Showing papers by "IE University published in 2020"

Clarifying the Sharing Economy: Conceptualization, Typology, Antecedents, and Effects

Abstract: In the past decade, we have seen a spectacular increase in the number of companies described as being part of the “sharing economy.” The emerging academic research on the topic reflects the importa...

The effects of corrective information about disease epidemics and outbreaks: Evidence from Zika and yellow fever in Brazil

Abstract: Disease epidemics and outbreaks often generate conspiracy theories and misperceptions that mislead people about the risks they face and how best to protect themselves. We investigate the effectiveness of interventions aimed at combating false and unsupported information about the Zika epidemic and subsequent yellow fever outbreak in Brazil. Results from a nationally representative survey show that conspiracy theories and other misperceptions about Zika are widely believed. Moreover, results from three preregistered survey experiments suggest that efforts to counter misperceptions about diseases during epidemics and outbreaks may not always be effective. We find that corrective information not only fails to reduce targeted Zika misperceptions but also reduces the accuracy of other beliefs about the disease. In addition, although corrective information about the better-known threat from yellow fever was more effective, none of these corrections affected support for vector control policies or intentions to engage in preventive behavior.

Transaction Cost Economics As a Theory of Supply Chain Efficiency

Abstract: Transaction cost economics (TCE) is one of the most widely referenced organization theories in operations and supply chain management research. Even though TCE is a broadly applicable theory of governance, one of its specific topics of interest—the make‐or‐buy decision—readily aligns with some of the central research questions on how firms manage supply chains. However, both general management and operations management researchers sometimes misunderstand and misapply TCE's aims, assumptions, and logic. A common mistake is to read TCE as a theory of competence or of power. While TCE relates to both, TCE is essentially a theory of efficient governance of transactions in particular and exchange relationships in general. Our purpose in this study is to review the intellectual and theoretical foundations of TCE, its primary aims, and its applicability as a theory of supply chain efficiency. To this end, we discover much common ground between TCE and research in operations and supply chain management. We close by discussing implications for future research, focusing on how operations and supply chain management researchers could contribute to broader academic conversations on management and governance.

Regulation and the future of work: The employment relationship as an innovation facilitator

Abstract: Digital transformation and the reorganization of the firm have given rise to new forms of work that diverge significantly from the standard employment relationship. Advocates of digital disruption suggest that the existing legal framework cannot accommodate “innovative” working templates and business models. This article, however, argues that labour regulation can continue to facilitate innovation, presenting the employment relationship as a flexible instrument, and standard forms of employment as the means of achieving efficiencies and cost advantages. First, they allow for the full exercise of managerial prerogative and attendant internal flexibility in workforce deployment, and, second, they constitute an effective device to deliver training and develop skills.

IT value creation in public sector: how IT-enabled capabilities mitigate tradeoffs in public organisations

Abstract: Governments today are striving to improve services in the public sector through digital transformation programs but face tremendous pressures from multiple fronts (economy, national security, healt...

Sustainable Electric Vehicle Charging using Adaptive Pricing

Abstract: A transition to electric vehicles (EVs) is widely assumed to be an important step along the road to environmental sustainability. However, large-scale adoption of EVs may put electricity grids under critical strain, since peaks in electricity demand are likely to increase radically. Efforts to manage demand peaks through pricing schemes may create new peaks at low-price periods, if large numbers of EV owners use smart charging to benefit from low prices. This effect is expected to be amplified when EV owners adopt smart decision support to assist them with optimal charging decisions. Therefore, energy policymakers are interested in advanced pricing schemes that can smooth demand or induce demand that comes as close as possible to a desired profile. We show, through simulations calibrated with real-world data, that current approaches to electricity pricing are limited in their ability to induce desired demand profiles. To address this challenge, we present adaptive pricing, a method to learn from EV owner reactions to prices and adjust announced prices accordingly. Our method draws on the Green Information Systems principles and can assist grid operators in ensuring the reliable operation of the grid. We evaluate our results in simulations, where we find that adaptive pricing outperforms current electricity pricing schemes, yielding results close to the theoretically optimal ones. We test our method in inducing both flat and extremely volatile demand profiles, and we see that in both cases it manages to induce EV charging close to the ideal scenario under perfect information.

An Update on Effort Estimation in Agile Software Development: A Systematic Literature Review

Abstract: This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities through the Adapt@Cloud Project under Grant TIN2017-84550-R.

Supply chain ambidexterity and manufacturing SME performance : the moderating roles of network capability and strategic information flow

Abstract: Organizational ambidexterity is the simultaneous act of exploiting existing competences and exploring new opportunities. Prior studies suggest that resource-constrained SMEs cannot successfully pursue simultaneous interorganizational ambidexterity but need to rely on functionally separated alliances (i.e., alliances based on their value chain function such as explorative RD however, network capabilities and strategic information flow with their supply chain partners help mitigate this negative relationship. The present study advances understanding of ambidextrous interorganizational collaboration and alliances in general and supply chain ambidexterity of manufacturing SMEs in particular. In contexts where supply chain ambidexterity is negatively associated with performance, network capabilities and strategic information flow may be necessary to lower the negative effects.

