Spotlight on new research publications in November
11/01/2020
Photo: Bjarke MacCarthy
Are you a journalist, researcher or simply interested in academic articles on business and culture?
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The following is a rough list. If you need more information, please contact the researcher.
The academic articles have been peer-reviewed, which means they have been judged by other researchers within the same area.
THE FOLLOWING IS THIS MONTH’S PEER-REVIEWED RESEARCH – ENJOY YOUR READING:
Find the abstracts under each heading...
Rituals of World Politics: On (visual) Practices Disordering Things
Abstract: Rituals are customarily muted into predictable routines aimed to stabilise social orders and limit conflict. As a result, their magic lure recedes into the background, and the unexpected and disruptive elements are downplayed. Our collaborative contribution counters this move by foregrounding rituals of world politics as social practices with notable disordering effects. We engage a series of ‘world pictures’ to show the worlding and disruptive work enacted in rituals designed to sustain the sovereign exercise of violence and war, here colonial treatymaking, state commemoration, military/service dog training, cyber-security podcasts, algorithmically generated maps, the visit of Prince Harry to a joint NATO exercise and border ceremonies in India, respectively. We do so highlighting rituals’ immanent potential for disruption of existing orders, the fissures, failures and unforeseen repercussions.
Reappraising the disordering role of ritual practices sheds light on the place of rituals in rearticulating the boundaries of the political. Rituals can generate dissensus and re-divisions of the sensible rather than only impose a consensus by policing the boundaries of the political, as Rancière might phrase it. Our images are essential to the account. They help disinterring the
fundamentals and ambiguities of the current worldings of security, capturing the affective atmosphere of rituals.
Abstract: Rituals are customarily muted into predictable routines aimed to stabilise social orders and limit conflict. As a result, their magic lure recedes into the background, and the unexpected and disruptive elements are downplayed. Our collaborative contribution counters this move by foregrounding rituals of world politics as social practices with notable disordering effects. We engage a series of ‘world pictures’ to show the worlding and disruptive work enacted in rituals designed to sustain the sovereign exercise of violence and war, here colonial treatymaking, state commemoration, military/service dog training, cyber-security podcasts, algorithmically generated maps, the visit of Prince Harry to a joint NATO exercise and border ceremonies in India, respectively. We do so highlighting rituals’ immanent potential for disruption of existing orders, the fissures, failures and unforeseen repercussions.
Reappraising the disordering role of ritual practices sheds light on the place of rituals in rearticulating the boundaries of the political. Rituals can generate dissensus and re-divisions of the sensible rather than only impose a consensus by policing the boundaries of the political, as Rancière might phrase it. Our images are essential to the account. They help disinterring the
fundamentals and ambiguities of the current worldings of security, capturing the affective atmosphere of rituals.
Journal: Critical Studies on Security
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Anna Leander
Efficiency Drivers in Harvesting Operations in Mixed Boreal Stands: A Norwegian Case Study
Abstract: This paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to evaluate how the technical efficiency of forest harvesting operations is influenced by terrain conditions and forest attributes, in addition to exploring the existence of other influencing factors. To this end, 643 shift-level observations of harvesting operations on 253 distinct harvested sites were used. The aim of this study is to highlight the harvester’s ability to maximize the outputs, represented by the number of assortments for various tree species, given inputs such as harvest volume, harvest time for various tree species, and distance traveled by the harvester. Operational environment variables such as harvest, or decision-making unit (DMU) size, shape, and terrain characteristics were included. We found large variations in efficiency scores, and that inefficient harvest operations could theoretically be improved by reducing input by up to ca. 80%. A second stage regression estimation was applied to identify which factors significantly affected inefficiency. It was found that the inefficiency decreases with increasing stem-volume for pine and broadleaves, increasing stand density, and increasing share of pulpwood and non-marketable timber, while it increases with the number of logs produced per tree (in broadleaves). Inefficiency increases also with an increasing ratio of actual travel distance to minimal travel distance. The study shows how adopting DEA methods in forest operations might be used in combining efficiency analysis and environmental factors, by identifying and measuring inefficiency due to, for example, difficult terrain.
Abstract: This paper uses Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to evaluate how the technical efficiency of forest harvesting operations is influenced by terrain conditions and forest attributes, in addition to exploring the existence of other influencing factors. To this end, 643 shift-level observations of harvesting operations on 253 distinct harvested sites were used. The aim of this study is to highlight the harvester’s ability to maximize the outputs, represented by the number of assortments for various tree species, given inputs such as harvest volume, harvest time for various tree species, and distance traveled by the harvester. Operational environment variables such as harvest, or decision-making unit (DMU) size, shape, and terrain characteristics were included. We found large variations in efficiency scores, and that inefficient harvest operations could theoretically be improved by reducing input by up to ca. 80%. A second stage regression estimation was applied to identify which factors significantly affected inefficiency. It was found that the inefficiency decreases with increasing stem-volume for pine and broadleaves, increasing stand density, and increasing share of pulpwood and non-marketable timber, while it increases with the number of logs produced per tree (in broadleaves). Inefficiency increases also with an increasing ratio of actual travel distance to minimal travel distance. The study shows how adopting DEA methods in forest operations might be used in combining efficiency analysis and environmental factors, by identifying and measuring inefficiency due to, for example, difficult terrain.
Journal: International Journal of Forest Engineering
Published: June 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Bogetoft
The Work of Hope: Spiritualizing, Hustling and Waiting in the Creative Industries in Ghana.
Abstract: This paper examines the dynamics of hope in creative industries in the city of Accra in Ghana. Building on theoretical insights from geography, anthropology and sociology that have mobilized the concept of hope as an analytical category, we examine the economic actions and entrepreneurial behaviour of creative entrepreneurs working in “precarious geographies”, i.e. locations where precarity is not a deviation from the norm but a constant and longstanding feature. Drawing on in-depth interviews, we contend that in conditions of radical and pervasive precarity, hope represents a distinct form of work in which the potentialities of the moment extend the present into the future, while the future, however hazy and unimaginable, affects the economic vitality of the present. By unpacking three dominant practices of hopeful orientation to futurity enacted by creative workers in Accra, namely hustling, waiting, and spiritualizing, we demonstrate the usefulness of hope as a concept in analysing economic action and labour dynamics.
Abstract: This paper examines the dynamics of hope in creative industries in the city of Accra in Ghana. Building on theoretical insights from geography, anthropology and sociology that have mobilized the concept of hope as an analytical category, we examine the economic actions and entrepreneurial behaviour of creative entrepreneurs working in “precarious geographies”, i.e. locations where precarity is not a deviation from the norm but a constant and longstanding feature. Drawing on in-depth interviews, we contend that in conditions of radical and pervasive precarity, hope represents a distinct form of work in which the potentialities of the moment extend the present into the future, while the future, however hazy and unimaginable, affects the economic vitality of the present. By unpacking three dominant practices of hopeful orientation to futurity enacted by creative workers in Accra, namely hustling, waiting, and spiritualizing, we demonstrate the usefulness of hope as a concept in analysing economic action and labour dynamics.
Journal: Environment and Planning A
Published: October 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Ana Alacovska, Thilde Langevang, Robin Steedman
Predictive Evaluation of Human Value Segmentations.
Abstract: Data-driven segmentation is an important tool for analyzing patterns of associations in social survey data; however, it remains a challenge to compare the quality of segmentations obtained by different methods. We present a statistical framework for quantifying the quality of segmentations of human values, by evaluating their ability to predict held-out data. By comparing clusterings of human values survey data from the forth round of European Social Study (ESS-4), we show that demographic markers such as age or country predict better than random, yet are outperformed by data-driven segmentation methods. We show that a Bayesian version of Latent Class Analysis (LCA) outperforms the standard maximum likelihood LCA in predictive performance and is more robust for different number of clusters.
Abstract: Data-driven segmentation is an important tool for analyzing patterns of associations in social survey data; however, it remains a challenge to compare the quality of segmentations obtained by different methods. We present a statistical framework for quantifying the quality of segmentations of human values, by evaluating their ability to predict held-out data. By comparing clusterings of human values survey data from the forth round of European Social Study (ESS-4), we show that demographic markers such as age or country predict better than random, yet are outperformed by data-driven segmentation methods. We show that a Bayesian version of Latent Class Analysis (LCA) outperforms the standard maximum likelihood LCA in predictive performance and is more robust for different number of clusters.
Journal: Journal of Mathematical Sociology
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Fumiko Kano Glückstad
Potentialization: Loosening Up Relations Between Public Organizations and Societal Function Systems
Abstract: This article provides a historical perspective on the relations between public organizations and function systems using Denmark as case. Current concepts like ‘public value’, ‘co-creation’, ‘relational coordination’ and ‘inter-professional management’ promises new coherence and shared communities in the single public organization. The present article argues that rather than building up communities the concepts function as a form of creative cutting. The concepts work by cutting up or at least loosening up previously given relations between public organizations and societal function systems. These are relations such as schools/the educational system, social work/the care system and hospitals/the health system. The concepts function in order to make relations between organizations and function systems a medium of potentialization. What is lost because of this is legal coherence and professional certainty.
Abstract: This article provides a historical perspective on the relations between public organizations and function systems using Denmark as case. Current concepts like ‘public value’, ‘co-creation’, ‘relational coordination’ and ‘inter-professional management’ promises new coherence and shared communities in the single public organization. The present article argues that rather than building up communities the concepts function as a form of creative cutting. The concepts work by cutting up or at least loosening up previously given relations between public organizations and societal function systems. These are relations such as schools/the educational system, social work/the care system and hospitals/the health system. The concepts function in order to make relations between organizations and function systems a medium of potentialization. What is lost because of this is legal coherence and professional certainty.
Journal: Management and Organizational History
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Niels Åkerstrøm Andersen
Sources of Inaction in Household Finance: Evidence from the Danish Mortgage Market.
Abstract: We build an empirical model to attribute delays in mortgage refinancing to psychological costs inhibiting refinancing until incentives are sufficiently strong; and behavior, potentially attributable to information-gathering costs, lowering the probability of household refinancing per unit time at any incentive. We estimate the model on administrative panel data from Denmark, where mortgage refinancing without cash-out is unconstrained. Middle-aged and wealthy households act as if they have high psychological refinancing costs; but older, poorer, and less-educated households refinance with lower probability irrespective of incentives, thereby achieving lower savings. We use the model to understand frictions in the mortgage channel of monetary policy transmission.
Abstract: We build an empirical model to attribute delays in mortgage refinancing to psychological costs inhibiting refinancing until incentives are sufficiently strong; and behavior, potentially attributable to information-gathering costs, lowering the probability of household refinancing per unit time at any incentive. We estimate the model on administrative panel data from Denmark, where mortgage refinancing without cash-out is unconstrained. Middle-aged and wealthy households act as if they have high psychological refinancing costs; but older, poorer, and less-educated households refinance with lower probability irrespective of incentives, thereby achieving lower savings. We use the model to understand frictions in the mortgage channel of monetary policy transmission.
Journal: American Economic Review
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Steffen Andersen, Kasper Meisner Nielsen
When Agile Harms Learning and Innovation: (And What Can Be Done About It).
Abstract: Originally developed for software development, Agile approaches are increasingly adopted by organizations that seek flexibility in the face of rapid change. However, little attention has been paid to the potential negative consequences of the implementation of Agile in large-scale settings. This article presents the results of a multi-site study of a multinational telecom company over five years during its implementation of Agile practices in the context of large-scale software development. The article points to six potential pitfalls of implementing such practices that may negatively influence individual learning, ideation, and exploitation capabilities. It offers advice on how to avoid these consequences in large, established firms.
Abstract: Originally developed for software development, Agile approaches are increasingly adopted by organizations that seek flexibility in the face of rapid change. However, little attention has been paid to the potential negative consequences of the implementation of Agile in large-scale settings. This article presents the results of a multi-site study of a multinational telecom company over five years during its implementation of Agile practices in the context of large-scale software development. The article points to six potential pitfalls of implementing such practices that may negatively influence individual learning, ideation, and exploitation capabilities. It offers advice on how to avoid these consequences in large, established firms.
Journal: California Management Review
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Nicolai Foss
Ole Lando and Choice of Law for Contracts
Abstract: The author represents the content of Ole Lando’s doctoral dissertation from 1961 on the choice of law for contracts. The dissertation examined the evolution of the choice of law rules for contracts in France, Germany, England, the US and the Scandinavian countries. It is concluded that Ole Lando in his dissertation proposed choice of law rules for contracts that in general were adopted two decades after his dissertation in the Rome Convention on Choice of Law for Contractual Obligations.
Abstract: The author represents the content of Ole Lando’s doctoral dissertation from 1961 on the choice of law for contracts. The dissertation examined the evolution of the choice of law rules for contracts in France, Germany, England, the US and the Scandinavian countries. It is concluded that Ole Lando in his dissertation proposed choice of law rules for contracts that in general were adopted two decades after his dissertation in the Rome Convention on Choice of Law for Contractual Obligations.
Journal: European Review of Private Law
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Arnt Nielsen
The Trump Foreign Policy Record and the Concept of Transformational Change.
Abstract: While there has been debate about the extent to which US foreign policy has been transformed since President Trumpfirst took office in 2017, the concept of transformational policy change has not been defined with any degree of precision. The purpose of this article is, primarily, to establish such a definition. It does this by drawing upon a number of the literatures that address domestic policy processes, in particular the work of Karl Polanyi, to suggest that transformational change rests upon paradigmatic shifts, the reconfiguration of interests, large scale institutional re-ordering and changed logics. Application of the definition to the Trump foreign policy leads us to conclude that while the Trump foreign policy owes much to the militant internationalism of the Bush years its understanding of nations and“globalism”and abandonment of a defining moral purpose represent, although incipient, partial and variegated, the beginnings of transformational change.
Abstract: While there has been debate about the extent to which US foreign policy has been transformed since President Trumpfirst took office in 2017, the concept of transformational policy change has not been defined with any degree of precision. The purpose of this article is, primarily, to establish such a definition. It does this by drawing upon a number of the literatures that address domestic policy processes, in particular the work of Karl Polanyi, to suggest that transformational change rests upon paradigmatic shifts, the reconfiguration of interests, large scale institutional re-ordering and changed logics. Application of the definition to the Trump foreign policy leads us to conclude that while the Trump foreign policy owes much to the militant internationalism of the Bush years its understanding of nations and“globalism”and abandonment of a defining moral purpose represent, although incipient, partial and variegated, the beginnings of transformational change.
Journal: Global Affairs
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Edward Ashbee
Trends Everywhere
Abstract: We provide new out-of-sample evidence on trend-following investing by studying its performance for 82 securities not previously examined and 16 long–short equity factors. Specifically, we study the performance of time series momentum for emerging market equity index futures, fixed income swaps, emerging market currencies, exotic commodity futures, credit default swap indices, volatility futures, and long–short equity factors. We find that time series momentum has worked across these asset classes and across several
trend horizons. We examine the co-movement of trends across asset classes and factors, he performance during different market environments, and discuss the implications for investors.
Abstract: We provide new out-of-sample evidence on trend-following investing by studying its performance for 82 securities not previously examined and 16 long–short equity factors. Specifically, we study the performance of time series momentum for emerging market equity index futures, fixed income swaps, emerging market currencies, exotic commodity futures, credit default swap indices, volatility futures, and long–short equity factors. We find that time series momentum has worked across these asset classes and across several
trend horizons. We examine the co-movement of trends across asset classes and factors, he performance during different market environments, and discuss the implications for investors.
Journal: Journal of Investment Management
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Lasse Heje Pedersen
Global Value Chains and Supplier Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility: A Case Study of Garment Manufacturers in Myanmar
Abstract: Suppliers are embedded simultaneously in the global value chains (GVCs) of their lead firms and in the countries in which they conduct their production activities. To explain supplier perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in GVCs, in this article, we develop a new typology by integrating buyer governance modes in GVCs and forms of supplier embeddedness (societal, network, and territorial). We advance literature on supplier perspectives on CSR in GVCs through an analysis of 19 garment manufacturers in Myanmar and their CSR perceptions, using in-depth field-work, interviews, and secondary data. The empirical findings indicate a variety of supplier perceptions of CSR, depending on the governance mode of the GVCs and the variegated combinations of societal, network, and territorial embeddedness. Understanding supplier CSR perceptions and their implementation in GVCs thus requires moving away from a sole focus on supplier responses to standardized codes of conduct and towards a greater consideration of different types of supplier embeddedness.
