Spotlight on new research publications in May

Are we being ‘nudged’ into sharing our data online? And how can organisational tensions enable sexual harassment within academia? These are some of the questions investigated by the latest research publications at CBS. Find the answer to these and many other questions here.

05/01/2021

Bjarke MacCarthy
Photo: Bjarke MacCarthy

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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...



Three Sides of the Same Coin: Datafied Transparency, Biometric Surveillance, and Algorithmic Governmentalities
Abstract: This article explores how datafied transparency resulting from the use of facial recognition technologies creates different risks and dynamics of power and control. Theoretically, the article draws on Foucauldian studies and assemblage theory and analyzes how the power specific to facial recognition technologies rests on algorithmic governmentalities and interaction of humans and technologies in surveillant assemblages. Empirically, the article examines facial recognition legislation and its use in different corporate and institutional sectors around the world. The article concludes that datafied transparency is inseparable from the operation of surveillant assemblages and algorithmic governmentalities, and that algoactivism could be one form of resistance to counter such forms of power and control.

Journal: Critical Analysis of Law
Published: April 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Oana Brindusa Albu, Hans Krause Hansen



Gender Differences in Negotiation: Evidence from Real Estate Transactions
Abstract: Negotiations over real estate show that men secure better prices than women. However, gender differences decrease when improving controls for the property's value; and is eliminated when controlling for unobserved heterogeneity in a repeated-sales sample. Rather than evidence of differences in negotiation, price differences result from men and women demanding different properties. Consistently we find no gender difference in sales prices secured for inherited property. Provided appropriate controls men and women fare equally well when negotiating over real estate. Our study demonstrates that inference on gender differences in negotiation relies critically on controlling for the value of the negotiated item.

Journal: The Economic Journal
Published: February 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Steffen Andersen, Julie Marx, Kasper Meisner Nielsen



The Impact of Real Exchange Rate on International Trade: Evidence from Panel Structural VAR Model
Abstract: This paper investigates the importance of real exchange rates on export volumes by estimating a panel SVAR model using quarterly unbalanced panel data from 21 emerging markets over the 2005:Q1-2018:Q4 period. Although the results suggest no conclusive evidence that real exchange rate shocks do affect the export volumes in our sample of emerging markets, the responses of export volume to real exchange rate shocks are heterogeneous across countries in which commodity exporter countries, on average, have a lower response of exports to the real exchange rate movements. Furthermore, we find that while the magnitude of response of the export volumes to exchange rate shocks is positively related to exchange rate volatility, the higher export market penetration ratio helps insulate the economy from real exchange rate shocks. Overall, our results carry broad policy implications indicating that policymakers need to pay attention to the exchange rate volatility of their countries and expand their export competition in the world trade.

Journal: Journal of International Trade and Economic Development
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni



Deep Value
Abstract: The authors define deep value as episodes in which the valuation spread between cheap and expensive securities is especially wide relative to its history. Examining global individual equities, equity index futures, currencies, and global bonds, the authors find that deep value is (1) highly compensated; (2) related to worsening fundamentals; (3) associated with higher risk but not fully explained by known risk factors; and (4) characterized by selling pressure related to overextrapolation of past returns and, although arbitrageurs take the other side, they face elevated trading costs and risk. These findings support a theory of return extrapolation driving the value risk premium over other behavioral and rational explanations.

Journal: The Journal of Portfolio Management
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Lasse Heje Pedersen



Are You Sure, You Want a Cookie? The Effects of Choice Architecture on Users' Decisions about Sharing Private Online Data
Abstract: Data privacy is an important topic in the public debate. Recent policy changes aimed to strengthen users' control over their own data. We conducted a randomized field trial to show that website owners can undermine this agency by deliberately altering the choice architecture of the cookie banner and “nudge” visitors into sharing their data. Based on a sample of 1493 users, we show that cookie banner manipulations can increase consent by 17 percentage points of the sample. We propose a decomposition of the choice architecture of cookie banners into two elements: (1) the choice-making architecture and (2) the choice outcome architecture. Both can be uniquely manipulated but have different effects on privacy choices. We discuss the implications of these findings with regards to user sovereignty and the need for regulation. We conclude that the ability of website owners to manipulate the outcome of user privacy decisions is probably at odds with the ideal of the ePrivacy Directive and the GDPR.

Journal: Computers in Human Behavior
Published: July 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Jan Michael Bauer



How the Organizational Design of R&D Units Affects Individual Search Intensity: A Network Study
Abstract: This study investigates how intraorganizational search behavior of R&D professionals is shaped by the organizational design for task collaboration between R&D units. More precisely, we examine how formally prescribed R&D unit task collaboration and the distinct roles of R&D units as recipients and sources in such collaboration affect how intensively unit members search for advice and knowledge. To this end, we integrate theoretical mechanisms from knowledge search and organizational design literatures into models explaining the emergence of work-related advice networks among employees in corporate R&D. Empirically, we capture the influence of unit-level task collaboration on individual-level search by applying exponential random graph modelling to multilevel network data collected on 193 employees belonging to 38 R&D units in a leading German high-tech firm. Results show that the extent to which R&D units function as recipients in unit task collaboration on the one hand and as sources on the other influences unit members’ search intensity in opposite ways. Members of units functioning as recipients for many other units search less intensively, i.e., there is a substitution effect. Conversely, if R&D units are sources for many other units, their members search more intensively. The latter complementarity effect is weaker for R&D units that are specialized on a particular product component.

