Spotlight on new research publications in October
10/01/2021
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...
Advancing SDG Competencies in Higher Education: Exploring an Interdisciplinary Pedagogical Approach
Abstract: Purpose: This study aims to explore an interdisciplinary pedagogical approach for advancing knowledge and understanding of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) at higher education institutions (HEIs).
Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative study conducted an explorative experiment to elaborate on forms to advance a pedagogical approach that embeds sustainability. The design of the pedagogical project was explorative and interdisciplinary, using a predefined framework on key competencies for sustainability.
Findings:The findings showed that an interdisciplinary approach can create a learning setting that stimulates students’ problem-solving competencies for sustainability-related issues. Students were trained in the five key sustainable competencies addressed by Wiek et al. (2011). Moreover, although it is not always possible to arrange an interdisciplinary pedagogical setting, this might be a key condition for the development of students’ key competencies regarding their understanding of the SDGs. Addressing the SDGs from an interdisciplinary perspective paved the way for the development of students’ strategic competencies, including systems thinking and anticipatory competencies.
Practical implications: The pedagogical project, as an interdisciplinary explorative experiment, was shown to be a potentially suitable method to counteract “cherry-picking” approaches to teaching the SDGs at HEI.
Originality/value: The pedagogical approach advanced in this paper, extends active learning and interdisciplinarity in higher education. The authors argue that this approach encourages students to take ownership of and responsibility for their learning process and indicates a changed mindset and behavior.
Abstract: Purpose: This study aims to explore an interdisciplinary pedagogical approach for advancing knowledge and understanding of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) at higher education institutions (HEIs).
Design/methodology/approach: This qualitative study conducted an explorative experiment to elaborate on forms to advance a pedagogical approach that embeds sustainability. The design of the pedagogical project was explorative and interdisciplinary, using a predefined framework on key competencies for sustainability.
Findings:The findings showed that an interdisciplinary approach can create a learning setting that stimulates students’ problem-solving competencies for sustainability-related issues. Students were trained in the five key sustainable competencies addressed by Wiek et al. (2011). Moreover, although it is not always possible to arrange an interdisciplinary pedagogical setting, this might be a key condition for the development of students’ key competencies regarding their understanding of the SDGs. Addressing the SDGs from an interdisciplinary perspective paved the way for the development of students’ strategic competencies, including systems thinking and anticipatory competencies.
Practical implications: The pedagogical project, as an interdisciplinary explorative experiment, was shown to be a potentially suitable method to counteract “cherry-picking” approaches to teaching the SDGs at HEI.
Originality/value: The pedagogical approach advanced in this paper, extends active learning and interdisciplinarity in higher education. The authors argue that this approach encourages students to take ownership of and responsibility for their learning process and indicates a changed mindset and behavior.
Journal: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Caroline Aggestam Pontoppidan
Business Model Innovation: A Review of the Process-based Literature
Abstract: Research on business model innovation (BMI) processes is blossoming and expanding in many directions. Hence, the time is ripe to summarize and systematize this body of knowledge for the benefit of current and future BMI scholars. In this article, we take stock of the current literature to clarify the concept of a BMI process, develop a categorization scheme (a “BMI process framework”), and discuss future research possibilities. Building on a systematic literature review of 114 papers, our categorization delineates different types of BMI processes and corresponding sub-processes. Moreover, we develop a framework that illustrates how BMI processes are interrelated and interconnected. Finally, we identify the main process-related research gaps in BMI research and provide directions for future research that emerge from our categorization and discussion.
Abstract: Research on business model innovation (BMI) processes is blossoming and expanding in many directions. Hence, the time is ripe to summarize and systematize this body of knowledge for the benefit of current and future BMI scholars. In this article, we take stock of the current literature to clarify the concept of a BMI process, develop a categorization scheme (a “BMI process framework”), and discuss future research possibilities. Building on a systematic literature review of 114 papers, our categorization delineates different types of BMI processes and corresponding sub-processes. Moreover, we develop a framework that illustrates how BMI processes are interrelated and interconnected. Finally, we identify the main process-related research gaps in BMI research and provide directions for future research that emerge from our categorization and discussion.
Journal: Journal of Management & Governance
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Nikolaj J. Foss
The Animosity Transfer Process: Consumer Denigration of Foreign Sponsors and Testing Potential Mitigation Strategies
Abstract: Purpose:
Sponsorships involving foreign brands are ubiquitous, but those involving a company from an animosity-evoking country can adversely affect rather than enhance domestic consumers' attitude towards the brand. This paper explains the mechanisms by which brand denigration occurs, introducing and validating a model of the animosity transfer process as well as considering if various framing and timing strategies attenuate or lead to adverse consumer responses.
Abstract: Purpose:
Sponsorships involving foreign brands are ubiquitous, but those involving a company from an animosity-evoking country can adversely affect rather than enhance domestic consumers' attitude towards the brand. This paper explains the mechanisms by which brand denigration occurs, introducing and validating a model of the animosity transfer process as well as considering if various framing and timing strategies attenuate or lead to adverse consumer responses.
Journal: International Marketing Review
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Antonia Erz
‘It’s Up to the Market to Decide’: Revealing and Concealing Power in the Sustainable Tea Supply Chain
Abstract: In 2007, Unilever, the world’s largest tea company, announced plans to source its entire tea supply sustainably, beginning with the certification of its tea producers in East Africa to Rainforest Alliance standards. As a major buyer of Kenyan tea, Unilever’s decision pushed tea producers across Kenya to subscribe to Rainforest Alliance’s sustainable agriculture standard in order to maintain access to the global tea market; according to a 2018 report, over 85% of Kenya’s tea producers were Rainforest Alliance certified. Drawing on ethnographic material among supply chain actors across different sites along the sustainable tea value chain (from those designing and disseminating standards to tea traders to smallholder tea farmers), this article examines how these actors frequently attributed the power to determine the outcomes of certification to a faceless ‘market’. Deferring to ‘the market’, we observe, served primarily to mask the outsized power of lead firms (in particular Unilever) to determine conditions of tea production and trade. At the same time, ‘the market’ was also in some cases qualified by our interlocutors, allowing them implicitly (and at times explicitly) to reveal power and give it a face. Concealing and revealing power in this way, we suggest, can be seen as a mode of engagement among supply chain actors operating in ‘sustainable’ supply chains, like the Rainforest Alliance-certified Kenyan tea supply chain, in which the power of lead firms tends to be consolidated through market-driven sustainability initiatives. Such a mode of engagement mitigates exclusion from sustainable supply chains while maintaining space for critique.
Abstract: In 2007, Unilever, the world’s largest tea company, announced plans to source its entire tea supply sustainably, beginning with the certification of its tea producers in East Africa to Rainforest Alliance standards. As a major buyer of Kenyan tea, Unilever’s decision pushed tea producers across Kenya to subscribe to Rainforest Alliance’s sustainable agriculture standard in order to maintain access to the global tea market; according to a 2018 report, over 85% of Kenya’s tea producers were Rainforest Alliance certified. Drawing on ethnographic material among supply chain actors across different sites along the sustainable tea value chain (from those designing and disseminating standards to tea traders to smallholder tea farmers), this article examines how these actors frequently attributed the power to determine the outcomes of certification to a faceless ‘market’. Deferring to ‘the market’, we observe, served primarily to mask the outsized power of lead firms (in particular Unilever) to determine conditions of tea production and trade. At the same time, ‘the market’ was also in some cases qualified by our interlocutors, allowing them implicitly (and at times explicitly) to reveal power and give it a face. Concealing and revealing power in this way, we suggest, can be seen as a mode of engagement among supply chain actors operating in ‘sustainable’ supply chains, like the Rainforest Alliance-certified Kenyan tea supply chain, in which the power of lead firms tends to be consolidated through market-driven sustainability initiatives. Such a mode of engagement mitigates exclusion from sustainable supply chains while maintaining space for critique.
Journal: Critique of Anthropology
Published: September 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Hannah Elliott
Introduction: Ethnographies of Power and the Powerful
Abstract: This introduction suggests that anthropology often assumes that the people anthropologists work with are relatively powerless. Due to this default, anthropologists tend to design their research and theorizing to reflect a relatively powerless other. We suggest that the accumulated scholarship on studying up, that is, studying those who structure the lives of many others, offers more accurate ways to theorize power and its exercise as partial and situated, as well as more plural and productive ways to imagine anthropological practice and ethics. We also suggest that this line of thinking gives us some ground to speak to the larger direction of the discipline.
Abstract: This introduction suggests that anthropology often assumes that the people anthropologists work with are relatively powerless. Due to this default, anthropologists tend to design their research and theorizing to reflect a relatively powerless other. We suggest that the accumulated scholarship on studying up, that is, studying those who structure the lives of many others, offers more accurate ways to theorize power and its exercise as partial and situated, as well as more plural and productive ways to imagine anthropological practice and ethics. We also suggest that this line of thinking gives us some ground to speak to the larger direction of the discipline.
Journal: Critique of Anthropology
Published: September 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Daniel Souleles
The Blue Dot Network, Economic Power, and China’s Belt & Road Initiative
Abstract: Within months of taking office the Trump administration had declared its outright opposition to the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) as part of a broader turn to “strategic competition” with China. Although not overtly framed as such, the US began to create policy alternatives. Alongside the BUILD Act and Prosper Africa these included the “Blue Dot Network” (BDN) the stated purpose of which was to assess and certify the “quality” of proposed infrastructure projects in terms of their potential viability, sustainability, as well as the transparency of procurement procedures. Established in cooperation with Japan and Australia the BDN would, it was said, make potential infrastructure projects more attractive to non-Chinese backers and implicitly frame BRI projects as sub-standard. While the Biden White House sought to distance itself from much of the Trump legacy the BDN remained within the Department of State’s portfolio and was relaunched in June 2021 under the auspices of the OECD. The article draws upon the literature assessing the impact of rankings and certification initiatives as well as studies of economic power. On the basis of this, it argues that although the BDN would appear from the former to have significant opportunities the “hard” and “soft” forms of economic power upon which it rests constitute an unstable amalgam that is likely to constrain the BDN’s capacities and prospects.
Abstract: Within months of taking office the Trump administration had declared its outright opposition to the Belt & Road Initiative (BRI) as part of a broader turn to “strategic competition” with China. Although not overtly framed as such, the US began to create policy alternatives. Alongside the BUILD Act and Prosper Africa these included the “Blue Dot Network” (BDN) the stated purpose of which was to assess and certify the “quality” of proposed infrastructure projects in terms of their potential viability, sustainability, as well as the transparency of procurement procedures. Established in cooperation with Japan and Australia the BDN would, it was said, make potential infrastructure projects more attractive to non-Chinese backers and implicitly frame BRI projects as sub-standard. While the Biden White House sought to distance itself from much of the Trump legacy the BDN remained within the Department of State’s portfolio and was relaunched in June 2021 under the auspices of the OECD. The article draws upon the literature assessing the impact of rankings and certification initiatives as well as studies of economic power. On the basis of this, it argues that although the BDN would appear from the former to have significant opportunities the “hard” and “soft” forms of economic power upon which it rests constitute an unstable amalgam that is likely to constrain the BDN’s capacities and prospects.
Journal: Asian Affairs: An American Review
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Edward Ashbee
Sticky Notes as a Kind of Design Material: How Sticky Notes Support Design Cognition and Design Collaboration
Abstract: Sticky notes abound as a material in design practice, yet their use is under-explored empirically and theoretically. We address the research question: how do sticky notes support design cognition and collaboration when compared to other kinds of design materials? We compare four types of design materials (sketches, prototypes, cards, sticky notes) and the activities afforded by the properties of these materials. We find that the affordances of sticky notes make them well-suited to supporting cognitive processes associated with visualizing and understanding “part/whole” relationships in concept development. Furthermore, sticky notes facilitate design collaboration by enabling shared attention through material anchors and the modulation of turn-taking. We conclude by suggesting new directions for theorizing about sticky-note usage in design.
Abstract: Sticky notes abound as a material in design practice, yet their use is under-explored empirically and theoretically. We address the research question: how do sticky notes support design cognition and collaboration when compared to other kinds of design materials? We compare four types of design materials (sketches, prototypes, cards, sticky notes) and the activities afforded by the properties of these materials. We find that the affordances of sticky notes make them well-suited to supporting cognitive processes associated with visualizing and understanding “part/whole” relationships in concept development. Furthermore, sticky notes facilitate design collaboration by enabling shared attention through material anchors and the modulation of turn-taking. We conclude by suggesting new directions for theorizing about sticky-note usage in design.