Abstract: Suppliers are embedded simultaneously in the global value chains (GVCs) of their lead firms and in the countries in which they conduct their production activities. To explain supplier perceptions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in GVCs, in this article, we develop a new typology by integrating buyer governance modes in GVCs and forms of supplier embeddedness (societal, network, and territorial). We advance literature on supplier perspectives on CSR in GVCs through an analysis of 19 garment manufacturers in Myanmar and their CSR perceptions, using in-depth field-work, interviews, and secondary data. The empirical findings indicate a variety of supplier perceptions of CSR, depending on the governance mode of the GVCs and the variegated combinations of societal, network, and territorial embeddedness. Understanding supplier CSR perceptions and their implementation in GVCs thus requires moving away from a sole focus on supplier responses to standardized codes of conduct and towards a greater consideration of different types of supplier embeddedness.
Journal: Global Networks
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Lund-Thomsen, Adam Lindgreen
Beyond Social Science Naturalism: The Case for Ecumenical Interpretivism
Abstract: The epistemological and methodological wars that bedevil social science often pit those who follow in the footsteps of natural science and those who favor a more holistic, interpretive approach. Into this war-torn landscape, Mark Bevir and Jason Blakley have dropped a plea for interpretive social science that will surely serve as a touchstone for years to come. However, their anti-naturalism is of the methodologically ecumenical kind, with the qualitative toolkit cohabiting with mass surveys, large-N statistics, and other quantitative methods under well-specified conditions. The book’s insights therefore dovetail with emerging ecumenical trends in international political economy and even economics.
Abstract: The epistemological and methodological wars that bedevil social science often pit those who follow in the footsteps of natural science and those who favor a more holistic, interpretive approach. Into this war-torn landscape, Mark Bevir and Jason Blakley have dropped a plea for interpretive social science that will surely serve as a touchstone for years to come. However, their anti-naturalism is of the methodologically ecumenical kind, with the qualitative toolkit cohabiting with mass surveys, large-N statistics, and other quantitative methods under well-specified conditions. The book’s insights therefore dovetail with emerging ecumenical trends in international political economy and even economics.
Journal: Critical Review
Published: October 2019
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Contact CBS researcher: Cornel Ban
Digital Work and Organisational Transformation: Emergent Digital/Human Work Configurations in Modern Organisations
Abstract: Workplace technologies are more central to working in organisations than ever before. These technologies began as instrumental aids to support office work of individuals but have since also become the basis for social interactions and community building in organisations and more recently become able to perform managerial roles with the use of advanced AI capabilities. Our call for papers to this special issue invited original studies to go further and advance our thinking on the strategic implications of this layered evolution of workplace technologies on work and the structure of organisations. In this introduction, we synthesise the main themes from the special issue, and also ongoing dialogues with the growing community at the regular AIS / IFIP 9.1 workshop on the Changing Nature of Work. A key observation is that the work involved in configuring emergent Digital/Human configurations, is vastly under-reported and poorly understood. Paradoxically, this configuring work is the most demanding and critical in the shaping of modern organisations. We suggest that this type of largely invisible work requires engagement beyond the level of execution or even the meaning of work, it requires intervening with third order effects that get to the core of what an organisation is. We highlight the challenges for organisations in dealing with third order change, particularly because these effects are beyond existing frames of reference and require more dynamic and supple responses based on the values, purpose and intent dominant in the organisation – we describe this as structural digital work. Leaders that are unable or unwilling to engage with effects at this level, and this type of work, will miss identifying core opportunities and risks associated with digital transformation in organisations. We also reflect on the value of current theories and methods used to research this important and emergent phenomenon.
Abstract: Workplace technologies are more central to working in organisations than ever before. These technologies began as instrumental aids to support office work of individuals but have since also become the basis for social interactions and community building in organisations and more recently become able to perform managerial roles with the use of advanced AI capabilities. Our call for papers to this special issue invited original studies to go further and advance our thinking on the strategic implications of this layered evolution of workplace technologies on work and the structure of organisations. In this introduction, we synthesise the main themes from the special issue, and also ongoing dialogues with the growing community at the regular AIS / IFIP 9.1 workshop on the Changing Nature of Work. A key observation is that the work involved in configuring emergent Digital/Human configurations, is vastly under-reported and poorly understood. Paradoxically, this configuring work is the most demanding and critical in the shaping of modern organisations. We suggest that this type of largely invisible work requires engagement beyond the level of execution or even the meaning of work, it requires intervening with third order effects that get to the core of what an organisation is. We highlight the challenges for organisations in dealing with third order change, particularly because these effects are beyond existing frames of reference and require more dynamic and supple responses based on the values, purpose and intent dominant in the organisation – we describe this as structural digital work. Leaders that are unable or unwilling to engage with effects at this level, and this type of work, will miss identifying core opportunities and risks associated with digital transformation in organisations. We also reflect on the value of current theories and methods used to research this important and emergent phenomenon.
Journal: Journal of Strategic Information Systems
Published: June 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Mari-Klara Stein
Developing Urban Growth and Urban Quality: Entrepreneurial Governance and Urban Redevelopment Projects in Copenhagen and Hamburg
Abstract: This paper considers the cases of urban redevelopment at waterfront and brownfield sites in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Hamburg (Germany) to explore how two municipal governments have pursued divergent kinds of entrepreneurial governance, even as they have aimed to create similar kinds of new-build neighbourhoods. Copenhagen and Hamburg have both engaged in large-scale speculative development projects, simultaneously raising urban land values and adding urban public good. The cities follow a long tradition of using land value capture to raise funds for municipal activities, yet their scopes of action and tools for achieving progress have been shaped by local economic and political conditions. Although both cities began redevelopment at similar kinds of sites in the 1990s, Copenhagen’s municipal government was relatively impoverished, while Hamburg’s municipal government was relatively wealthy. As a result, even though both cities deployed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and revolving funds models to reinvest revenues in future development, they possessed different potential strategies for increasing intercity competitiveness: Copenhagen’s immediate aim in redeveloping its Ørestad and harbour districts was to fund a citywide mass transit system and thereby enhance competitiveness through infrastructure development, while Hamburg sought to use its HafenCity waterfront redevelopment to boost competitiveness through port modernisation, increased in urban quality and commercial expansion in the city centre. By comparing these two cases, we can better understand the contingent nature of entrepreneurial governance and urban redevelopment processes.
Abstract: This paper considers the cases of urban redevelopment at waterfront and brownfield sites in Copenhagen (Denmark) and Hamburg (Germany) to explore how two municipal governments have pursued divergent kinds of entrepreneurial governance, even as they have aimed to create similar kinds of new-build neighbourhoods. Copenhagen and Hamburg have both engaged in large-scale speculative development projects, simultaneously raising urban land values and adding urban public good. The cities follow a long tradition of using land value capture to raise funds for municipal activities, yet their scopes of action and tools for achieving progress have been shaped by local economic and political conditions. Although both cities began redevelopment at similar kinds of sites in the 1990s, Copenhagen’s municipal government was relatively impoverished, while Hamburg’s municipal government was relatively wealthy. As a result, even though both cities deployed state-owned enterprises (SOEs) and revolving funds models to reinvest revenues in future development, they possessed different potential strategies for increasing intercity competitiveness: Copenhagen’s immediate aim in redeveloping its Ørestad and harbour districts was to fund a citywide mass transit system and thereby enhance competitiveness through infrastructure development, while Hamburg sought to use its HafenCity waterfront redevelopment to boost competitiveness through port modernisation, increased in urban quality and commercial expansion in the city centre. By comparing these two cases, we can better understand the contingent nature of entrepreneurial governance and urban redevelopment processes.
Journal: Urban Studies
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Luise Noring
Human Rights and Social Media Platforms: The Corporate Responsibility to Respect Human Rights in Regard to Privacy Infringements Involving Photo Posting
Abstract: The business and human rights (BHR) regime defines a corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which applies to all business enterprises, regardless of form, business model, or other characteristics. Its global applicability provides that responsibility with important potential to prevent and address privacy infringements related to social media platforms. This article contributes to scholarship on human rights and technology by focusing on social media platforms' enabling of posting photos of individuals. Applying the BHR typology of forms of business involvement in harmful human rights impacts—causing them, contributing to them, or being directly linked through business relationships—we identify situations in which social media providers can be involved in privacy infringements. We argue that the particularities of the business model applied by social media providers can turn the connection between social media providers and users into a business relationship, in the sense of the BHR regime. We identify the human rights due diligence implications of infringements caused by users, when the social media provider can be seen to have contributed to or been directly linked to the impact, as well as those caused by the social media provider, and discuss appropriate responses.
Abstract: The business and human rights (BHR) regime defines a corporate responsibility to respect human rights, which applies to all business enterprises, regardless of form, business model, or other characteristics. Its global applicability provides that responsibility with important potential to prevent and address privacy infringements related to social media platforms. This article contributes to scholarship on human rights and technology by focusing on social media platforms' enabling of posting photos of individuals. Applying the BHR typology of forms of business involvement in harmful human rights impacts—causing them, contributing to them, or being directly linked through business relationships—we identify situations in which social media providers can be involved in privacy infringements. We argue that the particularities of the business model applied by social media providers can turn the connection between social media providers and users into a business relationship, in the sense of the BHR regime. We identify the human rights due diligence implications of infringements caused by users, when the social media provider can be seen to have contributed to or been directly linked to the impact, as well as those caused by the social media provider, and discuss appropriate responses.
Journal: Australian Journal of Human Rights
Published: April 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Karin Buhmann
Separating and Integrating Non-financial and Financial Measures: A Case Study of a Sporting Organization Playing the Value-in-kind (VIK) Game
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to characterise types of practices – or “routings” as they are denoted in this paper – that have been developed to incorporate non-financial inscriptions, representing value-in-kind (VIK) sponsorship resources, into accounting systems. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts field-based research, utilising Latour's (1999) concept of “circulating reference”, to illustrate how VIK (non-cash) resources were managed in an Australian sporting organization. Findings: This paper contributes to our understanding of: first, how accounting infrastructure is constituted and stabilised by a network of multiple and overlapping accounting practices; second, how VIK resources are allocated and managed via local practices; and third, the importance of “budget relief” as a method of valuation in accounting practice. Research limitations/implications: Our paper has implications for understanding how financial and non-financial accounting inscriptions are related in practice, requiring both integration and separation within networks of multiple and overlapping routings of accounting practices. Originality/value: Our work highlights previously unexplored accounting practices, which assist in the process of utilizing VIK resources in the context of a sporting organization.
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this study is to characterise types of practices – or “routings” as they are denoted in this paper – that have been developed to incorporate non-financial inscriptions, representing value-in-kind (VIK) sponsorship resources, into accounting systems. Design/methodology/approach: This study adopts field-based research, utilising Latour's (1999) concept of “circulating reference”, to illustrate how VIK (non-cash) resources were managed in an Australian sporting organization. Findings: This paper contributes to our understanding of: first, how accounting infrastructure is constituted and stabilised by a network of multiple and overlapping accounting practices; second, how VIK resources are allocated and managed via local practices; and third, the importance of “budget relief” as a method of valuation in accounting practice. Research limitations/implications: Our paper has implications for understanding how financial and non-financial accounting inscriptions are related in practice, requiring both integration and separation within networks of multiple and overlapping routings of accounting practices. Originality/value: Our work highlights previously unexplored accounting practices, which assist in the process of utilizing VIK resources in the context of a sporting organization.
Journal: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Jan Mouritsen
Present-but-online: How Mobile Devices May Harm Purposeful Co-presence in Organizations (And What Can Be Done About It)
Abstract: The introduction of mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets), to the workplace has had many positive effects. While research also indicates that mobile devices may lead to the misallocation and depletion of attention, the negative effects, particularly on interactions in organizations, remain less well understood. We draw on micro-sociology to analyze the use of mobile devices in situations of purposeful co-presence, such as meetings and settings that require a joint effort to solve one or more problems. In these situations, the use of mobile devices is likely to de-energize actors and lead to behaviors that are contrary to the aims of establishing situations of purposeful co-presence. We identify ways in which organizations can avoid the negative consequences of mobile devices (while keeping the positive consequences), ranging from building norms regarding the use of such devices to restructuring work processes (e.g., making activities less interdependent and making less use of purposeful co-presence).
Abstract: The introduction of mobile devices (e.g., smartphones and tablets), to the workplace has had many positive effects. While research also indicates that mobile devices may lead to the misallocation and depletion of attention, the negative effects, particularly on interactions in organizations, remain less well understood. We draw on micro-sociology to analyze the use of mobile devices in situations of purposeful co-presence, such as meetings and settings that require a joint effort to solve one or more problems. In these situations, the use of mobile devices is likely to de-energize actors and lead to behaviors that are contrary to the aims of establishing situations of purposeful co-presence. We identify ways in which organizations can avoid the negative consequences of mobile devices (while keeping the positive consequences), ranging from building norms regarding the use of such devices to restructuring work processes (e.g., making activities less interdependent and making less use of purposeful co-presence).
Journal: European Management Journal
Published: July 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Holdt Christensen, Nicolai J. Foss
Orange Feelings and Reparative Readings, or How I Learned to Know Alternative Organization at Roskilde Festivals
Abstract: Taking inspiration from Sedgwick [(2002). “Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading, or You’re So Paranoid, You Probably Think This Essay Is About You.” In Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity, edited by E. K. Sedgwick, 123–152. Durham, NC: Duke University Press], I argue that a turn towards alternative organization(s) must be accompanied by a concurrent turn towards a reparative methodology, in order that critical scholars are able to know an alternative. Based on engagement with Roskilde Festival, I show how easily critical studies become paranoid, precluding surprise and, in turn, alternative understandings, as well as alternative things to understand. Whereas paranoid critical inquiry is informed by the hermeneutics of suspicion, I suggest that reparative readings may come from a place of wonder (MacLure [(2013a). Researching Without Representation? Language and Materiality in Post-Qualitative Methodology.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26 (6): 658–667. doi:10.1080/09518398.2013.788755, (2013b). “The Wonder of Data.” Cultural Studies–Critical Methodologies 13 (4): 228–232]). This article contributes to debates in critical management studies about the purpose of and possibility for critical engagement with organizations. By sharing ethnographic moments that mattered to me in their affective capacity to make me experience wonder about critical engagement, I show how a paranoid reader may become reparatively positioned and demonstrate what knowledge may be produced through reparative readings.
Abstract: Taking inspiration from Sedgwick [(2002). “Paranoid Reading and Reparative Reading, or You’re So Paranoid, You Probably Think This Essay Is About You.” In Touching Feeling: Affect, Pedagogy, Performativity, edited by E. K. Sedgwick, 123–152. Durham, NC: Duke University Press], I argue that a turn towards alternative organization(s) must be accompanied by a concurrent turn towards a reparative methodology, in order that critical scholars are able to know an alternative. Based on engagement with Roskilde Festival, I show how easily critical studies become paranoid, precluding surprise and, in turn, alternative understandings, as well as alternative things to understand. Whereas paranoid critical inquiry is informed by the hermeneutics of suspicion, I suggest that reparative readings may come from a place of wonder (MacLure [(2013a). Researching Without Representation? Language and Materiality in Post-Qualitative Methodology.” International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education 26 (6): 658–667. doi:10.1080/09518398.2013.788755, (2013b). “The Wonder of Data.” Cultural Studies–Critical Methodologies 13 (4): 228–232]). This article contributes to debates in critical management studies about the purpose of and possibility for critical engagement with organizations. By sharing ethnographic moments that mattered to me in their affective capacity to make me experience wonder about critical engagement, I show how a paranoid reader may become reparatively positioned and demonstrate what knowledge may be produced through reparative readings.
Journal: Culture and Organization
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Jannick Friis Christensen
GenderLAB: Norm-critical Design Thinking for Gender Equality and Diversity
Abstract: This article addresses recent debates in critical management studies (CMS) on the impact of research beyond academia and critical performativity—in other words, it addresses the need for researchers to engage with and intervene in organizational practices while remaining critical of these practices. GenderLAB has been developed to address this need by organizing academic activism and drawing critical insights from studies in gender equality and diversity in a way that can impact organizations. By combining the reflexive process of norm critique with action-oriented design thinking, GenderLAB contributes a methodology that holds potential for overcoming the current critical/constructive impasse in CMS literature.
