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.

Time to Reconsider Direct Applicability of WTO Law to ECJ Jurisprudence? The Three Arguments from Commission v Hungary (Higher Education)
Abstract: pending

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:
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:
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:
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.

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.

Estimating Volatility in the Merton Model: The KMV Estimate is not Maximum Likelihood.
Abstract:
 

NGEU and Vaccines Strategy in the Wake of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Outgrowing the Regulatory State.
Abstract: pending

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.

Still a Poster Child for Social Investment? Changing Regulatory Dynamics of Early Childhood Education and Care in Denmark and Sweden
Abstract:
This paper investigates the regulation of publicly organized early childhood education and care (ECEC) in Denmark and Sweden, through the regulatory welfare state (RWS) framework. The analysis focuses on how alterations in funding and quality of care are shaped by governmental and nongovernmental actors at national and local levels of government. Through focused structured analysis, we examine how various actors have shaped the funding and quality of childcare in Denmark and Sweden, from the early 2000s to 2020, with special attention to the period during and after the 2008 financial crisis. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, concerns about quality in care were raised on the political agenda by various actors in both countries, leading to decisions to improve the quality of care. Yet, the regulatory dynamics differ: In Denmark, the debate led to a decision in 2019, to implement a minimum statutory requirement of regulatory quality standards. From an RWS perspective, this outcome can be qualified as “double expansion,” because regulatory quality standards, and public funding for childcare increased. In Sweden, the debates about quality of ECEC led, in 2016, to political guidelines about quality standard, but with no additional national funds, and no mandatory regulatory quality requirements. Analytically, this can be qualified as “regulatory-led expansion,” that is requirements for quality standards, although the lack of additional national funds suggests that it will be difficult to improve ECEC quality substantially. The RWS perspective, which focuses on national and municipal levels of governance, also gives insights into hidden inequalities between municipalities regarding funding and quality of ECEC, which are more pronounced in Sweden than in Denmark.

Circular Moonshot: Understanding Shifts in Organizational Field Logics and Business Model Innovation.
Abstract:
We aim to understand how actors respond to field logic plurality and maintain legitimacy through business model innovation. Drawing on a longitudinal field study in the fashion industry, we traced how de novo and incumbent firms incorporate circular logics in business models (for sustainability) and uncover how the intersection between issue and exchange fields creates institutional complexity and experimental spaces for business model innovation. Our findings showed a shift in the discourse on circular logic that diverted attention and resources from materials innovation (e.g., recycling) to business model innovation (e.g., circular business models). By juxtaposing institutional complexity and external pressure to maintain legitimacy, we derived four strategic business model innovation responses—preserve, detach, integrate and extend—that illuminate how actors leverage shifting logics and innovate extant business models (for sustainability). We make novel contributions to the literature on organizational fields, business models for sustainability, and business model innovation.

Navigating Tensions to Create Value: An Institutional Logics Perspective on the Change Program and Its Organizational Context. 
Abstract:
Research has emphasized the need to understand change programs’ value creation (VC) within their organizational context. This article employs institutional logics to explore the change program–organizational context interface, and investigates how program management actors navigate the interface to create value. A longitudinal comparative study was conducted during the execution of two public-sector municipal merger programs. Contributing to the theory on change program VC by identifying change programs and contexts as different logics, findings show that perspectives on VC may conflict. We theorize navigation practices of problematizing, designing, and team building to resolve the tensions and facilitate program VC.

