts destination prediction accuracy. The likely destination and travel-path length obtained at journey onset can then serve as the input for a stochastic-based model to predict a destination based on acquired trajectory information. Here we show that previously predicted destinations boost the performance of a Markov chain network. Thus, various contextual information at the start of a journey provides information beyond the location information acquired during a journey’s progression that can be employed for destination prediction. These findings have strong implications for LBSs as they require accurate destination prediction at early stages of a journey while at the same time mitigating the privacy concerns associated with collection of location data
Abstract: Location prediction based on contextual information is the core of a plethora of personalized locationbased services (LBSs). Several applications require the use of techniques for predicting travel destinations based on human movement. Network analyses of human behavioral data show how the spatial-temporal regularity of human movement can be harnessed for inferring human mobility patterns. However, techniques are often based on a limited number of contextual features, which may limit prediction accuracy, especially if only historical location data are used. Using movement data obtained from public transportation users, we investigate the utility of contextual features derived via the installation of Bluetooth beacons in transportation vehicles and software tools in end-users’ travel applications. Using a multiclass random forest classifier, we show that contextual information of a user’s past travel history and at journey onset goes beyond spatial information and boosts destination prediction accuracy. The likely destination and travel-path length obtained at journey onset can then serve as the input for a stochastic-based model to predict a destination based on acquired trajectory information. Here we show that previously predicted destinations boost the performance of a Markov chain network. Thus, various contextual information at the start of a journey provides information beyond the location information acquired during a journey’s progression that can be employed for destination prediction. These findings have strong implications for LBSs as they require accurate destination prediction at early stages of a journey while at the same time mitigating the privacy concerns associated with collection of location data
Journal: IEEE Intelligent Transportation Systems Magazine
Published: Jam 2023
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Contact CBS researcher: Raghava Rao Mukkamala
The Effects of Defaults and Financial Models on the Levels of Revenue for Established Churches
Journal: Journal of Church and State
Published: 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Trine Bille
Let Us Get Contextual: Critical Realist Case Studies in Supply Chain Management
Abstract: Purpose
This study aims to explain the value of using critical realist case research in supply chain management (SCM). While positivist case research focuses on generalizable law-like rules, and interpretivist research explores social meaning, critical realist case research seeks to make objective explanations that are bound by the case context. This study demonstrates how a critical realist synthesis of causal reasoning and contextual complexity allows for stronger theorizing in SCM.
Design/methodology/approach
This study highlights the possibilities of conducting critical realist case research in SCM by investigating philosophical perspectives in existing literature.
Findings
Based on existing literature, this study identifies which parts of contemporary SCM research will benefit from the critical realist perspective. This study also contends that supply chain scholars can use critical realist case research to develop new types of contextualized middle-range theories.
Research limitations/implications
This study proposes to complement the qualitative SCM toolbox with critical realist case research to further refine the development of novel theories. This will benefit not only researchers but also managers, as it opens the doors to new and inspiring research.
Originality/value
This study takes an important step toward establishing critical realist case studies as a key methodology in SCM. While other scholars have introduced critical realism as a paradigmatic approach in SCM, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first article that develops a qualitative critical realist case research approach.
Abstract: Purpose
This study aims to explain the value of using critical realist case research in supply chain management (SCM). While positivist case research focuses on generalizable law-like rules, and interpretivist research explores social meaning, critical realist case research seeks to make objective explanations that are bound by the case context. This study demonstrates how a critical realist synthesis of causal reasoning and contextual complexity allows for stronger theorizing in SCM.
Design/methodology/approach
This study highlights the possibilities of conducting critical realist case research in SCM by investigating philosophical perspectives in existing literature.
Findings
Based on existing literature, this study identifies which parts of contemporary SCM research will benefit from the critical realist perspective. This study also contends that supply chain scholars can use critical realist case research to develop new types of contextualized middle-range theories.
Research limitations/implications
This study proposes to complement the qualitative SCM toolbox with critical realist case research to further refine the development of novel theories. This will benefit not only researchers but also managers, as it opens the doors to new and inspiring research.
Originality/value
This study takes an important step toward establishing critical realist case studies as a key methodology in SCM. While other scholars have introduced critical realism as a paradigmatic approach in SCM, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first article that develops a qualitative critical realist case research approach.
Journal: Supply Chain Management: An International Journal
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Amanda Bille, Christian Hendriksen
Hemodynamic Changes During Physiological and Pharmacological Stress Testing in Patients With Heart Failure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis
Abstract: Although disease etiologies differ, heart failure patients with preserved and reduced ejection fraction (HFpEF and HFrEF, respectively) both present with clinical symptoms when under stress and impaired exercise capacity. The extent to which the adaptation of heart rate (HR), stroke volume (SV), and cardiac output (CO) under stress conditions is altered can be quantified by stress testing in conjunction with imaging methods and may help to detect the diminishment in a patient’s condition early. The aim of this meta-analysis was to quantify hemodynamic changes during physiological and pharmacological stress testing in patients with HF. A systematic literature search (PROSPERO 2020:CRD42020161212) in MEDLINE was conducted to assess hemodynamic changes under dynamic and pharmacological stress testing at different stress intensities in HFpEF and HFrEF patients. Pooled mean changes were estimated using a random effects model. Altogether, 140 study arms with 7,248 exercise tests were analyzed. High-intensity dynamic stress testing represented 73% of these data (70 study arms with 5,318 exercise tests), where: HR increased by 45.69 bpm (95% CI 44.51–46.88; I2 = 98.4%), SV by 13.49 ml (95% CI 6.87–20.10; I2 = 68.5%), and CO by 3.41 L/min (95% CI 2.86–3.95; I2 = 86.3%). No significant differences between HFrEF and HFpEF groups were found. Despite the limited availability of comparative studies, these reference values can help to estimate the expected hemodynamic responses in patients with HF. No differences in chronotropic reactions, changes in SV, or CO were found between HFrEF and HFpEF. When compared to healthy individuals, exercise tolerance, as well as associated HR and CO changes under moderate-high dynamic stress, was substantially impaired in both HF groups. This may contribute to a better disease understanding, future study planning, and patient-specific predictive models.
Abstract: Although disease etiologies differ, heart failure patients with preserved and reduced ejection fraction (HFpEF and HFrEF, respectively) both present with clinical symptoms when under stress and impaired exercise capacity. The extent to which the adaptation of heart rate (HR), stroke volume (SV), and cardiac output (CO) under stress conditions is altered can be quantified by stress testing in conjunction with imaging methods and may help to detect the diminishment in a patient’s condition early. The aim of this meta-analysis was to quantify hemodynamic changes during physiological and pharmacological stress testing in patients with HF. A systematic literature search (PROSPERO 2020:CRD42020161212) in MEDLINE was conducted to assess hemodynamic changes under dynamic and pharmacological stress testing at different stress intensities in HFpEF and HFrEF patients. Pooled mean changes were estimated using a random effects model. Altogether, 140 study arms with 7,248 exercise tests were analyzed. High-intensity dynamic stress testing represented 73% of these data (70 study arms with 5,318 exercise tests), where: HR increased by 45.69 bpm (95% CI 44.51–46.88; I2 = 98.4%), SV by 13.49 ml (95% CI 6.87–20.10; I2 = 68.5%), and CO by 3.41 L/min (95% CI 2.86–3.95; I2 = 86.3%). No significant differences between HFrEF and HFpEF groups were found. Despite the limited availability of comparative studies, these reference values can help to estimate the expected hemodynamic responses in patients with HF. No differences in chronotropic reactions, changes in SV, or CO were found between HFrEF and HFpEF. When compared to healthy individuals, exercise tolerance, as well as associated HR and CO changes under moderate-high dynamic stress, was substantially impaired in both HF groups. This may contribute to a better disease understanding, future study planning, and patient-specific predictive models.
Journal: Frontiers in Cardiovascular Medicine
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Daniel Fürstenau
Rare SLC13A1 Variants Associate with Intervertebral Disc Disorder Highlighting Role of Sulfate in Disc Pathology
Abstract: Back pain is a common and debilitating disorder with largely unknown underlying biology. Here we report a genome-wide association study of back pain using diagnoses assigned in clinical practice; dorsalgia (119,100 cases, 909,847 controls) and intervertebral disc disorder (IDD) (58,854 cases, 922,958 controls). We identify 41 variants at 33 loci. The most significant association (ORIDD = 0.92, P = 1.6 × 10−39; ORdorsalgia = 0.92, P = 7.2 × 10−15) is with a 3’UTR variant (rs1871452-T) in CHST3, encoding a sulfotransferase enzyme expressed in intervertebral discs. The largest effects on IDD are conferred by rare (MAF = 0.07 − 0.32%) loss-of-function (LoF) variants in SLC13A1, encoding a sodium-sulfate co-transporter (LoF burden OR = 1.44, P = 3.1 × 10−11); variants that also associate with reduced serum sulfate. Genes implicated by this study are involved in cartilage and bone biology, as well as neurological and inflammatory processes
Abstract: Back pain is a common and debilitating disorder with largely unknown underlying biology. Here we report a genome-wide association study of back pain using diagnoses assigned in clinical practice; dorsalgia (119,100 cases, 909,847 controls) and intervertebral disc disorder (IDD) (58,854 cases, 922,958 controls). We identify 41 variants at 33 loci. The most significant association (ORIDD = 0.92, P = 1.6 × 10−39; ORdorsalgia = 0.92, P = 7.2 × 10−15) is with a 3’UTR variant (rs1871452-T) in CHST3, encoding a sulfotransferase enzyme expressed in intervertebral discs. The largest effects on IDD are conferred by rare (MAF = 0.07 − 0.32%) loss-of-function (LoF) variants in SLC13A1, encoding a sodium-sulfate co-transporter (LoF burden OR = 1.44, P = 3.1 × 10−11); variants that also associate with reduced serum sulfate. Genes implicated by this study are involved in cartilage and bone biology, as well as neurological and inflammatory processes
Journal: Nature Communications
Published: Deb 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Steffen Andersen
The Role of Institutions in the Early Entrepreneurial Process
Abstract: Much entrepreneurship research has focused on explaining why some countries and regions have more entrepreneurial activity than others, and the role played in this regard by cross-national and cross-regional differences in institutions. However, this stream has not considered entrepreneurship from a process perspective that is, as a set of activities that unfold over different, discernible stages, and has therefore not examined how institutions and policies impact entrepreneurship in different stages of the process. To address this highly policy-relevant gap, we consider the role of institutions for both nascent and realized entrepreneurship, combining cross-country data of entrepreneurial nascency and start-up activity with standard measures of institutions in structural models to obtain estimates of the moderating and mediating effects of policies and institutions of different quality. Analyzing data on early entrepreneurial activities from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, data on new firm formation from the World Bank, and Economic Freedom of the World and Doing Business data, we find that a larger government sector leads to lower levels of both measures of entrepreneurship, while legal quality only impacts later-stage entrepreneurship. In general, the main impact of institutions lies in the later stage of entrepreneurship. We suggest that attention allocation by entrepreneurs may help explain these findings.
Abstract: Much entrepreneurship research has focused on explaining why some countries and regions have more entrepreneurial activity than others, and the role played in this regard by cross-national and cross-regional differences in institutions. However, this stream has not considered entrepreneurship from a process perspective that is, as a set of activities that unfold over different, discernible stages, and has therefore not examined how institutions and policies impact entrepreneurship in different stages of the process. To address this highly policy-relevant gap, we consider the role of institutions for both nascent and realized entrepreneurship, combining cross-country data of entrepreneurial nascency and start-up activity with standard measures of institutions in structural models to obtain estimates of the moderating and mediating effects of policies and institutions of different quality. Analyzing data on early entrepreneurial activities from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, data on new firm formation from the World Bank, and Economic Freedom of the World and Doing Business data, we find that a larger government sector leads to lower levels of both measures of entrepreneurship, while legal quality only impacts later-stage entrepreneurship. In general, the main impact of institutions lies in the later stage of entrepreneurship. We suggest that attention allocation by entrepreneurs may help explain these findings.
Journal: Industrial and Corporate Change
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Nicolai J. Foss, Tianjiao Xu
The “Costs of Doing Business Abroad” in a Cross-border Context Characterised by Extreme Political Volatility
Abstract: Purpose
The purpose of this study is to describe and explain the organisation design antecedents of coordination, learning and trust in an international strategic alliance in a cross-border context characterised by extreme political volatility.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was carried out as a single-case study in situ in a humanitarian international strategic alliance in Pyongyang, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).
Findings
In addition to explaining the effects of interface, specialisation, formalisation and centralisation on coordination, learning and trust, the study demonstrates the influence of classic international business (IB) “costs of doing business abroad” (Hymer, 1960/1976) on the same organisational outcomes. Moreover, the study identifies intergovernmental engagement/containment/disengagement as a contextual antecedent of both organisation design and outcomes.
Originality/value
The study extends IB theory by indicating that mainstream IB perspectives may not fully explain intraorganisational outcomes in cross-border contexts characterised by extreme political volatility. Notably, the study suggests that complementary constructs such as intergovernmental engagement are needed to account for the additional costs incurred by such settings.
Abstract: Purpose
The purpose of this study is to describe and explain the organisation design antecedents of coordination, learning and trust in an international strategic alliance in a cross-border context characterised by extreme political volatility.
Design/methodology/approach
The research was carried out as a single-case study in situ in a humanitarian international strategic alliance in Pyongyang, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (North Korea).
Findings
In addition to explaining the effects of interface, specialisation, formalisation and centralisation on coordination, learning and trust, the study demonstrates the influence of classic international business (IB) “costs of doing business abroad” (Hymer, 1960/1976) on the same organisational outcomes. Moreover, the study identifies intergovernmental engagement/containment/disengagement as a contextual antecedent of both organisation design and outcomes.
Originality/value
The study extends IB theory by indicating that mainstream IB perspectives may not fully explain intraorganisational outcomes in cross-border contexts characterised by extreme political volatility. Notably, the study suggests that complementary constructs such as intergovernmental engagement are needed to account for the additional costs incurred by such settings.
Journal: Review of International Business and Strategy
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Trond Randøy
Learning Through Disruptions: Equipping Students to Cope With Challenging Contexts Through a Field-based Course in Africa
Abstract: Students wishing to pursue careers in international business, notably in the developing world, must be prepared for complex, unpredictable, uncomfortable, and messy realities, and to collaborate with others very different from themselves. Mainstream business school learning environments are generally highly structured, cognitively oriented, predictable and hence not particularly conducive to orchestrating the disruptive experiences that can develop such abilities. In this article, we show how a field-based course in an East African country can support such learning. Based on data gathered from students over several iterations of the field course, we draw on experiential learning theory (ELT) in showing how the top-down orchestration of the course constituted a learning space that produced three main types of disruption to students’ taken-for-granted habits and assumptions, namely: intense sensory impressions and sensations, loss of predictability and control, and learning interdependency on others. Students had to “bottom-up” manage these disruptions while conducting a group assignment with local students, to a tight deadline, producing “dissonances”—feelings of discomfort—that triggered the ELT cycle. Our findings show that such disruptions can foster learning of the abovementioned abilities; and we suggest ways in which such learning spaces might be created closer to home than East Africa
Abstract: Students wishing to pursue careers in international business, notably in the developing world, must be prepared for complex, unpredictable, uncomfortable, and messy realities, and to collaborate with others very different from themselves. Mainstream business school learning environments are generally highly structured, cognitively oriented, predictable and hence not particularly conducive to orchestrating the disruptive experiences that can develop such abilities. In this article, we show how a field-based course in an East African country can support such learning. Based on data gathered from students over several iterations of the field course, we draw on experiential learning theory (ELT) in showing how the top-down orchestration of the course constituted a learning space that produced three main types of disruption to students’ taken-for-granted habits and assumptions, namely: intense sensory impressions and sensations, loss of predictability and control, and learning interdependency on others. Students had to “bottom-up” manage these disruptions while conducting a group assignment with local students, to a tight deadline, producing “dissonances”—feelings of discomfort—that triggered the ELT cycle. Our findings show that such disruptions can foster learning of the abovementioned abilities; and we suggest ways in which such learning spaces might be created closer to home than East Africa
Journal: Journal of Management Education
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Maribel Blasco, Thilde Langevang, Søren Jeppesen
The Place of Greening: Comparing Civic Engagement Scenes of Urban Natures across Danish Cities
Abstract: As elsewhere in Europe, cities in Denmark have witnessed a surge in civic urban nature engagement, such as place- and practice-based initiatives (e.g., public-access community gardens, organic food collectives, and grazing associations that enhance biodiversity). While this expansion of urban green communities, as we call them, is widely noted in the literature, less attention has been paid to the comparative variability of their local civic expression. In this article, we use digital methods to map out the group styles, the spatial intergroup networks, and the cultural-political value landscapes of 130 urban green communities across the four largest cities in Denmark. To compare results, we develop the concept of “civic engagement scenes” as a way of responding to recent developments in cultural and political sociology. Overall, we show how this notion allows for interpreting civic greening groups: they are neither neighborhood-based endeavors nor hubs of social movement mobilization, but rather geographies of co-engagement that span cities while also forge new senses and practices of place.