Abstract: This article addresses recent debates in critical management studies (CMS) on the impact of research beyond academia and critical performativity—in other words, it addresses the need for researchers to engage with and intervene in organizational practices while remaining critical of these practices. GenderLAB has been developed to address this need by organizing academic activism and drawing critical insights from studies in gender equality and diversity in a way that can impact organizations. By combining the reflexive process of norm critique with action-oriented design thinking, GenderLAB contributes a methodology that holds potential for overcoming the current critical/constructive impasse in CMS literature.
Journal: Organization
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Stina Teilmann-Lock, Jannick Friis Christensen
What Drives the Delegation of Innovation Decisions? The Roles of Firm Innovation Strategy and the Nature of External Knowledge
Abstract: We study what determines delegation of authority over innovation decisions in firms. Extant research that addresses this topic in an open innovation context, suggests that firms that engage in open innovation tend to delegate authority over innovation decisions. We provide a more nuanced argument that considers important contingencies. Thus, we argue that the extent of delegation depends upon the combined effect of the relative importance of innovation decisions to the firm's strategy and, when a firm engages in open innovation, on the nature of the external knowledge (scientific vs. practical) that it seeks to absorb from the external environment. We test our hypotheses on data from a double-respondent survey of Danish firms that we link to Community Innovation Survey data and to the Danish Integrated Database for Labor Market Research. We provide econometric results that support our hypotheses.
Abstract: We study what determines delegation of authority over innovation decisions in firms. Extant research that addresses this topic in an open innovation context, suggests that firms that engage in open innovation tend to delegate authority over innovation decisions. We provide a more nuanced argument that considers important contingencies. Thus, we argue that the extent of delegation depends upon the combined effect of the relative importance of innovation decisions to the firm's strategy and, when a firm engages in open innovation, on the nature of the external knowledge (scientific vs. practical) that it seeks to absorb from the external environment. We test our hypotheses on data from a double-respondent survey of Danish firms that we link to Community Innovation Survey data and to the Danish Integrated Database for Labor Market Research. We provide econometric results that support our hypotheses.
Journal: Research Policy
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Nicolai J. Foss
Lessons About the ‘Harder’ Elements of OMC Governance for the EU Energy Union
Abstract: This paper identifies three ’harder’–potentially more constraining–features of existing OMCs (employment and social inclusion), explains why they are ‘hardening’, and draws lessons for the Energy Union. The first ‘harder’ element is ‘EU benchmarks and national targets’, where the former signals EU commitment and sets direction over the medium term, while the latter bind member states to develop policy in line with EU strategic priorities. The second harder element is ‘two-level policy dialogue’, referring to two-level administrative coordination–around national reports, EU assessment of member state performance and Country Specific Recommendations. ‘Two-level policy dialogue’ is ‘hardening’, because it is structured around the key EU aims, priorities and benchmarks, but at the same time targeted at each individual member state. The third harder element is ‘policy entrepreneurs’, as such individuals are capable of mobilizing high-level political commitment at the EU and member state levels. We assess that these three elements together contribute to a ‘hardening’–and thus potential to change policy–of OMC-type governance, which is already taking place in Energy Union. We also note that two other factors–institutional capabilities and financial resources–are crucial in conjunction with Energy Union.
Abstract: This paper identifies three ’harder’–potentially more constraining–features of existing OMCs (employment and social inclusion), explains why they are ‘hardening’, and draws lessons for the Energy Union. The first ‘harder’ element is ‘EU benchmarks and national targets’, where the former signals EU commitment and sets direction over the medium term, while the latter bind member states to develop policy in line with EU strategic priorities. The second harder element is ‘two-level policy dialogue’, referring to two-level administrative coordination–around national reports, EU assessment of member state performance and Country Specific Recommendations. ‘Two-level policy dialogue’ is ‘hardening’, because it is structured around the key EU aims, priorities and benchmarks, but at the same time targeted at each individual member state. The third harder element is ‘policy entrepreneurs’, as such individuals are capable of mobilizing high-level political commitment at the EU and member state levels. We assess that these three elements together contribute to a ‘hardening’–and thus potential to change policy–of OMC-type governance, which is already taking place in Energy Union. We also note that two other factors–institutional capabilities and financial resources–are crucial in conjunction with Energy Union.
Journal: Journal of Environmental Policy and Planning
Published: June 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Caroline de la Porte
Electricity Market Integration, Decarbonisation and Security of Supply: Dynamic Volatility Connectedness in the Irish and Great Britain Markets.
Abstract: This study investigates the volatility connectedness between the Irish and Great Britain electricity markets and how it is driven by changes in energy policy, institutional structures and political ideologies. We assess various aspects of this volatility connectedness including static (unconditional) vs dynamic (conditional), symmetric vs asymmetric characteristics between 2009 and 2018. We find that volatility connectedness is time varying and is significantly affected by important events, policy reforms or market redesigns such as Brexit, oil price slump, increasing share of renewables, and fluctuations in the exchange rates. Our asymmetric analysis shows that the magnitude of the good volatility connectedness is marginally larger than that of the bad volatility connectedness. Our result suggests that good volatility levels would be even higher once the Irish market adopts the carbon price floor. Therefore, supporting renewable generation by setting an appropriate carbon price in interconnected wholesale electricity markets will improve market integration.
Abstract: This study investigates the volatility connectedness between the Irish and Great Britain electricity markets and how it is driven by changes in energy policy, institutional structures and political ideologies. We assess various aspects of this volatility connectedness including static (unconditional) vs dynamic (conditional), symmetric vs asymmetric characteristics between 2009 and 2018. We find that volatility connectedness is time varying and is significantly affected by important events, policy reforms or market redesigns such as Brexit, oil price slump, increasing share of renewables, and fluctuations in the exchange rates. Our asymmetric analysis shows that the magnitude of the good volatility connectedness is marginally larger than that of the bad volatility connectedness. Our result suggests that good volatility levels would be even higher once the Irish market adopts the carbon price floor. Therefore, supporting renewable generation by setting an appropriate carbon price in interconnected wholesale electricity markets will improve market integration.
Journal: Energy Economics
Published: October 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Tooraj Jamasb
Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Information Management Research and Practice: Transforming Education, Work and Life
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organisations to undergo significant transformation, rethinking key elements of their business processes and use of technology to maintain operations whilst adhering to a changing landscape of guidelines and new procedures. This study offers a collective insight to many of the key issues and underlying complexities affecting organisations and society from COVID-19, through an information systems and technological perspective. The views of 12 invited subject experts are collated and analysed where each articulate their individual perspectives relating to: online learning, digital strategy, artificial intelligence, information management, social interaction, cyber security, big data, blockchain, privacy, mobile technology and strategy through the lens of the current crisis and impact on these specific areas. The expert perspectives offer timely insight to the range of topics, identifying key issues and recommendations for theory and practice.
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many organisations to undergo significant transformation, rethinking key elements of their business processes and use of technology to maintain operations whilst adhering to a changing landscape of guidelines and new procedures. This study offers a collective insight to many of the key issues and underlying complexities affecting organisations and society from COVID-19, through an information systems and technological perspective. The views of 12 invited subject experts are collated and analysed where each articulate their individual perspectives relating to: online learning, digital strategy, artificial intelligence, information management, social interaction, cyber security, big data, blockchain, privacy, mobile technology and strategy through the lens of the current crisis and impact on these specific areas. The expert perspectives offer timely insight to the range of topics, identifying key issues and recommendations for theory and practice.
Journal: International Journal of Information Management
Published: July 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Ioanna Constantiou
Practising the Common Good: Philanthropic Practices in Twentieth-Century Denmark
Abstract: Since the beginning of the 1990s, civil society has attracted both scholarly and political interest as the ‘third sphere’ outside the state and the market, strongly amplified by the sectorial conceptualisation of state, market and civil society. In contrast, this article shows that civil society is and has never been a pre-existing location separated from state and market. Its boundaries are constantly produced through practices interweaving political, economic and moral components. This will be studied through an exemplary Danish historical case of the Egmont Foundation 1920–2018. The study shows how different and changing philanthropic practices took part in producing distinction between state, market and civil society by demarcating categories of deserving and underserving needy as part of the ‘common good’ through changing donation practices and organisational forms. As a consequence, we can trace ongoing re-distributions of power relations in society over time. The study’s contribution to develop a post-sectorial concept of civil society is two-fold: first, by showing how political, economic and moral components are interlinked through the ongoing stabilisation of the ‘common’ and the ‘good’; second, by showing how these interlinks and transgression constantly re-distribute power relations in society and in turn create possibilities and limits for actions both in past, present and future.
Abstract: Since the beginning of the 1990s, civil society has attracted both scholarly and political interest as the ‘third sphere’ outside the state and the market, strongly amplified by the sectorial conceptualisation of state, market and civil society. In contrast, this article shows that civil society is and has never been a pre-existing location separated from state and market. Its boundaries are constantly produced through practices interweaving political, economic and moral components. This will be studied through an exemplary Danish historical case of the Egmont Foundation 1920–2018. The study shows how different and changing philanthropic practices took part in producing distinction between state, market and civil society by demarcating categories of deserving and underserving needy as part of the ‘common good’ through changing donation practices and organisational forms. As a consequence, we can trace ongoing re-distributions of power relations in society over time. The study’s contribution to develop a post-sectorial concept of civil society is two-fold: first, by showing how political, economic and moral components are interlinked through the ongoing stabilisation of the ‘common’ and the ‘good’; second, by showing how these interlinks and transgression constantly re-distribute power relations in society and in turn create possibilities and limits for actions both in past, present and future.
Journal: International Journal of Politics, Culture, and Society
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Liv Egholm
Activists in the Dark: Social Media Algorithms and Collective Action in Two Social Movement Organizations
Abstract: It is widely established that social media afford social movement (SM) organizations new ways of organizing. Critical studies point out, however, that social media use may also trigger negative repercussions due to the commercial interests that are designed into these technologies. Yet empirical evidence about these matters is scarce. In this article, we investigate how social media algorithms influence activists’ actualization of collective affordances. Empirically, we build on an ethnographic study of two SM organizations based in Tunisia. The contributions of this paper are twofold. Firstly, we provide a theoretical framework that specifies how algorithms condition the actualization of three collective affordances (interlinking, assembling, augmenting). Specifically, we show how these affordances are supported by algorithmic facilitation, that is, operations pertaining to the sorting of interactions and actors, the filtering of information, and the ranking and aggregation of content. Secondly, we extend the understanding of how social media platforms’ profit-orientation undermines collective action. Namely, we identify how algorithms introduce constraints for organizing processes, manifested as algorithmic distortion, that is, information overload, opacity, and disinformation. We conclude by discussing the detrimental implications of social media algorithms for organizing and civic engagement, as activists are often unaware of the interests of social media-owning corporations.
Abstract: It is widely established that social media afford social movement (SM) organizations new ways of organizing. Critical studies point out, however, that social media use may also trigger negative repercussions due to the commercial interests that are designed into these technologies. Yet empirical evidence about these matters is scarce. In this article, we investigate how social media algorithms influence activists’ actualization of collective affordances. Empirically, we build on an ethnographic study of two SM organizations based in Tunisia. The contributions of this paper are twofold. Firstly, we provide a theoretical framework that specifies how algorithms condition the actualization of three collective affordances (interlinking, assembling, augmenting). Specifically, we show how these affordances are supported by algorithmic facilitation, that is, operations pertaining to the sorting of interactions and actors, the filtering of information, and the ranking and aggregation of content. Secondly, we extend the understanding of how social media platforms’ profit-orientation undermines collective action. Namely, we identify how algorithms introduce constraints for organizing processes, manifested as algorithmic distortion, that is, information overload, opacity, and disinformation. We conclude by discussing the detrimental implications of social media algorithms for organizing and civic engagement, as activists are often unaware of the interests of social media-owning corporations.
Journal: Organization
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Michael Etter, Oana Brindusa Albu
Confidential Gossip and Organization Studies
Abstract: This essay sets out the case for regarding confidential gossip as a significant concept in the study of organizations. It develops the more general concept of gossip by combining it with concepts of organizational secrecy in order to propose confidential gossip as a distinctive communicative practice. As a communicative practice, it is to be understood as playing a particular role within the communicative constitution of organizations. That particularity arises from the special nature of any communication regarded as secret, which includes the fact that such communication is liable to be regarded as containing the ‘real truth’ or ‘insider knowledge’. Thus it may be regarded as more than ‘just gossip’ and also as more significant than formal communication. This role is explored, as well as the methodological and ethical challenges of studying confidential gossip empirically.
Abstract: This essay sets out the case for regarding confidential gossip as a significant concept in the study of organizations. It develops the more general concept of gossip by combining it with concepts of organizational secrecy in order to propose confidential gossip as a distinctive communicative practice. As a communicative practice, it is to be understood as playing a particular role within the communicative constitution of organizations. That particularity arises from the special nature of any communication regarded as secret, which includes the fact that such communication is liable to be regarded as containing the ‘real truth’ or ‘insider knowledge’. Thus it may be regarded as more than ‘just gossip’ and also as more significant than formal communication. This role is explored, as well as the methodological and ethical challenges of studying confidential gossip empirically.
Journal: Organization Studies
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Dan Kärreman
Start ‘Em Early: Pastoral Power and the Confessional Culture of Leadership Development in the US University
Abstract: We apply a critical perspective on leadership development discourses and practices to the case of student leadership development programs in the US universities and colleges. We leverage the first author’s personal experiences as a facilitator in such programs to focus on the manner in which they adapt and deploy a variety of commodified pop and positive psychology techniques—including prominently among them icebreakers and psychological assessment tests—that encourage participants to share personal and emotional insights about themselves as the necessary prerequisite for becoming leaders. We draw on Foucault’s notion of pastoral power to argue that these quasi-therapeutic practices help to produce and to normalize what we describe as a confessional culture of leadership development that prepares would-be student leaders to submit themselves to similarly or even more psychologically demanding regimes of governmentality in the workplace after they graduate. We conclude with a call for future research on the central role of such leadership development practices—and the institutions, industries, and actors that promote them—in folding together the ways that individuals seek to claim agency and to develop themselves as leaders with the ways that organizations function to constrain that agency and to govern them as willing but compliant subjects.
Abstract: We apply a critical perspective on leadership development discourses and practices to the case of student leadership development programs in the US universities and colleges. We leverage the first author’s personal experiences as a facilitator in such programs to focus on the manner in which they adapt and deploy a variety of commodified pop and positive psychology techniques—including prominently among them icebreakers and psychological assessment tests—that encourage participants to share personal and emotional insights about themselves as the necessary prerequisite for becoming leaders. We draw on Foucault’s notion of pastoral power to argue that these quasi-therapeutic practices help to produce and to normalize what we describe as a confessional culture of leadership development that prepares would-be student leaders to submit themselves to similarly or even more psychologically demanding regimes of governmentality in the workplace after they graduate. We conclude with a call for future research on the central role of such leadership development practices—and the institutions, industries, and actors that promote them—in folding together the ways that individuals seek to claim agency and to develop themselves as leaders with the ways that organizations function to constrain that agency and to govern them as willing but compliant subjects.
Journal: Journal of Business Ethics
Published: July 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Eric Guthey
The Cosmopolitan Servicescape
Abstract: Marketing scholars have developed a solid literature on servicescapes, the physical environments where services are performed, delivered and consumed, with a particular interest in themed retail environments. Themed servicescapes rely heavily on signs and symbols and emplaced ideologies to build brands, attract consumers, and increase sales. We extend this literature by introducing, defining and theorizing the cosmopolitan servicescape, one that emplaces the cosmopolitan ideology by supporting performances of consumer cosmopolitanism. By drawing on an ethnographic examination of a quintessential cosmopolitan servicescape, Red Rooster Harlem, and applying an analytical lens grounded in the cultural understanding of retail spaces, we conceptualize the cosmopolitan servicescape in relation to other themed environments. Cosmopolitan servicescapes provide consumers a playground for encounters with cultural difference through enlisting cultural resources that shift out in time, place, and identity, thus enabling the performance of cosmopolitan competence. In addition, cosmopolitan servicescapes juxtapose cultural resources to create incongruent meanings, promote heteroglossia, and appeal to different levels of cosmopolitan competence. Finally, cosmopolitan servicescapes use decoding cues to facilitate cosmopolitan engagement and recognition cues to frame the environment as cosmopolitan. These findings contribute to the themed retailing literature and provide guidelines for managers and servicescape designers interested in creating an emplaced strategy for attracting cosmopolitan consumers.
