Tilburg University

About: Tilburg University is a education organization based out in Tilburg, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Population & Context (language use). The organization has 5550 authors who have published 22330 publications receiving 791335 citations.

Psychosocial stress during pregnancy is related to adverse birth outcomes: results from a large multi-ethnic community-based birth cohort

Abstract: Background: Prevalence rates of psychosocial stress during pregnancy are substantial. Evidence for associations between psychosocial stress and birth outcomes is inconsistent. This study aims to identify and characterize different clusters of pregnant women, each with a distinct pattern of psychosocial stress, and investigate whether birth outcomes differ between these clusters. Methods: Latent class analysis was performed on data of 7740 pregnant women (Amsterdam Born Children and their Development study). Included constructs were depressive symptoms, state anxiety, job strain, pregnancy-related anxiety and parenting stress. Results: Five clusters of women with distinct patterns of psychosocial stress were objectively identified. Babies born from women in the cluster characterized as ‘high depression and high anxiety, moderate job strain’ (12%) had a lower birth weight, and those in the ‘high depression and high anxiety, not employed’ cluster (15%) had an increased risk of pre-term birth. Conclusions: Babies from pregnant women reporting both high levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms are at highest risk for adverse birth outcomes.

Offshoring and the global distribution of work: Implications for task interdependence theory and practice

Abstract: A recent Offshoring Research Network (ORN) global survey of offshoring shows that since 2004 management concerns about operational issues on achieving the benefits of offshoring have increased significantly. In this paper we examine inter-task interdependence, a key operational determinant of inter-site interaction and communications in offshoring. We analyze existing theories of interdependence to examine the extent to which they provide guidance for understanding the interaction and communication requirements between work segments that are offshored and distributed across the globe. Using a series of mini-cases on globally distributed work (GDW), we show how the traditional typology of interdependence developed in the 1960s and 1970s is no longer adequate for understanding and managing task interdependencies in GDW. We propose three concepts to address this problem: integration interdependence, “hand-offs”, and information “stickiness”. We then show how our revised typology of interdependence enables a better understanding of the interactions and communication requirements between sites. Using this revised theory we propose guidelines for work design, and examine their implications for practical offshoring and work-distribution decisions. Implications for theory and practice for MNEs engaged in offshore relationships are discussed.

FinTech and the transformation of the financial industry

Abstract: Dear readers, This preface introduces the special issue on FinTech in Electronic Markets. The issue includes a total of eight papers, which cover diverse aspects in the broad FinTech universe. Seven papers emerged from the special issue call that was published in 2016 and one paper from a fast-track that was organized with the Business Information Systems Conference (BIS) from 2016. Taken alone, the number of submissions for the FinTech special issue call was larger than for regular special issues in Electronic Markets, which might suggest that FinTech is an active research field. This is remarkable since the term itself has only recently gained broad attention. For example, a simple query on Google Trends reveals that it was only in 2014 that the compound term BFinTech^ emerged on a broad scale and made the transformation of the financial industry visible to everybody (Arner et al. 2016). An industry that had remained rather stable over decades was apparently confronted all of a sudden with new market participants and the acceleration of digital innovation. A surge in the foundation of new companies (Bstart-ups^) occurred, which promised to change the entire industry with some even claiming that this will be the beginning of the end of banks. This would confirm statements from the 1990s whereby Bbanking is essential, banks are not^ or whereby Bbanks are the steel industry of the [nineteen]nineties^ (Beck 2001, p. 7). Some 25 years later, we may see the beginning of this (digital) transformation. Although the financial industry as a whole and many of the traditional players from the world of Bbig banks^ exist, the BFinTech^ movement has substantially influenced this sector.

Sustainable employability--definition, conceptualization, and implications: A perspective based on the capability approach.

Abstract: Objectives The aim of this paper is to propose a new model of sustainable employability based on the capability approach, encompassing the complexity of contemporary work, and placing particular emphasis on work-related values. Methods Having evaluated existing conceptual models of work, health, and employability, we concluded that prevailing models lack an emphasis on important work-related values. Amartya Sen’s capability approach (CA) provides a framework that incorporates a focus on values and reflects the complexity of sustainable employability. Results We developed a model of sustainable employability based on the CA. This model can be used as starting point for developing an assessment tool to investigate sustainable employability. Conclusions A fundamental premise of the CA is that work should create value for the organization as well as for the worker. This approach challenges researchers, policy-makers, and practitioners to investigate what people find important and valuable – what they would like to achieve in a given (work) context – and moreover to ascertain whether people are able and enabled to do so. According to this approach, it is not only the individual who is responsible for achieving this; the work context is also important. Rather than merely describing relationships between variables, as existing descriptive models often do, the CA depicts a valuable goal: a set of capabilities that constitute valuable work. Moreover, the CA fits well with recent conceptions of health and modern insights into work, in which the individual works towards his or her own goals that s/he has to achieve within the broader goals of the organization.

Ownership, managerial control and the governance of companies listed on the Brussels stock exchange

Abstract: This paper examines how corporate control is exerted in companies listed on the Brussels Stock Exchange. There are several alternative corporate governance mechanisms which may play a role in disciplining poorly performing management: blockholders (holding companies, industrial companies, families and institutions), the market for partial control, debt policy, and board composition. Even if there is redundancy of substitute forms of discipline, some mechanisms may dominate. We find that top managerial turnover is strongly related to poor performance measured by stock returns, accounting earnings in relation to industry peers and dividend cuts and omissions. Tobit models reveal that there is little relation between ownership and managerial replacement, although industrial companies resort to disciplinary actions when performance is poor. When industrial companies increase their share stake or acquire a new stake in a poorly performing company, there is evidence of an increase in executive board turnover, which suggests a partial market for control. There is little relation between changes in ownership concentration held by institutions and holding companies, and disciplining. Still, high leverage and decreasing solvency and liquidity variables are also followed by increased disciplining, as are a high proportion of non-executive directors and the separation of the functions of CEO and chairman.