Journal: Design Studies
Published: September 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Bo Christensen
Making more Effective Use of Human Behavioural Science in Conservation Interventions
Abstract: Conservation is predominantly an exercise in trying to change human behaviour – whether that of consumers whose choices drive unsustainable resource use, of land managers clearing natural habitats, or of policymakers failing to deliver on environmental commitments. Yet conservation research and practice have made only limited use of recent advances in behavioural science, including more novel behaviour change interventions. Instead conservationists mostly still rely on traditional behaviour change interventions – education, regulation and material incentivisation – largely without applying recent insights from behavioural science about how to improve such approaches. This paper explores how behavioural science could be more widely and powerfully applied in biodiversity conservation. We consider the diverse cast of actors involved in conservation problems and the resulting breadth of behaviour change that conservationists might want to achieve. Drawing on health research, we present a catalogue of types of interventions for changing behaviour, considering both novel, standalone interventions and the enhancement of more traditional conservation interventions. We outline a framework for setting priorities among interventions based on their likely impact, using ideas developed for climate change mitigation. We caution that, despite its promise, behavioural science is not a silver bullet for conservation. The effects of interventions aimed at changing behaviour can be modest, temporary, and context-dependent in ways that are as-yet poorly understood. We therefore close with a call for interventions to be tested and the findings widely disseminated to enable researchers and practitioners to build a much-needed evidence base on the effectiveness and limitations of these tools.
Abstract: Conservation is predominantly an exercise in trying to change human behaviour – whether that of consumers whose choices drive unsustainable resource use, of land managers clearing natural habitats, or of policymakers failing to deliver on environmental commitments. Yet conservation research and practice have made only limited use of recent advances in behavioural science, including more novel behaviour change interventions. Instead conservationists mostly still rely on traditional behaviour change interventions – education, regulation and material incentivisation – largely without applying recent insights from behavioural science about how to improve such approaches. This paper explores how behavioural science could be more widely and powerfully applied in biodiversity conservation. We consider the diverse cast of actors involved in conservation problems and the resulting breadth of behaviour change that conservationists might want to achieve. Drawing on health research, we present a catalogue of types of interventions for changing behaviour, considering both novel, standalone interventions and the enhancement of more traditional conservation interventions. We outline a framework for setting priorities among interventions based on their likely impact, using ideas developed for climate change mitigation. We caution that, despite its promise, behavioural science is not a silver bullet for conservation. The effects of interventions aimed at changing behaviour can be modest, temporary, and context-dependent in ways that are as-yet poorly understood. We therefore close with a call for interventions to be tested and the findings widely disseminated to enable researchers and practitioners to build a much-needed evidence base on the effectiveness and limitations of these tools.
Journal: Biological Conservation
Published: September 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Jan Michael Bauer
Information Technology Systems Implementation and Processes of Integration and Disintegration: Case Study Evidence from Air Greenland
Abstract: Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the impact of information technology (IT) system implementation on the integration of data and information between sales and accounting departments, and how data integration affects relations with supplier and customers.
Design/methodology/approach: The change between three different reservation and distribution systems in an airline company was assessed over 20 years based on qualitative data collected while events unfolded and interviews that traced events retrospectively.
Findings: This study finds that data integration challenges affect the capacity to use revenue and sales data for control purposes and integrating with suppliers and customers. The systems either facilitated the ability to integrate sales and accounting data or enabled integration in wider supplier and customer networks. The implementation of different reservation and distribution systems resulted in a trade-off between integration within the firm and into wider customer and supplier networks.
Research limitations/implications: Data were mainly obtained from the focal firm, Air Greenland. The protracted study period meant that the data were not as concentrated as they would have been had the analysis been performed over a shorter duration or had the focus been on one implementation process.
Originality/value: Extant research suggests that integration challenges when implementing IT systems are caused by differences in information needs between groups with different logics. The authors illustrate how data integration is also a crucial challenge when implementing IT systems.
Abstract: Purpose: This paper aims to analyze the impact of information technology (IT) system implementation on the integration of data and information between sales and accounting departments, and how data integration affects relations with supplier and customers.
Design/methodology/approach: The change between three different reservation and distribution systems in an airline company was assessed over 20 years based on qualitative data collected while events unfolded and interviews that traced events retrospectively.
Findings: This study finds that data integration challenges affect the capacity to use revenue and sales data for control purposes and integrating with suppliers and customers. The systems either facilitated the ability to integrate sales and accounting data or enabled integration in wider supplier and customer networks. The implementation of different reservation and distribution systems resulted in a trade-off between integration within the firm and into wider customer and supplier networks.
Research limitations/implications: Data were mainly obtained from the focal firm, Air Greenland. The protracted study period meant that the data were not as concentrated as they would have been had the analysis been performed over a shorter duration or had the focus been on one implementation process.
Originality/value: Extant research suggests that integration challenges when implementing IT systems are caused by differences in information needs between groups with different logics. The authors illustrate how data integration is also a crucial challenge when implementing IT systems.
Journal: Journal of Accounting and Organizational Change
Published: July 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Sof Thrane , Ivar Friis
The Political Economy of National-neoliberalism
Abstract: Has a post-neoliberal policy regime emerged from the challenges to neoliberalism that have accompanied the rise of nationalism and populism in some Eastern and Central European countries? Why has the political organization of these challenges to neoliberalism endured in some countries but not in others? By drawing on a mix of primary and secondary sources culled from the institutional, political and economic realities of Hungary and Romania, this paper makes two claims. First, the article sugegsts that these transformations have amounted to a distinctive variety of neoliberalism that can be dubbed ‘national-neoliberalism.’ At its core one finds the slightly modified old goals of neoliberal orthodoxy embedded into a protective cocoon of orthodox and unorthodox economic policy instruments and institutions. The second claim of the paper is that the political organization of the national-neoliberal project was resilient in Hungary but not in Romania. The evidence suggests that this variation owes not only to the fact that the ‘national’ elements of national-neoliberalism had protections against the bond markets. While this factor was indeed critical, the resilience of Hungarian national-neoliberalism seems to have been made possible by the fact that its proponents could manage a broader social bloc and deploy techno-political capabilities that bolstered their political power relative to that of challengers. In contrast, the challengers to orthodox ("globalist") neoliberalism did not posess these characteristics in Romania. As such, the paper rejects the hypothesis of a nationalist-heterodox successor to neoliberalism and takes a first cut at a theory of policy resilience for national-neoliberalism.
Abstract: Has a post-neoliberal policy regime emerged from the challenges to neoliberalism that have accompanied the rise of nationalism and populism in some Eastern and Central European countries? Why has the political organization of these challenges to neoliberalism endured in some countries but not in others? By drawing on a mix of primary and secondary sources culled from the institutional, political and economic realities of Hungary and Romania, this paper makes two claims. First, the article sugegsts that these transformations have amounted to a distinctive variety of neoliberalism that can be dubbed ‘national-neoliberalism.’ At its core one finds the slightly modified old goals of neoliberal orthodoxy embedded into a protective cocoon of orthodox and unorthodox economic policy instruments and institutions. The second claim of the paper is that the political organization of the national-neoliberal project was resilient in Hungary but not in Romania. The evidence suggests that this variation owes not only to the fact that the ‘national’ elements of national-neoliberalism had protections against the bond markets. While this factor was indeed critical, the resilience of Hungarian national-neoliberalism seems to have been made possible by the fact that its proponents could manage a broader social bloc and deploy techno-political capabilities that bolstered their political power relative to that of challengers. In contrast, the challengers to orthodox ("globalist") neoliberalism did not posess these characteristics in Romania. As such, the paper rejects the hypothesis of a nationalist-heterodox successor to neoliberalism and takes a first cut at a theory of policy resilience for national-neoliberalism.
Journal: European Politics and Society
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Cornel Ban
How Financial Products Organize Spatial Networks: Analyzing Collateralized Debt Obligations and Collateralized Loan Obligations as “Networked Products
Abstract: During the 2010s, collateralized loan obligations rapidly became a trillion-dollar industry, mirroring the growth profile and peak value of its cousin - collateralized debt obligations - in the 2000s. Yet, despite similarities in product form and growth trajectory, surprisingly little is known about how these markets evolved spatially and relationally. This paper fills that knowledge gap by asking two questions: how did each network adapt to achieve scale at speed across different jurisdictions; and to what extent does the spatial and relational organization of today's collateralized loan obligation structuration network, mirror that of collateralized debt obligations pre-crisis? To answer those questions, we draw on the global financial networks approach, developing our own concept of the networked product to explore the agentic qualities of collateralized debt obligations and collateralized loan obligations—specifically how their technical and regulatory “needs” shape the roles and jurisdictions enrolled in a global financial network. We use social network analysis to map and analyze the evolving spatial and relational organization that nurtured this growth, drawing on data harvested from offering circulars. We find that collateralized debt obligations sprad from the US to Europe through a process of transduplication - that role-based network relations were reproduced from one regulatory regime to another. We also find a strong correlation between pre-crisis collateralized debt obligation- and post-crisis collateralized loan obligation-global financial networks in both US$- and €-denominations, with often the same network participants involved in each. We conclude by reflecting on the prosaic way financial markets for ostensibly complex products reproduce and the capacity for network stabilities to produce market instabilities.
Abstract: During the 2010s, collateralized loan obligations rapidly became a trillion-dollar industry, mirroring the growth profile and peak value of its cousin - collateralized debt obligations - in the 2000s. Yet, despite similarities in product form and growth trajectory, surprisingly little is known about how these markets evolved spatially and relationally. This paper fills that knowledge gap by asking two questions: how did each network adapt to achieve scale at speed across different jurisdictions; and to what extent does the spatial and relational organization of today's collateralized loan obligation structuration network, mirror that of collateralized debt obligations pre-crisis? To answer those questions, we draw on the global financial networks approach, developing our own concept of the networked product to explore the agentic qualities of collateralized debt obligations and collateralized loan obligations—specifically how their technical and regulatory “needs” shape the roles and jurisdictions enrolled in a global financial network. We use social network analysis to map and analyze the evolving spatial and relational organization that nurtured this growth, drawing on data harvested from offering circulars. We find that collateralized debt obligations sprad from the US to Europe through a process of transduplication - that role-based network relations were reproduced from one regulatory regime to another. We also find a strong correlation between pre-crisis collateralized debt obligation- and post-crisis collateralized loan obligation-global financial networks in both US$- and €-denominations, with often the same network participants involved in each. We conclude by reflecting on the prosaic way financial markets for ostensibly complex products reproduce and the capacity for network stabilities to produce market instabilities.
Journal: Political Theory
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Adam Leaver
Consumers’ Privacy Calculus: The PRICAL Index Development and Validation
Abstract: Although collecting personal information about consumers is crucial for firms and marketers, understanding of when and why consumers accept or reject information collection remains limited. The authors conceptualize a privacy calculus that represents a consumer's trade–off of the valence and uncertainty of the consequences of the collection, storage, and use of personal information. For example, usage-based car insurance requires drivers to share data on their driving behavior in exchange for a discount (certain benefit) but at the risk of third parties intercepting location data for malicious use (uncertain disadvantage). Building on this conceptualization, the authors develop the privacy calculus (PRICAL) index. They empirically confirm the validity of the items (Study 1) and the index as a whole (Study 2). The PRICAL index is generally applicable and improves the explanation of behavioral intentions (Study 2) and actual behavior (Study 3), compared with currently used constructs (e.g., privacy concern, trust). Overall, the PRICAL index allows managers to understand consumers’ acceptance of information collection regarding financial, performance, psychological, security, social, and time-related consequences, which the authors demonstrate using the top five most valuable digital brands (Study 4).
Abstract: Although collecting personal information about consumers is crucial for firms and marketers, understanding of when and why consumers accept or reject information collection remains limited. The authors conceptualize a privacy calculus that represents a consumer's trade–off of the valence and uncertainty of the consequences of the collection, storage, and use of personal information. For example, usage-based car insurance requires drivers to share data on their driving behavior in exchange for a discount (certain benefit) but at the risk of third parties intercepting location data for malicious use (uncertain disadvantage). Building on this conceptualization, the authors develop the privacy calculus (PRICAL) index. They empirically confirm the validity of the items (Study 1) and the index as a whole (Study 2). The PRICAL index is generally applicable and improves the explanation of behavioral intentions (Study 2) and actual behavior (Study 3), compared with currently used constructs (e.g., privacy concern, trust). Overall, the PRICAL index allows managers to understand consumers’ acceptance of information collection regarding financial, performance, psychological, security, social, and time-related consequences, which the authors demonstrate using the top five most valuable digital brands (Study 4).
Journal: International Journal of Research in Marketing
Published: June 2021
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Contact CBS researcher:
Mortgage Prepayment and Path-dependent Effects of Monetary Policy
Abstract: How much ability does the Fed have to stimulate the economy by cutting interest rates? We argue that the presence of substantial debt in fixed-rate, prepayable mortgages means that the ability to stimulate the economy by cutting interest rates depends not just on their current level but also on their previous path. Using a household model of mortgage prepayment matched to detailed loan-level evidence on the relationship between prepayment and rate incentives, we argue that recent interest rate paths will generate substantial headwinds for future monetary stimulus.
Abstract: How much ability does the Fed have to stimulate the economy by cutting interest rates? We argue that the presence of substantial debt in fixed-rate, prepayable mortgages means that the ability to stimulate the economy by cutting interest rates depends not just on their current level but also on their previous path. Using a household model of mortgage prepayment matched to detailed loan-level evidence on the relationship between prepayment and rate incentives, we argue that recent interest rate paths will generate substantial headwinds for future monetary stimulus.