Journal: Research Policy
Published: June 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Wolfgang Sofka



Boys Lagging Behind: Unpacking Gender Differences in Academic Achievement Across East Africa
Abstract: We estimate the current magnitude of gender gaps in literacy and numeracy in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, using large-scale nationally representative data of children ages 6–16. Using a household fixed effects approach, we document that girls outperform boys in all three countries; in numeracy by 0.03 SDs (Uganda) to 0.05 SDs (Kenya and Tanzania) and literacy by 0.06 SDs (Uganda and Tanzania) to 0.09 SDs (Kenya). However, the gender gap in achievement is highly geographically clustered, reversing in sign in some districts. In highlighting the heterogeneity of gender disparities in academic performance in these three countries in East Africa, this study show that systematic female disadvantage in schooling is no longer the norm.

Journal: International Journal of Educational Development
Published: May 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Julie Buhl-Wiggers



Digital Extraction: Blockchain Traceability in Mineral Supply Chains
Abstract: Digital data — including technologically-mediated data generated by blockchain-enabled traceability — is performing an increasingly integral role in extractive operations, but scarce attention has been paid to the structuring effect of these digital technologies or the socio-economic spatiality of data-driven mining operations. Drawing on extensive qualitative research (interviews, participant observation, and two sets of survey data among actors relevant to these mineral supply chains), this article advances the notion of “digital extraction” to describe the collection, analysis, and instrumentalization of digital data generated under the banner of blockchain-based due diligence, chain of custody certifications, and various transparency mechanisms, situated alongside and in support of mineral extraction. The article mobilizes concepts from political geography and political ecology to argue that digital technologies of traceability in extractive processes potentially create new forms of control and exclusion or exacerbate existing social, political, and territorial dispossession through asymmetric relations of power and knowledge in mineral supply chains. Despite industry efforts to make mineral supply chains more sustainable by resorting to digital certification and traceability, the strategic uses of uncertainty, ignorance, and ambiguity undergirding blockchain-enabled traceability systems fail to challenge existing inequalities in resource use and access or fulfill the promise of transparency and accountability.

Journal: Political Geography
Published: May 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Matthew Archer



Mathematical Optimization in Classification and Regression Trees
Abstract: Classification and regression trees, as well as their variants, are off-the-shelf methods in Machine Learning. In this paper, we review recent contributions within the Continuous Optimization and the Mixed-Integer Linear Optimization paradigms to develop novel formulations in this research area. We compare those in terms of the nature of the decision variables and the constraints required, as well as the optimization algorithms proposed. We illustrate how these powerful formulations enhance the flexibility of tree models, being better suited to incorporate desirable properties such as cost-sensitivity, explainability, and fairness, and to deal with complex data, such as functional data.

Journal: TOP
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Dolores Romero Morales



Can the EU Regulate Platforms Without Stifling Innovation?
Abstract: When it comes to regulating data and the growing power of tech companies, Europe is the global test case. While the EU is the model for other countries, it is also a cautionary tale of the unintended consequences of applying broad regulatory fixes to a rapidly evolving landscape, and the recently proposed Digital Markets Act, which targets platforms, is no exception. New rules on how data can be used and combined, and how digital platforms direct consumers, may end up stifling competition and innovation — a bad outcome for both consumers and companies. To avoid this outcome, regulators should follow four guiding principles: 1) preserving business model innovation should be the top priority; 2) regulators should focus on why ecosystems are competitive, not on who is winning; 3) stay focused on fostering market contestability in adjacent segments; and 4) regulators should hold companies accountable, but not tell them what to do.

Journal: Harvard Business Review Digital Articles
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Carmelo Cennamo



The Impact of Temporary Deferrals on Future Blood Donation Behavior Across the Donor Life Cycle
Abstract: Background: Donor retention is essential for blood banks because acquiring new donors is more expensive than retaining existing ones. Previous studies show that the temporary deferral of donors negatively impacts future donation likelihood. In this study, we analyze the impact of temporary deferrals on future donation behavior while correcting for potential endogeneity, depending on the level of donor experience and number of previous deferrals. Study Design and Method: We use data from more than 123,000 whole blood donors of the Austrian Red Cross over a period of 5.5 years. We estimate logit models to analyze how a deferral affects future donation behavior while controlling for potential selection biases because donors are not deferred ran domly. We control for gender, blood type, years since first donation, and num ber of previous donations and deferrals. We analyze the direct deferral effect, its interaction with donor experience, and the number of previous deferrals. Results: Our results confirm that temporary deferrals hurt future donation behavior. This effect varies with donor experience and the number of previous deferrals. The effect is weaker with a higher number of previous donations and is stronger with a higher number of previous deferrals. The results suggest that donors learn to cope with deferrals the more they donate. However, the nega tive effect of deferrals amplifies over time, and each additional deferral decreases donation likelihood. Conclusion: Blood banks that seek to overcome the negative effect of deferrals should be aware that this effect varies with donor experience and with the number of previous deferrals. Our results suggest that blood banks should focus on early stage donors who are deferred because the negative deferral effect is stronger for more experienced donors. At the same time, blood banks should be careful with donor groups who have experienced deferrals in the past because every additional deferral demotivates future donation behavior. Overall, researchers should be careful to correct for endogeneity because our results suggest that ignoring these effects could lead to substantial underestimation of the negative deferral effect.