Abstract: As elsewhere in Europe, cities in Denmark have witnessed a surge in civic urban nature engagement, such as place- and practice-based initiatives (e.g., public-access community gardens, organic food collectives, and grazing associations that enhance biodiversity). While this expansion of urban green communities, as we call them, is widely noted in the literature, less attention has been paid to the comparative variability of their local civic expression. In this article, we use digital methods to map out the group styles, the spatial intergroup networks, and the cultural-political value landscapes of 130 urban green communities across the four largest cities in Denmark. To compare results, we develop the concept of “civic engagement scenes” as a way of responding to recent developments in cultural and political sociology. Overall, we show how this notion allows for interpreting civic greening groups: they are neither neighborhood-based endeavors nor hubs of social movement mobilization, but rather geographies of co-engagement that span cities while also forge new senses and practices of place.
Journal: City and Community
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Jakob Laage-Thomsen
Goals, Constraints, and Transparently Fair Assignments: A Field Study of Randomization Design in the UEFA Champions League
Abstract: We analyze the design of a randomization procedure in a field setting with high stakes and substantial public interest: matching sports teams in the Union of European Football Association Champions League. While striving for fairness in the chosen lottery—giving teams similar distributions over potential partners—the designers seek to balance two conflicting forces: (i) imposing a series of combinatorially complex constraints on the feasible matches; and (ii) designing an easy-to-understand and credible randomization. We document the tournament’s solution, which focuses on sequences of uniform draws over each element in the final match, assisted by a computer to form the support for each draw. We first show that the constraints’ effects within this procedure are substantial, with shifts in expected prizes of up to a million euro and large distortions in match likelihoods of otherwise comparable team pairs. However, examining all possible counterfactual lotteries over the feasible assignments, we show that the generated inequalities are, for the most part, unavoidable and that the tournament design is close to a constrained-best. In two extensions, we outline how substantially fairer randomizations are possible when the constraints are weakened, and how the developed procedure can be adopted to more-general settings.
Abstract: We analyze the design of a randomization procedure in a field setting with high stakes and substantial public interest: matching sports teams in the Union of European Football Association Champions League. While striving for fairness in the chosen lottery—giving teams similar distributions over potential partners—the designers seek to balance two conflicting forces: (i) imposing a series of combinatorially complex constraints on the feasible matches; and (ii) designing an easy-to-understand and credible randomization. We document the tournament’s solution, which focuses on sequences of uniform draws over each element in the final match, assisted by a computer to form the support for each draw. We first show that the constraints’ effects within this procedure are substantial, with shifts in expected prizes of up to a million euro and large distortions in match likelihoods of otherwise comparable team pairs. However, examining all possible counterfactual lotteries over the feasible assignments, we show that the generated inequalities are, for the most part, unavoidable and that the tournament design is close to a constrained-best. In two extensions, we outline how substantially fairer randomizations are possible when the constraints are weakened, and how the developed procedure can be adopted to more-general settings.
Journal: Management Science
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Marta Boczon
Market Entrance, Patents, and Preliminary Injunctions: A Model of Pharmaceutical Patent Litigation
Abstract: The Patent Holder wishing to enforce her patent has several ways of doing so. In the world of patent litigation, however, one of the most important remedies is the preliminary injunction (PI), whereby an allegedly infringing competitor is forced to stop selling the goods in the market in the interim period before the court reaches its final decision on the merits. In spite of this, the economic literature has afforded little attention to PIs. This article uses a simple economic model to investigate how a Patent Holder and an Alleged Infringer will behave with and without the PI instrument. We show that party behavior depends on the probability that the Patent Holder does indeed have a valid patent and will prevail in a final court decision and on the extent to which courts can determine damages correctly. We find that while patent rights benefit the Patent Holder, the PI instrument to a large extent benefits the Alleged Infringer. It does so by insuring him against large damages payments and allowing him to receive compensation for actions not taken, i.e. for not being on the market in the interim period before the final court decision. Finally, we discuss different decision rules a court could use to decide whether to grant a PI, and propose a decision rule whereby courts can take into account the social benefits or losses of an erroneous PI decision.
Abstract: The Patent Holder wishing to enforce her patent has several ways of doing so. In the world of patent litigation, however, one of the most important remedies is the preliminary injunction (PI), whereby an allegedly infringing competitor is forced to stop selling the goods in the market in the interim period before the court reaches its final decision on the merits. In spite of this, the economic literature has afforded little attention to PIs. This article uses a simple economic model to investigate how a Patent Holder and an Alleged Infringer will behave with and without the PI instrument. We show that party behavior depends on the probability that the Patent Holder does indeed have a valid patent and will prevail in a final court decision and on the extent to which courts can determine damages correctly. We find that while patent rights benefit the Patent Holder, the PI instrument to a large extent benefits the Alleged Infringer. It does so by insuring him against large damages payments and allowing him to receive compensation for actions not taken, i.e. for not being on the market in the interim period before the final court decision. Finally, we discuss different decision rules a court could use to decide whether to grant a PI, and propose a decision rule whereby courts can take into account the social benefits or losses of an erroneous PI decision.
Journal: European Journal of Law and Economics
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Bogetoft
Balancing Information Rents and Service Differentiation in Utility Regulation
Abstract: In the regulation of natural monopolies such as regional utilities, several goals must be balanced. In this paper, we focus on the trade-off between information rents and service differentiation. Consumers in different regions may prefer different service levels and service mixes. The services provided should therefore ideally be aligned with the preferences of regional consumers. The utilities, however, have superior information about the cost of different services. This allows them to extract information rents by claiming high costs for the provided services. A relative performance evaluation in the form of benchmarking is typically used to limit information rents, but benchmarking is less efficient when service profiles are heterogenous. Hence, there is a trade-off between minimizing information rents and maximizing the adjustment to consumer preferences via service differentiation. In this paper, we study this trade-off in a simple principal–agent model and discuss how it may limit the usefulness of recent regulatory frameworks based on dialog and negotiations with utilities about which services to provide.
Abstract: In the regulation of natural monopolies such as regional utilities, several goals must be balanced. In this paper, we focus on the trade-off between information rents and service differentiation. Consumers in different regions may prefer different service levels and service mixes. The services provided should therefore ideally be aligned with the preferences of regional consumers. The utilities, however, have superior information about the cost of different services. This allows them to extract information rents by claiming high costs for the provided services. A relative performance evaluation in the form of benchmarking is typically used to limit information rents, but benchmarking is less efficient when service profiles are heterogenous. Hence, there is a trade-off between minimizing information rents and maximizing the adjustment to consumer preferences via service differentiation. In this paper, we study this trade-off in a simple principal–agent model and discuss how it may limit the usefulness of recent regulatory frameworks based on dialog and negotiations with utilities about which services to provide.
Journal: Energy Economics
Published: Feb 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Bogetoft
Distinguishing Useful and Wasteful Slack
Abstract: The literature on organization and strategic management suggests that slack in the form of excess resources may be useful. It may, for example, serve as a buffer against environmental shocks, help decouple organizations, ease planning and implementation, support innovation, and enable effective responses to competitors. In contrast, the economic literature tends to view slack as wasteful. When the same products and services can be produced with fewer resources and slack per se is not assigned any value, slack should be eliminated. The aim of this paper is to reconcile these two perspectives. We acknowledge that slack may be both useful and wasteful. The challenge is how to separate the two. Our approach relies on the simple Pareto idea. If an organization can maintain the same levels of output and slack at lower cost, there is wasteful or nonrationalizable spending. We develop ways to measure the extent to which total spending can be rationalized and show how to statistically estimate and test the usefulness of the available slack using bootstrapping.
Abstract: The literature on organization and strategic management suggests that slack in the form of excess resources may be useful. It may, for example, serve as a buffer against environmental shocks, help decouple organizations, ease planning and implementation, support innovation, and enable effective responses to competitors. In contrast, the economic literature tends to view slack as wasteful. When the same products and services can be produced with fewer resources and slack per se is not assigned any value, slack should be eliminated. The aim of this paper is to reconcile these two perspectives. We acknowledge that slack may be both useful and wasteful. The challenge is how to separate the two. Our approach relies on the simple Pareto idea. If an organization can maintain the same levels of output and slack at lower cost, there is wasteful or nonrationalizable spending. We develop ways to measure the extent to which total spending can be rationalized and show how to statistically estimate and test the usefulness of the available slack using bootstrapping.
Journal: Operations Research
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Bogetoft
Ethics at the Centre of Global and Local Challenges: Thoughts on the Future of Business Ethics
Abstract: To commemorate 40 years since the founding of the Journal of Business Ethics, the editors in chief of the journal have invited the editors to provide commentaries on the future of business ethics. This essay comprises a selection of commentaries aimed at creating dialogue around the theme Ethics at the centre of global and local challenges. For much of the history of the Journal of Business Ethics, ethics was seen within the academy as a peripheral aspect of business. However, in recent years, the stakes have risen dramatically, with global and local worlds destabilized by financial crisis, climate change, internet technologies and artificial intelligence, and global health crises. The authors of these commentaries address these grand challenges by placing business ethics at their centre. What if all grand challenges were framed as grand ethical challenges? Tanusree Jain, Arno Kourula and Suhaib Riaz posit that an ethical lens allows for a humble response, in which those with greater capacity take greater responsibility but remain inclusive and cognizant of different voices and experiences. Focussing on business ethics in connection to the grand(est) challenge of environmental emergencies, Steffen Böhm introduces the deceptively simple yet radical position that business is nature, and nature is business. His quick but profound side-step from arguments against human–nature dualism to an ontological undoing of the business–nature dichotomy should have all business ethics scholars rethinking their “business and society” assumptions. Also, singularly concerned with the climate emergency, Boudewijn de Bruin posits a scenario where, 40 years from now, our field will be evaluated by its ability to have helped humanity emerge from this emergency. He contends that Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth) v. Royal Dutch Shell illustrates how human rights take centre stage in climate change litigation, and how business ethics enters the courtroom. From a consumer ethics perspective, Deirdre Shaw, Michal Carrington and Louise Hassan argue that ecologically sustainable and socially just marketplace systems demand cultural change, a reconsideration of future interpretations of “consumer society”, a challenge to the dominant “growth logic” and stimulation of alternative ways to address our consumption needs. Still concerned with global issues, but turning attention to social inequalities, Nelarine Cornelius links the capability approach (CA) to global and corporate governance, arguing that CA will continue to lie at the foundation of human development policy, and, increasingly, CSR and corporate governance. Continuing debate on the grand challenges associated with justice and equality, Laurence Romani identifies a significant shift in the centrality of business ethics in debates on managing (cultural) differences, positing that dialogue between diversity management and international management can ground future debate in business ethics. Finally, the essay concludes with a commentary by Charlotte Karam and Michelle Greenwood on the possibilities of feminist-inspired theories, methods, and positionality for many spheres of business ethics, not least stakeholder theory, to broaden and deepen its capacity for nuance, responsiveness, and transformation. In the words of our commentators, grand challenges must be addressed urgently, and the Journal of Business Ethics should be at the forefront of tackling them.
Abstract: To commemorate 40 years since the founding of the Journal of Business Ethics, the editors in chief of the journal have invited the editors to provide commentaries on the future of business ethics. This essay comprises a selection of commentaries aimed at creating dialogue around the theme Ethics at the centre of global and local challenges. For much of the history of the Journal of Business Ethics, ethics was seen within the academy as a peripheral aspect of business. However, in recent years, the stakes have risen dramatically, with global and local worlds destabilized by financial crisis, climate change, internet technologies and artificial intelligence, and global health crises. The authors of these commentaries address these grand challenges by placing business ethics at their centre. What if all grand challenges were framed as grand ethical challenges? Tanusree Jain, Arno Kourula and Suhaib Riaz posit that an ethical lens allows for a humble response, in which those with greater capacity take greater responsibility but remain inclusive and cognizant of different voices and experiences. Focussing on business ethics in connection to the grand(est) challenge of environmental emergencies, Steffen Böhm introduces the deceptively simple yet radical position that business is nature, and nature is business. His quick but profound side-step from arguments against human–nature dualism to an ontological undoing of the business–nature dichotomy should have all business ethics scholars rethinking their “business and society” assumptions. Also, singularly concerned with the climate emergency, Boudewijn de Bruin posits a scenario where, 40 years from now, our field will be evaluated by its ability to have helped humanity emerge from this emergency. He contends that Milieudefensie (Friends of the Earth) v. Royal Dutch Shell illustrates how human rights take centre stage in climate change litigation, and how business ethics enters the courtroom. From a consumer ethics perspective, Deirdre Shaw, Michal Carrington and Louise Hassan argue that ecologically sustainable and socially just marketplace systems demand cultural change, a reconsideration of future interpretations of “consumer society”, a challenge to the dominant “growth logic” and stimulation of alternative ways to address our consumption needs. Still concerned with global issues, but turning attention to social inequalities, Nelarine Cornelius links the capability approach (CA) to global and corporate governance, arguing that CA will continue to lie at the foundation of human development policy, and, increasingly, CSR and corporate governance. Continuing debate on the grand challenges associated with justice and equality, Laurence Romani identifies a significant shift in the centrality of business ethics in debates on managing (cultural) differences, positing that dialogue between diversity management and international management can ground future debate in business ethics. Finally, the essay concludes with a commentary by Charlotte Karam and Michelle Greenwood on the possibilities of feminist-inspired theories, methods, and positionality for many spheres of business ethics, not least stakeholder theory, to broaden and deepen its capacity for nuance, responsiveness, and transformation. In the words of our commentators, grand challenges must be addressed urgently, and the Journal of Business Ethics should be at the forefront of tackling them.
Journal: Journal of Business Ethics
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Tanusree Jain,
El Niño, La Niña, and Forecastability of the Realized Variance of Agricultural Commodity Prices: Evidence from a Machine Learning Approach
Abstract: We examine the predictive value of El Niño and La Niña weather episodes for the subsequent realized variance of 16 agricultural commodity prices. To this end, we use high-frequency data covering the period from 2009 to 2020 to estimate the realized variance along realized skewness, realized kurtosis, realized jumps, and realized upside and downside tail risks as control variables. Accounting for the impact of the control variables as well as spillover effects from the realized variances of the other agricultural commodities in our sample, we estimate an extended heterogeneous autoregressive (HAR) model by means of random forests to capture in a purely data-driven way potentially nonlinear links between El Niño and La Niña and the subsequent realized variance. We document such nonlinear links, and that El Niño and La Niña increase forecast accuracy, especially at longer forecast horizons, for several of the agricultural commodities that we study in this research.
Abstract: We examine the predictive value of El Niño and La Niña weather episodes for the subsequent realized variance of 16 agricultural commodity prices. To this end, we use high-frequency data covering the period from 2009 to 2020 to estimate the realized variance along realized skewness, realized kurtosis, realized jumps, and realized upside and downside tail risks as control variables. Accounting for the impact of the control variables as well as spillover effects from the realized variances of the other agricultural commodities in our sample, we estimate an extended heterogeneous autoregressive (HAR) model by means of random forests to capture in a purely data-driven way potentially nonlinear links between El Niño and La Niña and the subsequent realized variance. We document such nonlinear links, and that El Niño and La Niña increase forecast accuracy, especially at longer forecast horizons, for several of the agricultural commodities that we study in this research.
Journal: Journal of Forecasting
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
Climate Risks and Realized Volatility of Major Commodity Currency Exchange Rates
Abstract: We find that climate-related risks forecast the intraday data-based realized volatility of exchange rate returns of eight major fossil fuel exporters (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Russia, and South Africa). We study several metrics capturing risks associated with climate change, derived from data directly on variables such as, for example, abnormal patterns of temperature. We control for various other moments (realized skewness, realized kurtosis, realized upside and downside variance, realized upside and downside tail risk, and realized jumps) and estimate our forecasting models using random forests, a machine learning technique tailored to analyze models with many predictors.
Abstract: We find that climate-related risks forecast the intraday data-based realized volatility of exchange rate returns of eight major fossil fuel exporters (Australia, Brazil, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Norway, Russia, and South Africa). We study several metrics capturing risks associated with climate change, derived from data directly on variables such as, for example, abnormal patterns of temperature. We control for various other moments (realized skewness, realized kurtosis, realized upside and downside variance, realized upside and downside tail risk, and realized jumps) and estimate our forecasting models using random forests, a machine learning technique tailored to analyze models with many predictors.
Journal: Journal of Financial Markets
Published: Jan 2023
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
The Market and the Masses: From Chaotic Corners to Social Media (Re)tail Events
Abstract: In this essay, I examine and discuss the relationship between the market and the masses in light of recent retail-driven surges in the stock prices of firms like GameStop and AMC. Using two historical snapshots, I draw out similarities and differences between the way the collective power and rationality (or lack thereof) of the masses was portrayed in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century market literature and in recent debates about retail investor inclusion and social media or social trading platform-driven market volatility. The main difference between the historical discourse and the present situation is that the new digital market-expanding technologies enable effective retail investor mobilization and thus, increase the retail swarms’ market-moving powers, which were previously less agile and forceful. However, this eased and widened market access also transforms digital life into alternative data that is subjected to age-old strategies of market exploitation.