Journal: American Economic Review
Published: September 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Fabrice Tourre
Forecasting Realized Volatility of International REITs: The Role of Realized Skewness and Realized Kurtosis
Abstract: We use an international dataset on 5-minutes interval intraday data covering nine leading markets and regions to construct measures of realized volatility, realized jumps, realized skewness, and realized kurtosis of returns of international Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) over the daily period of September, 2008 to August, 2020. We study out-of-sample the predictive value of realized skewness and realized kurtosis for realized volatility over and above realized jumps, where we also differentiate between measures of ``good" realized volatility and ``bad" realized volatility. We find that realized skewness and realized kurtosis significantly improve forecasting performance at a daily, weekly, and monthly forecast horizon, and that their contribution to forecasting performance outweighs in terms of significance the contribution of realized jumps. Our results have important implications for investors and policymakers.
Abstract: We use an international dataset on 5-minutes interval intraday data covering nine leading markets and regions to construct measures of realized volatility, realized jumps, realized skewness, and realized kurtosis of returns of international Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) over the daily period of September, 2008 to August, 2020. We study out-of-sample the predictive value of realized skewness and realized kurtosis for realized volatility over and above realized jumps, where we also differentiate between measures of ``good" realized volatility and ``bad" realized volatility. We find that realized skewness and realized kurtosis significantly improve forecasting performance at a daily, weekly, and monthly forecast horizon, and that their contribution to forecasting performance outweighs in terms of significance the contribution of realized jumps. Our results have important implications for investors and policymakers.
Journal: Journal of Forecasting
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Oguzhan Cepni
Towards a Science of Deep Transformations: Initiating a Dialogue between Degrowth and Critical Realism
Abstract: Degrowth scholarship has enjoyed considerable momentum in recent times, resulting in a growing, diverse and vibrant field of research. Against this background, it becomes pertinent to reflect on the nature of degrowth science and on the philosophical assumptions underpinning it. Advocates of the degrowth perspective have so far largely abstained from engaging in such reflections and have yet to discuss degrowth in relation to established philosophy of science perspectives. The present paper puts degrowth in a discourse with critical realist philosophy of science to provide visions as to what degrowth as a science can see itself as and strive to become. A dialogue between the two perspectives that brings into focus ontology, epistemology and axiology is initiated. It is suggested that degrowth scholarship contains many elements that are consistent with critical realism, albeit arguably in a scattered manner. While degrowth aims to enact change in the real world, critical realism offers a deep account of the real world and proposes how knowledge of it can emerge and result in transformative practice. The paper proposes that degrowth scholarship can come to be practised in a more holistic manner and thus advance by engaging with critical realism
Abstract: Degrowth scholarship has enjoyed considerable momentum in recent times, resulting in a growing, diverse and vibrant field of research. Against this background, it becomes pertinent to reflect on the nature of degrowth science and on the philosophical assumptions underpinning it. Advocates of the degrowth perspective have so far largely abstained from engaging in such reflections and have yet to discuss degrowth in relation to established philosophy of science perspectives. The present paper puts degrowth in a discourse with critical realist philosophy of science to provide visions as to what degrowth as a science can see itself as and strive to become. A dialogue between the two perspectives that brings into focus ontology, epistemology and axiology is initiated. It is suggested that degrowth scholarship contains many elements that are consistent with critical realism, albeit arguably in a scattered manner. While degrowth aims to enact change in the real world, critical realism offers a deep account of the real world and proposes how knowledge of it can emerge and result in transformative practice. The paper proposes that degrowth scholarship can come to be practised in a more holistic manner and thus advance by engaging with critical realism
Journal: Ecological Economics
Published: December 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Hubert Buch-Hansen
Globalization of Innovation: The Moderating Role of Project-Level Investment Strategy and Country Type in Location Choice for R&D-Related FDI
Abstract: The current stage of globalization involves geographically dispersed research and development (R&D) investments that are not confined to advanced economies. These cross-border R&D investments are driven by multinational enterprises’ (MNEs’) strategies for exploring and/or exploiting foreign locations. In this paper, we analyse location choice and the moderating effect of project-level investment strategy (i.e. exploration or exploitation) and type of host economy (i.e. advanced or emerging) on the importance of the innovation framework and local innovation capabilities. Our analysis of 588 R&D-related foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries during the 2006–2016 period reveals that whereas a host country’s innovation framework and capability overall do affect the location decision, their ultimate effects are conditional on the combination of project-level investment strategy and type of economy. Our findings have policy implications for FDI policies aiming at enhancing linkages between MNEs and local actors and national science, technology, innovation and educational policies and programmes.
Abstract: The current stage of globalization involves geographically dispersed research and development (R&D) investments that are not confined to advanced economies. These cross-border R&D investments are driven by multinational enterprises’ (MNEs’) strategies for exploring and/or exploiting foreign locations. In this paper, we analyse location choice and the moderating effect of project-level investment strategy (i.e. exploration or exploitation) and type of host economy (i.e. advanced or emerging) on the importance of the innovation framework and local innovation capabilities. Our analysis of 588 R&D-related foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in the pharmaceutical and biotech industries during the 2006–2016 period reveals that whereas a host country’s innovation framework and capability overall do affect the location decision, their ultimate effects are conditional on the combination of project-level investment strategy and type of economy. Our findings have policy implications for FDI policies aiming at enhancing linkages between MNEs and local actors and national science, technology, innovation and educational policies and programmes.
Journal: Transnational Corporations
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Stine Haakonsson, Peter D. Ørberg Jensen, Søren Feodor Nielsen
Volatile Hiring: Uncertainty in Search and Matching Models
Abstract: In search-and-matching models, the nonlinear nature of search frictions increases average unemployment rates during periods with higher volatility. These frictions are not, however, by themselves sufficient to raise unemployment following an increase in perceived uncertainty; though they may do so in conjunction with the common assumption of wages being determined by Nash bargaining. Importantly, option-value considerations play no role in the standard model with free entry. In contrast, when the mass of entrepreneurs is finite and there is heterogeneity in firm-specific productivity, a rise in perceived uncertainty robustly increases the option value of waiting and reduces job creation.
Abstract: In search-and-matching models, the nonlinear nature of search frictions increases average unemployment rates during periods with higher volatility. These frictions are not, however, by themselves sufficient to raise unemployment following an increase in perceived uncertainty; though they may do so in conjunction with the common assumption of wages being determined by Nash bargaining. Importantly, option-value considerations play no role in the standard model with free entry. In contrast, when the mass of entrepreneurs is finite and there is heterogeneity in firm-specific productivity, a rise in perceived uncertainty robustly increases the option value of waiting and reduces job creation.
Journal: Journal of Monetary Economics
Published: July 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Pontus Rendahl
Eleven Genomic Loci Affect Plasma Levels of Chronic Inflammation Marker Soluble Urokinase-type Plasminogen Activator Receptor
Abstract: Soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a chronic inflammation marker associated with the development of a range of diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. The genetics of suPAR remain unexplored but may shed light on the biology of the marker and its connection to outcomes. We report a heritability estimate of 60% for the variation in suPAR and performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis on suPAR levels measured in Iceland (N = 35,559) and in Denmark (N = 12,177). We identified 13 independently genome-wide significant sequence variants associated with suPAR across 11 distinct loci. Associated variants were found in and around genes encoding uPAR (PLAUR), its ligand uPA (PLAU), the kidney-disease-associated gene PLA2R1 as well as genes with relations to glycosylation, glycoprotein biosynthesis, and the immune response. These findings provide new insight into the causes of variation in suPAR plasma levels, which may clarify suPAR’s potential role in associated diseases, as well as the underlying mechanisms that give suPAR its prognostic value as a unique marker of chronic inflammation.
Abstract: Soluble urokinase-type plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) is a chronic inflammation marker associated with the development of a range of diseases, including cancer and cardiovascular disease. The genetics of suPAR remain unexplored but may shed light on the biology of the marker and its connection to outcomes. We report a heritability estimate of 60% for the variation in suPAR and performed a genome-wide association meta-analysis on suPAR levels measured in Iceland (N = 35,559) and in Denmark (N = 12,177). We identified 13 independently genome-wide significant sequence variants associated with suPAR across 11 distinct loci. Associated variants were found in and around genes encoding uPAR (PLAUR), its ligand uPA (PLAU), the kidney-disease-associated gene PLA2R1 as well as genes with relations to glycosylation, glycoprotein biosynthesis, and the immune response. These findings provide new insight into the causes of variation in suPAR plasma levels, which may clarify suPAR’s potential role in associated diseases, as well as the underlying mechanisms that give suPAR its prognostic value as a unique marker of chronic inflammation.
Journal: Communications Biology
Published: June 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Steffen Andersen
Gender and Tourism Sustainability
Abstract: It is long overdue for tourism research to move beyond the basic question of whether gender matters, because there is no humanity (or human phenomenon) without gender dimensions. Instead this article asks how does it matter? It does so by challenging tourism sustainability knowledges from the perspective of feminist epistemologies. It presents a broad and necessary conceptualization of gender which includes the spectrums of sex, sexuality, gender expression, and gender identity. Drawing on the philosophical conception of ideology by Elisabeth Anderson, this article invites to reimagine dominant models of the world in gender, culture and nature ideologies. It introduces the contributions and learnings of the special issue on “Gender and Tourism Sustainability”. Finally, it states that a future agenda for gender and tourism sustainability research must highlight that being and knowing includes the non-human and a multiplicity of ecologies and cosmologies, that knowledges are multitude, and that they can be found beyond the written word and/or sanctioned instutionalized knowledge.
Abstract: It is long overdue for tourism research to move beyond the basic question of whether gender matters, because there is no humanity (or human phenomenon) without gender dimensions. Instead this article asks how does it matter? It does so by challenging tourism sustainability knowledges from the perspective of feminist epistemologies. It presents a broad and necessary conceptualization of gender which includes the spectrums of sex, sexuality, gender expression, and gender identity. Drawing on the philosophical conception of ideology by Elisabeth Anderson, this article invites to reimagine dominant models of the world in gender, culture and nature ideologies. It introduces the contributions and learnings of the special issue on “Gender and Tourism Sustainability”. Finally, it states that a future agenda for gender and tourism sustainability research must highlight that being and knowing includes the non-human and a multiplicity of ecologies and cosmologies, that knowledges are multitude, and that they can be found beyond the written word and/or sanctioned instutionalized knowledge.
Journal: Journal of Sustainable Tourism
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Claudia Eger, Ana Maria Munar
Durable Conversions: Property, Aspiration, and Inequality in Urban Northern Kenya
Abstract: In Isiolo, a northern Kenyan town earmarked for development as part of a large-scale infrastructure project, the value of land has increased dramatically. Local residents with insecure tenure at the town's edges were selling off plots at ever-rising prices. Yet the money generated was renowned for its rapid expenditure, leaving the holder with little to show for the sale. This article examines the discourse of “selling and building,” whereby residents aspired to discipline flighty money generated through land sale by converting it into durable investments. In particular, selling and building was seen as a means of strengthening individual property claims: By selling a little land, one could invest the money it yielded in the remainder, most often by building a “permanent” house. Yet “selling and building” was an individual, private property solution to the collective problem of insecure customary tenure and worked to gloss over and perpetuate inequalities among residents. The problems associated with the “money of plots” (pesa ya ploti), and struggles with building, attest to the complexity of property relations in urbanizing northern Kenya as historically collective and prospectively individual. Moreover, they illuminate residents' deep ambivalence about private property and the inequalities inherent to it.
Abstract: In Isiolo, a northern Kenyan town earmarked for development as part of a large-scale infrastructure project, the value of land has increased dramatically. Local residents with insecure tenure at the town's edges were selling off plots at ever-rising prices. Yet the money generated was renowned for its rapid expenditure, leaving the holder with little to show for the sale. This article examines the discourse of “selling and building,” whereby residents aspired to discipline flighty money generated through land sale by converting it into durable investments. In particular, selling and building was seen as a means of strengthening individual property claims: By selling a little land, one could invest the money it yielded in the remainder, most often by building a “permanent” house. Yet “selling and building” was an individual, private property solution to the collective problem of insecure customary tenure and worked to gloss over and perpetuate inequalities among residents. The problems associated with the “money of plots” (pesa ya ploti), and struggles with building, attest to the complexity of property relations in urbanizing northern Kenya as historically collective and prospectively individual. Moreover, they illuminate residents' deep ambivalence about private property and the inequalities inherent to it.
Journal: Economic Anthropology
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Hannah Elliott
How Professional Actions Connect and Protect
Abstract: Below we provide responses to the ongoing debate sparked by Mirko Noordegraaf’s intervention in suggesting that we are moving toward forms of ‘connective professionalism’. Critics in this debate have objected to Noordegraaf in a number of ways. Some object to a conflation of ideal types and empirical description. Others assert that Noordegraaf suggests a staged process of moving from protective to connective types of professionalism does not ring true; that we can finds forms of connection and protection in contemporary professionalism and in professional action. Our companions in this issue (Alvehus, Avnoon, and Oliver) suggest that greater connectiveness also permits new forms of protection as part of professionalism. Our short essays contribute to the Noordegraaf debate by focusing less on professionalism and more on how forms of professional action lead to mechanisms of connection and protection.