Performance management og sustainability: Design af økonomisk bæredygtige incitamenter for klimaet.
Abstract:
I mange virksomheder er CO2-reduktion på den strategiske agenda og performance management spiller en nøglerolle i forbindelse med at implementere disse strategiske mål. I denne artikel behandler vi nogle centrale designovervejelser i arbejdet med at integrere CO2-reduktion i virksomheders incitamentssystemer. Vi diskuterer implementering af CO2-strategier, der er økonomisk bæredygtige og ser nærmere på spørgsmålene omkring måling af CO2 og fastlæggelse af målsætninger i forbindelse med designet af CO2-reducerende incitamentssystemer. Endelig behandler vi nogle af de adfærdskonsekvenser, der ofte er forbundet med måling og incitamenter, som ledelsen må have sig for øje, når det drejer sig om CO2-reducerende målinger og incitamenter

Law’s Lolita Paradox: Translating ‘Childhood’ in Statutory Rape Jurisprudence. 
Abstract:
This article addresses how normative views about ‘childhood’ are translated into statutory rape legislation and court judgments at the highest legal level in Brazil, in the Federal Supreme Court. The article draws on literature on the sociology of childhood to trace how courts translate societal narratives in the construction of agency, vulnerability and victimhood with regard to children and sexuality. Analysing historical and contemporary statutory rape legislation and Federal Supreme Court decisions over a 20-year period, we argue that the legal subjecthood of child victims of sexual crimes is constructed at the intersection of prevailing norms in society about childhood and moralising discourses about women’s sexuality. Deviating from norms about childhood results in the prominence of women’s sexuality and sexual desire in legal and judicial argumentation, situating children in a legal-semantic space in which they are simultaneously denied the agency that characterises adulthood and the special protection that compensates for this lack of agency in childhood protection laws. We refer to this legal situation and friction as the ‘Lolita paradox’ of statutory rape jurisprudence.

Does Allulose Appeal to Consumers? Results from a Discrete Choice Experiment in Germany. 
Abstract:
Reducing the sugar content in food is an important goal in many countries in order to counteract obesity and unhealthy eating. Currently, many consumers eat a number of foods with too much sugar content. However, mankind has an innate preference for sweet foods, and thus one strategy is to have food products which taste sweet but consist of a reduced calorie and sugar content. Allulose is a rare monosaccharide and is considered a safe ingredient in foods, for example in the US, Japan, Singapore, and Mexico, while in Europe, it is in the approval process as a novel food. Thus, it is relevant to find out how consumers perceive the different attributes of allulose in comparison to other sweeteners. Therefore, an online survey consisting of a choice experiment was conducted in Germany to find out consumer preferences of sweeteners. The survey data were analyzed using a mixed logit model. The results reveal that taste is the most important attribute for sweeteners, which explains about 40% of the choice. In the attribute level, a typical sugar taste is preferred. As allulose has a typical sugar taste, the likelihood that it appeals to consumers is high. The second most important attribute is the base product.

A Review of Smartphone Applications Designed to Improve Occupational Health, Safety, and Well-being at Workplaces
Abstract:
Background: As smartphones become more widespread, software applications for occupational health, safety and well-being (OHS&W) at work are increasing. There is sparse knowledge about the available apps and the research evidence of their effects. This study aims to identify available smartphone applications designed to improve OHS&W at workplaces, and examine to what extent the apps are scientifically validated.
Methods: We searched the Danish App Store and Google Play for free OHS&W apps. Apps were included if they targeted OHS&W and were designed for workplace use. After categorizing the apps, we searched bibliographic databases to identify scientific studies on the ‘intervention apps’.
Results: Altogether, 57 apps were included in the study; 19 apps were categorized as digital sources of information, 37 apps contained an intervention designed for workplace changes, and one app had too sparse information to be classified. Based on the publicly available information about the 37 intervention apps, only 13 had references to research. The bibliographic database search returned 531 publications, resulting in four relevant studies referring to four apps aimed at ergonomic measures, noise exposure, and well-being, which showed either limited effect or methodological limitations.
Conclusion: There is no conceptual clarity about what can be categorized as an OHS&W app. Although some of the apps were developed based on scientific research, there is a need to evaluate the apps’ effects in promoting OHS&W. The sparse documentation of evidence should be kept in mind when applying apps to improve OHS&W.