Abstract: Marketing scholars have developed a solid literature on servicescapes, the physical environments where services are performed, delivered and consumed, with a particular interest in themed retail environments. Themed servicescapes rely heavily on signs and symbols and emplaced ideologies to build brands, attract consumers, and increase sales. We extend this literature by introducing, defining and theorizing the cosmopolitan servicescape, one that emplaces the cosmopolitan ideology by supporting performances of consumer cosmopolitanism. By drawing on an ethnographic examination of a quintessential cosmopolitan servicescape, Red Rooster Harlem, and applying an analytical lens grounded in the cultural understanding of retail spaces, we conceptualize the cosmopolitan servicescape in relation to other themed environments. Cosmopolitan servicescapes provide consumers a playground for encounters with cultural difference through enlisting cultural resources that shift out in time, place, and identity, thus enabling the performance of cosmopolitan competence. In addition, cosmopolitan servicescapes juxtapose cultural resources to create incongruent meanings, promote heteroglossia, and appeal to different levels of cosmopolitan competence. Finally, cosmopolitan servicescapes use decoding cues to facilitate cosmopolitan engagement and recognition cues to frame the environment as cosmopolitan. These findings contribute to the themed retailing literature and provide guidelines for managers and servicescape designers interested in creating an emplaced strategy for attracting cosmopolitan consumers.
Journal: Journal of Retailing
Published: October 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Hanne Pico Larsen
Local House Price Comovements
Abstract: We study the microlevel evolution of residential house prices using data on repeat sales on Manhattan Island from 2004 to 2015. We document that price comovement, even within a ZIP code, is a highly local and persistent phenomenon. The strength of such comovements vanishes with both spatial and temporal distance. Local underperformance is more persistent than local overperformance, particularly when house prices on aggregate level increase.
Abstract: We study the microlevel evolution of residential house prices using data on repeat sales on Manhattan Island from 2004 to 2015. We document that price comovement, even within a ZIP code, is a highly local and persistent phenomenon. The strength of such comovements vanishes with both spatial and temporal distance. Local underperformance is more persistent than local overperformance, particularly when house prices on aggregate level increase.
Journal: Real Estate Economics
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Marcel Fischer
Entrepreneurial Opportunities: Who Needs Them?
Abstract: Debate in management research on the status of the opportunity construct is now more than a decade old. We argue that the debate has led to little additional insight in entrepreneurship, and we develop the case for abandoning the construct altogether. Uncertainty is central to entrepreneurship and innovation yet absent from opportunity-based approaches. We offer instead a judgment-based approach of entrepreneurship that revolves around the nexus of resource heterogeneity and uncertainty and is operationalized in the beliefs-actions-results (BAR) framework.
Abstract: Debate in management research on the status of the opportunity construct is now more than a decade old. We argue that the debate has led to little additional insight in entrepreneurship, and we develop the case for abandoning the construct altogether. Uncertainty is central to entrepreneurship and innovation yet absent from opportunity-based approaches. We offer instead a judgment-based approach of entrepreneurship that revolves around the nexus of resource heterogeneity and uncertainty and is operationalized in the beliefs-actions-results (BAR) framework.
Journal: Academy of Management Perspectives
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Nicolai J. Foss
Ownership Competence
Abstract: Research Summary: Ownership is fundamental to firm strategy, organization, and governance. Standard ownership concepts—mainly derived from agency and incomplete contracting theories—focus on its incentive effects. However, these concepts and theories neglect ownership's role as an instrument to match judgment about resource use and governance with the firm's evolving environment under uncertainty. We develop the concept of ownership competence—the skill with which ownership is used as an instrument to create value—and decompose it into matching competence (what to own), governance competence (how to own), and timing competence (when to own). We describe how property rights of use, appropriation, and transfer relate to the three ownership competences and show how our theory offers a fresh perspective into the role of ownership for value generation. Managerial Summary: Business owners own with different levels of competence, and differences in ownership competence matter for value creation. We argue that ownership competence consists of competence about what to own (matching competence), competence about how to own (governance competence), and competence about when to own (timing competence). We clarify the role played by each of the three competences for value creation. We also show how the importance of ownership competence for value creation alters depending on ownership concentration, life cycle effects, uncertainty of the environment, and the efficiency of resource markets. With our paper, we prepare the ground for a fuller understanding of the strategic role of owners for value creation.
Abstract: Research Summary: Ownership is fundamental to firm strategy, organization, and governance. Standard ownership concepts—mainly derived from agency and incomplete contracting theories—focus on its incentive effects. However, these concepts and theories neglect ownership's role as an instrument to match judgment about resource use and governance with the firm's evolving environment under uncertainty. We develop the concept of ownership competence—the skill with which ownership is used as an instrument to create value—and decompose it into matching competence (what to own), governance competence (how to own), and timing competence (when to own). We describe how property rights of use, appropriation, and transfer relate to the three ownership competences and show how our theory offers a fresh perspective into the role of ownership for value generation. Managerial Summary: Business owners own with different levels of competence, and differences in ownership competence matter for value creation. We argue that ownership competence consists of competence about what to own (matching competence), competence about how to own (governance competence), and competence about when to own (timing competence). We clarify the role played by each of the three competences for value creation. We also show how the importance of ownership competence for value creation alters depending on ownership concentration, life cycle effects, uncertainty of the environment, and the efficiency of resource markets. With our paper, we prepare the ground for a fuller understanding of the strategic role of owners for value creation.
Journal: Strategic Management Journal
Published: July 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Nicolai J. Foss
Behavioral Strategy and the COVID-19 Disruption
Abstract: What can strategic management research do to help to make sense of the COVID-19 disruption, and what are the implications of the disruption for the strategy field? I argue that among the streams in strategy research, behavioral strategy is uniquely situated in terms of providing a psychologically based interpretive lens that could lend great insight into decision making in extreme conditions. However, the disruption also points to weakness in current behavioral strategy thinking, notably with respect to the role of models vis-à-vis judgment in strategic decision making, the deeply social (political, institutional) nature of strategy making, and the treatment of fundamental uncertainty.
Abstract: What can strategic management research do to help to make sense of the COVID-19 disruption, and what are the implications of the disruption for the strategy field? I argue that among the streams in strategy research, behavioral strategy is uniquely situated in terms of providing a psychologically based interpretive lens that could lend great insight into decision making in extreme conditions. However, the disruption also points to weakness in current behavioral strategy thinking, notably with respect to the role of models vis-à-vis judgment in strategic decision making, the deeply social (political, institutional) nature of strategy making, and the treatment of fundamental uncertainty.
Journal: Journal of Management
Published: November 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Nicolai J. Foss
“I Want to Break Free!": How Experiences of Freedom Foster Consumer Happiness.
Abstract: This research investigates the relevance, characteristics, and influence of experiences of freedom as a source of consumer happiness. A qualitative study (Study 1) underscores the existence of two types of experiences of freedom in consumption that bring happiness to consumers: “freedom from” worries, stress, or everyday life and “freedom to” explore, decide, and enact who they are or want to become. A content analysis (Study 2) and an experiment (Study 3) show how these two types of experiences of freedom have different characteristics and are related to happiness in different ways: “freedom from” experiences are related to low positive emotional arousal (calm) and are more likely to foster hedonic, pleasure-based happiness, while “freedom to” experiences are more frequently associated with high positive emotional arousal (excitement) and are more likely to foster eudaimonic, meaning-based happiness. The results are discussed in terms of research, consumer and managerial implications.
Abstract: This research investigates the relevance, characteristics, and influence of experiences of freedom as a source of consumer happiness. A qualitative study (Study 1) underscores the existence of two types of experiences of freedom in consumption that bring happiness to consumers: “freedom from” worries, stress, or everyday life and “freedom to” explore, decide, and enact who they are or want to become. A content analysis (Study 2) and an experiment (Study 3) show how these two types of experiences of freedom have different characteristics and are related to happiness in different ways: “freedom from” experiences are related to low positive emotional arousal (calm) and are more likely to foster hedonic, pleasure-based happiness, while “freedom to” experiences are more frequently associated with high positive emotional arousal (excitement) and are more likely to foster eudaimonic, meaning-based happiness. The results are discussed in terms of research, consumer and managerial implications.
Journal: Journal of Business Research
Published: December 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Thyra Uth Thomsen
The Interaction of Elite Networks in the Pinochet Regime's Macroeconomic Policies.
Abstract: The Chilean military regime offered a prime example of interactions among elite groups in the making of macroeconomic policies. Through the lens of both Bourdieu's field theory and Mills's elite coordination through networks, we show how Chilean elites sought to implement these policies despite being divided by their transnational and national ties. We have constructed an original database on the 62 most influential individuals within the space of macroeconomic policies using a variety of descriptive methods (multiple correspondence analysis, cluster analysis, and social network analysis), only used on very few occasions to study South American elites. We explore the internal divisions in these elites in terms of their orientation to national and transnational capital and biographical trajectories. We identify three groups – high-ranking military officers, Chicago academic economists, and public and private sector professionals. Military officers were mostly endowed with national assets, while civilian groups relied on transnational resources. Moreover, the Chicago economists, characterized by their transnational and scientific legitimacy, were the closest to influential state positions overall (the Ministry of the Treasury and the Central Bank). Finally, we categorize the same three groups through (national and transnational) network ties. Organizational ties between those groups were significant, particularly among Chicago economists and professionals, which suggests an intense coordination process, facilitated by transnational affiliations and profile.
Abstract: The Chilean military regime offered a prime example of interactions among elite groups in the making of macroeconomic policies. Through the lens of both Bourdieu's field theory and Mills's elite coordination through networks, we show how Chilean elites sought to implement these policies despite being divided by their transnational and national ties. We have constructed an original database on the 62 most influential individuals within the space of macroeconomic policies using a variety of descriptive methods (multiple correspondence analysis, cluster analysis, and social network analysis), only used on very few occasions to study South American elites. We explore the internal divisions in these elites in terms of their orientation to national and transnational capital and biographical trajectories. We identify three groups – high-ranking military officers, Chicago academic economists, and public and private sector professionals. Military officers were mostly endowed with national assets, while civilian groups relied on transnational resources. Moreover, the Chicago economists, characterized by their transnational and scientific legitimacy, were the closest to influential state positions overall (the Ministry of the Treasury and the Central Bank). Finally, we categorize the same three groups through (national and transnational) network ties. Organizational ties between those groups were significant, particularly among Chicago economists and professionals, which suggests an intense coordination process, facilitated by transnational affiliations and profile.
Journal: Global Networks
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Thierry Rossier
The Plight to Choose: Cultivating Practical Deliberation in Management Learning and Education
Abstract: Departing from discussions at Research in Management Learning & Education (RMLE) Unconferences, we identify the problem of practical deliberation: When faced with multiple, relevant theories that all demand to be given weight in a process of deliberation, how do management students, while drawing on these theories, justify their choice? Based on contemporary practical philosophy, we claim that students must aim for rational necessitation when practically deliberating about such decisions. Using the example of our teaching on a Master of Public Governance program at a major European business school, we delineate how we have employed a philosophical pedagogy to teach MBA students to practically deliberate in order to reach rational necessitation. With our theoretical and practical research, we aim to show how contemporary practical philosophy offers a distinct, original contribution to management learning and education in contrast with the traditional philosophies of education We end the article by suggesting and motivating five avenues of further research into the problem of practical deliberation in management learning and education.
Abstract: Departing from discussions at Research in Management Learning & Education (RMLE) Unconferences, we identify the problem of practical deliberation: When faced with multiple, relevant theories that all demand to be given weight in a process of deliberation, how do management students, while drawing on these theories, justify their choice? Based on contemporary practical philosophy, we claim that students must aim for rational necessitation when practically deliberating about such decisions. Using the example of our teaching on a Master of Public Governance program at a major European business school, we delineate how we have employed a philosophical pedagogy to teach MBA students to practically deliberate in order to reach rational necessitation. With our theoretical and practical research, we aim to show how contemporary practical philosophy offers a distinct, original contribution to management learning and education in contrast with the traditional philosophies of education We end the article by suggesting and motivating five avenues of further research into the problem of practical deliberation in management learning and education.
Journal: Journal of Management Education
Published: October 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Morten Sørensen Thaning
Stress and Myths Related to the COVID-19 Pandemic’s Effects on Remote Work
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to know the implications that COVID-19 has presented in the workplace to develop research strategies related to issues of human and organizational behavior on the business perspective.
Design/methodology/approach: Quantitative, exploratory based on primary and secondary sources, an online questionnaire was designed and applied with 33 items that was applied in the Mexican work environment, during the period from March 7 to 16, that is, in the same week as WHO made the pandemic declaration for COVID-19, obtaining a total of 332 responses.
Findings: With the descriptive analyzes carried out, it was possible to know the perception that people have of various aspects related to COVID-19, and subsequently the corresponding reliability tests were carried out, obtaining Cronbach’s alpha indexes greater than 0.8. At the beginning of the declaration of pandemic by COVID-19, a relationship was shown between stress and the aspects related to the arrival of COVID-19, showing evidence of its impact on the workforce.
Research limitations/implications: This work has contributed ideas for academics, managers and areas of human resources that can promote the growth and development of people with the aim of achieving comprehensive well-being in the workplace, generating better working conditions owing to the proposal to make remote work a successful strategy in the function of human resources in the workplace and in the improvement of society in general.
Originality/value: This research, in addition to being carried out with information obtained in the first weeks of March 2020, presents a model with ideas and themes to design future research projects and to analyze the post-COVID-19 effects in the workplace, with a business perspective, human behavior and organization.
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to know the implications that COVID-19 has presented in the workplace to develop research strategies related to issues of human and organizational behavior on the business perspective.
Design/methodology/approach: Quantitative, exploratory based on primary and secondary sources, an online questionnaire was designed and applied with 33 items that was applied in the Mexican work environment, during the period from March 7 to 16, that is, in the same week as WHO made the pandemic declaration for COVID-19, obtaining a total of 332 responses.
Findings: With the descriptive analyzes carried out, it was possible to know the perception that people have of various aspects related to COVID-19, and subsequently the corresponding reliability tests were carried out, obtaining Cronbach’s alpha indexes greater than 0.8. At the beginning of the declaration of pandemic by COVID-19, a relationship was shown between stress and the aspects related to the arrival of COVID-19, showing evidence of its impact on the workforce.
Research limitations/implications: This work has contributed ideas for academics, managers and areas of human resources that can promote the growth and development of people with the aim of achieving comprehensive well-being in the workplace, generating better working conditions owing to the proposal to make remote work a successful strategy in the function of human resources in the workplace and in the improvement of society in general.
Originality/value: This research, in addition to being carried out with information obtained in the first weeks of March 2020, presents a model with ideas and themes to design future research projects and to analyze the post-COVID-19 effects in the workplace, with a business perspective, human behavior and organization.
Journal: Management Research
Published: October 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Jacobo Ramirez
Bibliometrics and Network Analysis of Cryptocurrency Research.
Abstract: Cryptocurrency, as an emerging social phenomenon, has attracted great research attentions and starts to form a new research area in the past decade. A thorough review of the existing cryptocurrency literatures helps us to understand the status-quo and the promising research future of this emerging field. This paper provides a systematic review of the cryptocurrency literatures by employing bibliometrics and network analysis methods. A total of 833 publications from Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus have been collected in the time period of January 2008 to June 2018. We examine the descriptive features, countries’ contributions and collaboration networks, author collaboration networks and reference co-citation networks to identify actors with significant influence in this field. The results show that cryptocurrency research is experiencing exponential growth, but scientific collaborations between different countries and authors are still insufficient. The intellectual bases of the cryptocurrency domain rest on the early-year literatures that provide fundamental understandings for cryptocurrency, and that bridge different research fields. The analysis indicates that the current research trend focuses on cryptocurrency market analysis incorporating market behaviors and trading characteristics.
Abstract: Cryptocurrency, as an emerging social phenomenon, has attracted great research attentions and starts to form a new research area in the past decade. A thorough review of the existing cryptocurrency literatures helps us to understand the status-quo and the promising research future of this emerging field. This paper provides a systematic review of the cryptocurrency literatures by employing bibliometrics and network analysis methods. A total of 833 publications from Web of Science Core Collection and Scopus have been collected in the time period of January 2008 to June 2018. We examine the descriptive features, countries’ contributions and collaboration networks, author collaboration networks and reference co-citation networks to identify actors with significant influence in this field. The results show that cryptocurrency research is experiencing exponential growth, but scientific collaborations between different countries and authors are still insufficient. The intellectual bases of the cryptocurrency domain rest on the early-year literatures that provide fundamental understandings for cryptocurrency, and that bridge different research fields. The analysis indicates that the current research trend focuses on cryptocurrency market analysis incorporating market behaviors and trading characteristics.