Journal: The Journal of AABB
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Edlira Shehu



Vejen til det fleksible arbejdsliv
Abstract: Vi taler mere og mere om det fleksible arbejdsliv. Et arbejdsliv hvor vi selv sætter normen for, hvornår vi arbejder, og om vi gør det digitalt eller med fysisk fremmøde. Spørgsmålet er, hvordan vi kommer derhen? Én vigtig vej er gennem virtuelt samarbejde. I denne artikel præsenterer forsker og partner hos Augmenti, Lise Dahl Arvedsen, en række konklusioner fra sit forskningsstudie omkring virtuelt samarbejde og ledelse. Konklusionerne centrerer sig bl.a. om virtuelle møders rammesætning, det virtuelle teams fælles identitet og vigtigheden af teknologiske kompetencer. Undervejs vil forskningserkendelserne blive flettet sammen med en række praksisnære råd.

Journal: Erhvervspsykologi
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Lise Dahl Arvedsen



Back to School: The Effects of School Reopening on Parents and Children
Abstract: On 15 April, over a few days, Danish schools partially reopened. Only children up until the 5th grade were allowed to return to school. We present results from a two‐wave panel survey collected for parents with children in the 4th to the 7th grade in the week that schools partially reopened (Wave 1, initial N = 1,303) and again 2 weeks after (Wave 2, initial N = 1,000 re‐interviewed). Using a difference‐in‐difference analysis, we compare parents with children below and above the cut‐off. We do not find major differences in how our outcomes of interest develop. Government support decreased slightly more for parents whose children stayed at home, but child well‐being, parental stress, and economic situation mostly evolved in parallel for the two groups of families. More research is warranted on the long‐term effects of school lockdowns and reopening under different social contexts.

Journal: Scandinavian Political Studies
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Jens Olav Dahlgaard, Zoltán Fazekas



Entrepreneurial Competences and Growth of Female-owned Enterprises: The Mediation Role of Absorptive Capacity
Abstract: Purpose
Focusing on female entrepreneurs operating in a resource-scarce environment, this study aims to draw from the resource-based view to examine the relationship between entrepreneurial competences and firm growth.

Design/methodology/approach
This study used a cross-sectional research design. Data was collected from 232 women entrepreneurs operating in Kampala’s two biggest markets. The data were analyzed to test the mediation effect of absorptive capacity on the relationship between entrepreneurial competences and firm growth; a Sobel test and bootstrap estimation were analytical approaches that were used.

Findings
This paper argues that for female entrepreneurs, the venture growth process is not simply dependent on inimitable resources such as competences, as these are first not readily available to female entrepreneurs and second, only provide a temporary competitive advantage. Rather, venture growth also involves the ability to continuously identify and exploit knowledge resources through an absorptive capacity that may be limited by the sociocultural context within which the female entrepreneur operates in sub-Saharan Africa.

Originality/value
The novelty of this research resides in support for the mediating role of the ability to recognize the value of new information, assimilate it and apply it to commercial ends. This study shows that female entrepreneurs use externally generated knowledge as a mechanism to grow their firms and this is impacted by the sociocultural context within which they operate. The study further improves the understanding of the resource-based view by suggesting that a black box exists in the relationship between resources and performance. It is shown that the possession of one resource facilitates the acquisition of other resources and proposes that the role of resources continuously unfolds as a firm develops.

Journal: International Journal of Gender and Entrepreneurship
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Rebecca Namatovu



Crowdfunding as Gambling: Evidence from Repeated Natural Experiments
Abstract: Lenders in Prosper, one of the largest lending markets in the U.S., reduce their activity when playing multistate Powerball or Mega Millions lottery jackpot becomes attractive. This finding suggests that the desire for sensation seeking is an underlying motivation for participating in peer-to-peer crowdfunding markets; the thrill of winning a large lottery jackpot fulfills some lenders' desire for novelty and sensation seeking, thus decreasing their lending activity. We discuss our findings' implications for lenders, borrowers, platform organizers, and policymakers.

Journal: Journal of Corporate Finance
Published: February 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Ali Mohammadi



Control and Surveillance in Work Practice: Cultivating Paradox in ‘New’ Modes of Organizing
Abstract: The new world of work is being characterized by the emergence of what are, apparently, increasingly autonomous ways of working and living. Mobile work, coworking, flex of-fice, platform-based entrepreneurship, virtual collaborations, Do It Yourself (DIT), re-mote work, digital nomads, among others trends, epitomize ways of organizing work practice that purportedly aligns productivity with freedom. But most ethnographical research already reveals many paradoxical experiences associated with these new prac-tices and processes. Indeed, it appears that with autonomy comes surveillance and con-trol, to a point where, as Foucault observed way back, subjectivity and subject become synonyms, and the current pandemic both strengthens and makes visible this situation. In this introduction to the special issue we make a foray into this situation, using four open and related themes developed in the five papers we selected: managerial control and technology; surveillance and platform capitalism; time and space; and new organi-zational forms and autonomy. Paradoxical movements are identified for each of them, before we conclude by reflecting on a grounding paradox which appears at the center of this special issue and the themes it covers.

Journal: Organization Studies
Published: April 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Robin Holt



The Value of Bond Underwriter Relationships
Abstract: We show that corporate bond issuers benefit from utilizing existing underwriter relationships when rolling over bonds, but at the same time become exposed to underwriter distress. A strong relationship enables the underwriter to credibly certify the issuer resulting in lower direct issuance costs and lower underpricing. However, if the underwriter becomes distressed, this spills over to the issuer's credit risk, because it weakens the relationship and increases the risk of involuntary relationship termination. The credit risk spillover is more pronounced for risky, information-sensitive issuers with high rollover exposure, i.e., those issuers most in need of certification by an underwriter.