Predicting risk of dyslexia with an online gamified test.

Abstract: Dyslexia is a specific learning disorder related to school failure. Detection is both crucial and challenging, especially in languages with transparent orthographies, such as Spanish. To make detecting dyslexia easier, we designed an online gamified test and a predictive machine learning model. In a study with more than 3,600 participants, our model correctly detected over 80% of the participants with dyslexia. To check the robustness of the method we tested our method using a new data set with over 1,300 participants with age customized tests in a different environment -a tablet instead of a desktop computer- reaching a recall of over 78% for the class with dyslexia for children 12 years old or older. Our work shows that dyslexia can be screened using a machine learning approach. An online screening tool in Spanish based on our methods has already been used by more than 200,000 people.

“The Media Covers Up a Lot of Things”: Watchdog Ideals Meet Folk Theories of Journalism

Abstract: The idealized view of the press as an institution that operates independently from private and political interests and tries to hold power to account is central to many journalists’ self-conception...

Bringing the organization back in: Flexing structural responses to competing logics in budgeting

Abstract: This paper aims to understand the mechanisms through which organizations, over time, manage competing logics within budgeting practices. We draw insights from new institutional studies in accountingto highlight the importance of practice-level negotiations for managing institutional conflicts, but we complement them with a focus on the organizational embeddedness of hybrid practices from organizational studies in accounting. More specifically, we build on the notion of ‘structured flexibility,’ according to which organizational structures frame and enable negotiations on hybrid practices, as critical to manage complexity in face of changing environmental conditions. We thus show how ‘structured flexibility’ is made possible by a number of characteristics of decision-making that have been widely studied by the behavioral theory of the firm, i.e. the decomposition of decision-making processes, the framing of local negotiations and the search for satisficing solutions. Our findings from a case study of a public university facing the conflict between a professional and a managerial logic shed light on how organizations may actively manage institutional complexity over time and suggest specific interventions to transform complexity into a source of strategic advantage.

It All Happens at Once: Understanding Electoral Behaviour in Second-Order Elections

Abstract: The second-order election (SOE) model as originally formulated by Reif and Schmitt (1980) suggests that, relative to the preceding first-order election result, turnout is lower in SOEs, government and big parties lose, and small and ideologically extreme parties win. These regularities are not static but dynamic and related to the first-order electoral cycle. These predictions of the SOE model have often been tested using aggregate data. The fact that they are based on individual-level hypotheses has received less attention. The main aim of this article is to restate the micro-level hypotheses for the SOE model and run a rigorous test for the 2004 and 2014 European elections. Using data from the European Election Studies voter surveys, our analysis reveals signs of sincere, but also strategic abstentions in European Parliament elections. Both strategic and sincere motivations are also leading to SOE defection. It all happens at once.

How Long Does It Take to Get to the Learning Curve

Abstract: The learning curve describes learning from experience, even in its earliest phases, as an iterative process in which the ratio of positive to negative outcomes rises sharply with experience before ...

Unpacking the emergence of born global founders: A careers perspective

Abstract: New ventures that internationalize aggressively from or near founding have been of continued interest in international entrepreneurship. A rich literature now exists in which researchers make numer...

What Does it Take to Sustain a News Habit? The Role of Civic Duty Norms and a Connection to a "News Community" Among News Avoiders in the UK and Spain

Abstract: Why do some people maintain a news habit while others avoid news altogether? To explore that question, we put findings from an interview-based study of news avoiders in the UK and Spain into dialogue with past research on factors found to shape news consumption. We found that news avoiders saw news as having limited informational benefits and high costs in terms of time, emotional energy, and mental effort. They also did not see consuming news as a civic duty to be pursued despite the costs, nor did they have strong ties to communities that highly valued news consumption. This meant they had few social incentives to return to news habitually and that connections between distant-seeming topics in the news and immediate concerns were rarely reinforced. We conclude that group-level social factors play an understudied but important role in shaping news avoidance.

Innovation in Family Firms: The Relative Effects of Wealth Concentration Versus Family-Centered Goals:

Abstract: Drawing on agency and behavioral perspectives, we disentangle two critical determinants of innovation strategies among family firms, namely, the family’s wealth concentration (WC) in its business a...

Teaching qualitative data analysis software online: a comparison of face-to-face and e-learning ATLAS.ti courses

Abstract: In today's world of pervasive technology use, online education is rapidly growing. Online learning environments offer a multitude of benefits for both learners and teachers, as there are substantia...