Journal: Journal of Systems Science and Complexity
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Xiaochun Guo
Capitalizing on Translocal Affiliations: Configuring Capital in Returnee Entrepreneurship
Abstract: In this article, we examine how returnee entrepreneurs seek to capitalize on translocal affiliations by deploying different forms of capital in their business practices. Based on a case study of returnees in Ghana's creative industries, the article identifies three practices through which entrepreneurs configure capital to seize opportunities and deal with challenges of running a business as a returnee. The practice of compensating encompasses efforts at compensating for encountered obstacles in Ghana by taking advantage of unique translocal positions. Fusing involves creatively blending local and foreign aesthetics and business approaches, while switching implies adapting to social situations through changing bodily appearances and speech. The findings demonstrate that using capital back home is not merely a matter of transferring capital from abroad, but a translocal practice where capital is carefully configured. We highlight the importance of paying analytical attention to multiple sites of engagement and foreground African returnee entrepreneurs as transnational actors.
Abstract: In this article, we examine how returnee entrepreneurs seek to capitalize on translocal affiliations by deploying different forms of capital in their business practices. Based on a case study of returnees in Ghana's creative industries, the article identifies three practices through which entrepreneurs configure capital to seize opportunities and deal with challenges of running a business as a returnee. The practice of compensating encompasses efforts at compensating for encountered obstacles in Ghana by taking advantage of unique translocal positions. Fusing involves creatively blending local and foreign aesthetics and business approaches, while switching implies adapting to social situations through changing bodily appearances and speech. The findings demonstrate that using capital back home is not merely a matter of transferring capital from abroad, but a translocal practice where capital is carefully configured. We highlight the importance of paying analytical attention to multiple sites of engagement and foreground African returnee entrepreneurs as transnational actors.
Journal: Global Networks: A Journal of Transnational Affairs
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Amanda Haarman, Thilde Langevang
A Dynamic Model of Vaccine Compliance: How Fake News Undermined the Danish HPV Vaccine Program.
Abstract: Increased vaccine hesitancy presents challenges to public health and undermines efforts to eradicate diseases such as measles, rubella, and polio. The decline is partly attributed to misconceptions that are shared on social media, such as the debunked association between vaccines and autism. Perhaps, more damaging to vaccine uptake are cases where trusted mainstream media run stories that exaggerate the risks associated with vaccines. It is important to understand the underlying causes of vaccine refusal, because these may be prevented, or countered, in a timely manner by educational campaigns. In this article, we develop a dynamic model of vaccine compliance that can help pinpoint events that disrupted vaccine compliance. We apply the framework to Danish HPV vaccine data, which experienced a sharp decline in compliance following the broadcast of a controversial TV documentary, and we show that media coverage significantly predicts vaccine uptake.
Abstract: Increased vaccine hesitancy presents challenges to public health and undermines efforts to eradicate diseases such as measles, rubella, and polio. The decline is partly attributed to misconceptions that are shared on social media, such as the debunked association between vaccines and autism. Perhaps, more damaging to vaccine uptake are cases where trusted mainstream media run stories that exaggerate the risks associated with vaccines. It is important to understand the underlying causes of vaccine refusal, because these may be prevented, or countered, in a timely manner by educational campaigns. In this article, we develop a dynamic model of vaccine compliance that can help pinpoint events that disrupted vaccine compliance. We apply the framework to Danish HPV vaccine data, which experienced a sharp decline in compliance following the broadcast of a controversial TV documentary, and we show that media coverage significantly predicts vaccine uptake.
Journal: Journal of Business and Economic Statistics
Published: July 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Reinhard Hansen
Frontline Innovation in Times of Crisis: Learning from the Corona Virus Pandemic
Abstract: The current COVID-19 pandemic brings about dramatic challenges for frontline police officers and their organizations. This will, we argue, likely have two implications for frontline learning and innovation. First, the pandemic will surely occasion a surge of frontline improvisation and innovation in police organizations responding to the crisis as the experienced needs for new solutions dramatically increase. Secondly, but equally importantly, this wave of frontline innovation is likely to be more transparent than is typically the case for innovations developed in frontline police work, because of changes in formal mandates and informal tolerance for procedural deviance. At this moment of unusually widespread and transparent frontline innovation, we propose an approach to capturing and diffusing this frontline innovation. By taking seriously the unique dynamics of frontline innovation, such an approach is likely to capture valuable innovations that might otherwise rapidly dissipate and be lost.
Abstract: The current COVID-19 pandemic brings about dramatic challenges for frontline police officers and their organizations. This will, we argue, likely have two implications for frontline learning and innovation. First, the pandemic will surely occasion a surge of frontline improvisation and innovation in police organizations responding to the crisis as the experienced needs for new solutions dramatically increase. Secondly, but equally importantly, this wave of frontline innovation is likely to be more transparent than is typically the case for innovations developed in frontline police work, because of changes in formal mandates and informal tolerance for procedural deviance. At this moment of unusually widespread and transparent frontline innovation, we propose an approach to capturing and diffusing this frontline innovation. By taking seriously the unique dynamics of frontline innovation, such an approach is likely to capture valuable innovations that might otherwise rapidly dissipate and be lost.
Journal: Policing: a Journal of Policy and Practice
Published: July 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Mia R. K. Hartmann, Rasmus Koss Hartmann
Elites in Transnational Policy Networks
Abstract: In this framing article for the special issue we contrast the aims and ambitions of three core approaches to elites in transnational policy networks and highlight where they have productive overlaps. The core approaches employ three distinctive theoretical lenses in their investigations: fields, hegemony, and institutions. We discuss how these approaches trace elites in transnational policymaking and associated methods, such as network analysis, sequence analysis and field theory, which highlight different aspects of how elites in transnational policy networks operate. Most of the contributions are concerned with mapping out elite careers and why career trajectories matter for field and network positions in transnational policymaking. While the contributions share this in common, we highlight the different ways in which the approaches can be used to dissect the same issues. Our contributions include pieces on the Trump administration, the professional ecologies of transnational policy elites, the treatment of transboundary political problems, the characteristics of technocratic elites, the racial and gender composition of transnational elites, and professional competition over transnational policy issues.
Abstract: In this framing article for the special issue we contrast the aims and ambitions of three core approaches to elites in transnational policy networks and highlight where they have productive overlaps. The core approaches employ three distinctive theoretical lenses in their investigations: fields, hegemony, and institutions. We discuss how these approaches trace elites in transnational policymaking and associated methods, such as network analysis, sequence analysis and field theory, which highlight different aspects of how elites in transnational policy networks operate. Most of the contributions are concerned with mapping out elite careers and why career trajectories matter for field and network positions in transnational policymaking. While the contributions share this in common, we highlight the different ways in which the approaches can be used to dissect the same issues. Our contributions include pieces on the Trump administration, the professional ecologies of transnational policy elites, the treatment of transboundary political problems, the characteristics of technocratic elites, the racial and gender composition of transnational elites, and professional competition over transnational policy issues.
Journal: Global Networks
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Lasse Folke Henriksen, Leonard Seabrooke
Green Aspirations and (Un)sustainable Detours
Abstract: The participatory, public art project Istedgade Green Spots and Sustainable Detours wanted to engage several hundred local residents to take part in co-designing, implementing and sustaining multiple green oases in and around the street Istedgade in central Copenhagen. This article constitutes a qualitative, reflexive analysis of the processes of developing the artwork with a particular emphasis on the reasons why it failed to develop the ambitious project it originally envisioned. The article discusses the project through the lens of the new norms for artistic practice that have evolved within social practice art, a field of art with a particular sensitivity towards issues of invisibilities, inequalities and injustices and a strong activist dimension. While highlighting two key challenges affecting the success of the project, the article also raises the question of whether the short-term evaluation of the project constitutes an adequate measure for this type of intervention into urban development.
Abstract: The participatory, public art project Istedgade Green Spots and Sustainable Detours wanted to engage several hundred local residents to take part in co-designing, implementing and sustaining multiple green oases in and around the street Istedgade in central Copenhagen. This article constitutes a qualitative, reflexive analysis of the processes of developing the artwork with a particular emphasis on the reasons why it failed to develop the ambitious project it originally envisioned. The article discusses the project through the lens of the new norms for artistic practice that have evolved within social practice art, a field of art with a particular sensitivity towards issues of invisibilities, inequalities and injustices and a strong activist dimension. While highlighting two key challenges affecting the success of the project, the article also raises the question of whether the short-term evaluation of the project constitutes an adequate measure for this type of intervention into urban development.
Journal: Conjunctions : transdisciplinary journal of cultural participation
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Ditte Vilstrup Holm
The Self-perpetuating Student Loan Debt Crisis
Abstract: Student loan debt has grown quickly over the last decade to become the largest category of non-housing debt among American households. Several prominent politicians have advocated cancelling all student loan debt. In this paper I argue that the possibility of debt cancellation has made borrowers hesitant to pay back their debt, further exacerbating the crisis and leading to more political support for debt cancellation. In a simple calibration targeting the growth of student loan debt from 2003-2018, I find that the probability of student loan debt cancellation is 28.5%.
Abstract: Student loan debt has grown quickly over the last decade to become the largest category of non-housing debt among American households. Several prominent politicians have advocated cancelling all student loan debt. In this paper I argue that the possibility of debt cancellation has made borrowers hesitant to pay back their debt, further exacerbating the crisis and leading to more political support for debt cancellation. In a simple calibration targeting the growth of student loan debt from 2003-2018, I find that the probability of student loan debt cancellation is 28.5%.
Journal: Economics Bulletin
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: David Carson Jinkins
Blockchain Technology and the Allocation of Taxing Rights to Payments Related to Initial Coin Offerings
Abstract: The author explores one of the most debated technologies of recent times – blockchain technology – from an international tax perspective. The focus is on its main principles in its current stage and how the technology may create value in certain use cases. Being one of the most common use cases benefitting from the main principles of blockchain technology, it is analysed how capital raised through initial coin offerings and the investors’ return on their invested capital should be classified according to the OECD Model Tax Convention 2017. More specifically, emphasis is placed on classification of capital raised through the issuing of utility tokens, debt tokens, and equity tokens as well as the classification of return on investments in such tokens. Among other things, it is concluded: 1) that capital raised through the issuing of utility tokens in some initial coin offerings may be subject to a shared taxing right; 2) and that Article 21 of the OECD Model Tax Convention 2017 may, to a greater extent, be applicable with regards to the classification of the investors’ return on investment in tokens compared to return on more ‘traditional’ hybrid financial instruments. Against this background, the fundamental principles of legal certainty and neutrality are discussed. It is also recommended that policymakers provide guidance on the classification of capital raised through initial coin offerings and the investors’ return on their invested capital.
Abstract: The author explores one of the most debated technologies of recent times – blockchain technology – from an international tax perspective. The focus is on its main principles in its current stage and how the technology may create value in certain use cases. Being one of the most common use cases benefitting from the main principles of blockchain technology, it is analysed how capital raised through initial coin offerings and the investors’ return on their invested capital should be classified according to the OECD Model Tax Convention 2017. More specifically, emphasis is placed on classification of capital raised through the issuing of utility tokens, debt tokens, and equity tokens as well as the classification of return on investments in such tokens. Among other things, it is concluded: 1) that capital raised through the issuing of utility tokens in some initial coin offerings may be subject to a shared taxing right; 2) and that Article 21 of the OECD Model Tax Convention 2017 may, to a greater extent, be applicable with regards to the classification of the investors’ return on investment in tokens compared to return on more ‘traditional’ hybrid financial instruments. Against this background, the fundamental principles of legal certainty and neutrality are discussed. It is also recommended that policymakers provide guidance on the classification of capital raised through initial coin offerings and the investors’ return on their invested capital.
Journal: Intertax
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Louise Fjord Kjærsgaard
The Behavioral Ecology of Sex Tourism: The Consequences of Skewed Sex Ratios
Abstract: The operational sex ratio (i.e., the ratio of reproductive-age females to males in a population) shapes both animal and human behavior in important ways. Drawing on research in evolution and ecology, the author proposes that a local male-skewed sex ratio (i.e., a surplus of males) influences local men’s attitudes toward sex tourism. Analyzing historical field (study 1) and experimental data (study 2), the author demonstrates that male-skewed sex ratios increase men’s sex tourism rationalization and intent, while women’s predispositions are not sensitive to sex ratios. Sex tourism is explained as a subconscious ecological plasticity in response to perceived increased intensities of same-sex competition for mates, signaled by male-skewed sex ratios. The findings demonstrate a link between mating ecologies and sex tourism, with the latter serving as a compensatory behavior of same-sex mating competition. This research contributes a novel, biological perspective on sex tourism with implications for future research and practice.
Abstract: The operational sex ratio (i.e., the ratio of reproductive-age females to males in a population) shapes both animal and human behavior in important ways. Drawing on research in evolution and ecology, the author proposes that a local male-skewed sex ratio (i.e., a surplus of males) influences local men’s attitudes toward sex tourism. Analyzing historical field (study 1) and experimental data (study 2), the author demonstrates that male-skewed sex ratios increase men’s sex tourism rationalization and intent, while women’s predispositions are not sensitive to sex ratios. Sex tourism is explained as a subconscious ecological plasticity in response to perceived increased intensities of same-sex competition for mates, signaled by male-skewed sex ratios. The findings demonstrate a link between mating ecologies and sex tourism, with the latter serving as a compensatory behavior of same-sex mating competition. This research contributes a novel, biological perspective on sex tourism with implications for future research and practice.
Journal: Journal of Travel Research
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Florian Kock
Understanding the COVID-19 Tourist Psyche: The Evolutionary Tourism Paradigm
Abstract: Studies across the social sciences are making increasing use of an evolutionary perspective. Yet, despite its potential, the application of evolutionary psychology in tourism research is scant. Evolutionary psychology is arguably one of the most useful approaches to understanding the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the tourist's psyche. This research highlights, explains, and empirically demonstrates the vast untapped potential of this perspective for post-COVID-19 tourism research. The authors develop an Evolutionary Tourism Paradigm, which is based on biological epistemology and theory to address questions in post-COVID-19 tourism research. This paradigm is brought to life through a developed ocean and islands model, and its utility for future research endeavors on the Coronavirus pandemic is empirically demonstrated in two studies.
Abstract: Studies across the social sciences are making increasing use of an evolutionary perspective. Yet, despite its potential, the application of evolutionary psychology in tourism research is scant. Evolutionary psychology is arguably one of the most useful approaches to understanding the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic on the tourist's psyche. This research highlights, explains, and empirically demonstrates the vast untapped potential of this perspective for post-COVID-19 tourism research. The authors develop an Evolutionary Tourism Paradigm, which is based on biological epistemology and theory to address questions in post-COVID-19 tourism research. This paradigm is brought to life through a developed ocean and islands model, and its utility for future research endeavors on the Coronavirus pandemic is empirically demonstrated in two studies.
Journal: Annals of Tourism Research
Published: November 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Alexander Josiassen, Florian Kock
Reconceptualizing Job Control in Participatory Interventions: Collective Sensemaking as a Missing Link
Abstract: Participatory organizational-level interventions where employees are invited to voice suggestions for improving the work environment have been claimed to increase job control. However, empirical studies suggest that the relationship is conditional, and the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. To further our understanding, we highlight various weaknesses in current individuallevel conceptualizations of job control and argue that employees’ collective sensemaking relating to their job control is an important, yet overlooked factor. To demonstrate the principles of this sensemaking and how it shapes the participants’ engagement in the intervention, we analyze interactional data from an intervention with blue-collar employees. Based on this analysis, we discuss the implications of adopting a sensemaking perspective for research and practice.
Abstract: Participatory organizational-level interventions where employees are invited to voice suggestions for improving the work environment have been claimed to increase job control. However, empirical studies suggest that the relationship is conditional, and the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. To further our understanding, we highlight various weaknesses in current individuallevel conceptualizations of job control and argue that employees’ collective sensemaking relating to their job control is an important, yet overlooked factor. To demonstrate the principles of this sensemaking and how it shapes the participants’ engagement in the intervention, we analyze interactional data from an intervention with blue-collar employees. Based on this analysis, we discuss the implications of adopting a sensemaking perspective for research and practice.
Journal: Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Esben Langager Olsen, Christian Dyrlund Wåhlin-Jacobsen,
Kamp om anerkendelse versus kommunikativ handlen: En komparativ analyse af Praksisbegrebet i Honneths og Habermas’ politiske filosofi og politiske sociologi
Abstract: The concept of praxis is one of the most fundamental concepts in political philosophy and political sociology from Antiquity to our time.
