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The dissertation project focuses on empirically investigating consumers' attitudes, motivations and purchasing decisions regarding sustainable products. The focus on this micro perspective, however, does not reflect consumers' roles within the transformation towards sustainable consumption. Therefore, the present framework paper puts the included papers into a greater context and evaluates the findings on a meta-level by applying an enhanced transition management theory. The analysis underlines that consumers' limited personal capabilities are an underlying reason for unsustainable practices. Therefore, the active engagement not only of consumers, but also of companies is required if the transformation is to be successful. If companies actively support consumers in making sustainable choices, consumers can engage in sustainable consumption with only low cognitive efforts. On this basis, genuine sustainable choices are enabled. The dissertation provides practical implications by highlighting potential measures which will help to promote sustainable products from niches to mainstream. In sum, the dissertation project enhances academic understanding of consumers´ sustainable purchasing behavior and reveals the potential of integrating such insights into the management of transformations towards sustainable consumption.
Aim of the dissertation is to identify psychological success factors in the entrepreneurial process. The entrepreneurial process comprises the identification of business opportunities as well as start-up and development of new ventures (Baron, 2007b). Understanding the entrepreneurial process is important because entrepreneurship has economic, social, and theoretical functions. Early studies already pointed to the importance of psychological factors in the entrepreneurial process (Baumol, 1968). Subsequent studies focused mainly on personality traits which contributed only little to a better understanding of the psychological factors relevant for entrepreneurial success (Gartner, 1989). Based on recent theoretical frameworks, the dissertation focuses on two factors which are proposed to have a stronger effect on the successful accomplishment of the entrepreneurial process: the entrepreneur’s cognitions and actions (Baron, 2007a; Frese, 2009). It is important to note that the dissertation takes into account the complexity of the entrepreneurial process. The entrepreneurial process includes different phases with different outcomes. The empirical studies of the dissertation investigate the influence of psychological factors in the phase of opportunity identification (chapter 2 &3), in the phase of starting-up a business (chapter 4), and in the phase of growing the venture (chapter 2 &4). The dissertation thus seeks to make a comprehensive contribution to the literature on psychological factors in the entrepreneurial process.
Die Arbeit kombiniert innovative Geschäftsmodelle und Effectuation im Kontext von Entrepreneurship vor dem Hintergrund der Resource-based Theory. Im Rahmenbeitrag werden wesentliche Begriffe erarbeitet und die Arbeit eingeordnet. Dabei wird erstmals die Relevanz der Geschäftsmodell-Entwicklung und der Effectuation mithilfe der Resourcebased Theory erklärt. Im Beitrag 1 werden die angesprochenen Konzepte in einer explorativen Studie mit erfahrenen Entrepreneuren aus dem deutschen Gesundheitswesen thematisiert und die Existenz von Effectuation-Strukturen bei der Geschäftsmodell- Entwicklung getestet. Dabei werden unternehmerische Pilotprojekte als neue Strukturen entdeckt und konzeptualisiert. In Beitrag 2 werden die gewonnen Erkenntnisse in zwei Tools zur Geschäftsmodell-Entwicklung übersetzt und in Beitrag 3 im Rahmen einer case study am Beispiel eines Gründungsprojektes angewendet sowie um eine Struktur zur Bewertung von innovativen Geschäftsmodellen ergänzt.