Who are the multichannel shoppers and how can retailers use them? Evidence from the French apparel industry

Abstract: This study aims to identify, within the context of the French fashion industry, the characteristics of multichannel shoppers, that is, consumers who use more than one channel in a single shopping trip. We especially investigate whether consumers' focus on quality versus price affects their multichannel shopping tendency and their flexibilities in their shopping lists (basket flexibility).,We surveyed a representative sample of 400 French shoppers regarding fashion apparel purchasing. We use a logistic regression framework to measure the probability of a shopper becoming a multichannel shopper based on the key constructs and a battery of control variables.,The analysis shows that, in fashion buying, shoppers focused on quality and those with high basket flexibility have a higher probability of becoming multichannel shoppers. The probability becomes even greater when a shopper is both quality oriented and has basket flexibility.,We focus on the fashion apparel market for a deeper understanding of multichannel usage of products with both experience and search features. Future research can investigate other industries for higher generalizability.,Our research provides insights into multichannel fashion companies whose managements aim to effectively manage high-value customers who tend to use more channels when shopping. Specifically, an omnichannel marketing strategy should focus on capturing the quality-oriented and highly basket-flexible segment of consumers.,Our study provides evidence that for products having high experiential as well as search features, quality-oriented and highly flexible shoppers engage more in multichannel shopping. Because these characteristics are related to the long-term value of customers, we provide the link between multichannel marketing and firm profitability in the context of the fashion industry.

Who appropriates centrality rents? The role of institutions in regulating social networks in the global Islamic finance industry

Abstract: This study explains and tests the effects of country-level institutions on the distribution of centrality rents between two sets of actors in an interorganizational network. Building on the literature on corporate elites, we propose that a cohesive elite following organizational logics other than profit-maximization diverts centrality rents and induces costs on firms, and that macro institutions act as external governance mechanisms to shape this relationship. We develop our theory in the emerging Islamic finance industry, where “Shariah scholars” connect firms and constitute a religious corporate elite. While central scholars in this network create legitimacy for firms, they also shirk and cause information leakage, suggesting a negative centrality-performance relationship for the firms. Country-level institutions such as government regulation and democracy, we argue, ameliorate these effects by influencing this religious elite’s institutional logic and restraining their actions, while institutions developed from within the industry strengthen the power of the elite. Testing our theory in a network of 367 scholars and 396 institutions over 31 countries using multi-level methods, we indeed find a negative centrality-performance relationship that is ameliorated by stronger government regulation but exacerbated by better-developed industry-specific institutions, as well as a negative relationship between democratic and regulatory institutions and centrality.

Gender Differences In Speed Of Advancement: An Empirical Examination Of Top Executives In The Fortune 100 Firms

Abstract: Research summary We examine the advancement of women in executive roles in the ranks of the 10 highest executive positions in the Fortune 100 companies in 2001 and 2011. We find that women executives secured top executive positions faster than men, controlling for relevant individual attributes, and that the advantage of women with respect to men grew with the number of years they spent in the organization. The female advantage disappeared once companies had more than one high‐ranking female executive. We make use of several tests to assess possible unobserved differences between men and women executives, including the case–control technique from epidemiology. Our results are consistent with institutional pressures accelerating women's advancement to top executive positions, but they also reveal the limited effectiveness of such pressures. Managerial summary Employers interested in increasing the diversity of their executive ranks should pay attention not only to who is in those jobs but also how long it took them to get there. In our study, women in top jobs got there faster not just because they were better but because they moved through previous positions faster and skipped steps in job ladders. This suggests how diversity at the top can be enhanced without having to wait for more diverse cohorts in lower‐level jobs to slowly advance. The fact that faster advancement slowed once there were a few women in top jobs suggests that support for advancement was indeed a company choice, unfortunately one driven by public appearances.

Family Firms’ Religious Identity and Strategic Renewal

Abstract: We examine the role of religious identity in promoting strategic renewal in privately held founder family firms. Religious identity in these firms refers to their collective sense of being that reflects their founders’ and owner family members’ espoused religious values and beliefs, thereby distinguishing themselves from others in what is central, distinct, and enduring about their organization. We propose that such a religious identity determines family firms’ spiritual capital, which influences strategic renewal activities such as conflict resolution and resource allocation. Specifically, we argue that spiritual capital can be a double-edged sword when family firms pursue strategic renewal. We discuss the implications of our work for future research.

Product-market competition and resource redeployment in multi-business firms

Abstract: Research summary This article investigates how diversified firms reallocate internal non‐scale free resources when one of their product business units (BUs) experiences increased exposure to international competition driven by a sharp decrease in trade tariffs. On average, firms tend to fight, by reallocating resources toward the BU affected by the trade shock and away from other BUs within the same firm. Two variables moderate this first‐order effect with opposite signs. The level of sunk costs of the assets allocated to the BU affected by the shock is a positive moderator of resource reallocation to it. The presence of technological synergies between the BU affected and the rest of BUs instead moderates the relationship negatively. This negative moderation seems to only take place when competition increases the value of technology as a competitive resource. Managerial summary An important question in the strategic decision‐making process of diversified firms is how to react to competitive threats that affect one business unit but not the others. Should managers allocate more resources to the affected business or should they instead reduce their commitment and use the same resources in the remaining operating sectors? In this article, we examine firms’ reallocation decisions following increases in foreign competition due to import tariff cuts. Our results show that firms tend to allocate more resources to the business affected by the tariff cut and less to the businesses unaffected. Furthermore, we find evidence that this behavior is positively associated with performance.