Journal: Journal of Corporate Finance
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Jens Dick-Nielsen, Mads Stenbo Nielsen, Stine Louise von Rüden



Brains or Beauty? Causal Evidence on the Returns to Education and Attractiveness in the Online Dating Market
Abstract: We study partner preferences for education and attractiveness by conducting a field experiment in a large online dating market. Fictitious profiles with manipulated levels of education and photo attractiveness send random invitations for a serious relationship to real online daters. We find that men and women prefer attractive over unattractive profiles, regardless of own attractiveness. We also find that high-educated men prefer low-educated over high-educated profiles as much as high-educated women prefer high-educated over low-educated profiles. With preferences similar for attractiveness but opposite for education, two groups are more likely to stay single: unattractive, low-educated men and unattractive, high-educated women.

Journal: Journal of Public Economics
Published: April 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Mirjam Van Praag



Multi-sided Platform and Data-driven Care Research: A Longitudinal Case Study on Business Model Innovation for Improving Care in Complex Neurological Diseases
Abstract: Multi-sided platforms in healthcare often focus their business model on standardizing care for wide-spread, chronic diseases. However, there is a lack of knowledge surrounding platform business models enabling individualized care coordination for patients with rare diseases. This paper analyses the development of a complex platform business model addressing Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a severe neurological disease that requires the coordination of a diverse network of medical specialists, care, and equipment providers. A longitudinal case study examines the platform’s development, focusing subsequently on qualitative and efficient care coordination, care research, and active and direct involvement of patients, as well as establishing two business models, namely, care coordination and care research. We reconstruct how these complex platform business models were configured to improve patient care and care research, thereby creating immediate value for patients and insights for long-term care improvements. The ongoing platform development carefully balances value generation for diverse stakeholders and economic sustainability.

Journal: Electronic Markets
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Daniel Fürstenau



Linking Malawi’s Agricultural Sector to Global Value Chains: The Case for Community Governance
Abstract: The ambition of integrating national economies into global value chains (GVCs) has become a staple of agricultural and industrial policies of the world’s least-developed countries. Working with Malawi as a representative case of such national policies of value chains for development (VCDs), we investigate how the national ambition of GVC integration is experienced at the level of local communities. The analytical juxtaposition of policy documents and community experiences demonstrates an unmet need for GVC governance that mitigates the potential negative impact that large-scale production for global markets may have on local livelihoods and facilitates local communities’ bottom-up participation in GVCs. On this basis, we introduce the concept of community governance as a supplement to the notions of private and public governance. We argue that the community level must be included in the GVC governance mix in order to ensure livelihood upgrading of all stakeholders. Further, we suggest that moving beyond economic and social upgrading of direct participants will release the potential of the GVC approach to promote inclusive development based on principles of empowerment and self-determination. Introducing community governance in theory and practice, we conclude, is key to the success of VCDs.

Journal: Journal of International Business Policy
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Sine Nørholm Just , Stine Haakonsson



Understanding the Evaluation of mHealth App Features based on a Cross-country Kano Analysis
Abstract: While mobile health (mHealth) apps play an increasingly important role in digitalized health care, little is known regarding the effects of specific mHealth app features on user satisfaction across different healthcare system contexts. Using personal health record (PHR) apps as an example, this study identifies how potential users in Germany and Denmark evaluate a set of 26 app features, and whether evaluation differences can be explained by the differences in four pertinent user characteristics, namely privacy concerns, mHealth literacy, mHealth self-efficacy, and adult playfulness. Based on survey data from both countries, we employed the Kano method to evaluate PHR features and applied a quartile-based sample-split approach to understand the underlying relationships between user characteristics and their perceptions of features. Our results not only reveal significant differences in 14 of the features between Germans and Danes, they also demonstrate which of the user characteristics best explain each of these differences. Our two key contributions are, first, to explain the evaluation of specific PHR app features on user satisfaction in two different healthcare contexts and, second, to demonstrate how to extend the Kano method in terms of explaining subgroup differences through user characteristic antecedents. The implications for app providers and policymakers are discussed.

Journal: Electronic Markets
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Till Winkler



Paying Attention to Tension. Towards a New Understanding of the Organizational Mechanisms Enabling Sexual Harassment
Abstract: Research on sexual harassment in professional settings has enabled a conceptualization of transgressive behaviour by naming, defining, and mapping the phenomenon. Yet, the problem shows little sign of being eliminated. This article mobilizes a perspective of dis/organization to shed new light on the continuous (re)production of sexual harassment, suggesting that organizational contradictions create tension within which sexual harassment is enabled and (re)produced.

The study employs a tension-centred research approach and draws on empirical data from two different professional settings in Denmark, namely academia and the military. Attending to the tension that arises in the organizing of these professional settings, the article identifies four contradictions that enable sexual harassment. Connecting these findings to the work of Butler, the article argues that navigating such contradictions is deeply entangled in the un/doing of professional subjects, thus making it a sensitive matter, not least for newcomers striving for intelligibility in a new professional setting. In addition to this contribution to the field of sexual harassment research, the article proposes the concept of un/doing as an analytical tool to critically examine tension and contradictions in the realm of dis/organization.