Abstract: Below we provide responses to the ongoing debate sparked by Mirko Noordegraaf’s intervention in suggesting that we are moving toward forms of ‘connective professionalism’. Critics in this debate have objected to Noordegraaf in a number of ways. Some object to a conflation of ideal types and empirical description. Others assert that Noordegraaf suggests a staged process of moving from protective to connective types of professionalism does not ring true; that we can finds forms of connection and protection in contemporary professionalism and in professional action. Our companions in this issue (Alvehus, Avnoon, and Oliver) suggest that greater connectiveness also permits new forms of protection as part of professionalism. Our short essays contribute to the Noordegraaf debate by focusing less on professionalism and more on how forms of professional action lead to mechanisms of connection and protection.
Journal: Journal of Professions and Organization
Published: July 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Lasse Folke Henriksen, Leonard Seabrooke
A Home-based eHealth Intervention for an Older Adult Population With Food Insecurity: Feasibility and Acceptability Study
Abstract: Background: Food insecurity is a global public health challenge, affecting predominately the most vulnerable people in society, including older adults. For this population, eHealth interventions represent an opportunity for promoting healthy lifestyle habits, thus mitigating the consequences of food insecurity. However, before their widespread dissemination, it is essential to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of these interventions among end users.
Objective: This study aims to explore the feasibility and acceptability of a home-based eHealth intervention focused on improving dietary and physical activity through an interactive television (TV) app among older adults with food insecurity.
Methods: A pilot noncontrolled quasi-experimental study was designed with baseline and 3-month follow-up assessments. Older adult participants with food insecurity were recruited from 17 primary health care centers in Portugal. A home-based intervention program using an interactive TV app aimed at promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors was implemented over 12 weeks. Primary outcomes were feasibility (self-reported use and interest in eHealth) and acceptability (affective attitude, burden, ethicality, perceived effectiveness, and self-efficacy), which were evaluated using a structured questionnaire with a 7-point Likert scale. Secondary outcomes were changes in food insecurity (Household Food Insecurity Scale), quality of life (European Quality of Life Questionnaire with five dimensions and three levels and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue), physical function (Health Assessment Questionnaire, Elderly Mobility Scale, grip strength, and regularity of exercise), and nutritional status (adherence to the Mediterranean diet).
Results: A sample of 31 older adult individuals with food insecurity was enrolled in the 12-week intervention program with no dropouts. A total of 10 participants self-reported low use of the TV app. After the intervention, participants were significantly more interested in using eHealth to improve food insecurity (baseline median 1.0, IQR 3.0; 3-month median 5.0, IQR 5.0; P=.01) and for other purposes (baseline median 1.0, IQR 2.0; 3-month median 6.0, IQR 2.0; P=.03). High levels of acceptability were found both before and after (median range 7.0-7.0, IQR 2.0-0.0 and 5.0-7.0, IQR 2.0-2.0, respectively) the intervention, with no significant changes for most constructs. Clinically, there was a reduction of 40% in food insecurity (P=.001), decreased fatigue (mean -3.82, SD 8.27; P=.02), and improved physical function (Health Assessment Questionnaire: mean -0.22, SD 0.38; P=.01; Elderly Mobility Scale: mean -1.50, SD 1.08; P=.01; regularity of exercise: baseline 10/31, 32%; 3 months 18/31, 58%; P=.02). No differences were found for the European Quality of Life Questionnaire with five dimensions and three levels, grip strength, or adherence to the Mediterranean diet.
Conclusions: The home-based eHealth intervention was feasible and highly acceptable by participants, thus supporting a future full-scale trial. The intervention program not only reduced the proportion of older adults with food insecurity but also improved participants' fatigue and physical function.
Abstract: Background: Food insecurity is a global public health challenge, affecting predominately the most vulnerable people in society, including older adults. For this population, eHealth interventions represent an opportunity for promoting healthy lifestyle habits, thus mitigating the consequences of food insecurity. However, before their widespread dissemination, it is essential to evaluate the feasibility and acceptability of these interventions among end users.
Objective: This study aims to explore the feasibility and acceptability of a home-based eHealth intervention focused on improving dietary and physical activity through an interactive television (TV) app among older adults with food insecurity.
Methods: A pilot noncontrolled quasi-experimental study was designed with baseline and 3-month follow-up assessments. Older adult participants with food insecurity were recruited from 17 primary health care centers in Portugal. A home-based intervention program using an interactive TV app aimed at promoting healthy lifestyle behaviors was implemented over 12 weeks. Primary outcomes were feasibility (self-reported use and interest in eHealth) and acceptability (affective attitude, burden, ethicality, perceived effectiveness, and self-efficacy), which were evaluated using a structured questionnaire with a 7-point Likert scale. Secondary outcomes were changes in food insecurity (Household Food Insecurity Scale), quality of life (European Quality of Life Questionnaire with five dimensions and three levels and Functional Assessment of Chronic Illness Therapy-Fatigue), physical function (Health Assessment Questionnaire, Elderly Mobility Scale, grip strength, and regularity of exercise), and nutritional status (adherence to the Mediterranean diet).
Results: A sample of 31 older adult individuals with food insecurity was enrolled in the 12-week intervention program with no dropouts. A total of 10 participants self-reported low use of the TV app. After the intervention, participants were significantly more interested in using eHealth to improve food insecurity (baseline median 1.0, IQR 3.0; 3-month median 5.0, IQR 5.0; P=.01) and for other purposes (baseline median 1.0, IQR 2.0; 3-month median 6.0, IQR 2.0; P=.03). High levels of acceptability were found both before and after (median range 7.0-7.0, IQR 2.0-0.0 and 5.0-7.0, IQR 2.0-2.0, respectively) the intervention, with no significant changes for most constructs. Clinically, there was a reduction of 40% in food insecurity (P=.001), decreased fatigue (mean -3.82, SD 8.27; P=.02), and improved physical function (Health Assessment Questionnaire: mean -0.22, SD 0.38; P=.01; Elderly Mobility Scale: mean -1.50, SD 1.08; P=.01; regularity of exercise: baseline 10/31, 32%; 3 months 18/31, 58%; P=.02). No differences were found for the European Quality of Life Questionnaire with five dimensions and three levels, grip strength, or adherence to the Mediterranean diet.
Conclusions: The home-based eHealth intervention was feasible and highly acceptable by participants, thus supporting a future full-scale trial. The intervention program not only reduced the proportion of older adults with food insecurity but also improved participants' fatigue and physical function.
Journal: Journal of Medical Internet Research
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Pedro Oliveira
Productivity Improvement and Multiple Management Controls: Evidence from a Manufacturing Firm
Abstract: Purpose: The present paper explores the multiple management control systems (MCSs) involved in productivity improvement (PI) in manufacturing and how they interrelate. Research has largely neglected the multiplicity and interrelationships of these MCSs.
Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on an abductive case study approach, the authors collected empirical data from a global automotive supplier that produces complex systems for passenger cars. Recent PI activities are analysed to identify and explain the interrelationships among the multiple MCSs affecting these activities.
Findings: The study shows how a broad range of MCSs are involved in PI. The study identifies and explores both complementary and conflicting relationships among the MCSs and demonstrates how managers rely on a set of mechanisms to alleviate tensions and strengthen complementarities among these MCSs.
Research limitations/implications: As this paper is based on a single case study, future research can contribute further generalisations (analytical and statistical) with respect to the MCSs involved in PI, how they are interrelated and which mechanisms managers use to manage their interrelationships.
Practical implications: Managers seeking to control and improve productivity should consider the complete control package and its interrelationships instead of focussing on each MCS separately.
Originality/value: The present paper contributes to the knowledge of the multiplicity and interrelationships of MCSs involved in PI and the type of managerial work required to manage their interrelationships.
Abstract: Purpose: The present paper explores the multiple management control systems (MCSs) involved in productivity improvement (PI) in manufacturing and how they interrelate. Research has largely neglected the multiplicity and interrelationships of these MCSs.
Design/methodology/approach: Drawing on an abductive case study approach, the authors collected empirical data from a global automotive supplier that produces complex systems for passenger cars. Recent PI activities are analysed to identify and explain the interrelationships among the multiple MCSs affecting these activities.
Findings: The study shows how a broad range of MCSs are involved in PI. The study identifies and explores both complementary and conflicting relationships among the MCSs and demonstrates how managers rely on a set of mechanisms to alleviate tensions and strengthen complementarities among these MCSs.
Research limitations/implications: As this paper is based on a single case study, future research can contribute further generalisations (analytical and statistical) with respect to the MCSs involved in PI, how they are interrelated and which mechanisms managers use to manage their interrelationships.
Practical implications: Managers seeking to control and improve productivity should consider the complete control package and its interrelationships instead of focussing on each MCS separately.
Originality/value: The present paper contributes to the knowledge of the multiplicity and interrelationships of MCSs involved in PI and the type of managerial work required to manage their interrelationships.
Journal: International Journal of Operations and Production Management
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Michael Güldenpfennig, Kim Sundtoft Hald, Allan Hansen
The Preliminary Supply Chain Lessons of the COVID-19 Disruption: What Is the Role of Digital Technologies?
Abstract: The purpose of this research is to analyse the current body of knowledge on the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for global supply chains and their management. This research seeks to understand how the COVID-19 event leads to impacts, lessons, and proposed solutions for the operations of global supply chains. This study is based on a structured review of publications released on or before 31 December 2020. It includes established academic publications but also those emerging primarily from academic institutions in trade magazines and on the wider internet. Specifically, four research questions are addressed: How and where are disruptions caused by COVID-19 understood to impact global supply chains? How does the literature portray supply chain lessons from the COVID-19-related disruptions? How does the literature portray the suggested resilience-driven solutions for the future operation of global supply chains? Finally, how are digital technologies proposed as part of resilience-driven solutions to the future operation of global supply chains? Concerning the findings, the study contributes by developing a new theoretical understanding of the ongoing collective supply chain lessons of the COVID-19 disruption. Six supply chain vulnerabilities, six solutions or resilience capabilities and seven technology clusters deemed particularly useful in mitigating future pandemic disruptions are identified. In addition, the interrelationships between the different elements are explored and understood as an ongoing learning process comprising a process of evoking vulnerabilities, a process of reacting and devising change and a process of implementing change. Based on these findings, a set of managerial implications and avenues for future research are proposed.
Abstract: The purpose of this research is to analyse the current body of knowledge on the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and its implications for global supply chains and their management. This research seeks to understand how the COVID-19 event leads to impacts, lessons, and proposed solutions for the operations of global supply chains. This study is based on a structured review of publications released on or before 31 December 2020. It includes established academic publications but also those emerging primarily from academic institutions in trade magazines and on the wider internet. Specifically, four research questions are addressed: How and where are disruptions caused by COVID-19 understood to impact global supply chains? How does the literature portray supply chain lessons from the COVID-19-related disruptions? How does the literature portray the suggested resilience-driven solutions for the future operation of global supply chains? Finally, how are digital technologies proposed as part of resilience-driven solutions to the future operation of global supply chains? Concerning the findings, the study contributes by developing a new theoretical understanding of the ongoing collective supply chain lessons of the COVID-19 disruption. Six supply chain vulnerabilities, six solutions or resilience capabilities and seven technology clusters deemed particularly useful in mitigating future pandemic disruptions are identified. In addition, the interrelationships between the different elements are explored and understood as an ongoing learning process comprising a process of evoking vulnerabilities, a process of reacting and devising change and a process of implementing change. Based on these findings, a set of managerial implications and avenues for future research are proposed.
Journal: Operations Management Research
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Kim Sundtoft Hald
Solving Life-cycle Problems with Biometric Risk by Artificial Insurance Markets
Abstract: We study canonical consumption-savings problems of an individual involving uninsurable biometric risk. These problems are important in many applications from insurance economics and actuarial science. Since biometric risk is uninsurable, closed-form solutions do not exist and thus the problems must be approached by numerical methods. We propose a powerful approach where the solution is obtained by optimizing over a parametrized family of consumption strategies. In settings with mortality risk, critical illness risk, and habit formation, our solution method outperforms the well-established finite-difference approach both in run time and in precision. Our method also delivers a precision measure and closed-form representations of the optimal controls.
Abstract: We study canonical consumption-savings problems of an individual involving uninsurable biometric risk. These problems are important in many applications from insurance economics and actuarial science. Since biometric risk is uninsurable, closed-form solutions do not exist and thus the problems must be approached by numerical methods. We propose a powerful approach where the solution is obtained by optimizing over a parametrized family of consumption strategies. In settings with mortality risk, critical illness risk, and habit formation, our solution method outperforms the well-established finite-difference approach both in run time and in precision. Our method also delivers a precision measure and closed-form representations of the optimal controls.