Environmental Upgrading and Downgrading in Global Value Chains: A Framework for Analysis
Abstract:
A key concern of the global value chain (GVC) and global production network (GPN) literature relates to whether and how actors, especially in the Global South, upgrade by generating and capturing more value. To date, such research has predominantly focused on the economic and social aspects of upgrading. In this article, we leverage selected insights from economic geography to advance our understanding of the environmental dimensions of upgrading and downgrading in GVCs and GPNs. We develop an analytical framework that distinguishes the processes of environmental upgrading, in terms of value creation and appropriation, from the resultant outcomes (biophysical manifestations, impacts on market access, and reputation). Furthermore, the framework is considered from the upgrading perspectives of multiple actors instead of focusing only on lead firms and other powerful actors. We illustrate how to apply this framework through a case study of the Kenya–UK horticulture value chains. We show that despite the uptake of environmental upgrading practices, as required by UK supermarkets and transmitted by Kenyan export firms with the facilitation of government agencies, Kenyan farmers have mostly experienced environmental downgrading, with some negative effects also affecting farmers and other resource users beyond the value chain.

Seeing Oneself as a Data Reuser: How Subjectification Activates the Drivers of Data Reuse in Science.
Abstract:
Considerable resources are being invested in strategies to facilitate the sharing of data across domains, with the aim of addressing inefficiencies and biases in scientific research and unlocking potential for science-based innovation. Still, we know too little about what determines whether scientific researchers actually make use of the unprecedented volume of data being shared. This study characterizes the factors influencing researcher data reuse in terms of their relationship to a specific research project, and introduces subjectification as the mechanism by which these influencing factors are activated. Based on our analysis of semi-structured interviews with a purposive sample of 24 data reusers and intermediaries, we find that while both project-independent and project-dependent factors may have a direct effect on a single instance of data reuse, they have an indirect effect on recurring data reuse as mediated by subjectification. We integrate our findings into a model of recurring data reuse behavior that presents subjectification as the mechanism by which influencing factors are activated in a propensity to engage in data reuse. Our findings hold scientific implications for the theorization of researcher data reuse, as well as practical implications around the role of settings for subjectification in bringing about and sustaining changes in researcher behavior.

Souveraineté et évaluation académique: Une histoire de virgule en sciences de gestion. 
Abstract:
This article explores the distribution of power in the academic publishing industry. Far from the widespread image of researchers’ autonomy and sovereignty, we highlight not only the dominant role of publishers and accreditors, but also the importance of algorithms and their role in academic rankings. Our study also shows that the content of articles is set asides, in favor of increased attention paid by institutions to the form of affiliation and, in particular, the location of a comma.

The Figural Space of the Business Simulacrum: Examining an Educative Change Management Simulation
Abstract:
In this paper, we present an examination of a game-based business simulation. We approach the simulation as a provocative technique and analyse it as a business simulacrum. Business simulacra are referential artifacts that partake in the coordination of business and economy. In the study, we shed light on how business simulacra affect actors’ subjectivity. We suggest that Lyotard’s writing provides hitherto underappreciated inspiration for addressing this issue. Lyotard offers a theorization and a vocabulary which centers the simulacrum’s performativity in the space between the perceived and the perceiver. The analysis shows how the simulation designers have assembled the game by sourcing established business simulacra and translating them into easy-to-discern figures of business reality. The designers couple this translated business simulacrum with ludic elements and reflexivity techniques, aimed at making the learning subjects realize and articulate change management problems. With the sensitives provided by Lyotard, the paper discusses simulacra’s potentials to provoke business reality in events that entangle business subjects’ subconscious with figures of business reality sourced from popular business discourse. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of the analysis for current debates on artificiality in business education, and business simulacra’s performativity more generally.