Aristotle creates a concept of praxis, which is one of the fundamental concepts in political philosophy and political sociology. Hegel gives the concept a new formation with his concept of praxis as Sittlichkeut or Ehtical Life. Both Habermas and Honneth take their point of departure in the young Hegel's scriptures, when they try to formulated a new concept of praxis, which can be relevant for our time.
In a smart maneuver, Habermas places language as a substitute for Hegel's concept of the spirit. On this basis, Habermas succeedds in formulating a practical political philosophy, which can unite praxis and Ethical Life in a theory of communicative action. Habermas' political philosophy leads immediately to a political sociology, which ca be the basis ofor an empirical sociological exploration of the institutions of modern society.
Honneth is critical towards Habermas' linguistic form of political sociology. Honneth wants to sustain classical critical theory's sustantial perspective. He focusses on Hegel's concept of struggle for recognition, which he places in a modern democratic perspective. Honneths political sociology forms the basis for an empirical research in conflicts and violations in the institutions of society.
Abstract: The concept of praxis is one of the most fundamental concepts in political philosophy and political sociology from Antiquity to our time.
Aristotle creates a concept of praxis, which is one of the fundamental concepts in political philosophy and political sociology. Hegel gives the concept a new formation with his concept of praxis as Sittlichkeut or Ehtical Life. Both Habermas and Honneth take their point of departure in the young Hegel's scriptures, when they try to formulated a new concept of praxis, which can be relevant for our time.
In a smart maneuver, Habermas places language as a substitute for Hegel's concept of the spirit. On this basis, Habermas succeedds in formulating a practical political philosophy, which can unite praxis and Ethical Life in a theory of communicative action. Habermas' political philosophy leads immediately to a political sociology, which ca be the basis ofor an empirical sociological exploration of the institutions of modern society.
Honneth is critical towards Habermas' linguistic form of political sociology. Honneth wants to sustain classical critical theory's sustantial perspective. He focusses on Hegel's concept of struggle for recognition, which he places in a modern democratic perspective. Honneths political sociology forms the basis for an empirical research in conflicts and violations in the institutions of society.
Journal: Dansk Sociologi
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Øjvind Larsen
Mere moralisering end analyse i et biased kampskrift for DR
Abstract: Denne artikel analyserer en bog om Danmarks Radio skrevet af Christian 5. Nissen, tidligere genera/direktør for DR. Han argumenterer for, at danske politikere i deres styring af DR ikke har magtet at modvirke truslerne fra internationale medier som You Tube og Netflix, som ifølge ham vinder frem med unfair metoder. Dette mener han vil svække dansk sammenhold og kultur. I artiklen her argumenteres for, at hans bog er et biased partsind/æg for det gamle DR, som ikke selv har formået at komme ind i en ny medieverden. Selvom Nissen præsenterer sig som tidligere forsker og henviser til forskning, er hans brug heraf overfladisk eller forkert.
Abstract: Denne artikel analyserer en bog om Danmarks Radio skrevet af Christian 5. Nissen, tidligere genera/direktør for DR. Han argumenterer for, at danske politikere i deres styring af DR ikke har magtet at modvirke truslerne fra internationale medier som You Tube og Netflix, som ifølge ham vinder frem med unfair metoder. Dette mener han vil svække dansk sammenhold og kultur. I artiklen her argumenteres for, at hans bog er et biased partsind/æg for det gamle DR, som ikke selv har formået at komme ind i en ny medieverden. Selvom Nissen præsenterer sig som tidligere forsker og henviser til forskning, er hans brug heraf overfladisk eller forkert.
Journal: Økonomi og Politik
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Bøje Larsen
Sticky Security: The Collages of Tracking Device Advertising
Abstract: In security studies and beyond, technological developments are associated with technocratic, rationalistic, transparent forms of security governed from a distance. In much of the advertising of tracking devices the associations made are very different not to say opposed to this. The advertising composes security anchored in sensemaking and resonance rather than calculus and reason, working from within and below rather than from a above at distance and depending on the negotiation of opaque co-presences rather than the establishment of precision and transparency. The consequence is that advertising not only extends but also deepens the grip of military/security matters: making them sticky. Moreover, the heterogeneity of the elements is such that what is composed is a shifting collage rather than a stable composition. This argument makes a threefold contribution to security studies: a theoretical reconceptualisation of what it means to compose security, an empirical intervention in the debates surrounding the politics of tracking devices and a methodological intervention in favour of collaborationist research strategies.
Abstract: In security studies and beyond, technological developments are associated with technocratic, rationalistic, transparent forms of security governed from a distance. In much of the advertising of tracking devices the associations made are very different not to say opposed to this. The advertising composes security anchored in sensemaking and resonance rather than calculus and reason, working from within and below rather than from a above at distance and depending on the negotiation of opaque co-presences rather than the establishment of precision and transparency. The consequence is that advertising not only extends but also deepens the grip of military/security matters: making them sticky. Moreover, the heterogeneity of the elements is such that what is composed is a shifting collage rather than a stable composition. This argument makes a threefold contribution to security studies: a theoretical reconceptualisation of what it means to compose security, an empirical intervention in the debates surrounding the politics of tracking devices and a methodological intervention in favour of collaborationist research strategies.
Journal: European Journal of International Security
Published: October 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Anna Leander
How Should We Understand the Digital Economy in Asia? Critical Assessment and Research Agenda
Abstract: By Asian digital economy, we refer to high-tech developments, business and social transformations, and information-driven changes in the region’s growth. We discuss its background and foundations, significance in Asia and contribution to removal of historical barriers in traditional business. We assess how new value chains are transforming country-level involvement in worldwide manufacturing and note “smiling curve theory” predictions about the global value chain in Asia for high-tech firms and their economies. The takeaway is that the digital economy in Asian nations involves revamping business processes through technology innovation, government policies for growth, and digital entrepreneurship. We analyze the “digital economy and society index”, and attributes of nations, societies and economies, as a basis for framing our ideas. We consider research directions prompted by data analytics and AI, the platform economy, digital trade, fintech innovation, and societal and economic sustainability. We further highlight new issues in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abstract: By Asian digital economy, we refer to high-tech developments, business and social transformations, and information-driven changes in the region’s growth. We discuss its background and foundations, significance in Asia and contribution to removal of historical barriers in traditional business. We assess how new value chains are transforming country-level involvement in worldwide manufacturing and note “smiling curve theory” predictions about the global value chain in Asia for high-tech firms and their economies. The takeaway is that the digital economy in Asian nations involves revamping business processes through technology innovation, government policies for growth, and digital entrepreneurship. We analyze the “digital economy and society index”, and attributes of nations, societies and economies, as a basis for framing our ideas. We consider research directions prompted by data analytics and AI, the platform economy, digital trade, fintech innovation, and societal and economic sustainability. We further highlight new issues in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Journal: Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Robert J. Kauffman
Endogenous Testosterone is Associated with Increased Striatal Response to Audience Effects during Prosocial Choices
Abstract: The role of testosterone on cognitive functions in humans remains controversial. One recent hypothesis suggests that this steroid hormone advances social status. As being observed by others is known to modulate a range of behaviors because of image concerns, we hypothesized that such an audience effect might be an important component of status seeking that is under the control of testosterone. Thus, we investigated to which extent testosterone levels are associated with the effect of being observed during prosocial choices and the neural mechanisms underlying this effect. We enrolled twenty-four male participants, aged 22.47 ± 2.62 years, in an fMRI experiment to examine the relationship between testosterone levels and brain activity engaged in deciding whether to accept or reject monetary transfers to two types of organizations (a positively evaluated organization and a negatively evaluated organization) in presence or absence of an audience. When comparing the public to the private condition, the rate of acceptance increased for the positively evaluated organization, while the rate of rejection increased for the negatively evaluated one. Higher testosterone levels were linked to greater activation in the striatum in the public compared to the private condition, regardless of the organization type. These results indicate a relationship between testosterone levels and striatal activity induced by the audience effect. These findings provide new insights on the role of testosterone in human social behavior.
Abstract: The role of testosterone on cognitive functions in humans remains controversial. One recent hypothesis suggests that this steroid hormone advances social status. As being observed by others is known to modulate a range of behaviors because of image concerns, we hypothesized that such an audience effect might be an important component of status seeking that is under the control of testosterone. Thus, we investigated to which extent testosterone levels are associated with the effect of being observed during prosocial choices and the neural mechanisms underlying this effect. We enrolled twenty-four male participants, aged 22.47 ± 2.62 years, in an fMRI experiment to examine the relationship between testosterone levels and brain activity engaged in deciding whether to accept or reject monetary transfers to two types of organizations (a positively evaluated organization and a negatively evaluated organization) in presence or absence of an audience. When comparing the public to the private condition, the rate of acceptance increased for the positively evaluated organization, while the rate of rejection increased for the negatively evaluated one. Higher testosterone levels were linked to greater activation in the striatum in the public compared to the private condition, regardless of the organization type. These results indicate a relationship between testosterone levels and striatal activity induced by the audience effect. These findings provide new insights on the role of testosterone in human social behavior.
Journal: Psychoneuroendocrinology
Published: December 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Luigi Butera
The Swedish Aviation Tax: Some Initial Comments from a State Aid Perspectivs
Abstract: The article concerns the Swedish aviation tax which was introduced in 2018. A tax policy approach is applied to not only consider tax technicalities but also the ideals and goals of the tax from the perspective of the Swedish legislature. Resulting in an inclusion of not only legal aspects but also a consideration of how politics and economics influences the design of such a tax. The author concludes that there are several potential State aid problems with the present design of the tax, eg too low tax rates in order to fulfil its environmental policy objective, an exemption of transit and transfer passengers that distorts the competition between airlines and which is not justified or exempted from State aid rules.
Keywords: aviation taxes, fiscal State aid, emission offsetting, carbon offset, polluter pays principle, Sweden
Abstract: The article concerns the Swedish aviation tax which was introduced in 2018. A tax policy approach is applied to not only consider tax technicalities but also the ideals and goals of the tax from the perspective of the Swedish legislature. Resulting in an inclusion of not only legal aspects but also a consideration of how politics and economics influences the design of such a tax. The author concludes that there are several potential State aid problems with the present design of the tax, eg too low tax rates in order to fulfil its environmental policy objective, an exemption of transit and transfer passengers that distorts the competition between airlines and which is not justified or exempted from State aid rules.
Keywords: aviation taxes, fiscal State aid, emission offsetting, carbon offset, polluter pays principle, Sweden
Journal: European State Aid Law Quarterly
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Yvette Lind
Corporate Social Responsibility: A Supplier-centered Perspective
Abstract: This article develops a supplier-centered approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in global value chains (GVCs) by answering the research question: why are suppliers in the Global South that are integrated into GVCs often highly skeptical of CSR? As CSR constitutes a vague and contested term, we undertake a short review of some of the most dominant CSR conceptions that have emerged in the last 20 years. We argue that these CSR definitions are often framed and promoted by key actors in the Global North, the home of many lead firms, in ways that overlook the unique challenges and broader circumstances faced by suppliers and countries in the Global South. We conclude by combining the key considerations of local suppliers in a more consolidated supplier perspective on CSR in GVCs.
Abstract: This article develops a supplier-centered approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) in global value chains (GVCs) by answering the research question: why are suppliers in the Global South that are integrated into GVCs often highly skeptical of CSR? As CSR constitutes a vague and contested term, we undertake a short review of some of the most dominant CSR conceptions that have emerged in the last 20 years. We argue that these CSR definitions are often framed and promoted by key actors in the Global North, the home of many lead firms, in ways that overlook the unique challenges and broader circumstances faced by suppliers and countries in the Global South. We conclude by combining the key considerations of local suppliers in a more consolidated supplier perspective on CSR in GVCs.
Journal: Environment and Planning A
Published: November 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Lund-Thomsen
Does Foreign Capital Go Where the Returns Are? Financial Integration and Capital Allocation Efficiency
Abstract: This paper asks whether financial integration leads to a more efficient allocation of capital within economies. I build a model of a small economy with an investment and a consumption goods sector. Financial frictions impede capital from allocating optimally between the two sectors. Capital account opening has positive allocation effects if the economy is financially less developed than the rest of the world, but negative effects otherwise. I test the model predictions on a sample of 113 countries, using the relative price of consumption and investment goods as a measure of allocation efficiency. I find that international capital flows indeed have adverse effects in highly developed countries, whereas there is less evidence of positive effects in low-development countries. Overall, financial integration leads to more similar capital allocations across countries.
Abstract: This paper asks whether financial integration leads to a more efficient allocation of capital within economies. I build a model of a small economy with an investment and a consumption goods sector. Financial frictions impede capital from allocating optimally between the two sectors. Capital account opening has positive allocation effects if the economy is financially less developed than the rest of the world, but negative effects otherwise. I test the model predictions on a sample of 113 countries, using the relative price of consumption and investment goods as a measure of allocation efficiency. I find that international capital flows indeed have adverse effects in highly developed countries, whereas there is less evidence of positive effects in low-development countries. Overall, financial integration leads to more similar capital allocations across countries.
Journal: International Journal of Finance and Economics
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Katja Mann
Do not Miss the Boat to Outside-in Open Innovation: Enable Your Employees
Abstract: In a highly competitive business environment, firms are increasingly opening up to external partners and gathering their knowledge to improve internal innovation processes. Although researchers have found that outside-in open innovation (OI) has a multitude of positive outcomes (e.g., improved innovation performance), few have studied its antecedents, and especially the “softer” ones. Thus, this study aims to empirically examine three “softer” drivers of outside-in OI (i.e., entrepreneurial culture, OI support, and OI enablement), based on a cross-industry sample of 104 firms. The results show that the relationship between entrepreneurial culture and outside-in OI is fully and positively mediated by OI enablement, whereas the mediating role of OI support in such relationship is not significant. This implies that entrepreneurial culture is unlikely to increase the level of outside-in OI, unless firms enable their employees, through systematic training and the deployment of teams, to effectively gather relevant knowledge from external partners.
Abstract: In a highly competitive business environment, firms are increasingly opening up to external partners and gathering their knowledge to improve internal innovation processes. Although researchers have found that outside-in open innovation (OI) has a multitude of positive outcomes (e.g., improved innovation performance), few have studied its antecedents, and especially the “softer” ones. Thus, this study aims to empirically examine three “softer” drivers of outside-in OI (i.e., entrepreneurial culture, OI support, and OI enablement), based on a cross-industry sample of 104 firms. The results show that the relationship between entrepreneurial culture and outside-in OI is fully and positively mediated by OI enablement, whereas the mediating role of OI support in such relationship is not significant. This implies that entrepreneurial culture is unlikely to increase the level of outside-in OI, unless firms enable their employees, through systematic training and the deployment of teams, to effectively gather relevant knowledge from external partners.
Journal: Industrial Marketing Management
Published: November 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Stefan Markovic
Dynamics of Overt and Covert Conflict in Organizations: The Power of Organizational Identity
Abstract: Conflict in organizations takes many forms. However, most existing literature on organizational conflict focuses on overt forms of conflict expression and handling. While covert conflict exists and shapes the collective organizing of conflict in organizations, the relationship between overt and covert forms of conflict has not yet been well explicated. This article offers a novel perspective on the dynamics of overt and covert conflict in organizations by examining why some forms of conflict gain legitimacy over others. We present an ethnographic study of how the staff and management experienced everyday conflict at a Nordic aid agency that highly prized harmony and collaboration in the workplace and had therefore adopted a deliberate and logical approach to conflict. An affective underside of the organization, marked by subtle and suppressed conflict expression, however, alluded to an acknowledged organizational order that guided conflict interaction among members and kept the production together. To explain these organizational dynamics, we use narrative theory as an original and fertile perspective for studying both overt and covert forms of conflict and their interaction. This reveals an important feature of their relationship: they are intertextually linked through their relationship to the dominant organizational identity, which hegemonizes what is and what is not allowed to get into conflict over. From these findings, we develop a model of the structuring of overt and covert conflict through organizational identity, thus contributing to the organizational conflict literature.