Journal: Ephemera: Theory & politics in organization
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Beate Sløk-Andersen , Bontu Lucie Guschke



Courtship for Business Model Innovation: Early Stage Value Negotiation for the Sustainability of Smart Homes
Abstract: The research contributes to business models for sustainability (BMfS) literature with insights into the role of value negotiations in the design-implementation gap of collaborative business model innovation. It looks at the phenomenon of so-called courtship in the early formation of collaboration for business model innovation; wherein organizations contest justifications for smart home business partnerships based on orders of worth, including that of sustainability as a ‘green’ order of worth. It considers the case of the VELUX Group with the release of their smart home device VELUX Active and the development of business ecosystems from the remote-control wireless devices of 2005 to the smart home groupings of 2020 to better understand why there is not more widespread implementation of business models designed for sustainability. The research finds that although a green order of worth, representing sustainability value, may be frequently argued, that market and industrial orders of worth have demonstrated greater maturity in arguments and value reframing that determine the basis of smart home collaborations. Further, it supports a growing body of research suggesting that business model innovation processes are experimental and gradual, and that iterative structural prototypes and piloting of sustainability activities can potentially bridge the design-implementation gap.

Journal: Journal of Cleaner Production
Published: May 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Lara Anne Hale



Exploring Digital Servitization Trajectories within Product–service–software Space
Abstract: Purpose
This study shows various pathways manufacturers can take when embarking on digital servitization (DS) journeys. It builds on the DS and modularity literature to map the strategic trajectories of product–service–software (PSSw) configurations.

Design/methodology/approach
The study is exploratory and based on the inductive theory building method. The empirical data were gathered through a workshop with focus groups of 15 servitization manufacturers (with 22 respondents), an on-site workshop (in-depth case study), semi-structured interviews, observations and document study of archival data.

Findings
The DS trajectories are idiosyncratic and dependent on design architectures of PSSw modules, balancing choices between standardization and innovation. The adoption of software systems depends on the maturity of the industry-specific digital ecosystem. Decomposition and integration of PSSw modules facilitate DS transition through business model modularity. Seven testable propositions are presented.

Research limitations/implications
With the small sample size from different industries and one in-depth case study, generalizing the findings was not possible.

Practical implications
The mapping exercise is powerful when top management from different functional departments can participate together to share their expertise and achieve consensus. It logs the “states” that the manufacturer undergoes over time.

Originality/value
The Digital Servitization Cube serves as a conceptual framework for manufacturers to systematically map and categorize their current and future PSSw strategies. It bridges the cross-disciplinary theoretical discussion in DS.

Journal: International Journal of Operations and Production Management
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Marin Jovanovic, Juliana Hsuan



Organizing Care during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Accounting in German Hospitals
Abstract: Purpose The purpose of this study is to provide insight into the roles of accounting in the management of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic in five German hospitals. Design/methodology/approach The authors conducted three rounds of interviews, ethnographic observations of meetings and document analyses in five German hospitals between February and August 2020. Findings The authors found that actors repeatedly used a central set of indicators (the number of beds for COVID-19 patients) when adapting a healthcare infrastructure to the pandemic. Accounting figures allowed actors to problematize prior configurations, organize processes to make uncertainty plannable and virtualize changes to resume treating non-COVID-19 patients. Practical implications The authors offer suggestions about scenario planning and interorganizational learning which have implications for healthcare practitioners. Originality/value The authors contribute to the accounting in crisis literature by adding an organization-focused study. Adding nuance to key themes in the literature, they show how the organizations and the field level interact and how organizing locally preceded economizing. They also offer a nonbinary answer to the question of whether or not changes revert back to “normal” after a crisis event

Journal: Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal.
Published: March 2021
Read more: Pending
Contact CBS researcher: Christian Huber



Political Parties and Organization Studies: The Party as a Critical Case of Organizing
Abstract: Organization scholars have extensively studied both the politics of organization and the organization of politics. Contributing to the latter, we argue for further and deeper consideration of political parties, since: (1) parties illuminate organizational dynamics of in- and exclusion; (2) internal struggles related to the constitution of identities, practices, and procedures are accentuated in parties; (3) the study of parties allow for the isolation of processes of normative and affective commitment; (4) parties prioritize and intensify normative control mechanisms; (5) party organizing currently represents an example of profound institutional change, as new (digital) formations challenge old bureaucratic models. Consequently, we argue that political parties should be seen as ‘critical cases’ of organizing, meaning that otherwise commonplace phenomena are intensified and exposed in parties. This allows researchers to use parties as magnifying glasses for zooming-in on organizational dynamics that may be suppressed or concealed by the seemingly non-political façade of many contemporary organizations. In conclusion, we argue that organization scholars are in a privileged position to investigate how political parties function today and how their democratic potential can be improved in the future. To this end, we call on Organization and Management Studies to engage actively with alternative parties in an attempt to explore and promote progressive change within the formal political system.

Journal: Organization Studies
Published: April 2021
Read more : Pending
Contact CBS researcher: Emil Husted



Innovations Developed by Patients and Informal Caregivers for Needs Associated to Rheumatic Diseases
Abstract: Until recently, innovation in healthcare was mainly achieved through the development of new drugs, therapies, and medical devices by big pharma and medtech companies; however, the innovative potential for this field is much broader. The patients and caregivers’ role in healthcare is often associated with disease management, demand for their own illness data, and its exchange with other patients. However, the patients and caregivers’ capacity to innovate to cope with limitations associated with their health condition is a growing phenomenon and starting to be supported by healthcare stakeholders to achieve a truly patient-centric system. Our previous research has shown that these uncommon innovators can develop a wide range of solutions, from simple adaptations and products to highly technological biomedical devices. In this paper, we present novel solutions developed by rheumatic patients, their caregivers, and collaborators, published on the “Patient Innovation” platform (https://patient-innovation. com/), with a focus on the innovator profile, the need that triggers the innovative process, the type of motivation behind the product, and the products developed. The most significant needs that motivate innovation are the will to increase the level of independence (71%) and to be able to perform daily routine activities (65%). In over 80% of cases, the fact that the market does not fully fulfill the needs felt during daily activities is the main motivation to innovate. It is thus concluded that there is room for innovation in rheumatic diseases with solutions developed by patients and informal caregivers that intend to solve needs that the healthcare market is not covering