Why Are Counterfactual Assessment Methods Not Widespread in Outcome-Based Contracts? A Formal Model Approach
Abstract:
Counterfactual assessment techniques involving treated and control groups, such as randomized control trials, might be used in outcome-based contracts to avoid rewarding or sanctioning service providers for social outcomes that they did not cause. However, few outcome-based contracts adopt payment rules based on counterfactual assessment techniques. Potential explanations are that these techniques are complex and involve substantial transaction costs. In this paper, we develop a theoretical formal model that integrates the literatures of incentives and policy evaluation to propose the following alternative explanation: counterfactual techniques may lead to counterproductive incentive effects if they reduce the likelihood of payment even if project managers exert sufficient effort to promote the expected interventions. Our model shows that counterfactual assessment may undermine effort when the number of treated subjects is small and there is limited investment per treated subject. Our formal model also suggests that the increased experience of the contract sponsors may inhibit the adoption of counterfactual assessment. Simulations and descriptive evidence from a unique database of 350 outcome-based contracts designed or initiated throughout the world and from linear probability models are aligned with our predictions. By offering additional explanations on why counterfactual assessment methods are not widespread in outcome-based contracts and by identifying the boundary conditions under which these methods are used in incentive contracts, this work informs the literature on cross-sector outcome-based contracts and illustrates the use of formal models to develop novel theories in public administration.

COVID-19 the Intruder: A Philosophical Journey with Jean-Luc Nancy into Pandemic Strangeness and Tourism.
Abstract:
Since the arrival of COVID-19, tourism scholarship has focused its attention on rethinking and restarting the tourism sector. In this urgent search for a ‘new normal’, the embodied experience of hosting such an unwelcomed virus, the philosophical questions this raises, and the tourism futures already in the making, have not been fully explored. The article introduces Nancy's (2000/2002) philosophy, L'intrus [The Intruder], where he reflects on having a heart transplant operation to give body to the experiences of the self as exteriority and of otherness always already within. We take inspiration from Nancy to think and sense the experience of the COVID-19 virus intrusion in tourism. To do this, we weave personal philosophical reflections with ethnographic material to reflect on three themes of intrusion for tourism scholarship to consider: the experience of a body/self as exposed, the experience of a shattered self, and the experience of uncertain futures.

Revising the Curriculum of Governance Teaching Post COVID-19. 
Abstract:
Governance has become a common part of teaching curriculums for most business schools, public administration schools and other related faculties. This paper questions the content of governance curriculums taught before COVID-19 pandemic in 5 European countries and provides a comparative assessment. Research findings indicate that apart from teaching general governance courses, governance is most often taught as specific for certain organizational or industrial context. This is followed with governance from perspective of leadership and change management, but also governance within business administration discipline of strategy. However, the intensity of governance as a topic within curriculums differs significantly. Only limited number of curriculums include resilience topics which have proven their importance during COVID-19 pandemic. Findings of this paper can be used to develop unitary and internationalized curriculums on governance studies at European universities in a post COVID-19 world.

The Role of International Networks in Upgrading National Innovation Systems. 
Abstract:
Technological learning within national innovation systems (NIS) stands at the core of technological upgrading at the firm and economy level. The common understanding is that NIS are the primary source of technological knowledge acquisition for innovating firms, but the opening of economies, the globalization of innovation networks, and the rapid internationalization of innovative firms challenge this view -- especially with respect to small open economies in transition. We applied PLS-SEM to data from 131 R&D intensive firms responding to a survey investigating the mediating role of international networks for technological learning within Lithuania's NIS. The findings demonstrate a full mediating role of global innovation system networks in facilitating technological learning within NIS, partially contradicting the prevailing understanding of the primary importance of NIS based networks for firm learning. Technological learning of firms, and thus the upgrading of the NIS they are embedded in, relies more on international networks than previously assumed. These results call for a more careful design and facilitation of technological learning networks, recognizing global networks as a complementary and necessary component in NIS upgrading. This study contributes to the literature of technological learning within national innovation systems, with a special focus on R&D intensive firms leading the technological upgrading of a country's NIS.