Abstract: In this essay, I examine and discuss the relationship between the market and the masses in light of recent retail-driven surges in the stock prices of firms like GameStop and AMC. Using two historical snapshots, I draw out similarities and differences between the way the collective power and rationality (or lack thereof) of the masses was portrayed in late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century market literature and in recent debates about retail investor inclusion and social media or social trading platform-driven market volatility. The main difference between the historical discourse and the present situation is that the new digital market-expanding technologies enable effective retail investor mobilization and thus, increase the retail swarms’ market-moving powers, which were previously less agile and forceful. However, this eased and widened market access also transforms digital life into alternative data that is subjected to age-old strategies of market exploitation.
Journal: Finance and Society
Published: 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Kristian Bondo Hansen
The Design of Transformative Research and Innovation Policy Instruments for Grand Challenges: The Policy-nesting Perspective
Abstract: Several countries have created policy instruments seeking to direct research and innovation (R&I) toward addressing societal challenges. However, the design of such instruments might not always live up to their proclaimed transformative rationale. The aim of this paper is to examine empirically this matter. In a unique cross country comparison of four Grand Challenge-oriented R&I programs in the Nordic countries, we ask to what extent the design of new policy instruments for grand challenges are nested according to the rationale of transformative R&I policy. The findings show that, while all have individual transformative elements, they only exhibit weak or medium degrees of nesting. At a time of increasing transformative ambition of R&I policies, our findings make an important contribution to understanding and addressing the complexity of designing R&I transformative policy instruments.
Abstract: Several countries have created policy instruments seeking to direct research and innovation (R&I) toward addressing societal challenges. However, the design of such instruments might not always live up to their proclaimed transformative rationale. The aim of this paper is to examine empirically this matter. In a unique cross country comparison of four Grand Challenge-oriented R&I programs in the Nordic countries, we ask to what extent the design of new policy instruments for grand challenges are nested according to the rationale of transformative R&I policy. The findings show that, while all have individual transformative elements, they only exhibit weak or medium degrees of nesting. At a time of increasing transformative ambition of R&I policies, our findings make an important contribution to understanding and addressing the complexity of designing R&I transformative policy instruments.
Journal: Science and Public Policy
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Susana Borrás
Does Depression Co-occur within Households? The Moderating Effects of Financial Resources and Job Insecurity on Psychological Contagion
Abstract: The empirically related psychopathologies of stress and depression exact an enormous economic toll and have many physical and behavioral health effects. Most studies of the effects of stress and depression focus on their causes and consequences for a single, focal individual. We examine the extent to which depression, as indicated by filling antidepressant prescriptions (SSRI and Benzodiazepines), co-occurs across spouses, constituting a negative spillover effect. To better understand the conditions that affect within-household contagion of depression, we examine whether the stress and uncertainty occasioned by job change and financial stress (net worth) increases spillover effects among spouses.
We use panel data from various Danish administrative registers from the year 2001–2015 with more than 4.5 million observations on more than 900,000 unique individuals and their spouses from Danish health registers.
Spouses in a household with their partner using antidepressants have a 62.1% higher chance of using antidepressants themselves, with the one year lagged effect being 29.3% and a two-year lagged effect of 15.1%. The effects become larger by 14.8% contemporaneously and 20% in the two-year lagged model if the focal individual changed employers. There was also a substantively unimportant effect of lower financial wealth to increase inter-spousal contagion.
Abstract: The empirically related psychopathologies of stress and depression exact an enormous economic toll and have many physical and behavioral health effects. Most studies of the effects of stress and depression focus on their causes and consequences for a single, focal individual. We examine the extent to which depression, as indicated by filling antidepressant prescriptions (SSRI and Benzodiazepines), co-occurs across spouses, constituting a negative spillover effect. To better understand the conditions that affect within-household contagion of depression, we examine whether the stress and uncertainty occasioned by job change and financial stress (net worth) increases spillover effects among spouses.
We use panel data from various Danish administrative registers from the year 2001–2015 with more than 4.5 million observations on more than 900,000 unique individuals and their spouses from Danish health registers.
Spouses in a household with their partner using antidepressants have a 62.1% higher chance of using antidepressants themselves, with the one year lagged effect being 29.3% and a two-year lagged effect of 15.1%. The effects become larger by 14.8% contemporaneously and 20% in the two-year lagged model if the focal individual changed employers. There was also a substantively unimportant effect of lower financial wealth to increase inter-spousal contagion.
Journal: SSM - Population Health
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Morten Holm, Melanie Lucia Feldhues
Profiting from Digital Innovation: Patents, Copyright and Performance
Abstract: It is yet unclear whether patents and copyright are effective at protecting digital innovations. In this paper, we investigate this question using novel product-level data on mobile apps, in which we relate the use of both patents and copyright to (i) revenue performance and (ii) IP licensing. We theorize that these relationships depend on differences in product-level characteristics and that apps differentiated by their design are more likely and effectively to be protected by patents; apps combining elements of differentiated content are more likely and effectively protected by copyright. Our results support these predictions that product characteristics shape the appropriate contingent use of patent and copyright protection in digital products. These patterns are especially relevant to industries where digital products combine elements of differentiated design and differentiated digital content
Abstract: It is yet unclear whether patents and copyright are effective at protecting digital innovations. In this paper, we investigate this question using novel product-level data on mobile apps, in which we relate the use of both patents and copyright to (i) revenue performance and (ii) IP licensing. We theorize that these relationships depend on differences in product-level characteristics and that apps differentiated by their design are more likely and effectively to be protected by patents; apps combining elements of differentiated content are more likely and effectively protected by copyright. Our results support these predictions that product characteristics shape the appropriate contingent use of patent and copyright protection in digital products. These patterns are especially relevant to industries where digital products combine elements of differentiated design and differentiated digital content
Journal: Research Policy
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Lars Bo Jeppesen
European Network Development Planning for Integrated Energy Systems
Abstract: Network planning is central to a future-proof energy system which is viable within the framework of the European Green Deal and suitable for energy systems integration. The new TEN-E regulation121 underlines this for European energy networks. The planning of cross-border network infrastructure in the European Union is carried out biannually by the European networks of transmission system operators (ENTSOs) for gas and electricity via their Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP).122 The objectives of this process comprise: - streamlining the planning of network interconnections in Europe, - assessing planned projects, - pointing out remaining infrastructure gaps as per the current planning. While initially, the challenge was to harmonize independent national planning processes, the focus has since shifted towards coordination between the electricity and gas sector, and between transmission and distribution networks. Figure 1 depicts the analytical steps of the TYNDP, namely scenario building, identification of system needs and infrastructure gaps, and cost– benefit analysis. This provides the basis for the subsequent selection of projects of common interest (PCIs). Based on their panEuropean relevance, these projects are eligible for additional support as well as funding via the Connecting Europe Facility.
Abstract: Network planning is central to a future-proof energy system which is viable within the framework of the European Green Deal and suitable for energy systems integration. The new TEN-E regulation121 underlines this for European energy networks. The planning of cross-border network infrastructure in the European Union is carried out biannually by the European networks of transmission system operators (ENTSOs) for gas and electricity via their Ten-Year Network Development Plan (TYNDP).122 The objectives of this process comprise: - streamlining the planning of network interconnections in Europe, - assessing planned projects, - pointing out remaining infrastructure gaps as per the current planning. While initially, the challenge was to harmonize independent national planning processes, the focus has since shifted towards coordination between the electricity and gas sector, and between transmission and distribution networks. Figure 1 depicts the analytical steps of the TYNDP, namely scenario building, identification of system needs and infrastructure gaps, and cost– benefit analysis. This provides the basis for the subsequent selection of projects of common interest (PCIs). Based on their panEuropean relevance, these projects are eligible for additional support as well as funding via the Connecting Europe Facility.
Journal: Oxford Energy Forum
Published: 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Christine Brandstätt
Employees’ Entrepreneurial Human Capital and Firm Performance
Abstract: We introduce a new measure of human capital, defined as employees' former involvement in entrepreneurship. Such entrepreneurial human capital (EHC) complements traditional human capital measures accumulated through work experience and education. Using detailed longitudinal register data, we track the previous years of entrepreneurial experience for the population of employees in Swedish private sector firms. We provide evidence that higher EHC among employees is associated with significantly higher levels of firm productivity. The baseline result implies that a 10 % increase in employees being former entrepreneurs increases firm-level productivity by 3.9 %. Additionally, we provide evidence that heterogeneity in employees' previous entrepreneurial experience (e.g., the reason for entering and exiting entrepreneurship, type of venture, length of entrepreneurial experiences, and relatedness of technology) influences the impact of EHC on productivity. The results are shown to be robust to various estimation techniques, alternative definitions of EHC, and other performance measures.
Abstract: We introduce a new measure of human capital, defined as employees' former involvement in entrepreneurship. Such entrepreneurial human capital (EHC) complements traditional human capital measures accumulated through work experience and education. Using detailed longitudinal register data, we track the previous years of entrepreneurial experience for the population of employees in Swedish private sector firms. We provide evidence that higher EHC among employees is associated with significantly higher levels of firm productivity. The baseline result implies that a 10 % increase in employees being former entrepreneurs increases firm-level productivity by 3.9 %. Additionally, we provide evidence that heterogeneity in employees' previous entrepreneurial experience (e.g., the reason for entering and exiting entrepreneurship, type of venture, length of entrepreneurial experiences, and relatedness of technology) influences the impact of EHC on productivity. The results are shown to be robust to various estimation techniques, alternative definitions of EHC, and other performance measures.
Journal: Research Policy
Published: Mar 2023
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Contact CBS researcher: Emma Lappi
The Wage Impact of Being a Works Council Representative in Germany: A Case of Strategic Discrimination?
Abstract: Works councils provide an essential mechanism for worker participation in decision-making. While the literature has extensively explored their impact on worker and establishment outcomes, the negotiation process between works council representatives and their employer has remained largely unexplored. This article contributes to filling this gap by investigating wage discrimination towards works councilors in Germany. Fixed effects models leveraging panel data show that councilors receive a wage premium that positively correlates with the sectoral coverage of collective bargaining. In the manufacturing sector, where the tradition of bargaining is heavily entrenched, employers positively discriminate councilors. In contrast, in the service sector, where the culture of bargaining is weak, employers penalize works councilors. In both sectors, partisan and unionized works councilors are the most affected. The most likely hypothesis to explain these results is that employers strategically discriminate these councilors in order to bypass the traditional constraints of establishment-level participation. This article therefore questions the quality of industrial democracy in Germany.
Abstract: Works councils provide an essential mechanism for worker participation in decision-making. While the literature has extensively explored their impact on worker and establishment outcomes, the negotiation process between works council representatives and their employer has remained largely unexplored. This article contributes to filling this gap by investigating wage discrimination towards works councilors in Germany. Fixed effects models leveraging panel data show that councilors receive a wage premium that positively correlates with the sectoral coverage of collective bargaining. In the manufacturing sector, where the tradition of bargaining is heavily entrenched, employers positively discriminate councilors. In contrast, in the service sector, where the culture of bargaining is weak, employers penalize works councilors. In both sectors, partisan and unionized works councilors are the most affected. The most likely hypothesis to explain these results is that employers strategically discriminate these councilors in order to bypass the traditional constraints of establishment-level participation. This article therefore questions the quality of industrial democracy in Germany.
Journal: Industrial Relations
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Clément Brébion
Accelerating Business-to-Business Contract Negotiations: Moving from One-Sided to Balanced Standard Contract Terms
Abstract: Many businesses adopt one-sided boilerplate contract terms and conditions that lead to protracted negotiations. Often, the parties ultimately reach a compromise that could have been reached sooner if they had put forward more balanced contract terms at the outset. We ask why this seemingly irrational behavior persists and suggest a different approach. A dominant theory suggests that putting forward balanced terms may be seen as a sign of a weak bargaining position. We argue, however, that agency conflicts and cognitive biases often better explain such behavior. Moreover, we advocate a speed-to-contract strategy where the parties elect to use more balanced (value-maximizing) terms from the outset, and thereby avoid costly negotiations as well as delays in realizing the benefits of a transaction.
Abstract: Many businesses adopt one-sided boilerplate contract terms and conditions that lead to protracted negotiations. Often, the parties ultimately reach a compromise that could have been reached sooner if they had put forward more balanced contract terms at the outset. We ask why this seemingly irrational behavior persists and suggest a different approach. A dominant theory suggests that putting forward balanced terms may be seen as a sign of a weak bargaining position. We argue, however, that agency conflicts and cognitive biases often better explain such behavior. Moreover, we advocate a speed-to-contract strategy where the parties elect to use more balanced (value-maximizing) terms from the outset, and thereby avoid costly negotiations as well as delays in realizing the benefits of a transaction.
Journal: Journal of Strategic Contracting and Negotiation
Published: Feb 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Henrik Lando
Krav om sikkerhedsstillelse, når udenlandske sagsøgere anlægger sag ved de danske domstole: Cautio judicatum solvi.
Abstract: Sagsøgere, der ikke har hjemting i Danmark, kan på sagsøgtes begæring pålægges at stille sikkerhed for sagsomkostninger (cautio judicatum solvi). Retsplejelovens § 321 fastlægger dog to undtagelser til dette: nemlig dels sagsøgere, der har bopæl eller hjemsted i Det Europæiske Økonomiske Samarbejdsområde, dels sagsøgere, der har bopæl eller hjemsted i et land, hvor en sagsøger, der har bopæl eller hjemsted i Danmark, er fritaget for at stille sikkerhed for sagsomkostninger. Som en tredje undtagelse gælder, at krav om sikkerhedsstillelse i særlige tilfælde kan være afskåret på andet grundlag. I artiklen fastlægges den nærmere afgrænsning af disse tre undtagelser
Abstract: Sagsøgere, der ikke har hjemting i Danmark, kan på sagsøgtes begæring pålægges at stille sikkerhed for sagsomkostninger (cautio judicatum solvi). Retsplejelovens § 321 fastlægger dog to undtagelser til dette: nemlig dels sagsøgere, der har bopæl eller hjemsted i Det Europæiske Økonomiske Samarbejdsområde, dels sagsøgere, der har bopæl eller hjemsted i et land, hvor en sagsøger, der har bopæl eller hjemsted i Danmark, er fritaget for at stille sikkerhed for sagsomkostninger. Som en tredje undtagelse gælder, at krav om sikkerhedsstillelse i særlige tilfælde kan være afskåret på andet grundlag. I artiklen fastlægges den nærmere afgrænsning af disse tre undtagelser
Journal: Ugeskrift for Retsvæsen
Published: 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Arnt Nielsen
On the Possibility of Krusell-Smith Equilibria.
Abstract: Solutions to macroeconomic models with wealth inequality and aggregate shocks often rely on the assumption of limited but common information among households. We show that this assumption is inconsistent with rational information choice for plausible information costs. To do so, we embed information choice into the workhorse heterogeneous-agent model with aggregate risk (Krusell and Smith, 1998). First, we demonstrate that the benefits of acquiring more precise information about the state of the economy depend crucially on household wealth. Second, we show that such heterogeneous incentives to acquire information combine with the strategic substitutability of savings choices to imply that equilibria in which households acquire the same information do not exist for plausible information costs. Finally, we document that a representative-agent equilibrium may not exist even in the absence of exogenous sources of wealth heterogeneity.
Abstract: Solutions to macroeconomic models with wealth inequality and aggregate shocks often rely on the assumption of limited but common information among households. We show that this assumption is inconsistent with rational information choice for plausible information costs. To do so, we embed information choice into the workhorse heterogeneous-agent model with aggregate risk (Krusell and Smith, 1998). First, we demonstrate that the benefits of acquiring more precise information about the state of the economy depend crucially on household wealth. Second, we show that such heterogeneous incentives to acquire information combine with the strategic substitutability of savings choices to imply that equilibria in which households acquire the same information do not exist for plausible information costs. Finally, we document that a representative-agent equilibrium may not exist even in the absence of exogenous sources of wealth heterogeneity.
Journal: Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Kathrin Schlafmann
Modelling Ripple Effect Propagation and Global Supply Chain Workforce Productivity Impacts in Pandemic Disruptions
Abstract: An increasing number of disruptions in ports, plants and warehouses have generated ripple effects over supply networks impacting economic activity. We demonstrate how the spread of the pandemic geographically expands the ripple effect by reducing the workers' participation in production, so undermining the ability of firms and, as a result, the entire cross-border sup- ply chain network to satisfy customers' demands. Our model of the spatio-temporal dynamics of the propagation of Covid-19 infection for supply networks contributes toward ripple effect visualisation and quantification by combining the flow of goods and materials through a typical global supply chain with an epidemiological model. The model enables prospective analyses to be performed in what-if scenarios to simulate the impact on the workforce in each node. The outcome should be helpful tools for managers and scholars. Results from this research will help mitigate the impact and spread of a pandemic in a particular region and the ability of a supply network to overcome the ripple effect. A stylised case study of a cross-border supply chain illustrates the ripple effect by showing how waves with crests at varying dates impact the ability to serve demand showing how a supply chain manager can obtain a forward-looking picture.