Abstract: Conflict in organizations takes many forms. However, most existing literature on organizational conflict focuses on overt forms of conflict expression and handling. While covert conflict exists and shapes the collective organizing of conflict in organizations, the relationship between overt and covert forms of conflict has not yet been well explicated. This article offers a novel perspective on the dynamics of overt and covert conflict in organizations by examining why some forms of conflict gain legitimacy over others. We present an ethnographic study of how the staff and management experienced everyday conflict at a Nordic aid agency that highly prized harmony and collaboration in the workplace and had therefore adopted a deliberate and logical approach to conflict. An affective underside of the organization, marked by subtle and suppressed conflict expression, however, alluded to an acknowledged organizational order that guided conflict interaction among members and kept the production together. To explain these organizational dynamics, we use narrative theory as an original and fertile perspective for studying both overt and covert forms of conflict and their interaction. This reveals an important feature of their relationship: they are intertextually linked through their relationship to the dominant organizational identity, which hegemonizes what is and what is not allowed to get into conflict over. From these findings, we develop a model of the structuring of overt and covert conflict through organizational identity, thus contributing to the organizational conflict literature.
Journal: Group & Organization Management
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Elisabeth Naima Mikkelsen, Didde Maria Humle
Governing and Financing Affordable Housing at the Intersection of the Market and the State: Denmark’s Private Non-profit Housing System
Abstract: Denmark’s private non-profit housing (almene boliger) sector provides affordable housing and social housing and is capable of being self-governing and self-financing. We examine the private non-profit housing sector’s governance and financing model and assess the extent to which its institutional framework and revolving funds model allow it to serve as a role model for the development of affordable housing in other countries and cities. The paper concludes that while Denmark’s private non-profit housing system has succeeded in providing affordable housing with relatively low levels of public financing, its exposure to state intervention risks weakening its governance and financial power.
Abstract: Denmark’s private non-profit housing (almene boliger) sector provides affordable housing and social housing and is capable of being self-governing and self-financing. We examine the private non-profit housing sector’s governance and financing model and assess the extent to which its institutional framework and revolving funds model allow it to serve as a role model for the development of affordable housing in other countries and cities. The paper concludes that while Denmark’s private non-profit housing system has succeeded in providing affordable housing with relatively low levels of public financing, its exposure to state intervention risks weakening its governance and financial power.
Journal: Urban Research & Practice
Published: August 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Luise Noring
Determinants of Tourism Small and Medium Enterprises Financial Performance
Abstract: This study develops and tests a structural model that incorporates the determinants of SME financial performance in Mauritius. Data were collected from 384 tourism SME owners using a structured questionnaire. The results indicate that managerial capability has a significant positive effect on SME performance and is in turn influenced by managers’ autonomy and competence. The study does find a significant relationship between innovation capability and SME performance. Given the socio-economic importance of SMEs to the Mauritian economy, the results provide crucial information to government and policy-makers that can used to develop macro-economic policies that increase their contribution to the socio-economic development of the country. For entrepreneurs, the study provides insights on areas of interventions that can lead to an improvement in the financial performance of their organisations. Despite the study limitations, it contributes to a theoretical understanding of the determinants of financial performance in African economies.
Abstract: This study develops and tests a structural model that incorporates the determinants of SME financial performance in Mauritius. Data were collected from 384 tourism SME owners using a structured questionnaire. The results indicate that managerial capability has a significant positive effect on SME performance and is in turn influenced by managers’ autonomy and competence. The study does find a significant relationship between innovation capability and SME performance. Given the socio-economic importance of SMEs to the Mauritian economy, the results provide crucial information to government and policy-makers that can used to develop macro-economic policies that increase their contribution to the socio-economic development of the country. For entrepreneurs, the study provides insights on areas of interventions that can lead to an improvement in the financial performance of their organisations. Despite the study limitations, it contributes to a theoretical understanding of the determinants of financial performance in African economies.
Journal: Development Southern Africa
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Robin Nunkoo
When Is a Contract Considered Unreasonable according to Danish Law? The Application of Section 36 Through 45 Years of Case Law
Abstract: Most jurisdictions have different types of relief rules in the event that a contract is considered unreasonable. Danish law contains a general clause, section 36 of the Contracts Act, which makes it possible to either wholly or partially set aside a contract if the contract is considered unreasonable. It is even possible to amend the contract if the equilibrium of the contract is fundamentally affected. The wording of section 36 is quite similar to the provisions with the same scope in other Nordic countries. However, the section does not define when a contract is considered unreasonable. Thus, in order to understand the scope and range of the legal standard in section 36, it is a prerequisite to have an insight into the comprehensive case law applying it in Denmark. The section has been in force for 45 years and when we take the vast amount of case law into consideration, it is possible to deduce the additional considerations developed throughout the years by the Danish courts. This will help us decide – at least to some extent – when a contract might be considered unreasonable. Thus, the aim of the article is twofold. First, and most importantly, we address the additional considerations developed through case law to establish prevailing law. Second, we briefly discuss the application of other types of relief rules compared to the application of section 36
Abstract: Most jurisdictions have different types of relief rules in the event that a contract is considered unreasonable. Danish law contains a general clause, section 36 of the Contracts Act, which makes it possible to either wholly or partially set aside a contract if the contract is considered unreasonable. It is even possible to amend the contract if the equilibrium of the contract is fundamentally affected. The wording of section 36 is quite similar to the provisions with the same scope in other Nordic countries. However, the section does not define when a contract is considered unreasonable. Thus, in order to understand the scope and range of the legal standard in section 36, it is a prerequisite to have an insight into the comprehensive case law applying it in Denmark. The section has been in force for 45 years and when we take the vast amount of case law into consideration, it is possible to deduce the additional considerations developed throughout the years by the Danish courts. This will help us decide – at least to some extent – when a contract might be considered unreasonable. Thus, the aim of the article is twofold. First, and most importantly, we address the additional considerations developed through case law to establish prevailing law. Second, we briefly discuss the application of other types of relief rules compared to the application of section 36
Journal: European Review of Private Law
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Kim Østergaard
Toward Collaborative Cross-sector Business Models for Sustainability
Abstract: Sustainability challenges typically occur across sectoral boundaries, calling the state, market, and civil society to action. Although consensus exists on the merits of cross-sector collaboration, our understanding of whether and how it can create value for various, collaborating stakeholders is still limited. This special issue focuses on how new combined knowledge on cross-sector collaboration and business models for sustainability can inform the academic and practitioner debates about sustainability challenges and solutions. We discuss how cross-sector collaboration can play an important role for the transition to new and potentially sustainability-driven business models given that value creation, delivery, and capture of organizations are intimately related to the collaborative ties with their stakeholders. Sustainable alternatives to conventional business models tend to adopt a more holistic perspective of business by broadening the spectrum of solutions and stakeholders and, when aligned with cross-sector collaboration, can contribute new ways of addressing the wicked sustainability problems humanity faces.
Abstract: Sustainability challenges typically occur across sectoral boundaries, calling the state, market, and civil society to action. Although consensus exists on the merits of cross-sector collaboration, our understanding of whether and how it can create value for various, collaborating stakeholders is still limited. This special issue focuses on how new combined knowledge on cross-sector collaboration and business models for sustainability can inform the academic and practitioner debates about sustainability challenges and solutions. We discuss how cross-sector collaboration can play an important role for the transition to new and potentially sustainability-driven business models given that value creation, delivery, and capture of organizations are intimately related to the collaborative ties with their stakeholders. Sustainable alternatives to conventional business models tend to adopt a more holistic perspective of business by broadening the spectrum of solutions and stakeholders and, when aligned with cross-sector collaboration, can contribute new ways of addressing the wicked sustainability problems humanity faces.
Journal: Business & Society
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Esben Rahbek Gjerdrum Pedersen
A Response to Anna Kristina Hultgren’s Position Paper
Abstract: I am grateful to Anna Kristina Hultgren for launching a debate on these important issues, and giving me an opportunity to contribute. Hultgren’s argument suffers, in my view, from a failure to define global English stringently or even to specify what specific characteristics of the use of the language she is most concerned about. Her essay raises many important issues, but each is in brief summary form. It strikes me as academic discourse that remains detached from the existential challenges that most work in language education and language policy engages in. What Hultgren refers to as applied linguistics (which is inexplicably capitalised, unlike other disciplines that the text refers to) is not rigorously specified. Nor is social justice exemplified or defined. Some of her argumentation consists, in my view, of dubious over-generalisations—which I will exemplify—embedded within pretty robust denunciations of applied linguists who are caricatured as out to ‘save’ and ‘salvage’ the world, no less!
Abstract: I am grateful to Anna Kristina Hultgren for launching a debate on these important issues, and giving me an opportunity to contribute. Hultgren’s argument suffers, in my view, from a failure to define global English stringently or even to specify what specific characteristics of the use of the language she is most concerned about. Her essay raises many important issues, but each is in brief summary form. It strikes me as academic discourse that remains detached from the existential challenges that most work in language education and language policy engages in. What Hultgren refers to as applied linguistics (which is inexplicably capitalised, unlike other disciplines that the text refers to) is not rigorously specified. Nor is social justice exemplified or defined. Some of her argumentation consists, in my view, of dubious over-generalisations—which I will exemplify—embedded within pretty robust denunciations of applied linguists who are caricatured as out to ‘save’ and ‘salvage’ the world, no less!
Journal: Nordic Journal of English Studies
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Robert Phillipson
Histories of Business and the Everyday
Abstract: Pending
Abstract: Pending
Journal: Enterprise & Society
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Andrew Popp
Ledelse og tårer: Ledelsessubjektivitet på kanten af det individuelle
Abstract: Denne artikel starter i et ledelsesseminar, hvor en gruppe af ledere skal arbejde med et koncept, der hedder Defensive Rutiner. Da en leder skal berette om en situation, hvor hun følte sig defensiv, bryder hun pludselig sammen i gråd. Artiklen zoomer ind på netop dette øjeblik og følger, hvordan tårerne skabte et særligt affektivt stemt rum, hvor lederne tillod sig selv at overveje og diskutere de politiske konsekvenser af de krav, der stilles til dem.
Jeg bruger begrebet affekt til at læse mit empiriske materiale. Mere specifikt trækker jeg på Teresa Brennans ide om at affekter kan cirkulere mellem mennesker og får dermed en forståelse af, at individer ikke er helt så autonome eller affektivt isolerede fra deres omverden, som meget ledelseslitteratur lægger op til. Ved at dvæle analytisk i et særligt intenst øjeblik i et større datamateriale, udfolder artiklen, hvordan affekter kan resonere mellem kroppe, samt hvordan der indimellem kan opstå andre mere trans-subjektive måder at tænke, forstå og forholde sig til de forandringer, mange pædagogiske organisationer står midt i.
Abstract: Denne artikel starter i et ledelsesseminar, hvor en gruppe af ledere skal arbejde med et koncept, der hedder Defensive Rutiner. Da en leder skal berette om en situation, hvor hun følte sig defensiv, bryder hun pludselig sammen i gråd. Artiklen zoomer ind på netop dette øjeblik og følger, hvordan tårerne skabte et særligt affektivt stemt rum, hvor lederne tillod sig selv at overveje og diskutere de politiske konsekvenser af de krav, der stilles til dem.
Jeg bruger begrebet affekt til at læse mit empiriske materiale. Mere specifikt trækker jeg på Teresa Brennans ide om at affekter kan cirkulere mellem mennesker og får dermed en forståelse af, at individer ikke er helt så autonome eller affektivt isolerede fra deres omverden, som meget ledelseslitteratur lægger op til. Ved at dvæle analytisk i et særligt intenst øjeblik i et større datamateriale, udfolder artiklen, hvordan affekter kan resonere mellem kroppe, samt hvordan der indimellem kan opstå andre mere trans-subjektive måder at tænke, forstå og forholde sig til de forandringer, mange pædagogiske organisationer står midt i.
Journal: Lederliv
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Justine Grønbæk Pors
Why Users Comply with Wearables: The Role of Contextual Self-efficacy in Behavioral Change
Abstract: Wearables provide great opportunities for improving personal health, but research challenges their capacity to evoke behavioral change effectively. Realizing the full potential of wearables requires a better understanding of users’ behavior change processes. Based on self-efficacy theory, we investigate how wearables influence users’ perceptions of their self-efficacy and subsequent health behavior. Using narrative interviews with twenty-five long-term wearable users, we show that wearables can have both positive and negative effects on users’ perceptions of their self-efficacy and that these perceptions are subject to internal and external contexts, which can positively or negatively affect users’ compliance. We also find that the internal context may have a compounding or neutralizing effect on self-efficacy, despite an adverse external context. Our study shows the contextual and transient nature of self-efficacy, thus contributing to self-efficacy theory and research on wearables and offering practical design implications.
Abstract: Wearables provide great opportunities for improving personal health, but research challenges their capacity to evoke behavioral change effectively. Realizing the full potential of wearables requires a better understanding of users’ behavior change processes. Based on self-efficacy theory, we investigate how wearables influence users’ perceptions of their self-efficacy and subsequent health behavior. Using narrative interviews with twenty-five long-term wearable users, we show that wearables can have both positive and negative effects on users’ perceptions of their self-efficacy and that these perceptions are subject to internal and external contexts, which can positively or negatively affect users’ compliance. We also find that the internal context may have a compounding or neutralizing effect on self-efficacy, despite an adverse external context. Our study shows the contextual and transient nature of self-efficacy, thus contributing to self-efficacy theory and research on wearables and offering practical design implications.
Journal: International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Christiane Lehrer
Outcome-based Contracting From the Customers' Perspective: A Means-end Chain Analytical Exploration
Abstract: Within the context of servitization, manufacturing firms increasingly offer outcome-based contracts (OBCs) which sell the outcome of a manufacturing process instead of the resources required for outcome creation. While extant studies have focused on the provider's viewpoint, this research explores industrial customers' requirements and goals when sourcing OBCs. We report the results of laddering interviews with purchasing and engineering managers from 32 actual and potential OBC customers. Based on a means-end chain analysis we find that, in addition to organizational goals, such as reducing costs or ensuring reliable supply, individual goals of the decision-makers also play a key role when purchasing OBCs. Specifically, the risk of being held accountable for problems that may occur in an OBC's implementation and operation emerges as an important concern of decision-makers. In contrast to extant research, that highlights how OBCs transfer operational risk from the customer to the supplier firm, our study indicates that customers also perceive elevated levels of individual and organizational risk when making OBC purchase decisions. Against this backdrop, OBC salespeople should address both individual and organizational goals of key decision-makers in the customer firm and focus on building trust in the supplier's ability to realize and operate an OBC.
Abstract: Within the context of servitization, manufacturing firms increasingly offer outcome-based contracts (OBCs) which sell the outcome of a manufacturing process instead of the resources required for outcome creation. While extant studies have focused on the provider's viewpoint, this research explores industrial customers' requirements and goals when sourcing OBCs. We report the results of laddering interviews with purchasing and engineering managers from 32 actual and potential OBC customers. Based on a means-end chain analysis we find that, in addition to organizational goals, such as reducing costs or ensuring reliable supply, individual goals of the decision-makers also play a key role when purchasing OBCs. Specifically, the risk of being held accountable for problems that may occur in an OBC's implementation and operation emerges as an important concern of decision-makers. In contrast to extant research, that highlights how OBCs transfer operational risk from the customer to the supplier firm, our study indicates that customers also perceive elevated levels of individual and organizational risk when making OBC purchase decisions. Against this backdrop, OBC salespeople should address both individual and organizational goals of key decision-makers in the customer firm and focus on building trust in the supplier's ability to realize and operate an OBC.
Journal: Industrial Marketing Management
Published: July 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Tobias Schaefers
A General Income Inclusion Rule as a Tool for Improving the International Tax Regime: Challenges Arising from EU Primary Law
Abstract: The overall concept of the OECD’s Global Anti-Base Erosion Proposal is to develop a coordinated set of rules to address ongoing risks from profit shifting and to curb international tax competition. Two important components of the proposal are the income inclusion rule and the switch-over rule and, in this article, these components are examined in consideration of EU primary law. Depending on the final design of the rules, it is concluded that the proposed income inclusion rule – however, probably not the switch-over rule – may end up restricting the fundamental freedoms by treating comparable situations differently. Against that background, a number of policy options for designing the income inclusion rule in accordance with primary EU law requirements are presented, and pros and cons of these design options are discussed.
Abstract: The overall concept of the OECD’s Global Anti-Base Erosion Proposal is to develop a coordinated set of rules to address ongoing risks from profit shifting and to curb international tax competition. Two important components of the proposal are the income inclusion rule and the switch-over rule and, in this article, these components are examined in consideration of EU primary law. Depending on the final design of the rules, it is concluded that the proposed income inclusion rule – however, probably not the switch-over rule – may end up restricting the fundamental freedoms by treating comparable situations differently. Against that background, a number of policy options for designing the income inclusion rule in accordance with primary EU law requirements are presented, and pros and cons of these design options are discussed.