Economic Barometers and the Making of the Unpredictable Economy.
Abstract:
Much of what passes as economic knowledge is metaphorical in nature. This study focuses in particular on the meteorological origins of economic metaphors. Once markets became imagined in terms of atmospheric phenomena, economists and financial services providers began to construct instruments, especially forecasting models, which resembled those used in meteorology. These tools allowed them to better mimic their own metaphors. Forecasting-oriented indicators, so-called ‘barometers’, contributed to making the economy readable. Their paradoxical impact, however, was that they also created a concept of economy that offered only one type of future, namely unpredictability. This shows that economic metaphors are ambiguous, and they contribute to conceptualizations of economy that are not fully determined by economics.

Moral Elites and the De-Paradoxification of Danish Social Policy between Civil Society and State 
Abstract:
The article argues that in Denmark during the past 150 years, moral elites have been central in settling paradoxes within social policy by developing ‘classifications’ of citizens and sectors: who are deserving of help and what sector (public or third) should provide care. Contrary to widely held beliefs, historically, there is no logical or practical connection between ‘more deserving’ and ‘state support’. Theoretically, the article integrates elite scholarship and cultural sociology in developing a concept of moral elites’ power from—their sources of moral authority—and power to, the way that they have used their power to classify citizens and sectors. Empirically, the Danish moral elite and its involvement in social policy are analyzed based on secondary as well as primary historical sources. Findings: The development of the Danish moral elite has roots in the administrators of the nineteenth-century absolutist state: the clergy, medical doctors, and lawyers. Educational resources and state affiliation continue to be central to moral elite status. Economists have ascended to the top of the moral elite, while clergymen have dropped out. Three major classifications were developed during the period. ‘Help to self-help’ (late nineteenth century): deserving poor should receive help from private charity, while the public system should deter and discipline. ‘Rights’ (mid-twentieth century): the state should care for all, philanthropy mostly considered stigmatizing. ‘Workfare’ (late twentieth century to present): citizens are considered deserving as long as they are ‘active’, and sectors are considered equal in providing for citizens as long as they reach the economistic goal of activation.

Privacy-preserving Ledger for Blockchain and Internet of Things-enabled Cyber-physical Systems
Abstract: In recent years, decentralized applications such as Distributed Ledger Technologies and blockchain have evolved as suitable applications for secure sharing of information in a decentralized fashion using privacy preserving techniques like zero-knowledge protocols. However, the biggest issue with the traditional zero-knowledge protocols on a blockchain ledger is their slow performance on big data. This paper presents the advance zero-knowledge ledger by replacing their range-proof technique with the most efficient range-proof technique based on the improved inner product based zero-knowledge proofs. Moreover, this technique allows the aggregation of multiple range-proofs into a single range-proof, which makes the current zero-knowledge ledger system more efficient than the existing one.

Non-majoritarian Institutions: Two Strands of Liberalism in European Economic Governance
Abstract: One striking characteristic of the European Union as a political system is the prevalence of non-majoritarian institutions and forms of indirect or technocratic rule. Non-majoritarianism has been especially prevalent in the management of the Eurozone crisis and in the development of an EU regime of post-crisis economic governance. While it is tempting to understand this economic governance system as a playing out of neoliberal logics pure and simple, this article argues that the resort to coercive forms of non-majoritarianism reflects a deeper set of concerns that play out within a broader understanding of the trajectory of thinking on liberal government. The article traces the particular ways in which non-majoritarian solutions have been understood within the literature on European integration before contextualizing these in terms of three moments in liberal thought that seek, in distinctive ways, to counterbalance democratic logics: militant democracy, ordoliberalism and neoliberalism. The article stresses the continuities, rather than the contrasts between the embedded liberalism of the post-war era and the neoliberalism of recent decades. In so doing, it further suggests that a deeper understanding along these lines points not simply to a crisis of the neoliberal mode of policy-making in the EU, but rather to the potential unravelling of the foundations of the political-economic architecture set-up in the post-war moment.