Journal: Scandinavian Actuarial Journal
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Claus Munk
Seeing Like a Macroeconomist: Varieties of Formalisation, Professional Incentives and Academic Ideational Change
Abstract: An emerging literature in political economy points to ‘hinges’ between academia and policy as important sites of analysis and emphasises the role of quantitative models in lending scientific legitimacy to economic ideas. This paper contributes to this literature by asking: what drives change in what is seen as authoritative macroeconomic modelling in academic settings? And how do drivers of ideational change in academia differ from drivers of ideational change in economic policy institutions? In answering these questions the paper emphasises the way in which variations in the formal structures of macroeconomic models interact with academics’ individual professional incentives. Specifically, it argues that ‘portable’ forms of modelling that do not require access to extensive resources are likely to trump ‘fixed’ and resource-intensive forms of modelling. Making this distinction helps elucidate critical junctures in the history of macroeconomic thought. Analytically, the paper relies on a framework that connects the sociology of science, the sociology of professions and the institutionalist tradition in political economy.
Abstract: An emerging literature in political economy points to ‘hinges’ between academia and policy as important sites of analysis and emphasises the role of quantitative models in lending scientific legitimacy to economic ideas. This paper contributes to this literature by asking: what drives change in what is seen as authoritative macroeconomic modelling in academic settings? And how do drivers of ideational change in academia differ from drivers of ideational change in economic policy institutions? In answering these questions the paper emphasises the way in which variations in the formal structures of macroeconomic models interact with academics’ individual professional incentives. Specifically, it argues that ‘portable’ forms of modelling that do not require access to extensive resources are likely to trump ‘fixed’ and resource-intensive forms of modelling. Making this distinction helps elucidate critical junctures in the history of macroeconomic thought. Analytically, the paper relies on a framework that connects the sociology of science, the sociology of professions and the institutionalist tradition in political economy.
Journal: New Political Economy
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Oddný Helgadóttir
What Can Public Administration Scholars Learn from the Economics Controversies in Public-private Partnerships?
Abstract: Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is the label often applied to long-term contractual arrangements when the private sector provides management and operating services for public infrastructure and puts private finance at risk. Political and economic logics have long been applied when analysing the success of such infrastructure delivery mechanisms. Mixed empirical performance results has been a recurring theme. Decades of PPP implementation experience has improved our knowledge of the political and policy “logic” of PPP success, but public administration scholars know less about the logic of the economist, about how economic thinking has evolved and its effects on PPP evaluation. This article explores discussions and debates analysing the economics of PPPs. It challenges the PPP economic efficiency argument, not from the perspective of public administration or public policy (which now repeat well-rehearsed arguments) but from the perspective of economics itself. The article argues overall that there are strongly competing economics logics relevant to PPPs, and that public administration scholars need to be more aware of these internal economics controversies and debates rather than assuming that economics is a settled homogenous discipline. Furthermore, it argues that this heterogeneity of economic logics is a central reason why PPP performance debates continue to be unresolved.
Abstract: Public-Private Partnership (PPP) is the label often applied to long-term contractual arrangements when the private sector provides management and operating services for public infrastructure and puts private finance at risk. Political and economic logics have long been applied when analysing the success of such infrastructure delivery mechanisms. Mixed empirical performance results has been a recurring theme. Decades of PPP implementation experience has improved our knowledge of the political and policy “logic” of PPP success, but public administration scholars know less about the logic of the economist, about how economic thinking has evolved and its effects on PPP evaluation. This article explores discussions and debates analysing the economics of PPPs. It challenges the PPP economic efficiency argument, not from the perspective of public administration or public policy (which now repeat well-rehearsed arguments) but from the perspective of economics itself. The article argues overall that there are strongly competing economics logics relevant to PPPs, and that public administration scholars need to be more aware of these internal economics controversies and debates rather than assuming that economics is a settled homogenous discipline. Furthermore, it argues that this heterogeneity of economic logics is a central reason why PPP performance debates continue to be unresolved.
Journal: Asia Pacific Journal of Public Administration
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Carsten Greve
Multiculturals as Strategic Human Capital Resources in Multinational Enterprises
Abstract: Multiculturals – individuals with notable cultural knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) – are widely assumed to contribute to MNE performance leading, ultimately, to global competitive advantages. We nuance this general belief by arguing that what matters for an MNE’s competitive advantage is not the employment of multiculturals per se, but rather the MNE’s ability to transform multiculturals’ KSAOs into strategic human capital resources by creating complementarities between KSAOs and emergence-enabling factors. Using a 12-month in-depth ethnographic study over the span of two years in two MNEs, we identified five emergence-enabling factors that enable the transformation of multiculturals’ KSAOs into human capital resources and strategic human capital resources: (1) a global mindset, (2) a differentiated HR architecture, (3) the language policy and practices, (4) team diversity, and (5) multicultural team leadership. We suggested that a global mindset and differentiated HR architecture are emergence-enabling factors that enable the transformation of KSAOs into unit-level strategic human capital resources that are relevant for competitive advantage, while team diversity and multicultural team leadership are emergence-enabling factors that enable the transformation of KSAOs into unit-level human capital resources relevant for performance parity. Finally, the language policy and practices were relevant for both processes.
Abstract: Multiculturals – individuals with notable cultural knowledge, skills, abilities, and other characteristics (KSAOs) – are widely assumed to contribute to MNE performance leading, ultimately, to global competitive advantages. We nuance this general belief by arguing that what matters for an MNE’s competitive advantage is not the employment of multiculturals per se, but rather the MNE’s ability to transform multiculturals’ KSAOs into strategic human capital resources by creating complementarities between KSAOs and emergence-enabling factors. Using a 12-month in-depth ethnographic study over the span of two years in two MNEs, we identified five emergence-enabling factors that enable the transformation of multiculturals’ KSAOs into human capital resources and strategic human capital resources: (1) a global mindset, (2) a differentiated HR architecture, (3) the language policy and practices, (4) team diversity, and (5) multicultural team leadership. We suggested that a global mindset and differentiated HR architecture are emergence-enabling factors that enable the transformation of KSAOs into unit-level strategic human capital resources that are relevant for competitive advantage, while team diversity and multicultural team leadership are emergence-enabling factors that enable the transformation of KSAOs into unit-level human capital resources relevant for performance parity. Finally, the language policy and practices were relevant for both processes.
Journal: Journal of International Business Studies
Published: September 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Dana Minbaeva
Sustainable Development in Higher Education in Nordic Countires: Exploring E-learning Mechanisms and SDG Coverage in MOOCs
Abstract: Purpose – This study aims to explore the extent and types of E-Learning used, as method and tool, to support education for sustainable development (ESD); and to understand the coverage of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in massive open online courses (MOOCs). Design/methodology/approach – The study extends the morphological box of ESD in higher education by nonformal and informal education, exploring the types of blended and online learning and adding the SDGs as a new criterion. The study subjects are Nordic UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) members. Through content analysis and thematic coding of reports by higher education institutions (HEIs), different E-Learning methods are identified; furthermore, 30 MOOCs are analyzed. Findings – HEIs apply a variety of blended and online learning to advance ESD for formal and nonformal education. The MOOCs offered by Nordic HEIs predominantly cover four SDGs (9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; 13: Climate Action; 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities; and 16: Peace, Justice and strong Institutions), but there is nothing on SDG 2: No Hunger. That is in line with the Nordic countries’ status as developed economies, where these topics are often framed as political and societal priorities. Practical implications – The study’s results suggest that to avoid overlaps and fill gaps in ESD, the offer of open online courses should be orchestrated. Furthermore, HEIs can use our method to analyze their E-Learning courses related to SDGs. Originality/value – This study shows how business schools, especially Nordic UN PRME members, contribute to the SDGs by their MOOC coverage.
Abstract: Purpose – This study aims to explore the extent and types of E-Learning used, as method and tool, to support education for sustainable development (ESD); and to understand the coverage of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in massive open online courses (MOOCs). Design/methodology/approach – The study extends the morphological box of ESD in higher education by nonformal and informal education, exploring the types of blended and online learning and adding the SDGs as a new criterion. The study subjects are Nordic UN Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) members. Through content analysis and thematic coding of reports by higher education institutions (HEIs), different E-Learning methods are identified; furthermore, 30 MOOCs are analyzed. Findings – HEIs apply a variety of blended and online learning to advance ESD for formal and nonformal education. The MOOCs offered by Nordic HEIs predominantly cover four SDGs (9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure; 13: Climate Action; 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities; and 16: Peace, Justice and strong Institutions), but there is nothing on SDG 2: No Hunger. That is in line with the Nordic countries’ status as developed economies, where these topics are often framed as political and societal priorities. Practical implications – The study’s results suggest that to avoid overlaps and fill gaps in ESD, the offer of open online courses should be orchestrated. Furthermore, HEIs can use our method to analyze their E-Learning courses related to SDGs. Originality/value – This study shows how business schools, especially Nordic UN PRME members, contribute to the SDGs by their MOOC coverage.
Journal: International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education
Published: Juen 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Anne-Karen Hüske, Caroline Aggestam Pontoppidan
Transformative Innovation Policy: A Case-study from China
Abstract: Science, technology and innovation policy has been presented as developing through three“frames”: innovation for growth; national systems of innovation; and transformative change (Schot and Steinmueller, 2018). In this paper, we focus on the third frame by exploring the development of transformative innovation policy in China. More specifically, we present a case analysis of the Beautiful China Initiative (BCI). Within this context, we analyse participating actors, activities, and modes of innovation. In conclusion, we discuss three general challenges of transformative innovation policy at a national and international level. The first challenge is coordination and interaction between governmental agencies and other actors with different responsibilities and jurisdictions. Second, there is a major set of issues related to “development”, which must encompass economic development but also societal and environmental development. Third, BCI fits with a broad understanding of the innovation process, including elements which are not directly commercial in orientation. Whether this broader approach can be maintained as BCI develops from its still-early stage into full development will represent a significant challenge. Finally in this paper, we consider the implications of our discussion for future research and practice, and offer three reflections. In particular, we emphasise the importance of scholars’ participation across the social sciences rather than leaving this multi-faceted area only to innovation researchers.
Abstract: Science, technology and innovation policy has been presented as developing through three“frames”: innovation for growth; national systems of innovation; and transformative change (Schot and Steinmueller, 2018). In this paper, we focus on the third frame by exploring the development of transformative innovation policy in China. More specifically, we present a case analysis of the Beautiful China Initiative (BCI). Within this context, we analyse participating actors, activities, and modes of innovation. In conclusion, we discuss three general challenges of transformative innovation policy at a national and international level. The first challenge is coordination and interaction between governmental agencies and other actors with different responsibilities and jurisdictions. Second, there is a major set of issues related to “development”, which must encompass economic development but also societal and environmental development. Third, BCI fits with a broad understanding of the innovation process, including elements which are not directly commercial in orientation. Whether this broader approach can be maintained as BCI develops from its still-early stage into full development will represent a significant challenge. Finally in this paper, we consider the implications of our discussion for future research and practice, and offer three reflections. In particular, we emphasise the importance of scholars’ participation across the social sciences rather than leaving this multi-faceted area only to innovation researchers.
Journal: Innovation and Development Policy
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Alan Irwin, Tara Qian Sun
Narrating the Facets of Time in Entrepreneurial Action
Abstract: The current understanding of entrepreneurial action is grounded in time, but the different facets of this time remain to be sufficiently explored. We argue that entrepreneurial action has two temporal dimensions: world time and human time. World time reveals the prior contextual conditions giving rise to entrepreneurial actions that generate subsequent results. Human time reveals how entrepreneurs act on the basis of past experiences, attention to current conditions, and images of the future. Using a narrative framework to integrate world time and human time, we contribute to a deeper understanding of the different facets of time in entrepreneurial action.
Abstract: The current understanding of entrepreneurial action is grounded in time, but the different facets of this time remain to be sufficiently explored. We argue that entrepreneurial action has two temporal dimensions: world time and human time. World time reveals the prior contextual conditions giving rise to entrepreneurial actions that generate subsequent results. Human time reveals how entrepreneurs act on the basis of past experiences, attention to current conditions, and images of the future. Using a narrative framework to integrate world time and human time, we contribute to a deeper understanding of the different facets of time in entrepreneurial action.
Journal: Entrepreneurship: Theory and Practice
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Christian Garmann Johnsen, Robin Holt
Who Uses the EU's Free Trade Agreements? A Transaction-Level Analysis of the EU-South Korea FTA
Abstract: The tariff preferences in FTAs do not apply automatically to all imports. Instead, importers can request to use the tariff preferences, but must then show that the imported goods fulfil the formal requirements (e.g. rules of origin) of the FTA. This is costly, which is a likely reason why tariff preferences are not always used. This research note examines preference utilization under the FTA between the EU and South Korea, which was formally ratified in 2015 (but had been provisionally applied from 2011). We use firm and transaction level data for Swedish imports from South Korea during November 2016 to answer the question ‘Who uses the EU's FTAs?’ With information on firm size, product category, import mode (direct imports or customs warehousing), preference margin, potential duty savings, and transaction size, we provide a detailed picture of when firms choose to utilize the tariff preferences. The results suggest that the differences across importers are not primarily related to firm size, as is sometimes suggested in extant literature. We also find that it is the size of the import transaction rather than the size of the preference margin that determines preference utilization.