Journal: Frontiers in Medicine
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Pedro Oliveira



Social Movements and Free Innovation 
Abstract: In this article, I explore innovation and diffusion from social movements as part of the phenomenon of free innovation in households. The article contributes to the literature on household innovation by illustrating how social movement motivations may differ from motivations examined in prior studies focused on self-rewards, as well as examining the implications for free innovations and diffusion patterns in this setting. Social movement innovators are typically motivated by a common cause (such as a quest for a new life order and societal change) and create innovations that address a cause and “system change” rather than individual goals. I identify and define three types of social movement innovation: behavioral, product, and symbolic innovation. The common-cause motivation also creates a new form of diffusion problem that can only be solved through the spread and consumption of new products, behaviors, or techniques by a sufficiently large crowd. Common-cause motivations should thus encourage innovation diffusion, thereby reducing the risk of the diffusion-failure problem usually observed in household innovation research.

Journal: Research Policy
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Lars Bo Jeppesen



A Review of Trends and Drivers of Greenhouse Gas Emissions by Sector from 1990 to 2018
Abstract: Global greenhouse gas emissions can be traced to five economic sectors: energy, industry, buildings, transport and AFOLU (agriculture, forestry and other land uses). In this topical review we synthesize the literature to explain recent trends in global and regional emissions in each of these sectors. To contextualise our review, we present estimates of greenhouse gas emissions trends by sector from 1990 to 2018, describing the major sources of emissions growth, stability and decline across ten global regions. Both the literature and data emphasize limited progress towards reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The prominent global pattern is a continuation of underlying drivers with few signs of emerging limits to demand, nor of a deep shift towards the delivery of low and zero carbon services across sectors. We observe a moderate decarbonisation of energy systems in Europe and North America, driven by fuel switching and the increasing penetration of renewables. By contrast, in rapidly industrialising regions, fossil-based energy systems have continuously expanded, only very recently slowing down in their growth. Strong demand for materials, floor area, energy services and travel have driven emissions growth in the industry, buildings and transport sectors, particularly in Eastern Asia, Southern Asia and South-East Asia. An expansion of agriculture into carbon-dense tropical forest areas has driven recent increases in AFOLU emissions in Latin America, South-East Asia and Africa. Identifying, understanding, and tackling the most persistent and climate-damaging trends across sectors is a fundamental concern for research and policy as humanity treads deeper into the Anthropocene.

Journal: Environmental Research Letters
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Maria Figueroa



Conditions for Reflexive Practices in Leadership Learning: The Regulating Role of a Socio-moral Order of Peer Interactions
Abstract: Peer interaction is a standard aspect of most leadership development programmes and is seen to be conducive to learning. Realising deeper and critical reflexivity in peer interaction is, however, challenging. This study employs conversation analysis to empirically explore peer interactions in a leadership development programme for first-line managers in the public sector in Denmark. The analysis shows that a socio-moral order, that is normative expectations inherent in interactions, guide peer discussions and shape the conditions for reflection and deeper reflexivity. The socio-moral order was based on a central principle of treating each other as experts on one’s own practice. This principle allowed for reflection but turned attention away from critical reflexive practices. As a result, peer discussions took a more conservative rather than a transformational orientation. The study extends the theoretical understanding of the conditions for critical reflexivity as it demonstrates how the socio-moral order of interaction regulates engagement in critically reflexive practices.

Journal: Management Learning
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Magnus Larsson, Morten Knudsen



Fast Success and Slow Failure: The Process Speed of Dispersed Research Teams
Abstract: Research teams are often dispersed across geography and organizational boundaries. While prior work has recognized that dispersed teams face coordination challenges, it is not clear how dispersion affects team process efficiency outcomes, such as the speed with which team efforts come to a resolution. Process efficiency outcomes are important because, if the performance benefits associated with working in dispersed teams have a trade-off cost in terms of efficiency, then the net performance benefits from working in such teams may be seriously diminished or even reversed. Prior work has also tended to focus on successful outcomes, which may lead to deficits in our understanding of coordination challenges in dispersed teams. To better comprehend process efficiency, we examine 5,250 teams that work together in an open standard setting, and where the time to resolution of both successful and failed projects is observable. We find that teams that are organizationally or geographically dispersed are fast at reaching success, but fail more slowly than non-dispersed teams. Our interpretation of these disparate outcomes is that the endogenous processes that make dispersed teams more likely to on average select higher potential projects have a second order effect of making it harder for dispersed teams to abandon failing projects. We argue that slow failure has important implications for research & development efforts given the opportunity cost of tying up resources in research teams.