Abstract: An increasing number of disruptions in ports, plants and warehouses have generated ripple effects over supply networks impacting economic activity. We demonstrate how the spread of the pandemic geographically expands the ripple effect by reducing the workers' participation in production, so undermining the ability of firms and, as a result, the entire cross-border sup- ply chain network to satisfy customers' demands. Our model of the spatio-temporal dynamics of the propagation of Covid-19 infection for supply networks contributes toward ripple effect visualisation and quantification by combining the flow of goods and materials through a typical global supply chain with an epidemiological model. The model enables prospective analyses to be performed in what-if scenarios to simulate the impact on the workforce in each node. The outcome should be helpful tools for managers and scholars. Results from this research will help mitigate the impact and spread of a pandemic in a particular region and the ability of a supply network to overcome the ripple effect. A stylised case study of a cross-border supply chain illustrates the ripple effect by showing how waves with crests at varying dates impact the ability to serve demand showing how a supply chain manager can obtain a forward-looking picture.
Journal: International Journal of Production Research
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Aseem Kinra
Iceland’s Financial Crisis 2008: Not a Normal Accident
Abstract: The failure of 97% of Iceland’s financial system in October 2008, was not solely due to the tight coupling and complexity of the financial system but was the result of bankers and their owners, who took actions that violated system rules and regulations so that complete system failure was inevitable. Regulators were silent during such activities. Actions taken by bankers, and others, have been termed agentic behaviour — willful violation of system rules and regulations in a way that brings the entire system down (Perrow, 2010). This paper demonstrates via a case study that agentic behaviour was facilitated by a set of institutions, actors, Icelanders, and underlying context; which we term enablers. The role of enablers extends the concept of agentic behaviour. Such conduct examines bad behaviour, allows systemic analysis, and points to several factors that extend financial crises beyond Iceland. In a brief period, Iceland went from statism to neoliberalism with profound ill effects on its financial system, its public institutions along with its relationships with other nations.
Abstract: The failure of 97% of Iceland’s financial system in October 2008, was not solely due to the tight coupling and complexity of the financial system but was the result of bankers and their owners, who took actions that violated system rules and regulations so that complete system failure was inevitable. Regulators were silent during such activities. Actions taken by bankers, and others, have been termed agentic behaviour — willful violation of system rules and regulations in a way that brings the entire system down (Perrow, 2010). This paper demonstrates via a case study that agentic behaviour was facilitated by a set of institutions, actors, Icelanders, and underlying context; which we term enablers. The role of enablers extends the concept of agentic behaviour. Such conduct examines bad behaviour, allows systemic analysis, and points to several factors that extend financial crises beyond Iceland. In a brief period, Iceland went from statism to neoliberalism with profound ill effects on its financial system, its public institutions along with its relationships with other nations.
Journal: Journal of Governance and Regulation
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Olaf Sigurjonsson
Engaging Social Science Students in the Philosophy of Science: 10 Pieces of Advice on How to Teach a Difficult Subject
Abstract: It can be challenging to introduce the philosophy of social science (PoS) to students in the social sciences. Noting the lack of literature providing guidance to the prospective PoS teacher, this paper outlines several pieces of advice on how to engage social science undergraduates in the subject. This advice centres on showing the relevance of the PoS in academia and beyond, reducing complexity and presenting only a few contending PoS perspectives. It is also proposed to use textbooks with caution or avoiding them altogether, illustrating how PoS assumptions are embedded in contemporary social research and showing the connection between the PoS on one hand and research questions, methods, and theory on the other. Finally, the importance of showing students how they can make use of the PoS in their own work and teaching the subject in a ‘hands on’ manner is emphasized.
Abstract: It can be challenging to introduce the philosophy of social science (PoS) to students in the social sciences. Noting the lack of literature providing guidance to the prospective PoS teacher, this paper outlines several pieces of advice on how to engage social science undergraduates in the subject. This advice centres on showing the relevance of the PoS in academia and beyond, reducing complexity and presenting only a few contending PoS perspectives. It is also proposed to use textbooks with caution or avoiding them altogether, illustrating how PoS assumptions are embedded in contemporary social research and showing the connection between the PoS on one hand and research questions, methods, and theory on the other. Finally, the importance of showing students how they can make use of the PoS in their own work and teaching the subject in a ‘hands on’ manner is emphasized.
Journal: Journal of Critical Realism
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Hubert Buch-Hansen
Some Children Left Behind: Variation in the Effects of an Educational Intervention
Abstract: We document substantial variation in the effects of a highly-effective literacy program in northern Uganda. The program increases test scores by 1.4 SDs on average, but standard statistical bounds show that the impact standard deviation exceeds 1.0 SD. This implies that the variation in effects across our students is wider than the spread of mean effects across all randomized evaluations of developing country education interventions in the literature. This very effective program does indeed leave some students behind. At the same time, we do not learn much from our analyses that attempt to determine which students benefit more or less from the program. We reject rank preservation, and the weaker assumption of stochastic increasingness leaves wide bounds on quantile-specific average treatment effects. Neither conventional nor machine-learning approaches to estimating systematic heterogeneity capture more than a small fraction of the variation in impacts given our available candidate moderators.
Abstract: We document substantial variation in the effects of a highly-effective literacy program in northern Uganda. The program increases test scores by 1.4 SDs on average, but standard statistical bounds show that the impact standard deviation exceeds 1.0 SD. This implies that the variation in effects across our students is wider than the spread of mean effects across all randomized evaluations of developing country education interventions in the literature. This very effective program does indeed leave some students behind. At the same time, we do not learn much from our analyses that attempt to determine which students benefit more or less from the program. We reject rank preservation, and the weaker assumption of stochastic increasingness leaves wide bounds on quantile-specific average treatment effects. Neither conventional nor machine-learning approaches to estimating systematic heterogeneity capture more than a small fraction of the variation in impacts given our available candidate moderators.
Journal: Journal of Econometrics
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Julie Buhl-Wiggers
Fra kaos til læring? I Covid-19’s slipstrøm
Abstract: Gentagne nedlukninger af universiteterne har skabt store udfordringer for studerende og undervisere. Gennem spørgeskemabaserede evalueringer ser vi på erfaringerne fra SDU og CBS. Vi finder, at de studerendes tilfredshed faldt i foråret 2021, mens tilfredsheden ellers var sammenlignelig med tidligere. Ser vi på fællesfaget Mikroøkonomi var der ingen betydelig ændring i de faktiske karakterer. Særligt præoptagede videoer og quizzer bliver vurderet positivt af såvel undervisere som studerende. Intense erfaringer med digitale redskaber under Covid-19 giver mulighed for nye undervisningsmetoder, dog kræver det fortsat pædagogisk udvikling, hvis dette skal transformeres til læring.
Abstract: Gentagne nedlukninger af universiteterne har skabt store udfordringer for studerende og undervisere. Gennem spørgeskemabaserede evalueringer ser vi på erfaringerne fra SDU og CBS. Vi finder, at de studerendes tilfredshed faldt i foråret 2021, mens tilfredsheden ellers var sammenlignelig med tidligere. Ser vi på fællesfaget Mikroøkonomi var der ingen betydelig ændring i de faktiske karakterer. Særligt præoptagede videoer og quizzer bliver vurderet positivt af såvel undervisere som studerende. Intense erfaringer med digitale redskaber under Covid-19 giver mulighed for nye undervisningsmetoder, dog kræver det fortsat pædagogisk udvikling, hvis dette skal transformeres til læring.
Journal: Samfundsøkonomen
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Julie Buhl-Wiggers, Sine Zambach
A Scoping Review of Experimental Evidence on Face-to-Face Components of Blended Learning in Higher Education
Abstract: The practice of combining digital and face-to-face elements into blended learning courses is becoming the new normal in higher education and offers a promising learning format. While studies on the effects of blended learning have so far focused mostly on the online components of the blends, the success of blended learning also rests on the quality of the integrated face-to-face activities. This scoping review examines evidence from 59 experimental studies conducted in higher education settings to explore what makes face-to-face components of blended learning efficacious. The focus is on pedagogical intentions rather than on quantifying the balance between online and face-to-face activities. The results indicate which face-to-face activities support the pedagogical objectives of higher-order processing, social interaction, and engagement. The review identifies current gaps in blended learning research and calls for richer characterizations of face-to-face activities in blended learning to support the development of finely tuned interventions and guide practice.
Abstract: The practice of combining digital and face-to-face elements into blended learning courses is becoming the new normal in higher education and offers a promising learning format. While studies on the effects of blended learning have so far focused mostly on the online components of the blends, the success of blended learning also rests on the quality of the integrated face-to-face activities. This scoping review examines evidence from 59 experimental studies conducted in higher education settings to explore what makes face-to-face components of blended learning efficacious. The focus is on pedagogical intentions rather than on quantifying the balance between online and face-to-face activities. The results indicate which face-to-face activities support the pedagogical objectives of higher-order processing, social interaction, and engagement. The review identifies current gaps in blended learning research and calls for richer characterizations of face-to-face activities in blended learning to support the development of finely tuned interventions and guide practice.
Journal: Studies in Higher Education
Published: Jan 2023
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Contact CBS researchers: Julie Buhl-Wiggers, Annemette Kjærgaard
Why Do Boards Exist? Governance Design in the Absence of Corporate Law
Abstract: We study under which circumstances firms choose to install boards and their roles in a historical setting in which neither boards nor their duties are mandated by law. Boards arise in firms with large, heterogeneous shareholder bases. We propose that an important role of boards is to mediate between heterogeneous shareholders with divergent interests. Voting restrictions are common and ensure that boards are representative and not captured by large blockholders. Boards are given significant powers to both mediate and monitor management, and these roles are intrinsically linked
Abstract: We study under which circumstances firms choose to install boards and their roles in a historical setting in which neither boards nor their duties are mandated by law. Boards arise in firms with large, heterogeneous shareholder bases. We propose that an important role of boards is to mediate between heterogeneous shareholders with divergent interests. Voting restrictions are common and ensure that boards are representative and not captured by large blockholders. Boards are given significant powers to both mediate and monitor management, and these roles are intrinsically linked
Journal: The Review of Financial Studies
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Charlotte Østergaard
Measuring the Welfare Effects of Shame and Pride
Abstract: Public recognition is frequently used to motivate desirable behavior, yet its welfare effects—such as costs of shame or gains from pride— are rarely measured. We develop a portable empirical methodology for measuring and monetizing social image utility, and we deploy it in experiments on exercise and charitable behavior. In all experiments, public recognition motivates desirable behavior but creates highly unequal image payoffs. High-performing individuals enjoy significant utility gains, while low-performing individuals incur significant utility losses. We estimate structural models of social signaling, and we use the models to explore the social efficiency of public recognition policies.
Abstract: Public recognition is frequently used to motivate desirable behavior, yet its welfare effects—such as costs of shame or gains from pride— are rarely measured. We develop a portable empirical methodology for measuring and monetizing social image utility, and we deploy it in experiments on exercise and charitable behavior. In all experiments, public recognition motivates desirable behavior but creates highly unequal image payoffs. High-performing individuals enjoy significant utility gains, while low-performing individuals incur significant utility losses. We estimate structural models of social signaling, and we use the models to explore the social efficiency of public recognition policies.
Journal: American Economic Review
Published: Jan 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Luigi Butera
Resilience: A Critical Appraisal of the State of Research for Business and Society
Journal: Schmalenbachs Zeitschrift für betriebswirtschaftliche Forschung
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Andreas Wieland
Carlin, B., Olafsson, A., & Pagel, M. (2022). Mobile Apps and Financial Decision Making
Abstract: We exploit the release of a mobile application for a financial aggregation platform to analyze how technology adoption changes consumer financial decision making. The app reduced the cost of accessing personal financial information, and we find that this led to a drop in non-sufficient fund (NSF) fees. Because of the manner in which these fees are incurred, this represents an unambiguous welfare improvement for users of the platform. The leading explanation for this result appears to be mistake avoidance due to easier access to information.
Abstract: We exploit the release of a mobile application for a financial aggregation platform to analyze how technology adoption changes consumer financial decision making. The app reduced the cost of accessing personal financial information, and we find that this led to a drop in non-sufficient fund (NSF) fees. Because of the manner in which these fees are incurred, this represents an unambiguous welfare improvement for users of the platform. The leading explanation for this result appears to be mistake avoidance due to easier access to information.
Journal: Review of Finance
Published: Jul 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Arna Olafsson
The Tree Based Linear Regression Model for Hierarchical Categorical Variables
Abstract: Many real-life applications consider nominal categorical predictor variables that have a hierarchical structure, e.g. economic activity data in Official Statistics. In this paper, we focus on linear regression models built in the presence of this type of nominal categorical predictor variables, and study the consolidation of their categories to have a better tradeoff between interpretability and fit of the model to the data. We propose the so-called Tree based Linear Regression (TLR) model that optimizes both the accuracy of the reduced linear regression model and its complexity, measured as a cost function of the level of granularity of the representation of the hierarchical categorical variables. We show that finding non-dominated outcomes for this problem boils down to solving Mixed Integer Convex Quadratic Problems with Linear Constraints, and small to medium size instances can be tackled using off-the-shelf solvers. We illustrate our approach in two real-world datasets, as well as a synthetic one, where our methodology finds a much less complex model with a very mild worsening of the accuracy.
Abstract: Many real-life applications consider nominal categorical predictor variables that have a hierarchical structure, e.g. economic activity data in Official Statistics. In this paper, we focus on linear regression models built in the presence of this type of nominal categorical predictor variables, and study the consolidation of their categories to have a better tradeoff between interpretability and fit of the model to the data. We propose the so-called Tree based Linear Regression (TLR) model that optimizes both the accuracy of the reduced linear regression model and its complexity, measured as a cost function of the level of granularity of the representation of the hierarchical categorical variables. We show that finding non-dominated outcomes for this problem boils down to solving Mixed Integer Convex Quadratic Problems with Linear Constraints, and small to medium size instances can be tackled using off-the-shelf solvers. We illustrate our approach in two real-world datasets, as well as a synthetic one, where our methodology finds a much less complex model with a very mild worsening of the accuracy.
Journal: Expert Systems with Applications
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Dolores Romero Morales
On Mathematical Optimization for Clustering Categories in Contingency Tables
Abstract: Many applications in data analysis study whether two categorical variables are independent using a function of the entries of their contingency table. Often, the categories of the variables, associated with the rows and columns of the table, are grouped, yielding a less granular representation of the categorical variables. The purpose of this is to attain reasonable sample sizes in the cells of the table and, more importantly, to incorporate expert knowledge on the allowable groupings. However, it is known that the conclusions on independence depend, in general, on the chosen granularity, as in the Simpson paradox. In this paper we propose a methodology to, for a given contingency table and a fixed granularity, find a clustered table with the highest χ2 statistic. Repeating this procedure for different values of the granularity, we can either identify an extreme grouping, namely the largest granularity for which the statistical dependence is still detected, or conclude that it does not exist and that the two variables are dependent regardless of the size of the clustered table. For this problem, we propose an assignment mathematical formulation and a set partitioning one. Our approach is flexible enough to include constraints on the desirable structure of the clusters, such as must-link or cannot-link constraints on the categories that can, or cannot, be merged together, and ensure reasonable sample sizes in the cells of the clustered table from which trustful statistical conclusions can be derived. We illustrate the usefulness of our methodology using a dataset of a medical study.
Abstract: Many applications in data analysis study whether two categorical variables are independent using a function of the entries of their contingency table. Often, the categories of the variables, associated with the rows and columns of the table, are grouped, yielding a less granular representation of the categorical variables. The purpose of this is to attain reasonable sample sizes in the cells of the table and, more importantly, to incorporate expert knowledge on the allowable groupings. However, it is known that the conclusions on independence depend, in general, on the chosen granularity, as in the Simpson paradox. In this paper we propose a methodology to, for a given contingency table and a fixed granularity, find a clustered table with the highest χ2 statistic. Repeating this procedure for different values of the granularity, we can either identify an extreme grouping, namely the largest granularity for which the statistical dependence is still detected, or conclude that it does not exist and that the two variables are dependent regardless of the size of the clustered table. For this problem, we propose an assignment mathematical formulation and a set partitioning one. Our approach is flexible enough to include constraints on the desirable structure of the clusters, such as must-link or cannot-link constraints on the categories that can, or cannot, be merged together, and ensure reasonable sample sizes in the cells of the clustered table from which trustful statistical conclusions can be derived. We illustrate the usefulness of our methodology using a dataset of a medical study.