Abstract: The tariff preferences in FTAs do not apply automatically to all imports. Instead, importers can request to use the tariff preferences, but must then show that the imported goods fulfil the formal requirements (e.g. rules of origin) of the FTA. This is costly, which is a likely reason why tariff preferences are not always used. This research note examines preference utilization under the FTA between the EU and South Korea, which was formally ratified in 2015 (but had been provisionally applied from 2011). We use firm and transaction level data for Swedish imports from South Korea during November 2016 to answer the question ‘Who uses the EU's FTAs?’ With information on firm size, product category, import mode (direct imports or customs warehousing), preference margin, potential duty savings, and transaction size, we provide a detailed picture of when firms choose to utilize the tariff preferences. The results suggest that the differences across importers are not primarily related to firm size, as is sometimes suggested in extant literature. We also find that it is the size of the import transaction rather than the size of the preference margin that determines preference utilization.
Journal: World Trade Review
Published: July 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Ari Kokko
Organising Knowledge to Prevent Global Health Crises: A Comparative Analysis of Pandemic Preparedness Indicators
Abstract: Preparing for the possibility of a global pandemic presents a transnational organisational challenge: to assemble and coordinate knowledge over institutionally diverse countries with high fidelity. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid these problems bare. This article examines the construction of the three main cross-national indicators of pandemic preparedness: a database with self-reported data by governments, external evaluations organised by the WHO and a global ranking known as the Global Health Security Index. Each of these presents a different model of collecting evidence and organising knowledge: the collation of self-reports by national authorities; the coordination of evaluation by an epistemic community authorised by an intergovernmental organisation and on the basis of a strict template; and the cobbling together of different sources into a common indicator by a transnational multi-stakeholder initiative. We posit that these models represent different ways of creating knowledge to inform policy choices, and each has different forms of potential bias. In turn, this shapes how policymakers understand what is ‘best practice’ and appropriate policy in pandemic preparedness.
Abstract: Preparing for the possibility of a global pandemic presents a transnational organisational challenge: to assemble and coordinate knowledge over institutionally diverse countries with high fidelity. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid these problems bare. This article examines the construction of the three main cross-national indicators of pandemic preparedness: a database with self-reported data by governments, external evaluations organised by the WHO and a global ranking known as the Global Health Security Index. Each of these presents a different model of collecting evidence and organising knowledge: the collation of self-reports by national authorities; the coordination of evaluation by an epistemic community authorised by an intergovernmental organisation and on the basis of a strict template; and the cobbling together of different sources into a common indicator by a transnational multi-stakeholder initiative. We posit that these models represent different ways of creating knowledge to inform policy choices, and each has different forms of potential bias. In turn, this shapes how policymakers understand what is ‘best practice’ and appropriate policy in pandemic preparedness.
Journal: BMJ Global Health
Published: 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Leonard Seabrooke
Platform Government in the Era of Smart Technology
Abstract: Whereas the concept of platform government emerged a decade ago and virtual states are predicted beginning early 2000’s, supporting technologies and infrastructures are now being installed and implemented with highly integrative technologies such as cloud computing, bigdata analytics, mobile computing, social media, Internet of Things, and AI. This realization of platform governments leads us to rethink what have been predicted decades ago. Time has come for us to really open up real opportunities by facing realistic challenges for public management. The pressure for government innovations such as algorithmic bureaucracy and collaborative value creation are increasing. Attentions need to be paid with respect to how the managerial role and activities are being transformed, how the nature of work in government is fundamentally changed, and how the decision-making processes are re-institutionalized. Further research issues are discussed at the end of this viewpoint.
Abstract: Whereas the concept of platform government emerged a decade ago and virtual states are predicted beginning early 2000’s, supporting technologies and infrastructures are now being installed and implemented with highly integrative technologies such as cloud computing, bigdata analytics, mobile computing, social media, Internet of Things, and AI. This realization of platform governments leads us to rethink what have been predicted decades ago. Time has come for us to really open up real opportunities by facing realistic challenges for public management. The pressure for government innovations such as algorithmic bureaucracy and collaborative value creation are increasing. Attentions need to be paid with respect to how the managerial role and activities are being transformed, how the nature of work in government is fundamentally changed, and how the decision-making processes are re-institutionalized. Further research issues are discussed at the end of this viewpoint.
Journal: Public Administration Review
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Kim Normann Andersen
Beyond Popularity: A User Perspective on Observable Behaviours in a Digital Platform
Abstract: The opinions and behaviours of others are recognised as powerful mechanisms for social influence in the digital sphere. The former, often referred to as electronic word of mouth (eWOM), is a thoroughly researched topic in the Information Systems literature. Conversely, the digital display of users' behaviours (e.g., number of past purchases) is less well understood despite the widespread adoption of this practice on digital platforms. Quantitative research has explored this interesting domain and found that observing others' behaviours entice observers to follow suit, but has left unaddressed the question of what sensemaking users derive from behavioural information. This is problematic as behavioural information is more open to interpretation compared to eWOM. In this article, we adopt the concept of electronic word of behaviour (eWOB) to denote such behavioural information. Through the lens of basic psychological needs theory and the qualitative means-end chain approach, we expose how eWOB is interpreted and used by users of a digital platform, the music service Spotify. We find that eWOB leads to satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for relatedness and competence when observing others' behaviours. We also show how exposure to one's own past behaviours can yield a positive sense of self when presented in meaningful and private manners, but that it can also negatively impact users when their needs for autonomy and competence are not heeded by the digital platform. Finally, based on our empirical findings we offer a set of design implications for how digital platforms can optimise the use of eWOB.
Abstract: The opinions and behaviours of others are recognised as powerful mechanisms for social influence in the digital sphere. The former, often referred to as electronic word of mouth (eWOM), is a thoroughly researched topic in the Information Systems literature. Conversely, the digital display of users' behaviours (e.g., number of past purchases) is less well understood despite the widespread adoption of this practice on digital platforms. Quantitative research has explored this interesting domain and found that observing others' behaviours entice observers to follow suit, but has left unaddressed the question of what sensemaking users derive from behavioural information. This is problematic as behavioural information is more open to interpretation compared to eWOM. In this article, we adopt the concept of electronic word of behaviour (eWOB) to denote such behavioural information. Through the lens of basic psychological needs theory and the qualitative means-end chain approach, we expose how eWOB is interpreted and used by users of a digital platform, the music service Spotify. We find that eWOB leads to satisfaction of the basic psychological needs for relatedness and competence when observing others' behaviours. We also show how exposure to one's own past behaviours can yield a positive sense of self when presented in meaningful and private manners, but that it can also negatively impact users when their needs for autonomy and competence are not heeded by the digital platform. Finally, based on our empirical findings we offer a set of design implications for how digital platforms can optimise the use of eWOB.
Journal: Information Systems Journal
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Torsten Ringberg, Ravi Vatrapu
Gains from Early Support of a New Political Party
Abstract: We study the benefits of political connections on firm performance by analyzing the effects of the early support to Silvio Berlusconi, a TV tycoon who in three months in 1993 founded a party, won the elections and became Italy’s Prime Minister. We find that the 101 companies who supported Berlusconi from the start did better than controls in terms of sales and employment, while the effects on productivity are less clear-cut. Results are confirmed when we instrument the decision to support Berlusconi with electoral outcomes in the 1921 Italian elections, which had similarities both in terms of electoral voting and ideological competition. We also find suggestive evidence that the supporters’ superior performance is stronger in sectors with high advertising intensity.
Abstract: We study the benefits of political connections on firm performance by analyzing the effects of the early support to Silvio Berlusconi, a TV tycoon who in three months in 1993 founded a party, won the elections and became Italy’s Prime Minister. We find that the 101 companies who supported Berlusconi from the start did better than controls in terms of sales and employment, while the effects on productivity are less clear-cut. Results are confirmed when we instrument the decision to support Berlusconi with electoral outcomes in the 1921 Italian elections, which had similarities both in terms of electoral voting and ideological competition. We also find suggestive evidence that the supporters’ superior performance is stronger in sectors with high advertising intensity.
Journal: Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Battista Severgnini
Corporate Strategy and the Theory of the Firm in the Digital Age
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to reinvigorate research in the intersection of corporate strategy and the theory of the firm in light of the rapid advancement of digital technologies. Using the theory of the firm as an interpretive lens, we focus our analysis on the implications of the emerging digital age for three broad domains of corporate strategy: (1) corporate (competitive) advantage, (2) firm scale, scope, and boundaries, and (3) internal structure and design. Recognizing that digitalization exacerbates ambiguity and paradoxes, we sketch foundational strategies for future research. We suggest that there is a need to develop knowledge that accounts for the new realities of the digital age, depending on whether the corporate strategy phenomena under investigation and the theories of the firm used to explain them, are existing or new. The article serves also as introduction to the Journal of Management Studies Special Issue on the topic.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to reinvigorate research in the intersection of corporate strategy and the theory of the firm in light of the rapid advancement of digital technologies. Using the theory of the firm as an interpretive lens, we focus our analysis on the implications of the emerging digital age for three broad domains of corporate strategy: (1) corporate (competitive) advantage, (2) firm scale, scope, and boundaries, and (3) internal structure and design. Recognizing that digitalization exacerbates ambiguity and paradoxes, we sketch foundational strategies for future research. We suggest that there is a need to develop knowledge that accounts for the new realities of the digital age, depending on whether the corporate strategy phenomena under investigation and the theories of the firm used to explain them, are existing or new. The article serves also as introduction to the Journal of Management Studies Special Issue on the topic.
Journal: Journal of Management Studies
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Nicolai J. Foss
Competition from Informal Firms and Product Innovation in EU Candidate Countries: A Bounded Rationality Approach
Abstract: This study extends the literature that has investigated firms' readiness to confront competition from informal (unregistered) firms by responding through intensified product innovation activities. Drawing on the bounded rationality perspective, we unravel new insights into the relationship between the threat from informal competitors and product innovation by identifying two external contingencies (intellectual property rights protection and regulatory quality) and two internal contingencies (export intensity and top manager's sector experience). In this way, the study acknowledges the immense differences that exist across developing markets, focusing on post-communist societies characterized with a medium level of economic development, limited market size, and weak institutional development. An empirical prototype of this type of context is exemplified in EU candidate countries. Therefore, our model estimates the effect of the threat from informal competitors on product innovation by testing firm-level data from five countries with EU candidate status. Our findings show that direct and positive relationship between the threat from informal competitors and product innovation is strengthened when: 1) intellectual property rights protection is weaker, 2) regulatory quality is higher, 3) the firm is an intesive exporter, and 4) the firm's top managers have less experience.
Abstract: This study extends the literature that has investigated firms' readiness to confront competition from informal (unregistered) firms by responding through intensified product innovation activities. Drawing on the bounded rationality perspective, we unravel new insights into the relationship between the threat from informal competitors and product innovation by identifying two external contingencies (intellectual property rights protection and regulatory quality) and two internal contingencies (export intensity and top manager's sector experience). In this way, the study acknowledges the immense differences that exist across developing markets, focusing on post-communist societies characterized with a medium level of economic development, limited market size, and weak institutional development. An empirical prototype of this type of context is exemplified in EU candidate countries. Therefore, our model estimates the effect of the threat from informal competitors on product innovation by testing firm-level data from five countries with EU candidate status. Our findings show that direct and positive relationship between the threat from informal competitors and product innovation is strengthened when: 1) intellectual property rights protection is weaker, 2) regulatory quality is higher, 3) the firm is an intesive exporter, and 4) the firm's top managers have less experience.
Journal: Technovation
Published: July 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Selma Kadic-Maglajlic
Marshall vs Jacobs Agglomeration and the Micro-location of Foreign and Domestic Firms
Abstract: This paper examines the factors determining the subnational geographic location of the investments of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Building on the tension between the costs and benefits that agglomeration confers on firms, we compare and contrast Marshallian and Jacobian agglomeration mechanisms to understand the micro-location patterns of domestic and foreign firms. We test these ideas on a dataset of 387.000 workplace-year observations located across 93 municipalities in Denmark. The results show that while agglomeration is systematically related to both foreign and domestic location patterns, some of these relationships vary across agglomeration types and across subsamples of domestic and foreign workplaces. We also demonstrate the importance of controlling for global connectivity, which may otherwise confound these relationships.
Abstract: This paper examines the factors determining the subnational geographic location of the investments of multinational enterprises (MNEs). Building on the tension between the costs and benefits that agglomeration confers on firms, we compare and contrast Marshallian and Jacobian agglomeration mechanisms to understand the micro-location patterns of domestic and foreign firms. We test these ideas on a dataset of 387.000 workplace-year observations located across 93 municipalities in Denmark. The results show that while agglomeration is systematically related to both foreign and domestic location patterns, some of these relationships vary across agglomeration types and across subsamples of domestic and foreign workplaces. We also demonstrate the importance of controlling for global connectivity, which may otherwise confound these relationships.
Journal: Cities
Published: October 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Bo Bernhard Nielsen, Christian Geisler Asmussen
Introducing the Concept of Creative Ancestry as a Means of Increasing Perceived Fairness and Satisfaction in Online Collaboration: An Experimental Study
Abstract: Online collaborations allow teams to pool knowledge from multiple domains, often across dispersed geographic locations to find innovative solutions for complex, multi-faceted problems. However, motivating individuals within online groups can prove difficult, as individual contributions are easily missed or forgotten. This study introduces the concept of creative ancestry, which describes the extent to which collaborative outputs can be traced back to the individual contributions that preceded them. We build a laboratory experiment to demonstrate the impact of creative ancestry on perceptions of fairness and output quality in online collaborations. Results from this experiment suggest the addition of creative ancestry has a positive impact on these variables and is associated with increasing perceptions of procedural justice and possibly interactional and distributive justice, dependent on the level of perceived creativity and cognitive consensus.