Journal: Research Policy
Published: June 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Marie Louise Mors



Profiting on Crisis: How Predatory Financial Investors Have Worsened Inequality in the Coronavirus Crisis
Abstract: A once-in-a-century pandemic has sparked an unprecedented health and economic crisis. Less examined is how predatory financial investors have shaped the crisis and profited from it. We examine how U.S. shadow banks, such as private equity, venture capital, and hedge fund firms, have affected hardship and inequality during the crisis. First, we identify how these investors helped to hollow out the health care industry and disenfranchise the low-wage service sector, putting frontline workers at risk. We then outline how, as the downturn unfolds, shadow banks are shifting their investments in ways that profit on the misfortunes of frontline workers, vulnerable populations, and distressed industries. After the pandemic subsides and governments withdraw stimulus support, employment will likely remain insecure, many renters will face evictions, and entire economic sectors will need to rebuild. Shadow banks are planning accordingly to profit from the fallout of the crisis. We argue that this case reveals how financial investors accumulate capital through private and speculative investments that exploit vulnerabilities in the economic system during a time of crisis. To conclude, we consider the prospects for change and inequality over time.

Journal: American Behavioral Scientist
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Megan Tobias Neely



Can We Classify Cashless Payment Solution Implementations at the Country Level?
Abstract: This research commentary proposes a 3-D implementation classification framework to assist service providers and business leaders in understanding the kinds of contexts in which more or less successful cashless payment solutions are observed at point-of-sale (PoS) settings. Three constructs characterize the framework: the digitalization of the local implementation environment; the relative novelty of a given payment technology solution in a country at a specific point in time; and the development status of the national infrastructure. The framework is motivated by a need to support cross-country research in this domain. We analyze eight country mini-cases based on an eight-facet (2 × 2 × 2) classification. A key insight is the distinction between local and national environments for solution implementations, and that there are no objective “low-tech” or “high-tech” payment solutions, but only those that must be calibrated by a country’s experience at the national or local implementation environment levels. Our analysis also revealed that implementing cashless payment solutions is complex, with each country and local context having its own set of challenges. Our proposed framework is a basis for policy-makers and payment service providers to developing insights related to the challenges of cashless payment solution implementation. Developing countries sometimes are able to leapfrog their legacy infrastructures by using mobile payment solutions, while developed countries need to appreciate the importance of barriers to implementation success, such as costs, settlement delays, and the habitual use of cash. We further note why business leaders should consider their approaches to payment solutions in view of the different degrees of local digitalization and national infrastructure development to support tech innovations in the digital economy.

Journal: Electronic Commerce Research and Applications
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Robert Kauffman, Jonas Hedman



Uncertainty, Status-based Homophily, Versatility, Repeat Exchange and Social Exchange in the Container Shipping Industry
Abstract: In this paper, we contribute to the literature on uncertainty and the drivers of social exchange. We explore the 2008 financial crisis and hand-collect unique data on more than 2,700 vessel chartering deals closed in the container shipping industry from 2000 to 2011. Our contribution is twofold. We challenge the literature by finding that low and high status players use different collaborative strategies under uncertainty: the high status players are more prone to coopetition and the low status ones reach out to external buyers. We also extend the literature on social exchange and uncertainty and introduce other constructs: strategic versatility and country-level long-term orientation of the suppliers that we study in our model. Our findings are relevant for policy and managerial decision-makers in the industry.

Journal: Journal of Business Research
Published: May 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Hans-Joachim Schramm



Hirschman's Exit, Voice, and Loyalty and Contemporary Economic Sociology
Abstract: This essay takes the 50th anniversary of Albert Hirschman’s Exit, Voice and Loyalty: Responses to Decline in Firms, Organizations, and States as an opportunity to revisit this important book. It asks how Exit, Voice, and Loyalty, a book that came out five decades ago as a contribution to development economics, connects to recent debates in economic sociology and how this can help us think about what economic sociology does not attempt to do anymore.

Journal: Journal of Cultural Economy
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: José Ossandón



Foreign Operation Mode Flexibility: Tradeoffs and Managerial Responses
Abstract: Firms’ ability to change foreign operation modes appears highly desirable in an increasingly volatile and unpredictable global environment. We propose and discuss mode flexibility as a management capability, with the aim at curbing the potential downsides of flexibility; in particular, the extra costs of coordination and contracting as well as revenue losses due to diminished partner commitment. We model the balancing and shifting of essential tradeoffs in relation to the two dimensions of mode flexibility – multiplicity and switchability – and highlight modularization and reciprocal use of real options as examples of tradeoff-shifting mechanisms that may improve the cost-benefit balance of mode flexibility.

Journal: International Journal of the Economics of Business
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Bent Petersen



A Ghostly Encounter and the Questions We Might Learn from It
Abstract: This paper takes a point of departure in a ghost story. Two social workers working in a community house in Copenhagen have both encountered a ghost. The first part of the paper wonders about the kinds of questions that are tempting to ask when listening to a ghost story as well as about how more careful questioning may allow organization studies to learn from ghostly encounters. Listening to what the two social workers have experienced, the paper identifies four sets of questions that the ghostly encounter may offer to organization studies, namely questions about inheritance, what it means to feel at home in an organization, temporality and affect. Thereafter, the paper discusses how organizational inquiries that are attentive to ghostly matters may look like.

Journal: Culture and Organization
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Justine Grønbæk Pors



The UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implications for Corporate Social Responsibility Research
Abstract: This article presents a review of the literature on the United Nations Guiding Principles (UNGPs) for the purpose of situating the UNGPs in the voluntary corporate social responsibility (CSR) infrastructure. We identify four key themes that underlie the debate: (1) a critical assessment of the UNGPs, (2) their application to different sectors, (3) a discussion of how to embed key aspects of the UNGPs into national and regional contexts, and (4) reflections on the role of due diligence. We discuss these themes and outline some practical and theoretical take-away messages. Our review highlights some similarities and differences to the discussion of voluntary initiatives in the field of CSR, especially the UN Global Compact. Our discussion helps to understand how the UNGPs are situated in the voluntary institutional infrastructure for CSR. Finally, we show how the theoretical and practical discourse on the UNGPs can be further advanced.