Journal: Advances in Data Analysis and Classification
Published: Jun 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Dolores Romero Morales
Extending Social Sustainability to Suppliers: The Role of GVC Governance Strategies and Supplier Country Institutions
Abstract: The disaggregation and geographic dispersion of global value chains (GVCs) have expanded the responsibility of international buyers from firm-level corporate social responsibility (CSR) towards social sustainability of their emerging country suppliers. We theorize, in this paper, that the effectiveness of lead firms’ GVC governance strategies for social sustainability—which can be audit-based or cooperation-based—depends on the local institutional context of the supplier. Supplier country institutions exert legal and civil society pressures for social sustainability, which shape suppliers’ attitude and receptiveness towards lead firm requests. Using unique primary data from 356 garment and footwear suppliers in 11 emerging countries, which supply to Western European or North American buyers, we show that GVC governance strategies are particularly effective for suppliers’ social sustainability implementation when there is ‘contextual fit’ with local institutional pressures for social sustainability in the supplier country. Our study identifies the boundary conditions of GVC governance modes, and demonstrates a complementary relationship between organizational arrangements and their institutional-level counterparts in the context of social sustainability.
Abstract: The disaggregation and geographic dispersion of global value chains (GVCs) have expanded the responsibility of international buyers from firm-level corporate social responsibility (CSR) towards social sustainability of their emerging country suppliers. We theorize, in this paper, that the effectiveness of lead firms’ GVC governance strategies for social sustainability—which can be audit-based or cooperation-based—depends on the local institutional context of the supplier. Supplier country institutions exert legal and civil society pressures for social sustainability, which shape suppliers’ attitude and receptiveness towards lead firm requests. Using unique primary data from 356 garment and footwear suppliers in 11 emerging countries, which supply to Western European or North American buyers, we show that GVC governance strategies are particularly effective for suppliers’ social sustainability implementation when there is ‘contextual fit’ with local institutional pressures for social sustainability in the supplier country. Our study identifies the boundary conditions of GVC governance modes, and demonstrates a complementary relationship between organizational arrangements and their institutional-level counterparts in the context of social sustainability.
Journal: Journal of Business Ethics
Published: Mar 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Sarah Castaldi
Ownership and Corporate Governance across Institutional Contexts
Abstract: Research Question/Issue: The purpose of this special issue (SI) is to encourage research examining the effect of different ownership types in and from different countries on corporate governance and objectives.
Research Findings/Insights: The articles included in this SI provide novel insights as to the influence of different types of owners, including states and sovereign wealth funds, families, and different types of institutional investors, as well as of other features of ownership structures, on various aspects of corporate governance, in a variety of institutional contexts.
Theoretical/Academic Implications: As companies face different institutional contexts when they operate internationally, and shareholders have become increasingly global, the resulting heterogeneity of shareholder types poses new challenges in our understanding of their behavior. This SI is a step in the direction of disentangling the complex implications of ownership for corporate governance across institutional contexts.
Practitioner/Policy Implications: Together with other owner types, the ever-increasing $100 trillion global asset management industry representing 40% of global market capitalization (PwC, 2020) fuels corporate governance and performance pressures on portfolio companies. The articles included in the SI provide useful insights as to the new ownership landscape and its consequences for operating firms in different countries.
Abstract: Research Question/Issue: The purpose of this special issue (SI) is to encourage research examining the effect of different ownership types in and from different countries on corporate governance and objectives.
Research Findings/Insights: The articles included in this SI provide novel insights as to the influence of different types of owners, including states and sovereign wealth funds, families, and different types of institutional investors, as well as of other features of ownership structures, on various aspects of corporate governance, in a variety of institutional contexts.
Theoretical/Academic Implications: As companies face different institutional contexts when they operate internationally, and shareholders have become increasingly global, the resulting heterogeneity of shareholder types poses new challenges in our understanding of their behavior. This SI is a step in the direction of disentangling the complex implications of ownership for corporate governance across institutional contexts.
Practitioner/Policy Implications: Together with other owner types, the ever-increasing $100 trillion global asset management industry representing 40% of global market capitalization (PwC, 2020) fuels corporate governance and performance pressures on portfolio companies. The articles included in the SI provide useful insights as to the new ownership landscape and its consequences for operating firms in different countries.
Journal: Corporate Governance: An International Review
Published: Nov 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Nikolaos Kavadis
Climate Change and the Business School: Going Beyond Neoliberal 'Solutions' with Hannah Arendt
Abstract: Climate change is gaining growing attention in institutional politics and the business world. As businesses start widely embracing the turn to climate change, business schools are increasingly addressing sustainability-related topics in their educations. However, the difficulties meeting defined climate goals indicate that current responses to climate change are insufficient. To shed new light on the role of business and business education in addressing climate challenges, this article turns to Arendt's political theory. Her critique of liberalism and the demise of politics helps elucidate the current domination of economically oriented approaches to climate change, which further aggravate humanity's destructive relationship with nature. Through a reading of Arendt's account of political action, I propose a twopronged role for business schools addressing issues related to climate change. The first involves reflecting on the role of business in the commonly shared world and its embeddedness in a natural environment. Such reflection takes a certain humbleness about the role and position of business as well as an engagement with inter- and cross-disciplinary education aimed to acknowledge and interact with other actors in the common world. The second prong entails a commitment to fostering political moments, an objective enabled by the capacities of critical thinking and political action inherent in potentially all human beings. In this way business schools can encourage reflection on the role of business in the common world and on how neoliberalism intensifies humanity's devastating impact on nature, while also connecting critical thinking to action in the common world.
Abstract: Climate change is gaining growing attention in institutional politics and the business world. As businesses start widely embracing the turn to climate change, business schools are increasingly addressing sustainability-related topics in their educations. However, the difficulties meeting defined climate goals indicate that current responses to climate change are insufficient. To shed new light on the role of business and business education in addressing climate challenges, this article turns to Arendt's political theory. Her critique of liberalism and the demise of politics helps elucidate the current domination of economically oriented approaches to climate change, which further aggravate humanity's destructive relationship with nature. Through a reading of Arendt's account of political action, I propose a twopronged role for business schools addressing issues related to climate change. The first involves reflecting on the role of business in the commonly shared world and its embeddedness in a natural environment. Such reflection takes a certain humbleness about the role and position of business as well as an engagement with inter- and cross-disciplinary education aimed to acknowledge and interact with other actors in the common world. The second prong entails a commitment to fostering political moments, an objective enabled by the capacities of critical thinking and political action inherent in potentially all human beings. In this way business schools can encourage reflection on the role of business in the common world and on how neoliberalism intensifies humanity's devastating impact on nature, while also connecting critical thinking to action in the common world.
Journal: Ephemera: Theory & politics in organization
Published: Nov 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Charlotte Cator
Assessing Incumbents' Risk of Digital Platform Disruption
Abstract: By re-architecting markets, digital platforms can significantly disrupt incumbents’ businesses. We identify three characteristics of markets that digital platforms exploit to gain a foothold in existing markets: inefficiencies caused by asymmetric, fragmented and complex information; the modular nature of offerings; and unaddressed heterogeneous customer preferences. We provide a tool that incumbents can use not only to assess the risk of digital platform disruption, but also to identify digital platformrelated opportunities
Abstract: By re-architecting markets, digital platforms can significantly disrupt incumbents’ businesses. We identify three characteristics of markets that digital platforms exploit to gain a foothold in existing markets: inefficiencies caused by asymmetric, fragmented and complex information; the modular nature of offerings; and unaddressed heterogeneous customer preferences. We provide a tool that incumbents can use not only to assess the risk of digital platform disruption, but also to identify digital platformrelated opportunities
Journal: MIS Quarterly Executive
Published: Mar 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Carmelo Cennamo
Unlocking Innovation in Healthcare: The Case of the Patient Innovation Platform
Abstract: Multisided platforms are new organizing forms that can boost innovation in the healthcare sector by empowering patients as innovators and facilitating the commercialization of innovations by and for patients. However, applying the playbook script for the platform model from other sectors may prove challenging given the distinctive nature of the healthcare services. Drawing on the case of a leading healthcare innovation platform in Europe, this article examines the platform’s role in identifying and enabling the development and diffusion of patient innovations. This involves three main roles (community organizer, market matchmaker, and innovation manager) and corresponding orchestration activities.
Abstract: Multisided platforms are new organizing forms that can boost innovation in the healthcare sector by empowering patients as innovators and facilitating the commercialization of innovations by and for patients. However, applying the playbook script for the platform model from other sectors may prove challenging given the distinctive nature of the healthcare services. Drawing on the case of a leading healthcare innovation platform in Europe, this article examines the platform’s role in identifying and enabling the development and diffusion of patient innovations. This involves three main roles (community organizer, market matchmaker, and innovation manager) and corresponding orchestration activities.
Journal: California Management Review
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Carmelo Cennamo, Pedro Oliveira
Digital Platforms Regulation: An Innovation-centric View of the EU’s Digital Markets Act
Abstract:
Key Points:
We conceptualise innovation as new interactions being created by the digital platform, in contrast to coordination which facilitates existing interactions or market transactions.
We apply this framework to the DMA to assess two of the most contentious practices: self-preferencing and data-sharing.
We show that these practices differ hugely in the extent to which they replace existing interactions (little to negative innovation effect), sustain existing interactions (moderate, positive innovation effect), or trigger new interactions (large, positive innovation spillovers).
We thus derive that the business model agnostic approach to digital platforms taken in the DMA risks treating practices that increase the value created by an interaction equally to those that simply shift the distribution of value.
Abstract:
Key Points:
We conceptualise innovation as new interactions being created by the digital platform, in contrast to coordination which facilitates existing interactions or market transactions.
We apply this framework to the DMA to assess two of the most contentious practices: self-preferencing and data-sharing.
We show that these practices differ hugely in the extent to which they replace existing interactions (little to negative innovation effect), sustain existing interactions (moderate, positive innovation effect), or trigger new interactions (large, positive innovation spillovers).
We thus derive that the business model agnostic approach to digital platforms taken in the DMA risks treating practices that increase the value created by an interaction equally to those that simply shift the distribution of value.
Journal: Journal of European Competition Law & Practice
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Carmelo Cennamo
Hedging Climate Risks with Green Assets
Abstract: Utilizing two novel measures of transition and physical climate risks obtained from textual analysis, we examine the hedging benefits of various green assets and popular precious metals against climate uncertainty. We find that green bonds stand out from the rest of the assets in our sample, including gold, exhibiting a consistent positive correlation with both types of climate risks. The findings suggest that green bonds can offer reliable safe haven benefits against climate uncertainty, providing new insight into the role of these assets not only as an investment that offers benefits associated with socially responsible investing, but also as a tool to manage climate risk exposures in investment portfolios.
Abstract: Utilizing two novel measures of transition and physical climate risks obtained from textual analysis, we examine the hedging benefits of various green assets and popular precious metals against climate uncertainty. We find that green bonds stand out from the rest of the assets in our sample, including gold, exhibiting a consistent positive correlation with both types of climate risks. The findings suggest that green bonds can offer reliable safe haven benefits against climate uncertainty, providing new insight into the role of these assets not only as an investment that offers benefits associated with socially responsible investing, but also as a tool to manage climate risk exposures in investment portfolios.
Journal: Economics Letters
Published: Mar 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
Oil Price Shocks and Yield Curve Dynamics in Emerging Markets.
Abstract: In a local projections framework, we study the impact of oil price shocks, based on a refined approach to disentangle oil price movements, on the dynamics of the entire yield curve in nineteen emerging economies with different positions on the oil market. Responses of the term structure factors to oil market shocks are shown to differ conditional on not only the underlying sources that drive oil price, but also based on the oil-dependence of these economies. In particular, we find that oil price risk shocks put upward pressure on the level, slope, and curvature of interest rates across the board. Supply-driven shocks in oil markets cause a rise in the level of interest rates in oil-importing economies more significantly, yet the downward impact on yield curve slope is more pronounced in oil-exporting countries. Demand-driven shocks have a significant and persistent upward impact on level factors in oil-importing countries. Furthermore, the effect of precautionary demand shocks on the curvature factor is more pronounced in oil-importing countries vis-à-vis oil-exporters. Significance, direction, and duration of our results may guide monetary policymakers in emerging countries as well as international investors in portfolio and hedging decisions.
Abstract: In a local projections framework, we study the impact of oil price shocks, based on a refined approach to disentangle oil price movements, on the dynamics of the entire yield curve in nineteen emerging economies with different positions on the oil market. Responses of the term structure factors to oil market shocks are shown to differ conditional on not only the underlying sources that drive oil price, but also based on the oil-dependence of these economies. In particular, we find that oil price risk shocks put upward pressure on the level, slope, and curvature of interest rates across the board. Supply-driven shocks in oil markets cause a rise in the level of interest rates in oil-importing economies more significantly, yet the downward impact on yield curve slope is more pronounced in oil-exporting countries. Demand-driven shocks have a significant and persistent upward impact on level factors in oil-importing countries. Furthermore, the effect of precautionary demand shocks on the curvature factor is more pronounced in oil-importing countries vis-à-vis oil-exporters. Significance, direction, and duration of our results may guide monetary policymakers in emerging countries as well as international investors in portfolio and hedging decisions.
Journal: International Review of Economics and Finance
Published: Jul 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
The Contagion Effect of COVID-19-induced Uncertainty on US Tourism Sector: Evidence from Time-varying Granger Causality Test.
Abstract: This study investigates the effect of COVID-19-induced uncertainty on the overall stock market and the stock performance of the tourism and hospitality industry and its subsectors utilizing a novel time-varying robust Granger causality test. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic–induced uncertainty has an adverse impact on the overall economy, tourism and hospitality industry, and subsectors of tourism and hospitality. However, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic–induced uncertainty is more significant in the tourism and hospitality industry and its subsectors. In particular, hotels sector has experienced the largest impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by restaurants and airline sectors, respectively. Research and practical implications are discussed.
Abstract: This study investigates the effect of COVID-19-induced uncertainty on the overall stock market and the stock performance of the tourism and hospitality industry and its subsectors utilizing a novel time-varying robust Granger causality test. The results show that the COVID-19 pandemic–induced uncertainty has an adverse impact on the overall economy, tourism and hospitality industry, and subsectors of tourism and hospitality. However, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic–induced uncertainty is more significant in the tourism and hospitality industry and its subsectors. In particular, hotels sector has experienced the largest impact from the COVID-19 pandemic, followed by restaurants and airline sectors, respectively. Research and practical implications are discussed.
Journal: Tourism Economics.
Published: Mar 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
Interest Rate Uncertainty and the Predictability of Bank Revenues
Abstract: This paper examines the predictive power of interest rate uncertainty over pre-provision net revenues (PPNR) in a large panel of bank holding companies (BHC). Utilizing a linear dynamic panel model based on Bayes predictor, we show that supplementing forecasting models with interest rate uncertainty improves the forecasting performance with the augmented model yielding lower forecast errors in comparison to a baseline model which includes unemployment rate, federal funds rate, and spread variables. Further separating PPNRs into two components that reflect net interest and non-interest income, we show that the predictive power of interest rate uncertainty is concentrated on the non-interest component of bank revenues. Finally, examining the point predictions under a severely stressed scenario, we show that the model can successfully predict the negative effect on overall bank revenues with a rise in the non-interest component of income during 2009:Q1. Overall, the findings suggest that stress testing exercises that involve bank revenue models can benefit from the inclusion of interest rate uncertainty and the cross-sectional information embedded in the panel of BHCs.
Abstract: This paper examines the predictive power of interest rate uncertainty over pre-provision net revenues (PPNR) in a large panel of bank holding companies (BHC). Utilizing a linear dynamic panel model based on Bayes predictor, we show that supplementing forecasting models with interest rate uncertainty improves the forecasting performance with the augmented model yielding lower forecast errors in comparison to a baseline model which includes unemployment rate, federal funds rate, and spread variables. Further separating PPNRs into two components that reflect net interest and non-interest income, we show that the predictive power of interest rate uncertainty is concentrated on the non-interest component of bank revenues. Finally, examining the point predictions under a severely stressed scenario, we show that the model can successfully predict the negative effect on overall bank revenues with a rise in the non-interest component of income during 2009:Q1. Overall, the findings suggest that stress testing exercises that involve bank revenue models can benefit from the inclusion of interest rate uncertainty and the cross-sectional information embedded in the panel of BHCs.
Journal: Journal of Forecasting
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
The Role of Investor Sentiment in Forecasting Housing Returns in China: A Machine Learning Approach
Abstract: This paper analyzes the predictive ability of aggregate and dis-aggregate proxies of investor sentiment, over and above standard macroeconomic predictors, in forecasting housing returns in China, using an array of machine learning models. We find that our new aligned investor sentiment index has greater predictive power for housing returns than the a principal component analysis (PCA)-based sentiment index, used earlier in the literature. Moreover, shrinkage models utilizing the dis-aggregate sentiment proxies do not result in forecast improvement indicating that aligned sentiment index optimally exploits information in the dis-aggregate proxies of investor sentiment. Furthermore, when we let the machine learning models to choose from all key control variables and the aligned sentiment index, the forecasting accuracy is improved at all forecasting horizons, rather than just the short-run as witnessed under standard predictive regressions. This result suggests that machine learning methods are flexible enough to capture both structural change and time-varying information in a set of predictors simultaneously to forecast housing returns of China in a precise manner. Given the role of the real estate market in China’s economic growth, our result of accurate forecasting of housing returns has important implications for both investors and policymakers.