European Sustainable Due Diligence: A Comment
Abstract: This article discusses the EU proposal for a new Directive on Corporate Sustainable Due Diligence that was made public in February 2022. It reviews the content of the new draft Directive compared with the two previous separate initiatives on due diligence and directors’ duties that constitute its base. Parallel, the article highlights problems that still remain, particularly regarding the corporate governance part. Finally, the article discusses the reactions that the draft Directive has so far given rise to. The article is a follow-up to a previous article; ‘EU and Sustainable Corporate Governance’, that was published in NTS no.3 2021 and which reviews the earlier EU proposal on directors’ duties in greater detail.

Designing Augmented Reality Services for Enhanced Customer Experiences in Retail
Abstract: Purpose: To deliver superior customer experiences, retailers are increasingly turning to augmented reality (AR) technologies for new digital services that can enhance their customer interactions. The potential of AR has been validated in lab experiments, but when implemented in real-world contexts, its commercial impact has been limited. Therefore, this paper investigates how to design AR-based services (AR services) that enhance customer experiences in retail.

Design/methodology/approach: The paper uses a conceptual research approach to integrate research on AR in the context of retail, combining customer, retailer, and technical perspectives with the design thinking method to demonstrate how the challenge of AR service design can be addressed through design thinking.

Findings: The paper develops propositions that explain how a design thinking method is useful in the design of effective AR services. The paper also articulates principles for how to implement the design thinking method in the specific context of AR for enhanced customer experiences.

Practical implications: The study documents critical practices for retailers seeking to be competitive with superior customer experiences under the increasing digitalization of retailer-customer interactions.

Originality/value: The study contributes to the service design literature by answering the call to develop moderately abstracted explanations of how different digital technologies can be used to provision new services in different application domains, with the focus here being the design of AR services in the context of retail.

Black Economic Empowerment and Quota Allocations in South Africa's Industrial Fisheries
Abstract: Power asymmetries in the governance of value chains mean that inequalities in access to resources and share of value added are skewed against smaller players. Policies enforcing market rules and ensuring fairness are ineffective when power is deeply entrenched, necessitating different rules to address such inequalities. South Africa's Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) policies and competition laws target economic redress and inclusion of historically disadvantaged people in business ownership and control of economic activities. BEE criteria have been embedded in many industry charters and implementation codes, and competition law is well established and effectively implemented. Yet, the impacts of these instruments have been limited and slow, especially in sectors where a few companies dominate. This article examines the interactions between value chain dynamics and industrial fishery quota allocations, BEE policy and competition dynamics in the hake deep-sea trawl fishery sector. It shows that, even in one of the most regulated sectors of South Africa's economy, large incumbents retain a disproportionate amount of power vis-à-vis smaller players. The article concludes that if rules protect incumbency, inequality will be sustained. Quota allocations, transformation and competition regulation should go hand in hand to facilitate the effective participation of black-owned businesses as competitors in value chains.

How Do Investors Evaluate Past Entreneurial Failure? Unpacking Failure Due to Lack og Skill Versus Bad Luck
Abstract: Research has shown that most ventures fail, yet there has been limited work on investors’ views of entrepreneurs who have failed in the past. We address this gap and call attention to an innate asymmetry between past failure and success. This asymmetry arises because success requires skill and luck jointly, whereas failure materializes due to either lack of skill (mistakes) or bad luck (misfortune). We ask: Are investors “failure-averse” and discount a failed entrepreneur even in the presence of additional information about entrepreneurial skill? Or do they make “rational inferences” in light of the additional skill information and proceed to fund the new startup? To test whether investors are failure-averse or engage in rational inference, we use experiments in the context of equity crowdfunding. The results suggest that prospective crowdfunding investors rationally integrate informational cues regarding past outcomes and entrepreneurial skill.