Abstract: Online collaborations allow teams to pool knowledge from multiple domains, often across dispersed geographic locations to find innovative solutions for complex, multi-faceted problems. However, motivating individuals within online groups can prove difficult, as individual contributions are easily missed or forgotten. This study introduces the concept of creative ancestry, which describes the extent to which collaborative outputs can be traced back to the individual contributions that preceded them. We build a laboratory experiment to demonstrate the impact of creative ancestry on perceptions of fairness and output quality in online collaborations. Results from this experiment suggest the addition of creative ancestry has a positive impact on these variables and is associated with increasing perceptions of procedural justice and possibly interactional and distributive justice, dependent on the level of perceived creativity and cognitive consensus.
Journal: Technovation
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Rob Gleasure
Financial Oikonomization: The Financial Government and Administration of the Household
Abstract: This article introduces a new social scientific understanding of the relationship between households and finance. We call it financial oikonomization. Financial oikonomization signals a specific research problem and a distinctive analytical approach to this problem. The problem is how households are financially administered and governed. The approach is pragmatist and descriptive. It is oriented to the how, to the study of the problems and practices of those directly involved with administrating and governing households’ financial flows. On the basis of an extensive review of recent research, we distinguish seven operations of financial oikonomization, seven distinct problems—with their own practices, sites and techniques, but all oriented to the financial administration and government of households. We call these operations: budgeting, juggling, evaluating, attaching, educating, publicizing and infrastructuring.
Abstract: This article introduces a new social scientific understanding of the relationship between households and finance. We call it financial oikonomization. Financial oikonomization signals a specific research problem and a distinctive analytical approach to this problem. The problem is how households are financially administered and governed. The approach is pragmatist and descriptive. It is oriented to the how, to the study of the problems and practices of those directly involved with administrating and governing households’ financial flows. On the basis of an extensive review of recent research, we distinguish seven operations of financial oikonomization, seven distinct problems—with their own practices, sites and techniques, but all oriented to the financial administration and government of households. We call these operations: budgeting, juggling, evaluating, attaching, educating, publicizing and infrastructuring.
Journal: Socio-Economic Review
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: José Ossandón
Clonal Selection Algorithms for Optimal Product Line Design: A Comparative Study
Abstract: Product design constitutes a critical process for a firm to stay competitive. Whilst the biologically inspired Clonal Selection Algorithms (CSA) have been applied to efficiently solve several combinatorial optimization problems, they have not yet been tested for optimal product lines. By adopting a previous comparative analysis with real and simulated conjoint data, we adapt and compare in this context 23 CSA variants. Our comparison demonstrates the efficiency of specific cloning, selection and somatic hypermutation operators against other optimization algorithms, such as Simulated Annealing and Genetic Algorithm. To further investigate the robustness of each method to combinatorial size, we extend the previous paradigm to larger product lines and different optimization objectives. The consequent performance variation elucidates how each operator shifts the search focus of CSAs. Collectively, our study demonstrates the importance of a fine balance between global and local search in such combinatorial problems, and the ability of CSAs to achieve it.
Abstract: Product design constitutes a critical process for a firm to stay competitive. Whilst the biologically inspired Clonal Selection Algorithms (CSA) have been applied to efficiently solve several combinatorial optimization problems, they have not yet been tested for optimal product lines. By adopting a previous comparative analysis with real and simulated conjoint data, we adapt and compare in this context 23 CSA variants. Our comparison demonstrates the efficiency of specific cloning, selection and somatic hypermutation operators against other optimization algorithms, such as Simulated Annealing and Genetic Algorithm. To further investigate the robustness of each method to combinatorial size, we extend the previous paradigm to larger product lines and different optimization objectives. The consequent performance variation elucidates how each operator shifts the search focus of CSAs. Collectively, our study demonstrates the importance of a fine balance between global and local search in such combinatorial problems, and the ability of CSAs to achieve it.
Journal: European Journal of Operational Research
Published: July 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Efthymios Altsitsiadis
Bursting the Bubble? The Hidden Costs and Visible Conflicts behind the Prosecco Wine ‘Miracle’
Abstract: Prosecco, a wine that two decades ago was virtually unknown outside of Italy and was considered inferior to other sparkling wines, has become immensely popular. But how did Prosecco producers gear up to meet a booming demand in a highly regulated wine industry such as Italy's? Is this an example of an inclusive growth trajectory? Who is capturing the benefits of this growth and who is bearing its hidden costs? Through the case study of Prosecco, I identify the everyday practices and struggles that underpin the growth of Prosecco in relation to nature, landscape and land use, and examine how the environmental, health and other hidden costs of agro-food value chains shape various layers of visible conflict. The great growth that has characterized the ‘Prosecco miracle’ of the 2010s arises from the reinvention of a geographic origin that was under threat following the 2008 EU wine reform. The ‘discovery’ of a village named Prosecco, located quite far from the original core area of Prosecco production, provided the vector for a large expansion of Prosecco viticulture and wine production, and the emergence of a veritable export bubble. This expansion, supported by key institutions, regulators and the regional political elite, is putting pressure on nature and landscapes and is fomenting local protests against indiscriminate agro-chemical spraying. I find that, while the industry claims to be addressing its key sustainability challenges, a number of conflicts and tensions persist. Ultimately, the case study of Prosecco provides key insights to current debates on the hidden costs of agro-food value chains and their resulting conflicts – confirming that commodity expansion is often linked to processes of appropriation of nature, landscapes and territories, and to the ability of business to capture surplus while externalizing the hidden social, health and environmental costs of production.
Abstract: Prosecco, a wine that two decades ago was virtually unknown outside of Italy and was considered inferior to other sparkling wines, has become immensely popular. But how did Prosecco producers gear up to meet a booming demand in a highly regulated wine industry such as Italy's? Is this an example of an inclusive growth trajectory? Who is capturing the benefits of this growth and who is bearing its hidden costs? Through the case study of Prosecco, I identify the everyday practices and struggles that underpin the growth of Prosecco in relation to nature, landscape and land use, and examine how the environmental, health and other hidden costs of agro-food value chains shape various layers of visible conflict. The great growth that has characterized the ‘Prosecco miracle’ of the 2010s arises from the reinvention of a geographic origin that was under threat following the 2008 EU wine reform. The ‘discovery’ of a village named Prosecco, located quite far from the original core area of Prosecco production, provided the vector for a large expansion of Prosecco viticulture and wine production, and the emergence of a veritable export bubble. This expansion, supported by key institutions, regulators and the regional political elite, is putting pressure on nature and landscapes and is fomenting local protests against indiscriminate agro-chemical spraying. I find that, while the industry claims to be addressing its key sustainability challenges, a number of conflicts and tensions persist. Ultimately, the case study of Prosecco provides key insights to current debates on the hidden costs of agro-food value chains and their resulting conflicts – confirming that commodity expansion is often linked to processes of appropriation of nature, landscapes and territories, and to the ability of business to capture surplus while externalizing the hidden social, health and environmental costs of production.
Journal: Journal of Rural Studies
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Stefano Ponte
Ratepension som Markedsrenteprodukt
Abstract: Denne artikel ser nærmere på udbetalinger af en ratepension som markedsrenteprodukt for en nyslået pensionist. Ratepensioner udbetales i en periode på mellem 10 og 30 år. Artiklen analyserer udbetalingsperiodens længde og samspillet med folkepensionen. En af hovedkonklusionerne er, at man kan optimere udbetalingen af folkepensionens tillægsbeløb gennem valget af ratepensionens udbetalingsperiode. For rateopsparing op til ca. 2,0 mio. kr. er det forholdsvist nemt at vælge en optimal udbetalingsperiode – for større beløb er problemstillingen lidt mere nuanceret. Vi ser både på rene ratepensioner og på udbetalingsforløb, hvor ratepensionen kombineres med udbetalingen af en livrentepension. Endelig viser artiklen, at ratepensionen har den fordel frem for livrentepensionen, at for samme opsparing vil ratepensionen over tid give en større folkepension.
Abstract: Denne artikel ser nærmere på udbetalinger af en ratepension som markedsrenteprodukt for en nyslået pensionist. Ratepensioner udbetales i en periode på mellem 10 og 30 år. Artiklen analyserer udbetalingsperiodens længde og samspillet med folkepensionen. En af hovedkonklusionerne er, at man kan optimere udbetalingen af folkepensionens tillægsbeløb gennem valget af ratepensionens udbetalingsperiode. For rateopsparing op til ca. 2,0 mio. kr. er det forholdsvist nemt at vælge en optimal udbetalingsperiode – for større beløb er problemstillingen lidt mere nuanceret. Vi ser både på rene ratepensioner og på udbetalingsforløb, hvor ratepensionen kombineres med udbetalingen af en livrentepension. Endelig viser artiklen, at ratepensionen har den fordel frem for livrentepensionen, at for samme opsparing vil ratepensionen over tid give en større folkepension.
Journal: Finans/Invest
Published: May 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Henrik Ramlau-Hansen
Private International Law, Global Value Chains and the Externalities of Transnational Production: Towards Alignment?
Abstract: Global value chains (‘GVCs’) have become a basic operative unit of economic production. Their development over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has resulted in immense creation of wealth while linking together individuals, companies and economies across the world. But GVCs are also a major cause for environmental degradation, carbon emissions and human rights abuses—the ‘externalities’ of global production that are not captured by existing regulatory frameworks. This paper examines the role of private international law (‘PIL’) in mapping GVCs into specific jurisdictions. The analysis suggests that PIL, focused on individual entities, does not allow a systematic legal approach to GVCs, which are collective entities. This lack of a systematic approach exacerbates the externalities of global production. However, the budding legal operationalisation of GVCs provides a functional-analytical lens to understand, systematise, critique and develop the role of PIL as a fundamental transnational constituent in ordering global production in relation to GVCs and beyond.
Abstract: Global value chains (‘GVCs’) have become a basic operative unit of economic production. Their development over the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has resulted in immense creation of wealth while linking together individuals, companies and economies across the world. But GVCs are also a major cause for environmental degradation, carbon emissions and human rights abuses—the ‘externalities’ of global production that are not captured by existing regulatory frameworks. This paper examines the role of private international law (‘PIL’) in mapping GVCs into specific jurisdictions. The analysis suggests that PIL, focused on individual entities, does not allow a systematic legal approach to GVCs, which are collective entities. This lack of a systematic approach exacerbates the externalities of global production. However, the budding legal operationalisation of GVCs provides a functional-analytical lens to understand, systematise, critique and develop the role of PIL as a fundamental transnational constituent in ordering global production in relation to GVCs and beyond.
Journal: Transnational Legal Theory
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Jaakko Salminen
Temporal Patient Trajectories: Long Stories in Short Admissions
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain how trajectory management in hospitals is challenged by the introduction of accelerated discharge schemes. The patient trajectory is formed by short stays within health-care organizations, which requires a substantial effort for professionals to be successful in clarifying each patient's medical situation. The patients, at the same time, often have complicated illness stories, and professionals only see a limited part of the patient's trajectory.
Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on extensive ethnographic studies in a newly established cardiac day unit introducing same-day discharge schemes for patients with ischemic and arrhythmic heart disease.
Findings:
The findings demonstrate that the patient trajectory becomes a “temporal patient trajectory” and encounters a short-term reality, where tensions arise between admission time and the trajectory as a whole. In managing temporal patient trajectories, formal organizing and patient experiences intersect in events that emerge from conversations and span past, present and future in relation to patient treatment. Professionals engage in articulation work to maintain coherence by allowing patients to hold different events together over time.
Originality/value: The paper provides new insights into the challenges of managing trajectories in same-day discharge schemes where the pressure to move quickly and ensure patient discharge is intense. The paper offers a novel theoretical perspective on trajectory management as an ongoing temporal process. The analysis displays temporal tensions between patient experiences and the accelerated discharge scheme and how professionals manage to overcome these tensions by bridging the patient's long illness story and the short trajectory within the cardiac day unit.
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain how trajectory management in hospitals is challenged by the introduction of accelerated discharge schemes. The patient trajectory is formed by short stays within health-care organizations, which requires a substantial effort for professionals to be successful in clarifying each patient's medical situation. The patients, at the same time, often have complicated illness stories, and professionals only see a limited part of the patient's trajectory.
Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on extensive ethnographic studies in a newly established cardiac day unit introducing same-day discharge schemes for patients with ischemic and arrhythmic heart disease.
Findings:
The findings demonstrate that the patient trajectory becomes a “temporal patient trajectory” and encounters a short-term reality, where tensions arise between admission time and the trajectory as a whole. In managing temporal patient trajectories, formal organizing and patient experiences intersect in events that emerge from conversations and span past, present and future in relation to patient treatment. Professionals engage in articulation work to maintain coherence by allowing patients to hold different events together over time.