Abstract: This paper analyzes the predictive ability of aggregate and dis-aggregate proxies of investor sentiment, over and above standard macroeconomic predictors, in forecasting housing returns in China, using an array of machine learning models. We find that our new aligned investor sentiment index has greater predictive power for housing returns than the a principal component analysis (PCA)-based sentiment index, used earlier in the literature. Moreover, shrinkage models utilizing the dis-aggregate sentiment proxies do not result in forecast improvement indicating that aligned sentiment index optimally exploits information in the dis-aggregate proxies of investor sentiment. Furthermore, when we let the machine learning models to choose from all key control variables and the aligned sentiment index, the forecasting accuracy is improved at all forecasting horizons, rather than just the short-run as witnessed under standard predictive regressions. This result suggests that machine learning methods are flexible enough to capture both structural change and time-varying information in a set of predictors simultaneously to forecast housing returns of China in a precise manner. Given the role of the real estate market in China’s economic growth, our result of accurate forecasting of housing returns has important implications for both investors and policymakers.
Journal: Journal of Forecasting
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
Forecasting the Realized Variance of Oil-price Returns Using Machine Learning: Is There a Role for U.S. State-level Uncertainty?
Abstract:
Abstract:
Predicting the variance of oil-price returns is of paramount importance for policymakers and investors. Recent research has focused on whether disaggregate measures of economic-policy uncertainty provide better forecasts. Given that the United States (U.S.) is a major player in the international oil market, we extend this line of research by exploring by means of machine-learning techniques whether accounting for U.S. state-level measures of economic-policy uncertainty results in more accurate forecasts. We find improvements in forecast accuracy, especially when we study intermediate and long forecast horizons. This finding is robust to various changes in the model configuration (realized variance vs. realized volatility, sample period, recursive vs. rolling-estimation window, loss function of forecast consumers). Understandably, our findings have important implications for oil traders and policy authorities.
Journal: Energy Economics
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
Does Vaccination Help to Reduce Financial Stress on Tourism Subsectors?
Abstract: Although there is rapid vaccination progress in the US and improvement in broad service activity upon reopening, no meaningful recovery has been achieved in tourism-related sectors until now. Therefore, we take a deep dive into tourism-related sectors and investigate how the effect of COVID-19 vaccination progress differentiates on the financial distress of tourism subsectors. Using a time-varying parameter VAR model, we quantify the financial distress in each tourism subsector and relate these measures with a daily number of newly vaccinated people. Our empirical findings indicate that specific tourism subsectors re-spond more to vaccination progress, and accordingly, financial stress has started to decline in these sectors. However, the effects of vaccination on airlines and hotel sectors are insignificant, implying that the recovery process will take longer in these subsectors.
Abstract: Although there is rapid vaccination progress in the US and improvement in broad service activity upon reopening, no meaningful recovery has been achieved in tourism-related sectors until now. Therefore, we take a deep dive into tourism-related sectors and investigate how the effect of COVID-19 vaccination progress differentiates on the financial distress of tourism subsectors. Using a time-varying parameter VAR model, we quantify the financial distress in each tourism subsector and relate these measures with a daily number of newly vaccinated people. Our empirical findings indicate that specific tourism subsectors re-spond more to vaccination progress, and accordingly, financial stress has started to decline in these sectors. However, the effects of vaccination on airlines and hotel sectors are insignificant, implying that the recovery process will take longer in these subsectors.
Journal: Tourism Economics
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
News Media and Attention Spillover across Energy Markets: A Powerful Predictor of Crude Oil Futures Prices.
Abstract: We develop two news-based investor attention measures from the news trends function of the Bloomberg terminal and investigate their predictive power for returns on crude oil futures contracts with various maturities. Our main results after controlling for relevant macroeconomic variables show that the Oil-based Institutional Attention Index is useful in predicting oil futures returns, especially during price downturn periods, while the forecasting accuracy is further improved when the Commodity Market Institutional Attention Index is used. This forecasting accuracy decreases, however, with the maturity of oil futures contracts. Moreover, we find some evidence of Granger-causality and regime-dependent interactions between investor attention measures and oil futures returns. Finally, variable selection algorithms matter before making predictions since they create the best forecasting results in many cases considered. These findings are important for informed traders and policymakers to better understand the price dynamics of the oil markets.
Abstract: We develop two news-based investor attention measures from the news trends function of the Bloomberg terminal and investigate their predictive power for returns on crude oil futures contracts with various maturities. Our main results after controlling for relevant macroeconomic variables show that the Oil-based Institutional Attention Index is useful in predicting oil futures returns, especially during price downturn periods, while the forecasting accuracy is further improved when the Commodity Market Institutional Attention Index is used. This forecasting accuracy decreases, however, with the maturity of oil futures contracts. Moreover, we find some evidence of Granger-causality and regime-dependent interactions between investor attention measures and oil futures returns. Finally, variable selection algorithms matter before making predictions since they create the best forecasting results in many cases considered. These findings are important for informed traders and policymakers to better understand the price dynamics of the oil markets.
Journal: The Energy Journal
Published: 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
What’s in a Name? How Senior Managers use Name-based Heuristics to Allocate Financial Resources in Multinational Corporations.
Abstract: The allocation of financial resources to entrepreneurial initiatives in subsidiaries of multinational corporations is crucial to their realization. When allocating resources to these initiatives, senior headquarters managers face uncertainty that they attempt to address using various heuristics, which may bias allocation. Name-based heuristics—cognitive shortcuts based on names associated with a decision-making situation—have been shown to influence financial decisions ranging from food purchase to stock investment. Yet little is known about name-based heuristics in the allocation of financial resources to entrepreneurial initiatives. We analyze 1308 resource allocation decisions made by 109 senior managers in an experiment in which we vary subsidiary country and subsidiary manager names. We find that psychic distance to the subsidiary country is negatively related to resource allocation when subsidiary managers’ names express a potential expatriate status. In contrast, this relationship is positive when subsidiary managers’ names express a potential local status. We contextualize our results by interviewing senior managers and discuss how reliance on name-based heuristics to infer the context of an initiative or the interests and competences of subsidiary managers can lead to biased decisions
Abstract: The allocation of financial resources to entrepreneurial initiatives in subsidiaries of multinational corporations is crucial to their realization. When allocating resources to these initiatives, senior headquarters managers face uncertainty that they attempt to address using various heuristics, which may bias allocation. Name-based heuristics—cognitive shortcuts based on names associated with a decision-making situation—have been shown to influence financial decisions ranging from food purchase to stock investment. Yet little is known about name-based heuristics in the allocation of financial resources to entrepreneurial initiatives. We analyze 1308 resource allocation decisions made by 109 senior managers in an experiment in which we vary subsidiary country and subsidiary manager names. We find that psychic distance to the subsidiary country is negatively related to resource allocation when subsidiary managers’ names express a potential expatriate status. In contrast, this relationship is positive when subsidiary managers’ names express a potential local status. We contextualize our results by interviewing senior managers and discuss how reliance on name-based heuristics to infer the context of an initiative or the interests and competences of subsidiary managers can lead to biased decisions
Journal: Journal of Management Studies.
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Phillip C. Nell
Consumers’ Usage of Food Delivery App: A Theory of Consumption Values.
Abstract: Food delivery applications (FDAs) represent a category of mobile applications that are used by consumers to order food online. The popularity of these FDAs has been growing exponentially recently, yet not much research has been carried out the topic. This study investigates consumers’ acceptance of FDAs using the theory of consumption values as its theoretical basis. The model explores the association between consumption values (functional, social, emotional, conditional, and epistemic), visibility, and usage intention of FDAs. Data were collected from 440 Indian consumers and the model was tested using structural equation modeling. Except for emotional value, the results indicated a significant association between functional, social, conditional, and epistemic values and usage intention. Furthermore, visibility mediated the relationship between consumption values and usage intention. This study’s theoretical and practical contributions are relevant to researchers and practitioners working in areas related to FDAs.
Abstract: Food delivery applications (FDAs) represent a category of mobile applications that are used by consumers to order food online. The popularity of these FDAs has been growing exponentially recently, yet not much research has been carried out the topic. This study investigates consumers’ acceptance of FDAs using the theory of consumption values as its theoretical basis. The model explores the association between consumption values (functional, social, emotional, conditional, and epistemic), visibility, and usage intention of FDAs. Data were collected from 440 Indian consumers and the model was tested using structural equation modeling. Except for emotional value, the results indicated a significant association between functional, social, conditional, and epistemic values and usage intention. Furthermore, visibility mediated the relationship between consumption values and usage intention. This study’s theoretical and practical contributions are relevant to researchers and practitioners working in areas related to FDAs.
Journal: Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management
Published: Jul 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Robin Nunkoo
Capital Mobility and Taxation: State–business Collusion in China
Abstract: Do more mobile firms pay lower taxes? Conventional wisdom argues that capital mobility creates downward pressure on corporate taxes, as firms can threaten to exit. Nevertheless, empirical findings are highly mixed and hard to reconcile, partly due to a lack of data at the microlevel. Using two comprehensive panel data sets with more than 780,000 Chinese firms over two decades, we find that firms with higher shares of mobile capital pay higher effective tax rates. We contend that this counterintuitive finding results from the strategic interaction between firms and governments. Knowing their vulnerability and sunk cost, firms with more fixed assets were more active in protecting themselves by bribing and colluding with local officials. Meanwhile, officials were more willing to seek bribes from these firms in exchange for tax cuts. In contrast, mobile firms were disadvantaged. Although capital mobility may provide additional bargaining power, firms with fixed assets can overcome this advantage through state–business collusion. Our quantitative and qualitative evidence show that fixed firms paid lower taxes in cities with cozy government–business relations. However, such advantages decreased after the launch of anti-corruption campaigns and in cities with higher fiscal transparency
Abstract: Do more mobile firms pay lower taxes? Conventional wisdom argues that capital mobility creates downward pressure on corporate taxes, as firms can threaten to exit. Nevertheless, empirical findings are highly mixed and hard to reconcile, partly due to a lack of data at the microlevel. Using two comprehensive panel data sets with more than 780,000 Chinese firms over two decades, we find that firms with higher shares of mobile capital pay higher effective tax rates. We contend that this counterintuitive finding results from the strategic interaction between firms and governments. Knowing their vulnerability and sunk cost, firms with more fixed assets were more active in protecting themselves by bribing and colluding with local officials. Meanwhile, officials were more willing to seek bribes from these firms in exchange for tax cuts. In contrast, mobile firms were disadvantaged. Although capital mobility may provide additional bargaining power, firms with fixed assets can overcome this advantage through state–business collusion. Our quantitative and qualitative evidence show that fixed firms paid lower taxes in cities with cozy government–business relations. However, such advantages decreased after the launch of anti-corruption campaigns and in cities with higher fiscal transparency
Journal: International Studies Quarterly
Published: Mar 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Florian M. Hollenbach
ABCanDroid: A Cloud Integrated Android App for Noninvasive Early Breast Cancer Detection Using Transfer Learning
Abstract: Many patients affected by breast cancer die every year because of improper diagnosis and treatment. In recent years, applications of deep learning algorithms in the field of breast cancer detection have proved to be quite efficient. However, the application of such techniques has a lot of scope for improvement. Major works have been done in this field, however it can be made more efficient by the use of transfer learning to get impressive results. In the proposed approach, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is complemented with Transfer Learning for increasing the efficiency and accuracy of early detection of breast cancer for better diagnosis. The thought process involved using a pre-trained model, which already had some weights assigned rather than building the complete model from scratch. This paper mainly focuses on ResNet101 based Transfer Learning Model paired with the ImageNet dataset. The proposed framework provided us with an accuracy of 99.58%. Extensive experiments and tuning of hyperparameters have been performed to acquire the best possible results in terms of classification. The proposed frameworks aims to be an efficient tool for all doctors and society as a whole and help the user in early detection of breast cancer.
Abstract: Many patients affected by breast cancer die every year because of improper diagnosis and treatment. In recent years, applications of deep learning algorithms in the field of breast cancer detection have proved to be quite efficient. However, the application of such techniques has a lot of scope for improvement. Major works have been done in this field, however it can be made more efficient by the use of transfer learning to get impressive results. In the proposed approach, Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) is complemented with Transfer Learning for increasing the efficiency and accuracy of early detection of breast cancer for better diagnosis. The thought process involved using a pre-trained model, which already had some weights assigned rather than building the complete model from scratch. This paper mainly focuses on ResNet101 based Transfer Learning Model paired with the ImageNet dataset. The proposed framework provided us with an accuracy of 99.58%. Extensive experiments and tuning of hyperparameters have been performed to acquire the best possible results in terms of classification. The proposed frameworks aims to be an efficient tool for all doctors and society as a whole and help the user in early detection of breast cancer.
Journal: Sensors
Published: Feb 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Ashutosh Dhar Dwivedi, Raghava Rao Mukkamala
DeCrypt: A 3DES Inspired Optimised Cryptographic Algorithm.
Abstract: Triple Data Encryption Standard (also known as 3DES) is a symmetric encryption algorithm. European Traffic Management System popularly uses 3DES for authentication and encryption. However, as per a draft published by NIST in 2018, 3DES is officially being retired and not suggested to use for new applications. Several attacks were imposed on 3DES, and the biggest threat to 3DES is meet in the middle attack. Therefore for long term security, it is essential to enhance the security of such algorithms. This paper proposed a new cipher DeCrypt inspired by 3DES, an improved version of the 3DES algorithm, and secured against meet in the middle attack. As per the experiment performed, DeCrypt cipher is 61 per cent faster than 3DES, providing long-term and better security against sweet-32 attacks than other symmetric algorithms. The proposed algorithm is also faster than 3DES due to reduced encryption and decryption time.
Abstract: Triple Data Encryption Standard (also known as 3DES) is a symmetric encryption algorithm. European Traffic Management System popularly uses 3DES for authentication and encryption. However, as per a draft published by NIST in 2018, 3DES is officially being retired and not suggested to use for new applications. Several attacks were imposed on 3DES, and the biggest threat to 3DES is meet in the middle attack. Therefore for long term security, it is essential to enhance the security of such algorithms. This paper proposed a new cipher DeCrypt inspired by 3DES, an improved version of the 3DES algorithm, and secured against meet in the middle attack. As per the experiment performed, DeCrypt cipher is 61 per cent faster than 3DES, providing long-term and better security against sweet-32 attacks than other symmetric algorithms. The proposed algorithm is also faster than 3DES due to reduced encryption and decryption time.
Journal: Journal of Ambient Intelligence and Humanized Computing
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Ashutosh Dhar Dwivedi
Federated Learning based Covid-19 Detection
Abstract: The world is affected by COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Tests are necessary for everyone as the number of COVID-19 affected individual's increases. So, the authors developed a basic sequential CNN model based on deep and federated learning that focuses on user data security while simultaneously enhancing test accuracy. The proposed model helps users detect COVID-19 in a few seconds by uploading a single chest X-ray image. A deep learning-aided architecture that can handle client and server sides efficiently has been proposed in this work. The front-end part has been developed using StreamLit, and the back-end uses a Flower framework. The proposed model has achieved a global accuracy of 99.59% after being trained for three federated communication rounds. The detailed analysis of this paper provides the robustness of this work. In addition, the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) will improve the ease of access to the aforementioned health services. IoMT tools and services are rapidly changing healthcare operations for the better. Hopefully, it will continue to do so in this difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic and will help to push the envelope of this work to a different extent.
Abstract: The world is affected by COVID-19, an infectious disease caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Tests are necessary for everyone as the number of COVID-19 affected individual's increases. So, the authors developed a basic sequential CNN model based on deep and federated learning that focuses on user data security while simultaneously enhancing test accuracy. The proposed model helps users detect COVID-19 in a few seconds by uploading a single chest X-ray image. A deep learning-aided architecture that can handle client and server sides efficiently has been proposed in this work. The front-end part has been developed using StreamLit, and the back-end uses a Flower framework. The proposed model has achieved a global accuracy of 99.59% after being trained for three federated communication rounds. The detailed analysis of this paper provides the robustness of this work. In addition, the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) will improve the ease of access to the aforementioned health services. IoMT tools and services are rapidly changing healthcare operations for the better. Hopefully, it will continue to do so in this difficult time of the COVID-19 pandemic and will help to push the envelope of this work to a different extent.
Journal: Expert Systems
Published: Nov 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Ashutosh Dhar Dwivedi
FN's globale bæredygtighedsmål: Hvordan bidrager virksomheden og forsyningskæden?