Journal: Business and Human Rights Journal
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Andreas Rasche



Bank Concentration and Product Market Competition
Abstract: This paper documents a link between bank concentration and markups in nonfinancial sectors. We exploit concentration-increasing bank mergers and variation in banks’ market shares across industries and show that higher credit concentration is associated with higher markups and that high-market-share lenders charge lower loan rates. We argue that this is due to the greater incidence of competing firms sharing common lenders that induce less aggressive product market behavior among their borrowers, thereby internalizing potential adverse effects of higher rates. Consistent with our conjecture, the effect is stronger in industries with competition in strategic substitutes where negative product market externalities are greatest.

Journal: Review of Financial Studies
Published: January 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Daniel Streitz



Mentoring as Affective Governmentality: Shame, (un)Happiness, and the (re)production of Masculine Leadership
Abstract: This article contributes to current discussions on the effectiveness of mentoring as a gender equality tool, but also focuses on the emotions and bodily (dis)comforts mentoring produces in addition to linguistic discourses, thus offering a novel take on how the tool operates. Drawing on a case study of a Danish mentoring program aimed at establishing the organizational space of leadership as more gender equal, the article demonstrates how, in producing shame and (un)happiness, mentoring (re)produces leadership as an organizational space dominated by masculine norms and work practices. The findings of the article support literature arguing that mentoring is an ineffective gender equality tool. However, the article does not entirely discard mentoring for this purpose, instead suggesting that scholars and practitioners look to literature on queered forms of mentoring for inspiration on how to use mentoring as a tool that carries the potential of truly promoting gender equality.

Journal: Gender, Work & Organization
Published: March 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Jette Sandager



The EU Digital Services Act: Towards a More Responsible Internet
Abstract: This article is a short overview of the proposed EU Digital Services Act (DSA): its history, main features and its relation to both the existing laws (E-Commerce Directive) and is sister act (Digital Markets Act). The article looks at how DSA proposes to solve the problem of making internet intermediaries - and in particular big platforms - more responsible. We suggest that the proposed act does not alter the fundamental premises upon which EU digital regulation lies but that it significantly increases procedural tools available for national and EU enforcement.

Journal: Journal of Internet Law
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Andrej Savin



Gazellerne: Sprintere eller maratonløbere?
Abstract: Pending

Journal: Revision & Regnskabsvæsen
Published: April 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Morten Seitz



Understanding the Unwritten Rules of the Game: Government Work Experience and Salary Premiums in Foreign MNC Subsidiaries
Abstract: Understanding government institutions in a host country is crucial for MNC subsidiaries. This is challenging, as host-country institutions not only relate to formal institutions, such as laws and regulations, but also to informal institutions, like traditions and beliefs. We study the hiring of employees with government work experience as a channel through which foreign MNC subsidiaries can better understand host-country institutions. Government work represents a context in which employees have opportunities to accumulate knowledge about how formal and informal institutions shape government procedures, and to develop political connections. Drawing from strategic human capital theory, we hypothesize that foreign MNC subsidiaries pay these employees salary premiums vis-à-vis domestic firms because they expect them to offer unique value. We find support for this hypothesis using data for 9,698 former government employees in Denmark. Salary premiums increase with government saliency in the industry and with seniority in the government. Our results shed light on how certain types of human capital can create value for foreign MNC subsidiaries and inform career choices of government officials. They suggest that future research should explore other types of host-country work experiences that could create value for foreign MNC subsidiaries when they are hiring.

Journal: Journal of International Business Studies
Published: April 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Wolfgang Sofka, Christoph Grimpe, Ulrich Kaiser



Unconventional Monetary Policy and Auction Cycles of Eurozone Sovereign Debt
Abstract: We provide evidence that the European Central Bank (ECB's) unconventional monetary policy dampens yield cycles in secondary markets for Eurozone sovereign debt around new sovereign debt auctions. This dampening effect tends to be larger when market volatility is higher. Cycles caused by domestic auctions and the role of market volatility are largest for countries with low credit ratings. Auctions by these countries also generate significant auction cycles in other countries. Such cycles can have a nonnegligible effect on debt‐servicing costs, but these can be limited through central bank purchases in turbulent periods, debt issuance in tranquil periods, and coordination of national auction calendars.

Journal: Journal of Money, Credit and Banking
Published: April 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Roel Beetsma



Partnerships for Development: Assessing the Impact Potential of Cross-sector Partnerships
Abstract: Over the past two decades, research as well as practice have praised the promise of cross-sector partnerships as the new transnational governance mechanism for reaching international development goals. Although there is general consensus that partnerships have the potential to contribute to development in the Global South, there is, however, increasing suspicion that in practice, they often do not. On the basis of an empirical analysis of a North-South Business-NGO partnership for poverty alleviation in Ghana, we show that existing assessment frameworks in the management literature are useful but insufficient for assessing partnerships in a development context. Through an integration of theoretical and empirical insights, we propose a novel framework, Partnerships for Development, which puts forward organizational preconditions for cross-sector partnerships to produce societal impact in the Global South, giving way to an assessment system for cross-sector partnerships in terms of their impact potential.

Journal: World Development
Published: July 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Anne Vestergaard,Thilde Langevang, Mette Morsing  

The page was last edited by: Sekretariat for Ledelse og Kommunikation // 07/11/2023