Originality/value: The paper provides new insights into the challenges of managing trajectories in same-day discharge schemes where the pressure to move quickly and ensure patient discharge is intense. The paper offers a novel theoretical perspective on trajectory management as an ongoing temporal process. The analysis displays temporal tensions between patient experiences and the accelerated discharge scheme and how professionals manage to overcome these tensions by bridging the patient's long illness story and the short trajectory within the cardiac day unit.
Journal: Journal of Health, Organization and Management
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Vibeke Kristine Scheller
Electrification and Welfare for the Marginalized: Evidence from India
Abstract: Uneven electrification can be a source of welfare disparity. Given the recent progress of electrification in India, we analyze the differences in access and reliability of electricity, and its impact on household welfare for marginalized and dominant social groups by caste and religion. We carry out longitudinal analysis from a national survey, 2005-2012, using OLS, fixed effects, and panel instrumental variable regressions. Our analysis shows that marginalized groups (Hindu Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe and Muslims) had higher likelihood of electricity access compared to the dominant groups (Hindu forward castes and Other Backward Caste). In terms of electricity reliability, marginalized groups lost less electricity hours in a day as compared to dominant groups. Results showed that electrification enabled marginalized households to increase their consumption, assets and move out of poverty; the effects were more pronounced in rural areas. The findings are robust to alternative ways of measuring consumption and use of more recent data set, 2015-2018. We posit that electrification improved the livelihoods of marginalized groups. However, it did not reduce absolute disparities among social groups.
Abstract: Uneven electrification can be a source of welfare disparity. Given the recent progress of electrification in India, we analyze the differences in access and reliability of electricity, and its impact on household welfare for marginalized and dominant social groups by caste and religion. We carry out longitudinal analysis from a national survey, 2005-2012, using OLS, fixed effects, and panel instrumental variable regressions. Our analysis shows that marginalized groups (Hindu Schedule Caste/Schedule Tribe and Muslims) had higher likelihood of electricity access compared to the dominant groups (Hindu forward castes and Other Backward Caste). In terms of electricity reliability, marginalized groups lost less electricity hours in a day as compared to dominant groups. Results showed that electrification enabled marginalized households to increase their consumption, assets and move out of poverty; the effects were more pronounced in rural areas. The findings are robust to alternative ways of measuring consumption and use of more recent data set, 2015-2018. We posit that electrification improved the livelihoods of marginalized groups. However, it did not reduce absolute disparities among social groups.
Journal: Energy Economics
Published: October 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Tooraj Jamasb
The Anthropology of Tea
Abstract: Pending
Abstract: Pending
Journal: Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute
Published: September 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Martin Skrydstrup
How to Think About People Who Don't Want to be Studied: Further Reflections on Studying Up
Abstract: It is now routine for anthropologists to study those who exercise power and control wealth and status in any number of societies. Implicit in anthropology’s long-standing commitment to apprehending societies in their totality, and explicit in the call to study up, paying attention to power is just one of the routine things that anthropologists do in the course of their fieldwork. That said, many theoretical and ethical norms in the discipline are calibrated to allow researchers to both know about and protect those with relatively little power who made up much of anthropology’s original topical area of interests. By contrast, studying people who exercise power entails special ethical and theoretical consideration. This article enumerates some of those considerations, and suggests that anthropologists need to have coherent theories of social action in addition to theories of social meaning. The article also suggests that some canonical disciplinary ethical norms are inappropriate for the study of the powerful for empirical and practical reasons
Abstract: It is now routine for anthropologists to study those who exercise power and control wealth and status in any number of societies. Implicit in anthropology’s long-standing commitment to apprehending societies in their totality, and explicit in the call to study up, paying attention to power is just one of the routine things that anthropologists do in the course of their fieldwork. That said, many theoretical and ethical norms in the discipline are calibrated to allow researchers to both know about and protect those with relatively little power who made up much of anthropology’s original topical area of interests. By contrast, studying people who exercise power entails special ethical and theoretical consideration. This article enumerates some of those considerations, and suggests that anthropologists need to have coherent theories of social action in addition to theories of social meaning. The article also suggests that some canonical disciplinary ethical norms are inappropriate for the study of the powerful for empirical and practical reasons
Journal: Critique of Anthropology
Published: September 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Daniel Souleles
Trajectories of Objectively Measured Physical Activity and Childhood Overweight: Longitudinal Analysis of the IDEFICS/I.Family Cohort
Abstract: Background: Since only few longitudinal studies with appropriate study designs investigated the relationship between objectively measured physical activity (PA) and overweight, the degree PA can prevent excess weight gain in children, remains unclear. Moreover, evidence is limited on how childhood overweight determines PA during childhood. Therefore, we analyzed longitudinal trajectories of objectively measured PA and their bi-directional association with weight trajectories of children at 2- and 6-year follow-ups.
Methods: Longitudinal data of three subsequent measurements from the IDEFICS/I.Family cohort study were used to analyze the bi-directional association between moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and weight status by means of multilevel regression models. Analyses comprised 3393 (2-year follow-up) and 1899 (6-year follow-up) children aged 2–15.9 years from eight European countries with valid accelerometer data and body mass index (BMI) measurements. For categorized analyses, children’s weight status was categorized as normal weight or overweight (cutoff: 90th percentile of BMI) and children’s PA as (in-) sufficiently active (cutoffs: 30, 45 and 60 min of MVPA per day).
Results: Children engaging in at least 60 min MVPA daily at baseline and follow-ups had a lower odds of becoming overweight (odds ratio [OR] at 2-year follow-up: 0.546, 95% CI: 0.378, 0.789 and 6-year follow-up: 0.393, 95% CI: 0.242, 0.638), compared to less active children. Similar associations were found for 45 min MVPA daily. On the other side, children who became overweight had the lowest odds to achieve 45 or 60 min MVPA daily (ORs: 0.459 to 0.634), compared to normal weight children.
Conclusions: Bi-directional associations between MVPA and weight status were observed. In summary, at least 60 min MVPA are still recommended for the prevention of childhood overweight. To prevent excess weight gain, 45 min MVPA per day also showed preventive effects.
Abstract: Background: Since only few longitudinal studies with appropriate study designs investigated the relationship between objectively measured physical activity (PA) and overweight, the degree PA can prevent excess weight gain in children, remains unclear. Moreover, evidence is limited on how childhood overweight determines PA during childhood. Therefore, we analyzed longitudinal trajectories of objectively measured PA and their bi-directional association with weight trajectories of children at 2- and 6-year follow-ups.
Methods: Longitudinal data of three subsequent measurements from the IDEFICS/I.Family cohort study were used to analyze the bi-directional association between moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) and weight status by means of multilevel regression models. Analyses comprised 3393 (2-year follow-up) and 1899 (6-year follow-up) children aged 2–15.9 years from eight European countries with valid accelerometer data and body mass index (BMI) measurements. For categorized analyses, children’s weight status was categorized as normal weight or overweight (cutoff: 90th percentile of BMI) and children’s PA as (in-) sufficiently active (cutoffs: 30, 45 and 60 min of MVPA per day).
Results: Children engaging in at least 60 min MVPA daily at baseline and follow-ups had a lower odds of becoming overweight (odds ratio [OR] at 2-year follow-up: 0.546, 95% CI: 0.378, 0.789 and 6-year follow-up: 0.393, 95% CI: 0.242, 0.638), compared to less active children. Similar associations were found for 45 min MVPA daily. On the other side, children who became overweight had the lowest odds to achieve 45 or 60 min MVPA daily (ORs: 0.459 to 0.634), compared to normal weight children.
Conclusions: Bi-directional associations between MVPA and weight status were observed. In summary, at least 60 min MVPA are still recommended for the prevention of childhood overweight. To prevent excess weight gain, 45 min MVPA per day also showed preventive effects.
Journal: International Journal of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity
Published: December 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Lucia A. Reisch
Indflydelse i praxis – et perspektiv på vej
Abstract: Indflydelse hører blandt de temaer, der har fået størst opmærksomhed i den arbejdsrelaterede forskning gennem tiden. Men hvor mange studier er udgået fra, at mulighederne for indflydelse er præget af strukturer på fx arbejdsplads- eller individniveau, argumenterer jeg i denne artikel for, at vores forståelse af indflydelse kan udvikles ved at anlægge et praxisperspektiv. Ud fra dette perspektiv er målet at beskrive og forstå, hvordan indflydelse konkret søges og forhandles på arbejdspladsen med et særligt fokus på de sociale mekanismer, der påvirker indflydelsesprocesserne. I artiklen gennemgås nogle eksisterende praxisorienterede studier af indfl ydelse, og der præsenteres et eksempel på, hvordan man empirisk kan tilgå praxis fra en etnometodologisk/ samtaleanalytisk vinkel. Én central pointe er, at indflydelsesprocesser indeholder forskellige oversete sociale kompleksiteter, som kan begrænse medarbejdernes muligheder for at påvirke forholdene på arbejdspladsen, hvis de ikke håndteres aktivt.
Abstract: Indflydelse hører blandt de temaer, der har fået størst opmærksomhed i den arbejdsrelaterede forskning gennem tiden. Men hvor mange studier er udgået fra, at mulighederne for indflydelse er præget af strukturer på fx arbejdsplads- eller individniveau, argumenterer jeg i denne artikel for, at vores forståelse af indflydelse kan udvikles ved at anlægge et praxisperspektiv. Ud fra dette perspektiv er målet at beskrive og forstå, hvordan indflydelse konkret søges og forhandles på arbejdspladsen med et særligt fokus på de sociale mekanismer, der påvirker indflydelsesprocesserne. I artiklen gennemgås nogle eksisterende praxisorienterede studier af indfl ydelse, og der præsenteres et eksempel på, hvordan man empirisk kan tilgå praxis fra en etnometodologisk/ samtaleanalytisk vinkel. Én central pointe er, at indflydelsesprocesser indeholder forskellige oversete sociale kompleksiteter, som kan begrænse medarbejdernes muligheder for at påvirke forholdene på arbejdspladsen, hvis de ikke håndteres aktivt.
Journal: Tidsskrift for Arbejdsliv
Published: June 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Christian Dyrlund Wåhlin-Jacobsen
Seeding the Cloud: Consultancy Services in the Nascent Field of Cyber Capacity Building
Abstract: Transnational issues in public administration are charged with coordination problems between public and private actors. This is especially true for nascent issue fields. The mitigation of global cyber risks represents one such emerging issue. International organizations have encouraged the development of cybersecurity strategies as an integral part of national security regimes and to strengthen the global security environment. Cyber Capacity Building (CCB) efforts respond to these calls and disseminate digital risk management to recipient states. At a time where public administrations have not determined a position on CCB, Global Professional Service Firms (GPSFs) have affirmed the importance of external third-party knowledge on cybersecurity issues. They are ‘seeding the cloud’ to benefit from the field as it matures. Through the application of the Strategic Action Field framework, I highlight how field dynamics are shaped through framing contests and reflected in the practices of policy production.
Abstract: Transnational issues in public administration are charged with coordination problems between public and private actors. This is especially true for nascent issue fields. The mitigation of global cyber risks represents one such emerging issue. International organizations have encouraged the development of cybersecurity strategies as an integral part of national security regimes and to strengthen the global security environment. Cyber Capacity Building (CCB) efforts respond to these calls and disseminate digital risk management to recipient states. At a time where public administrations have not determined a position on CCB, Global Professional Service Firms (GPSFs) have affirmed the importance of external third-party knowledge on cybersecurity issues. They are ‘seeding the cloud’ to benefit from the field as it matures. Through the application of the Strategic Action Field framework, I highlight how field dynamics are shaped through framing contests and reflected in the practices of policy production.
Journal: Public Administration
Published: August 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Johann Ole Willers
Pilgrimage Zionism: The Maccabean Pilgrimage to Palestine and the Divergent Processes of Zionist Meaning Making
Abstract: This article shows Zionist emergence as processes of meaning making that took place while organizing and enacting a modern Jewish pilgrimage from London to Palestine and back in 1897. Through ‘thick’ descriptions by the pilgrims, the article offers a bottom-up account of the central boundary formations that in early 1897 demarcated Jewish national collectivity, homeland, and homecoming. Following the Danish-Jewish participant, Louis Frænkel, it shows how Zionist meaning making happened before, during, and after his experiences on the pilgrimage, and how this related to the kind of Zionism that Frænkel eventually would push for in Denmark.
Abstract: This article shows Zionist emergence as processes of meaning making that took place while organizing and enacting a modern Jewish pilgrimage from London to Palestine and back in 1897. Through ‘thick’ descriptions by the pilgrims, the article offers a bottom-up account of the central boundary formations that in early 1897 demarcated Jewish national collectivity, homeland, and homecoming. Following the Danish-Jewish participant, Louis Frænkel, it shows how Zionist meaning making happened before, during, and after his experiences on the pilgrimage, and how this related to the kind of Zionism that Frænkel eventually would push for in Denmark.
Journal: Jewish Culture and History
Published: September 2021
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Contact CBS researcher: Maja Gildin Zuckerman
The page was last edited by: Sekretariat for Ledelse og Kommunikation // 07/11/2023