Abstract: I denne artikel diskuterer vi, hvordan virksomheder kan arbejde med at oversætte FN’s 17 globale bæredygtighedsmål til konkrete performancemål for virksomheden og forsyningskædens processer. Artiklen viser, hvordan de 17 bæredygtighedsmål kan sorteres, konkretiseres og opstilles i et balanced scorecard, der kan anvendes i virksomheden som et styringsredskab til at sikre fokus, bidrag og forbedringer i forhold til de vigtige FN-bæredygtighedsmål.
Abstract: I denne artikel diskuterer vi, hvordan virksomheder kan arbejde med at oversætte FN’s 17 globale bæredygtighedsmål til konkrete performancemål for virksomheden og forsyningskædens processer. Artiklen viser, hvordan de 17 bæredygtighedsmål kan sorteres, konkretiseres og opstilles i et balanced scorecard, der kan anvendes i virksomheden som et styringsredskab til at sikre fokus, bidrag og forbedringer i forhold til de vigtige FN-bæredygtighedsmål.
Journal: DILFaktuelt
Published: Oct 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Kim Sundtoft Hald
The Rise of China and Contestation in Global Tax Governance
Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between China’s changing economy and its global business tax diplomacy. Three trends dominate: China is becoming a net capital exporter, emerging as a major consumer market, and is home to digital giant firms including Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba. The resulting drive to promote both ‘going out’ and ‘bringing in’ foreign direct investment has led China to engage selectively and strategically with Western-led institutions. We show how China variously challenges, defends, and develops alternatives to global tax standards in three cases: global efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance, bilateral tax treaty negotiations, and administrative tax cooperation.
Abstract: This paper examines the relationship between China’s changing economy and its global business tax diplomacy. Three trends dominate: China is becoming a net capital exporter, emerging as a major consumer market, and is home to digital giant firms including Baidu, Tencent and Alibaba. The resulting drive to promote both ‘going out’ and ‘bringing in’ foreign direct investment has led China to engage selectively and strategically with Western-led institutions. We show how China variously challenges, defends, and develops alternatives to global tax standards in three cases: global efforts to tackle corporate tax avoidance, bilateral tax treaty negotiations, and administrative tax cooperation.
Journal: Asia Pacific Business Review
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Rasmus Corlin Christensen
The Interpellated Voice: The Social Discipline of Member Communication.
Abstract: Acknowledging that the voices of ordinary members may be perceived as more credible than official organizational voices, many organizations seek to mobilize members to speak on their behalf. In this conceptual paper, we examine the constitutive dynamics of such practice, highlighting the influence of social discipline on member voicing. With its notion of ventriloquism, the Montreal School has provided an interesting understanding of how organizations are constituted by the voices ascribed to them. Extant formulations of this perspective, however, fail to conceptualize how member voicing is informed and disciplined by social norms and expectations. Drawing on the notions of interpellation and role, we question how “organizational” organizational communication is and what is being constituted when members voice their organizations. By foregrounding the significance of social figures in this process, we call for an extension of the ventriloqual perspective beyond its current organization-centric perspective.
Abstract: Acknowledging that the voices of ordinary members may be perceived as more credible than official organizational voices, many organizations seek to mobilize members to speak on their behalf. In this conceptual paper, we examine the constitutive dynamics of such practice, highlighting the influence of social discipline on member voicing. With its notion of ventriloquism, the Montreal School has provided an interesting understanding of how organizations are constituted by the voices ascribed to them. Extant formulations of this perspective, however, fail to conceptualize how member voicing is informed and disciplined by social norms and expectations. Drawing on the notions of interpellation and role, we question how “organizational” organizational communication is and what is being constituted when members voice their organizations. By foregrounding the significance of social figures in this process, we call for an extension of the ventriloqual perspective beyond its current organization-centric perspective.
Journal: Management Communication Quarterly
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Lars Thøger Christensen
Internal Audit: A Case Study of Impact and Quality of an Internal Control Audit
Abstract: Traditionally, when companies needed assistance regarding internal controls, they turned to an external auditor (EA). However, now, due to an ongoing tightening of legal requirements and practices regarding the independence of EAs, this assistance has been restricted. As an alternative, companies are increasingly requesting internal audits to deliver this support. Even though internal audit function (IAF) are an important player in internal control, however, there is little academic knowledge about their impact. Based on a single-case study in a large financial institution, this paper explores to what extent and how IAF affect internal controls. Furthermore, it assesses whether IAF add value to the company. The results suggest that the management letter process, including a step-by-step settlement of interactions, leads to a joint problem solving, an acceptance of all IAF's recommendations and a value-adding outcome improving the level of internal controls.
Abstract: Traditionally, when companies needed assistance regarding internal controls, they turned to an external auditor (EA). However, now, due to an ongoing tightening of legal requirements and practices regarding the independence of EAs, this assistance has been restricted. As an alternative, companies are increasingly requesting internal audits to deliver this support. Even though internal audit function (IAF) are an important player in internal control, however, there is little academic knowledge about their impact. Based on a single-case study in a large financial institution, this paper explores to what extent and how IAF affect internal controls. Furthermore, it assesses whether IAF add value to the company. The results suggest that the management letter process, including a step-by-step settlement of interactions, leads to a joint problem solving, an acceptance of all IAF's recommendations and a value-adding outcome improving the level of internal controls.
Journal: International Journal of Auditing
Published: Jul 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Leif Christensen
Preparing the Show: Organizational Ventriloquism as Autocommunication
Abstract: The notion that communication is constitutive of organization has been developed in interesting ways, especially by the ventriloqual perspective and its observation that organizations are made present when human and non-human figures speak on their behalf. So far, this perspective has mainly been used as an analytical approach to study conversations. However, understood as a specific type of show or performance act, the ventriloquism metaphor has further potential to elucidate how organizations are constituted in communication. Ventriloqual shows are often meticulously prepared and rehearsed, especially when intended to be performed in front of an outside audience. In this conceptual paper, we extend research on organizational ventriloquism by discussing how such preparations influence organizations. To that purpose, we draw on the notion of autocommunication understood as communication through which collectives are animated by their own constructs. Specifically, we focus on those backstage settings where official presentations of organizations are contemplated and planned. In such settings, organizational ventriloquists engage in careful deliberations over the appropriateness of specific figures and discussions about how organizational presentations might be perceived by critical stakeholders. Conceptualizing such preparation as autocommunicative ventriloquism, we discuss how figures invoked in such settings can influence organizations and shape their future practices.
Abstract: The notion that communication is constitutive of organization has been developed in interesting ways, especially by the ventriloqual perspective and its observation that organizations are made present when human and non-human figures speak on their behalf. So far, this perspective has mainly been used as an analytical approach to study conversations. However, understood as a specific type of show or performance act, the ventriloquism metaphor has further potential to elucidate how organizations are constituted in communication. Ventriloqual shows are often meticulously prepared and rehearsed, especially when intended to be performed in front of an outside audience. In this conceptual paper, we extend research on organizational ventriloquism by discussing how such preparations influence organizations. To that purpose, we draw on the notion of autocommunication understood as communication through which collectives are animated by their own constructs. Specifically, we focus on those backstage settings where official presentations of organizations are contemplated and planned. In such settings, organizational ventriloquists engage in careful deliberations over the appropriateness of specific figures and discussions about how organizational presentations might be perceived by critical stakeholders. Conceptualizing such preparation as autocommunicative ventriloquism, we discuss how figures invoked in such settings can influence organizations and shape their future practices.
Journal: Organization Theory
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Lars Thøger Christensen
The Big 4 under Pressure: Scanning Work in Transnational Fields.
Abstract: We investigate what happens when accounting professionals come under external pressure to change established practices. We focus on corporate tax transparency, which has become an important battleground as stakeholders increasingly demand more information on corporate tax practices. While the Big 4 global accounting firms have traditionally played a dominant role in shaping what is perceived as acceptable corporate tax behavior, activists and critical politicians have recently mobilized public attention, challenging how accounting professionals legitimate their practices. We provide evidence of these challenges from 33 interviews and participation in 13 professional events from 2013 to 2019. We conceive of the confrontation between dominant professionals and challengers as taking place in a transnational “field,” where a range of actors struggle over how a common object—corporate tax transparency—is defined and treated. This approach helps us understand how the Big 4 navigate new challenges while seeking to maintain control over professional practices. Our interviews and observations show that Big 4 professionals are sensitive to political challenges, requiring that they engage in what we characterize as “scanning work”—ongoing activity to search for, identify, and assess challenges—to fend off outside interventions. Our analysis has important implications for further research. First, the need for scanning work when facing transnational political pressure implies a different way of seeing interactions between accounting professionals and (global) society at large. Second, viewing global accounting from a transnational field lens helps us identify complex sources of change external to already-powerful actors.
Abstract: We investigate what happens when accounting professionals come under external pressure to change established practices. We focus on corporate tax transparency, which has become an important battleground as stakeholders increasingly demand more information on corporate tax practices. While the Big 4 global accounting firms have traditionally played a dominant role in shaping what is perceived as acceptable corporate tax behavior, activists and critical politicians have recently mobilized public attention, challenging how accounting professionals legitimate their practices. We provide evidence of these challenges from 33 interviews and participation in 13 professional events from 2013 to 2019. We conceive of the confrontation between dominant professionals and challengers as taking place in a transnational “field,” where a range of actors struggle over how a common object—corporate tax transparency—is defined and treated. This approach helps us understand how the Big 4 navigate new challenges while seeking to maintain control over professional practices. Our interviews and observations show that Big 4 professionals are sensitive to political challenges, requiring that they engage in what we characterize as “scanning work”—ongoing activity to search for, identify, and assess challenges—to fend off outside interventions. Our analysis has important implications for further research. First, the need for scanning work when facing transnational political pressure implies a different way of seeing interactions between accounting professionals and (global) society at large. Second, viewing global accounting from a transnational field lens helps us identify complex sources of change external to already-powerful actors.
Journal: Contemporary Accounting Research
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Rasmus Corlin Christensen, Leonard Seabrooke
The Nordic Governments' Responses to the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Comparative Study of Variation in Governance Arrangements and Regulatory Instruments.
Abstract: Government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in the Nordic states—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden—exhibit similarities and differences. This article investigates the extent to which crisis policymaking diverges from normal policymaking within the Nordic countries and whether variations between the countries are associated with the role of expertise and the level of politicization. Government responses are analyzed in terms of governance arrangements and regulatory instruments. Findings demonstrate some deviation from normal policymaking within and considerable variation between the Nordic countries, as Denmark, Finland, and to some extent Norway exhibit similar patterns with hierarchical command and control governance arrangements, while Iceland, in some instances, resembles the case of Sweden, which has made use of network-based governance. The article shows that the higher the influence of experts, the more likely it is that the governance arrangement will be network-based.
Abstract: Government responses to the Covid-19 pandemic in the Nordic states—Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden—exhibit similarities and differences. This article investigates the extent to which crisis policymaking diverges from normal policymaking within the Nordic countries and whether variations between the countries are associated with the role of expertise and the level of politicization. Government responses are analyzed in terms of governance arrangements and regulatory instruments. Findings demonstrate some deviation from normal policymaking within and considerable variation between the Nordic countries, as Denmark, Finland, and to some extent Norway exhibit similar patterns with hierarchical command and control governance arrangements, while Iceland, in some instances, resembles the case of Sweden, which has made use of network-based governance. The article shows that the higher the influence of experts, the more likely it is that the governance arrangement will be network-based.
Journal: Regulation & Governance
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Mads Dagnis Jensen
Når gode råd er dyre: Rådgivermagt og skat i Danmark
Abstract: Research on power dynamics in Denmark ought to focus on an important group of experts who advise both states, companies and private individuals on tax matters. As advisers, these experts have acquired a subtle kind of power: their work is crucial to both the design and implementation of our tax systems, but it remains understudied. The power of these advisors is particularly relevant in light of their contribution to tax avoidance and rising inequality. In this article, we provide an overview of existing research on these experts and describe their work in Denmark, and explain how tax experts exercise both instrumental, structural and infrastructural power. We propose a number of research questions, which focus broadly on the influence of advisors on democracy.
Abstract: Research on power dynamics in Denmark ought to focus on an important group of experts who advise both states, companies and private individuals on tax matters. As advisers, these experts have acquired a subtle kind of power: their work is crucial to both the design and implementation of our tax systems, but it remains understudied. The power of these advisors is particularly relevant in light of their contribution to tax avoidance and rising inequality. In this article, we provide an overview of existing research on these experts and describe their work in Denmark, and explain how tax experts exercise both instrumental, structural and infrastructural power. We propose a number of research questions, which focus broadly on the influence of advisors on democracy.
Journal: Økonomi og Politik
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Rasmus Corlin Christensen
Estimating Volatility in the Merton Model: The KMV Estimate is not Maximum Likelihood
Abstract: We compare two methods for estimating the asset volatility in the Merton model using observed equity prices: maximum likelihood and an iterative method commonly referred to as the KMV method. The two methods often yield extremely similar estimates, which has led to the conjecture that the two methods are equivalent. We show that this is not true and we provide a necessary and sufficient condition that the inverse of the equity pricing function would have to satisfy for the two methods to be equivalent. Moreover, we show numerically that this condition is very close to being true for in-the-money options.
Abstract: We compare two methods for estimating the asset volatility in the Merton model using observed equity prices: maximum likelihood and an iterative method commonly referred to as the KMV method. The two methods often yield extremely similar estimates, which has led to the conjecture that the two methods are equivalent. We show that this is not true and we provide a necessary and sufficient condition that the inverse of the equity pricing function would have to satisfy for the two methods to be equivalent. Moreover, we show numerically that this condition is very close to being true for in-the-money options.
Journal: Mathematical Finance
Published: Oct 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: David Lando, Søren Feodor Nielsen
Accounting for Employee Flows
Abstract: This paper examines employee flows and the association with firm earnings and interest rates. We use administrative employer–employee matched panel data from Denmark spanning 17 years and hence exploit actual data on employee arrivals (labor inflows) and departures (labor outflows). Three main findings emerge. First, we condition by firms’ economic conditions. Departures predict earnings increases for prior-year loss firms, while they predict earnings decreases for prior-year profit firms, suggesting that this conditioning can help explain the mixed results in the literature. Arrivals predict earnings increases, though only for prior-year profit firms. These effects are stronger for high-paid employees than for low-paid ones. Second, the effects of departures are generally larger than the effects of arrivals, consistent with departures disrupting operations. Third, we find that lenders price employee flow information but only for departures of high-paid employees, despite the predictive ability of the flow of other employees for future earnings. Overall our results suggest that employee flows predict firm financial performance but are only partially priced by lenders.
Abstract: This paper examines employee flows and the association with firm earnings and interest rates. We use administrative employer–employee matched panel data from Denmark spanning 17 years and hence exploit actual data on employee arrivals (labor inflows) and departures (labor outflows). Three main findings emerge. First, we condition by firms’ economic conditions. Departures predict earnings increases for prior-year loss firms, while they predict earnings decreases for prior-year profit firms, suggesting that this conditioning can help explain the mixed results in the literature. Arrivals predict earnings increases, though only for prior-year profit firms. These effects are stronger for high-paid employees than for low-paid ones. Second, the effects of departures are generally larger than the effects of arrivals, consistent with departures disrupting operations. Third, we find that lenders price employee flow information but only for departures of high-paid employees, despite the predictive ability of the flow of other employees for future earnings. Overall our results suggest that employee flows predict firm financial performance but are only partially priced by lenders.
Journal: Journal of Business Finance & Accounting
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Jeppe Christoffersen, Thomas Plenborg, Morten Seitz
NGEU and Vaccines Strategy in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Outgrowing the Regulatory State
Abstract: Our article focuses on the most significant developments after the EU's decision-making moments on NGEU and the vaccines roll-out, contextualized with citizens' support for the EU. NGEU and Vaccines Strategy in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Outgrowing the Regulatory State Yet, after the July 2020 decision on the Next Generation EU (NGEU) - an extraordinary supranational fiscal instrument to support EU countries get back on track following the economic crisis prompted the COVID-19 pandemic - public opinion became more favourable to the EU (Armingeon I et al i ., 2022). This shift upwards in southern Europe is partly related to the EU's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular NGEU, but also the EU vaccines strategy.
Abstract: Our article focuses on the most significant developments after the EU's decision-making moments on NGEU and the vaccines roll-out, contextualized with citizens' support for the EU. NGEU and Vaccines Strategy in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Outgrowing the Regulatory State Yet, after the July 2020 decision on the Next Generation EU (NGEU) - an extraordinary supranational fiscal instrument to support EU countries get back on track following the economic crisis prompted the COVID-19 pandemic - public opinion became more favourable to the EU (Armingeon I et al i ., 2022). This shift upwards in southern Europe is partly related to the EU's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular NGEU, but also the EU vaccines strategy.