Journal: Intertax
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Peter Koerver Schmidt
The Nomos of the Freeport
Abstract: This article provides a genealogy of the freeport, which are tax-free warehouse facilities for collectors and investors to store artwork and other luxury collectibles in a way that exempts them from customs duties and taxes. The case of the freeport raises questions about the fate of art in neoliberal wealth management regimes, but also questions about the geopolitical and spatial nature of financialized capitalism. The article works with Carl Schmitt’s theory of the spatial framing of political–economic orders around the juxtaposition of land and sea and shows that freeports detach themselves from this oppositional logic. Further, we propose that a full understanding of the freeport as space–time arrangement needs to take recourse to a particular medieval theological concept, namely that of purgatory. Based on this interpretative framework, we argue that mobility-oriented sociological concepts are insufficient to grasp the nature of the freeport.
Abstract: This article provides a genealogy of the freeport, which are tax-free warehouse facilities for collectors and investors to store artwork and other luxury collectibles in a way that exempts them from customs duties and taxes. The case of the freeport raises questions about the fate of art in neoliberal wealth management regimes, but also questions about the geopolitical and spatial nature of financialized capitalism. The article works with Carl Schmitt’s theory of the spatial framing of political–economic orders around the juxtaposition of land and sea and shows that freeports detach themselves from this oppositional logic. Further, we propose that a full understanding of the freeport as space–time arrangement needs to take recourse to a particular medieval theological concept, namely that of purgatory. Based on this interpretative framework, we argue that mobility-oriented sociological concepts are insufficient to grasp the nature of the freeport.
Journal: Environment and Planning D: Society and Space
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Stefan Schwarzkopf
Voluntarism: Promises of Proximity as Articulated by Changing Moral Elites
Abstract: The article analyzes the varied meanings historically associated with concepts of voluntarism in relation to social relief as they were articulated by changing moral elites in Denmark from the late nineteenth century until the present. Concepts of voluntarism have historically constituted “normative counterconcepts” that link voluntary practices to desired futures in opposition to alternative modes of organizing. The “proximity” of voluntarism vis-à-vis the “distance” of the state has always been a core meaning, but the concept has drifted across the political spectrum from its first articulation by nineteenth-century conservative Christians to its rediscovery by leftist social researchers in the late twentieth century. Paradoxically, the welfare state helped “proximity” become a core meaning, in contrast to its original social-conservative meaning emphasizing proximity and distance.
Abstract: The article analyzes the varied meanings historically associated with concepts of voluntarism in relation to social relief as they were articulated by changing moral elites in Denmark from the late nineteenth century until the present. Concepts of voluntarism have historically constituted “normative counterconcepts” that link voluntary practices to desired futures in opposition to alternative modes of organizing. The “proximity” of voluntarism vis-à-vis the “distance” of the state has always been a core meaning, but the concept has drifted across the political spectrum from its first articulation by nineteenth-century conservative Christians to its rediscovery by leftist social researchers in the late twentieth century. Paradoxically, the welfare state helped “proximity” become a core meaning, in contrast to its original social-conservative meaning emphasizing proximity and distance.
Journal: Contributions to the History of Concepts
Published: December 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Anders Sevelsted
Indian Travellers’ Adoption of Airbnb Platform
Abstract: Much of the existing scholarly debate on sharing economy to date has focused on the use of technology in developed countries. However, the recent upsurge of mobile technology adoption in developing countries has provided suitable breeding ground for sharing economy. The lack of native theories in tourism and hospitality sector with scare utilization of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) provide necessity for this research. This study adapted meta-UTAUT model as theoretical lens and extended the model with hedonic motivation, trust, and self-efficacy. Based on data from 301 potential Indian consumers, the results underscored the central role of attitude that significantly mediated the effects of effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions on consumer intention to use Airbnb. Meanwhile, performance expectancy emerged as significant direct determinant of intention alongside attitude, trust, and self-efficacy. The proposed model explained as much as 65% variance on Indian consumer’s intention to use Airbnb.
Abstract: Much of the existing scholarly debate on sharing economy to date has focused on the use of technology in developed countries. However, the recent upsurge of mobile technology adoption in developing countries has provided suitable breeding ground for sharing economy. The lack of native theories in tourism and hospitality sector with scare utilization of unified theory of acceptance and use of technology (UTAUT) provide necessity for this research. This study adapted meta-UTAUT model as theoretical lens and extended the model with hedonic motivation, trust, and self-efficacy. Based on data from 301 potential Indian consumers, the results underscored the central role of attitude that significantly mediated the effects of effort expectancy, social influence, and facilitating conditions on consumer intention to use Airbnb. Meanwhile, performance expectancy emerged as significant direct determinant of intention alongside attitude, trust, and self-efficacy. The proposed model explained as much as 65% variance on Indian consumer’s intention to use Airbnb.
Journal: Information Systems Frontiers
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Robin Nunkoo
Climate Public Private Partnerships in the EU: A Climate Law and Economic Perspective
Abstract: This article analyses Climate Public Private Partnerships in the light of EU climate law and includes an economic perspective to explain the objectives and efficiency behind Climate Public Private Partnerships. Climate Public Private Partnerships are regulated by EU public procurement law for which reason the legal cross field between EU climate law and EU public procurement law is analysed to evaluate how EU law supports Climate Public Private Partnerships. Furthermore, the article includes game theory as an instrument to assess Climate Public Private Partnerships under EU law. The article concludes that EU law does not include the sufficient legal support to provide efficient Climate Public Private Partnerships as a tool to reach Europe's climate goals.
Abstract: This article analyses Climate Public Private Partnerships in the light of EU climate law and includes an economic perspective to explain the objectives and efficiency behind Climate Public Private Partnerships. Climate Public Private Partnerships are regulated by EU public procurement law for which reason the legal cross field between EU climate law and EU public procurement law is analysed to evaluate how EU law supports Climate Public Private Partnerships. Furthermore, the article includes game theory as an instrument to assess Climate Public Private Partnerships under EU law. The article concludes that EU law does not include the sufficient legal support to provide efficient Climate Public Private Partnerships as a tool to reach Europe's climate goals.
Journal: European Procurement & Public Private Partnership Law Review
Published: 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Christina D. Tvarnø
The Paradox of Surprise: Empirical Evidence about Surprising Gifts Received and Given by Close Relations
Abstract: Purpose: This study aims to explore surprising gifts received and given by close relations to identify the variables involved in creating surprising gifts. The analysis of the viewpoints of the giver and the recipient, reflecting their profiles, leads to recommendations for retailers.
Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory, small-scale, open-ended questionnaire (48 respondents) produces 43 (38) accounts of surprising gifts given (received), informed further by in-depth interviews (eight informants, both givers and recipients of surprising gifts).
Findings: This study identifies and elaborates on the variables (why, when, what, where, who and how, and their combinations) that define surprising gift giving, from both giver and recipient perspectives. The findings indicate a paradox: even if givers or recipients prefer a surprising gift, they might give or wish for an unsurprising gift to avoid disappointment.
Research limitations/implications: Further research should confirm the findings using representative samples. Moreover, gender differences in surprising gift giving should be investigated further. Finally, the exact characteristics and properties that make common objects potential candidates for successful surprising gifts should be studied further.
Practical implications: The discussion has relevant implications for manufacturers and retailers. For example, if recipients are surprised, happy and satisfied, they likely exhibit higher brand recall. The recipient's (happy versus not happy) emotions also have spillover effects on the giver's. Thus, retailers should provide assistance in the store and advertise their salespeople as experts who can offer advice about selecting appropriate gifts. The exact characteristics and properties that make common objects potential candidates for successful surprising gifts should be studied further.
Originality/value: The systematic account of all six variables, not previously analyzed in the literature, provides rich insights into surprising gift giving. The discussion of the study of givers and recipients supplements these insights.
Abstract: Purpose: This study aims to explore surprising gifts received and given by close relations to identify the variables involved in creating surprising gifts. The analysis of the viewpoints of the giver and the recipient, reflecting their profiles, leads to recommendations for retailers.
Design/methodology/approach: An exploratory, small-scale, open-ended questionnaire (48 respondents) produces 43 (38) accounts of surprising gifts given (received), informed further by in-depth interviews (eight informants, both givers and recipients of surprising gifts).
Findings: This study identifies and elaborates on the variables (why, when, what, where, who and how, and their combinations) that define surprising gift giving, from both giver and recipient perspectives. The findings indicate a paradox: even if givers or recipients prefer a surprising gift, they might give or wish for an unsurprising gift to avoid disappointment.
Research limitations/implications: Further research should confirm the findings using representative samples. Moreover, gender differences in surprising gift giving should be investigated further. Finally, the exact characteristics and properties that make common objects potential candidates for successful surprising gifts should be studied further.
Practical implications: The discussion has relevant implications for manufacturers and retailers. For example, if recipients are surprised, happy and satisfied, they likely exhibit higher brand recall. The recipient's (happy versus not happy) emotions also have spillover effects on the giver's. Thus, retailers should provide assistance in the store and advertise their salespeople as experts who can offer advice about selecting appropriate gifts. The exact characteristics and properties that make common objects potential candidates for successful surprising gifts should be studied further.
Originality/value: The systematic account of all six variables, not previously analyzed in the literature, provides rich insights into surprising gift giving. The discussion of the study of givers and recipients supplements these insights.
Journal: European Journal of Marketing
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Adam Lindgreen
How Firms Undertake Organizational Changes to Shift to More-exploratory Strategies: A Process Perspective
Abstract: Firms’ organization of exploratory research has interested scholars of both research policy and organization theory, yet we still know too little about how firms undertake organizational changes to shift to more-exploratory strategies. Adopting a process perspective, we explore this question through a longitudinal, comparative case study of a Danish pharmaceutical firm and a French-Italian semiconductor firm. We demonstrate how firms adjust their organizational structures to increase exploration, a process of constantly addressing countervailing organizational and interorganizational demands by deploying, combining, and changing balancing mechanisms at the organizational and managerial levels. Moreover, our findings show that firms’ different organizational structures affect their adaptations to exploratory outcomes. These findings advance theory because they illuminate the dynamic interplay between firms’ adjustments of organizational structures and their movements toward more exploration. We use a recursive process model to theorize our findings.
Abstract: Firms’ organization of exploratory research has interested scholars of both research policy and organization theory, yet we still know too little about how firms undertake organizational changes to shift to more-exploratory strategies. Adopting a process perspective, we explore this question through a longitudinal, comparative case study of a Danish pharmaceutical firm and a French-Italian semiconductor firm. We demonstrate how firms adjust their organizational structures to increase exploration, a process of constantly addressing countervailing organizational and interorganizational demands by deploying, combining, and changing balancing mechanisms at the organizational and managerial levels. Moreover, our findings show that firms’ different organizational structures affect their adaptations to exploratory outcomes. These findings advance theory because they illuminate the dynamic interplay between firms’ adjustments of organizational structures and their movements toward more exploration. We use a recursive process model to theorize our findings.
Journal: Research Policy
Published: January 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Jane Bjørn Vedel
Balancing Conflicting Goals in Interorganizational Collaborations in the Pharmaceutical Industry: A Contractual Dynamics View
Abstract: This study examines how contractual dynamics allow company managers to balance conflicting goals in interorganizational collaborations. While the literature on contractual governance has mainly investigated single contracts through a static view, this paper advances a ‘contractual dynamics view’ to explore how the dynamics of related contracts allow managers to balance conflicting goals in interorganizational collaborations. The study involves a longitudinal case study of a collaboration among a pharmaceutical company, a biotech firm, a foundation, and a university. Exploring contractual dynamics from the perspective of the pharmaceutical company's managers, the study finds that related contracts allowed them to balance goals through an unfolding process of differentiating and integrating goals and responding to changing goals. By presenting a ‘contractual dynamics view,’ the study advances understanding of contractual governance and offers implications for management.
Abstract: This study examines how contractual dynamics allow company managers to balance conflicting goals in interorganizational collaborations. While the literature on contractual governance has mainly investigated single contracts through a static view, this paper advances a ‘contractual dynamics view’ to explore how the dynamics of related contracts allow managers to balance conflicting goals in interorganizational collaborations. The study involves a longitudinal case study of a collaboration among a pharmaceutical company, a biotech firm, a foundation, and a university. Exploring contractual dynamics from the perspective of the pharmaceutical company's managers, the study finds that related contracts allowed them to balance goals through an unfolding process of differentiating and integrating goals and responding to changing goals. By presenting a ‘contractual dynamics view,’ the study advances understanding of contractual governance and offers implications for management.
Journal: European Management Review
Published: September 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Jane Bjørn Vedel
Understanding Manager Resistance to Blockchain Systems
Abstract: Blockchain technology has received much attention in the media and there is an increasing interest amongst organizations within financial services due to the potential benefits. As blockchain-based systems are a nascent technology, the requirements of the technology need to be understood, to allow blockchain systems to be successfully integrated within financial service organizations. There are gaps in academic research in understanding how managers evaluate the value of a blockchain-based system. This study develops a model to explain manager resistance to implementing blockchain-based systems in financial services organizations. This research advances the theoretical understanding of managers’ perspectives on blockchain-based systems and models their resistance to blockchain technology.
Abstract: Blockchain technology has received much attention in the media and there is an increasing interest amongst organizations within financial services due to the potential benefits. As blockchain-based systems are a nascent technology, the requirements of the technology need to be understood, to allow blockchain systems to be successfully integrated within financial service organizations. There are gaps in academic research in understanding how managers evaluate the value of a blockchain-based system. This study develops a model to explain manager resistance to implementing blockchain-based systems in financial services organizations. This research advances the theoretical understanding of managers’ perspectives on blockchain-based systems and models their resistance to blockchain technology.
Journal: European Management Journal
Published: October 2020
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Contact CBS researcher: Rob Gleasure
Decoupling Accountability and Liability: Case Study on the Interim Measures for the Opening of Public Data in Shanghai
Abstract: As open public data initiatives have become prevalent among local and national governments across the globe with promises of benefits such as increased accountability, challenges, especially the governments’ lack of willingness to open public data, have also begun to emerge. Existing governance research on open public data primarily focuses on how open public data can increase the accountability of public bodies. The important steps in achieving accountability are, however, ignored. In this paper, we view the perceived risk of liability as a barrier for the public bodies to disclose their data in the first place, and hence to achieve accountability as a desired outcome. We explore the link between perceived risk of liability and accountability by looking into the recently announced Interim Measures for the Opening of Public Data in Shanghai as an example of a local regulatory initiative of open public data. Our findings show that by identifying the specific data entities and outlining their corresponding duties, the interim measures clarify the roles of different public bodies and under what conditions they can incur liability. By introducing an exemption clause, they also provide public bodies with legal flexibility to cope with uncertain consequences of data utilization. In this way, we argue that the interim measures, outlining duties for specific entities in data opening in accounting for the consequences of data utilization while remaining flexible due to their temporality, constitute a novel regulatory approach towards reducing the legal uncertainty around perceived risks of liability in the area of open public data, hence potentially contributing to increased accountability.
Abstract: As open public data initiatives have become prevalent among local and national governments across the globe with promises of benefits such as increased accountability, challenges, especially the governments’ lack of willingness to open public data, have also begun to emerge. Existing governance research on open public data primarily focuses on how open public data can increase the accountability of public bodies. The important steps in achieving accountability are, however, ignored. In this paper, we view the perceived risk of liability as a barrier for the public bodies to disclose their data in the first place, and hence to achieve accountability as a desired outcome. We explore the link between perceived risk of liability and accountability by looking into the recently announced Interim Measures for the Opening of Public Data in Shanghai as an example of a local regulatory initiative of open public data. Our findings show that by identifying the specific data entities and outlining their corresponding duties, the interim measures clarify the roles of different public bodies and under what conditions they can incur liability. By introducing an exemption clause, they also provide public bodies with legal flexibility to cope with uncertain consequences of data utilization. In this way, we argue that the interim measures, outlining duties for specific entities in data opening in accounting for the consequences of data utilization while remaining flexible due to their temporality, constitute a novel regulatory approach towards reducing the legal uncertainty around perceived risks of liability in the area of open public data, hence potentially contributing to increased accountability.
Journal: NAVEIÑ REET: Nordic Journal of Law and Social Research
Published: 2019
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Contact CBS researcher: Kalina Staykova
The page was last edited by: Sekretariat for Ledelse og Kommunikation // 11/02/2020