Journal: Journal of Common Market Studies
Published: Sep 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Manuele Citi, Caroline de la Porte
Flexible Institutionalisation in Auroville: A Prefigurative Alternative to Development
Abstract: Scholars interested in mechanisms of transformative change are increasingly looking at ‘real utopias’, emancipatory enactments within the mainstream that prefigure its transcendence: eco-villages and intentional communities, cooperatives, Time Banks, urban gardens, co-housing associations. Academic and activist views on these initiatives are divergent. While some argue that they are seeding the transcendence of the current dominant socio-economic and political system, others dismiss them as niches unable to socially reproduce themselves, let alone disrupt and present viable alternatives to a hegemonic mainstream. To better equip ourselves to understand their transformative potential and potentially move beyond this stalemate, in this article we examine how one of the most enduring and successful prefigurative experiments is organised and sustained. Our case study is the international township Auroville, in India, the largest intentional community in the world and one of the longest-standing. It presents a unique opportunity to examine how an alternative to development is maintained and developed within and in relationship with a dominant system, and whether prefigurative experiments can become ‘institutionalised’ while retaining a prefigurative character.
Abstract: Scholars interested in mechanisms of transformative change are increasingly looking at ‘real utopias’, emancipatory enactments within the mainstream that prefigure its transcendence: eco-villages and intentional communities, cooperatives, Time Banks, urban gardens, co-housing associations. Academic and activist views on these initiatives are divergent. While some argue that they are seeding the transcendence of the current dominant socio-economic and political system, others dismiss them as niches unable to socially reproduce themselves, let alone disrupt and present viable alternatives to a hegemonic mainstream. To better equip ourselves to understand their transformative potential and potentially move beyond this stalemate, in this article we examine how one of the most enduring and successful prefigurative experiments is organised and sustained. Our case study is the international township Auroville, in India, the largest intentional community in the world and one of the longest-standing. It presents a unique opportunity to examine how an alternative to development is maintained and developed within and in relationship with a dominant system, and whether prefigurative experiments can become ‘institutionalised’ while retaining a prefigurative character.
Journal: Sustainability Science
Published: Jul 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Lara Monticelli
Exploring the Links between IT Tools, Management Accounting Practices and SME Performance: Perceptions of CFOs in Ireland
Abstract: Notwithstanding its sectoral importance to wealth creation and employment, research on the role of management accounting in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is limited. This paper first examines the perceptions of chief financial officers (CFOs) on the impact of information technology (IT) tools on management accounting practices (costing, budgeting, and performance management). Secondly, it examines how CFOs perceive these management accounting practices are affecting the performance of their SMEs. The study is based on a survey of CFOs in Irish SMEs. We propose a conceptual model of these relationships. We use partial least squares (PLS) to analyse the data from the 109 participating CFOs. The results show a significant positive relationship between IT tools and all three management accounting practices, along with significant partial support for how CFOs perceive management accounting practices impacting the performance of their SMEs.
Abstract: Notwithstanding its sectoral importance to wealth creation and employment, research on the role of management accounting in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is limited. This paper first examines the perceptions of chief financial officers (CFOs) on the impact of information technology (IT) tools on management accounting practices (costing, budgeting, and performance management). Secondly, it examines how CFOs perceive these management accounting practices are affecting the performance of their SMEs. The study is based on a survey of CFOs in Irish SMEs. We propose a conceptual model of these relationships. We use partial least squares (PLS) to analyse the data from the 109 participating CFOs. The results show a significant positive relationship between IT tools and all three management accounting practices, along with significant partial support for how CFOs perceive management accounting practices impacting the performance of their SMEs.
Journal: Accounting, Finance & Governance Review
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Pall Rikhardsson, Catherine Batt
Methodologies for Assigning Damages in Copyright Litigation Involving Value-destroying Copying
Abstract: We provide detailed and explicit guidance for the calculation of damages when copyright infringements damage the reputation of the copyright holder. Several of our examples come from design and fashion, because this is an area where damage to the copyright-holder’s reputation represents a great source of economic loss from copyright infringement.
The calculation of economic loss from reputational damage is complicated by the fact that the harm does not come from substitution; harm is not related to the number of copies that were sold or the value of the copies that were sold. Rather, the harm comes from avoidance; when the copyright holder’s reputation is damaged, potential customers may avoid purchasing its products. Moreover, the harm from reputational damage is widespread; the loss is not restricted to the specific products that were copied, but may be pervasive and reputational damage may result in reduced sales across the copyright holder’s entire product portfolio. There is evidence of what we term value-destroying copying, when the direct gain to the infringer is less than the harm caused to the creator of the original IP, and evidence that the courts wrestle with properly assigning damages in these usual circumstances.
We provide explicit guidance for valuing harm in the presence of value-destroying copying, where traditional metrics may produce estimates that are orders of magnitude too low.
Abstract: We provide detailed and explicit guidance for the calculation of damages when copyright infringements damage the reputation of the copyright holder. Several of our examples come from design and fashion, because this is an area where damage to the copyright-holder’s reputation represents a great source of economic loss from copyright infringement.
The calculation of economic loss from reputational damage is complicated by the fact that the harm does not come from substitution; harm is not related to the number of copies that were sold or the value of the copies that were sold. Rather, the harm comes from avoidance; when the copyright holder’s reputation is damaged, potential customers may avoid purchasing its products. Moreover, the harm from reputational damage is widespread; the loss is not restricted to the specific products that were copied, but may be pervasive and reputational damage may result in reduced sales across the copyright holder’s entire product portfolio. There is evidence of what we term value-destroying copying, when the direct gain to the infringer is less than the harm caused to the creator of the original IP, and evidence that the courts wrestle with properly assigning damages in these usual circumstances.
We provide explicit guidance for valuing harm in the presence of value-destroying copying, where traditional metrics may produce estimates that are orders of magnitude too low.
Journal: Journal of Intellectual Property Law & Practice
Published: Feb 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Stina Teilmann-Lock
Multi-project Work and Project Performance: Friends or Foes?
Abstract: Research summary
While multi-project work (MPW) is becoming an increasingly popular work arrangement, its relationship with project performance is understudied. On the one hand, MPW is deployed to increase employee worktime utilization and productivity, which should be reflected in more timely project completion. On the other hand, MPW also brings switching costs due to attention residue and cognitive setup. Based on this trade-off, we derive an inverted U-shaped relationship between MPW and project performance. We find support for this relationship in a longitudinal dataset containing 9,649 project-month-employee observations. More specialized experience, project similarity, and employee familiarity positively moderate the inverted U-shape. Furthermore, the results are robust to a host of model specifications, data structures, assumptions, and alternative explanations.
Managerial summary
How many projects can you work on simultaneously? We study this question in the context of new product development (NPD) projects in a multinational organization. We suggest that multi-project work (MPW) might be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, MPW academics or engineers can be more productive by filling the gaps in their schedules and developing time management practices. On the other hand, MPW also carries switching costs. This trade-off creates an inverted U-shaped relationship between MPW and project performance. So, how can MPW be more beneficial or less costly? We find that more specialized employees can benefit more from productivity gains while working with familiar members or similar projects can alleviate switching costs.
Abstract: Research summary
While multi-project work (MPW) is becoming an increasingly popular work arrangement, its relationship with project performance is understudied. On the one hand, MPW is deployed to increase employee worktime utilization and productivity, which should be reflected in more timely project completion. On the other hand, MPW also brings switching costs due to attention residue and cognitive setup. Based on this trade-off, we derive an inverted U-shaped relationship between MPW and project performance. We find support for this relationship in a longitudinal dataset containing 9,649 project-month-employee observations. More specialized experience, project similarity, and employee familiarity positively moderate the inverted U-shape. Furthermore, the results are robust to a host of model specifications, data structures, assumptions, and alternative explanations.
Managerial summary
How many projects can you work on simultaneously? We study this question in the context of new product development (NPD) projects in a multinational organization. We suggest that multi-project work (MPW) might be a double-edged sword. On the one hand, MPW academics or engineers can be more productive by filling the gaps in their schedules and developing time management practices. On the other hand, MPW also carries switching costs. This trade-off creates an inverted U-shaped relationship between MPW and project performance. So, how can MPW be more beneficial or less costly? We find that more specialized employees can benefit more from productivity gains while working with familiar members or similar projects can alleviate switching costs.
Journal: Strategic Management Journal
Published: Feb 2023
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Contact CBS researcher: Torben Pedersen
Effects of Restricting Social Media Usage on Wellbeing and Performance: A Randomized Control Trial among Students
Abstract: Recent research has shown that social media services create large consumer surplus. Despite their positive impact on economic welfare, concerns are raised about the negative association between social media usage and well-being or performance. However, causal empirical evidence is still scarce. To address this research gap, we conduct a randomized controlled trial among students in which we track participants’ daily digital activities over the course of three quarters of an academic year. In the experiment, we randomly allocate half of the sample to a treatment condition in which social media usage (Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat) is restricted to a maximum of 10 minutes per day. We find that participants in the treatment group substitute social media for instant messaging and do not decrease their total time spent on digital devices. Contrary to findings from previous correlational studies, we do not find any significant impact of social media usage as it was defined in our study on well-being and academic success. Our results also suggest that antitrust authorities should consider instant messaging and social media services as direct competitors before approving acquisitions.
Abstract: Recent research has shown that social media services create large consumer surplus. Despite their positive impact on economic welfare, concerns are raised about the negative association between social media usage and well-being or performance. However, causal empirical evidence is still scarce. To address this research gap, we conduct a randomized controlled trial among students in which we track participants’ daily digital activities over the course of three quarters of an academic year. In the experiment, we randomly allocate half of the sample to a treatment condition in which social media usage (Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat) is restricted to a maximum of 10 minutes per day. We find that participants in the treatment group substitute social media for instant messaging and do not decrease their total time spent on digital devices. Contrary to findings from previous correlational studies, we do not find any significant impact of social media usage as it was defined in our study on well-being and academic success. Our results also suggest that antitrust authorities should consider instant messaging and social media services as direct competitors before approving acquisitions.
Journal: PLOS ONE
Published: Aug 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Felix Eggers
Engaging with Self-tracking Applications: How Do Users Respond to Their Performance Data?
Abstract: Self-tracking devices and applications have become popular in recent years and changed user behaviour. Previous research has primarily focused on the adoption of self-tracking devices and their effects on self-assessment. As adoption increases, user engagement becomes prominent for the continuous use of the devices and the applications. In this study, we focus on user engagement with activity tracking applications, e.g., Fitbit Flex and Jawbone Up that offer data on user performance. We collected data from semi-structured interviews with 54 participants. We propose a process model comprising four stages which involve distinct user interactions with data: review, react, reflect, and respond. We advance research in this domain by the proposed process model that explicates user engagement in two cases: when the user encounters satisfactory or unsatisfactory results. In the latter case, we depict four response tactics when users are confronted with unsatisfactory results.
Abstract: Self-tracking devices and applications have become popular in recent years and changed user behaviour. Previous research has primarily focused on the adoption of self-tracking devices and their effects on self-assessment. As adoption increases, user engagement becomes prominent for the continuous use of the devices and the applications. In this study, we focus on user engagement with activity tracking applications, e.g., Fitbit Flex and Jawbone Up that offer data on user performance. We collected data from semi-structured interviews with 54 participants. We propose a process model comprising four stages which involve distinct user interactions with data: review, react, reflect, and respond. We advance research in this domain by the proposed process model that explicates user engagement in two cases: when the user encounters satisfactory or unsatisfactory results. In the latter case, we depict four response tactics when users are confronted with unsatisfactory results.
Journal: European Journal of Information Systems
Published: May 2022
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Contact CBS researchers: Ioanna Constantiou,
The Politics of Police Data: State Legislative Capacity and the Transparency of State and Substate Agencies
Abstract: Police, like other bureaucratic agencies, are responsible for collecting and disseminating policy-relevant data. Nonetheless, critical data, including killings by police, often go unreported. We argue that this is due in part to the limited oversight capacity of legislative bodies to whom police are accountable. Although many local assemblies lack the means for effective oversight, well-resourced state legislatures may induce transparency from state and substate agencies. This argument is evaluated in two studies of police transparency in the United States. First, we examine the compliance of 19,095 state, county, and municipal police agencies with official data requests over five decades, finding strong positive effects of state legislative capacity on transparency. Second, we examine the accuracy of transmitted data on killings by police, finding that lethality is systematically underreported in states with lower-capacity legislatures. Collectively, our study has implications for research on policing, legislatures, agency control, and analyses of government data.
Abstract: Police, like other bureaucratic agencies, are responsible for collecting and disseminating policy-relevant data. Nonetheless, critical data, including killings by police, often go unreported. We argue that this is due in part to the limited oversight capacity of legislative bodies to whom police are accountable. Although many local assemblies lack the means for effective oversight, well-resourced state legislatures may induce transparency from state and substate agencies. This argument is evaluated in two studies of police transparency in the United States. First, we examine the compliance of 19,095 state, county, and municipal police agencies with official data requests over five decades, finding strong positive effects of state legislative capacity on transparency. Second, we examine the accuracy of transmitted data on killings by police, finding that lethality is systematically underreported in states with lower-capacity legislatures. Collectively, our study has implications for research on policing, legislatures, agency control, and analyses of government data.
Journal: American Political Science Review
Published: Jul 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: David Fortunato
Making Sense of Sustainable Tourism on the Periphery: Perspectives from Greenland.
Abstract: This exploratory study presents Greenland as a case of a peripheral destination that complicates and contradicts global definitions of sustainable tourism. Using empirical data that consists of 39 semi-structured interviews, the author employs an inductive approach to discuss the conceptualisation of sustainable tourism according to local stakeholders in Greenland. The key points of conflict surrounding sustainable tourism in Greenland are identified and discussed, with a focus on how local stakeholders contradict each other, and on how the debates prevalent at the local scale can inform tourism development in other peripheral places. The paper contributes to academic literature by offering a deeper understanding of how core-periphery dynamics can influence perceptions of and priorities for sustainable tourism in peripheral places. It benefits the industry by exposing the main debates around the issue of sustainable tourism in Greenland, which can be used to inform the nation’s tourism development
Abstract: This exploratory study presents Greenland as a case of a peripheral destination that complicates and contradicts global definitions of sustainable tourism. Using empirical data that consists of 39 semi-structured interviews, the author employs an inductive approach to discuss the conceptualisation of sustainable tourism according to local stakeholders in Greenland. The key points of conflict surrounding sustainable tourism in Greenland are identified and discussed, with a focus on how local stakeholders contradict each other, and on how the debates prevalent at the local scale can inform tourism development in other peripheral places. The paper contributes to academic literature by offering a deeper understanding of how core-periphery dynamics can influence perceptions of and priorities for sustainable tourism in peripheral places. It benefits the industry by exposing the main debates around the issue of sustainable tourism in Greenland, which can be used to inform the nation’s tourism development
Journal: Tourism Geographies
Published: Dec 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Elizabeth Cooper
Piketty amongst the Historians: Introduction to a Symposium on Thomas Piketty's Capital and Iideology
Abstract: This essay introduces this forum on Thomas Piketty's Capitalism and Ideology. We outline the debates that emerge from a joint reading of the six contributions to the forum. In doing so we assess the importance of Piketty's contribution to historical debates on capitalism, ideology, and inequality and consider how historians might respond to the challenges Piketty presents.
Abstract: This essay introduces this forum on Thomas Piketty's Capitalism and Ideology. We outline the debates that emerge from a joint reading of the six contributions to the forum. In doing so we assess the importance of Piketty's contribution to historical debates on capitalism, ideology, and inequality and consider how historians might respond to the challenges Piketty presents.
Journal: History Compass
Published: Apr 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: Andrew Popp
Job Match and Housing Tenure
Abstract: Homeownership, though it brings both private and social benefits, entails substantial fixed costs. Standard personal financial advice suggests that homeownership should only be undertaken when one's job situation is stable and job movement is not likely in the near future. Little research has asked whether this advice is followed. Our goal is to rectify that omission. To test this hypothesis, we employ detailed information on workers and housing decisions from Danish administrative data. We construct a measure of job mismatch and find evidence suggesting that homeowners are indeed better matched at their jobs than renters, and that an improved match leads renters to become homeowners. An examination of job durations suggests that homeownership is correlated with longer job duration both because of a direct causal effect and also due to an indirect effect through selection into homeownership.
Abstract: Homeownership, though it brings both private and social benefits, entails substantial fixed costs. Standard personal financial advice suggests that homeownership should only be undertaken when one's job situation is stable and job movement is not likely in the near future. Little research has asked whether this advice is followed. Our goal is to rectify that omission. To test this hypothesis, we employ detailed information on workers and housing decisions from Danish administrative data. We construct a measure of job mismatch and find evidence suggesting that homeowners are indeed better matched at their jobs than renters, and that an improved match leads renters to become homeowners. An examination of job durations suggests that homeownership is correlated with longer job duration both because of a direct causal effect and also due to an indirect effect through selection into homeownership.
Journal: Real Estate Economics
Published: Nov 2022
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Contact CBS researcher: David Jinkins
The page was last edited by: Sekretariat for Ledelse og Kommunikation // 01/31/2023