A characteristic of the German health care market is the high complexity, amongst others due to the plurality of actors and interest groups. With so many players involved, health care reforms necessarily are the outcome of a quest for influence reflecting the relative power of interest groups. However, in much of the health economics literature, this fact is neglected, with the consequence that public regulation fails to have the intended effect. The treatment of social (interest) groups is central to understand political economic processes. Basic models in this area are the models of Olson (1965), Peltzman (1976) and Becker (1983). The objective of such model considerations in the health care market is to maximize efficiency and quality of care and thereby reduce expenditures. The section “The German health care market and its players: An overview from an economic perspective” analyses the structure of the health care market in Germany together with selected health challenges of the last decade. It questions to which extent the new political economy in contrast to welfare economy is able to explain health economic aspects. The section “Drug Prices and Pressure Group Activities in the German Health Care Market: An Application of the Becker Model” analyses the shift of power and influence among the pharmaceutical industry, the pharmacies and the social health insurers (SHI). Since the health care reform in 2004, these interest groups have been negotiating the structure of surcharges and discounts among each other without any intervention from the government. This reflects the assumption of a passive government in the Becker (1983) model and makes this model to a good choice for application. The negotiations and the resulting amendments of this ordinance express the shift of power and influence among the involved interest groups in the German health care market after 2004. The first assumption is a closed system based on the theoretical work by Becker. The amount of total budget and the amount of total influence is constant and defined as 10. In such a standardized system, the influence by producers and pharmacies decreases about 0.007 units of political pressure to the value 9.989, whereas the influence by SHI increases about 0.007 units to the value 0.011 between 2008 and 2010. More realistic is the second assumption, the assumption of an open system where the amount of total budget and the amount of total influence can change over the years. With this assumption a trend becomes apparent which shows an increase in political pressure by SHI about 0.015 units to the value 0.036 and a decrease of political pressure by pharmacies and producers about 18.326 units to the value 34.022 between 2008 and 2010. This reflects the cost control trend in combination with the empowerment incentives for SHI. Noteworthy is the high pressure level of producers compared to the other interest groups. As a conclusion one can say that the last years show a movement to more competition between the interest groups. This leads to more balanced power relations. But nevertheless, the most powerful group is still the producer group and the influence of the SHI is still very low. However, the government does not always behave passively. On sensitive issues for voters such as co-payments, the government tries to maximize votes. So, in the section “Drug Prices, Rents, and Votes in the German Health Care Market: An Application of the Peltzman Model”, the reaction of consumers (insured persons) and producers (pharmaceutical industry) based on electoral behavior and relating to drug prices and co-payments imposed on drugs is analyzed, using the health care reform of 2004 as an experience. The changes in prices and medications after this reform make it to a natural choice. For the analysis, the interest group model by Peltzman (1976) is applied to the German health care market. The vote-maximizing government has to find the optimal combination of rent and price of regulation. For the optimum solution, the variation of votes on the part of pharmaceutical industry has to equal the variation of votes on the part of consumers. Reflecting different power structures leads to drug prices ranging from 5 to 50 Euros, associated with a co-payment of 5 Euros. Prices between 50 and 100 Euros are possible as well, reflecting a balance of power facing the pharmaceutical industry. These prices are associated with a co-payment of 10% of the selling price. Concerning the transition from 1989 reference price regime to the 2004 reform one can say that producers who had accepted the reference price had an incentive to increase their price while lowering their sales volume.
Die vorliegende Arbeit hat zum Ziel zu vermitteln, was unter dem Erlebnisnutzen von Produkten und Erlebnisökonomie verstanden werden kann, und will dabei zeigen, welches Potential die wissenschaftliche Beschäftigung mit dem Thema bietet. Ähnlich wie sich Dienstleistungen von Sachgütern abgrenzen lassen und eigene Kennzeichen besitzen, lässt sich demnach auch der Erlebnisnutzen von Produkten näher beschreiben. Bislang fehlt jedoch eine umfassende, differenzierte Beschreibung dieser Nutzenaspekte. Mit dem ersten Teil der Arbeit soll hierfür ein erstes Fundament geschaffen werden. Zur Beschreibung des erlebnisorientierten Konsums wird dabei der Begriff „Erlebnisnutzen“ verwendet. Die gesamte Arbeit beschäftigt sich mit diesem Erlebnisnutzen von Produkten und betrachtet die Erlebnisökonomie als eine Veränderung in der Gewichtung verschiedener Nutzenkomponenten. Als Verständnisgrundlage wird daher zunächst erklärt, was der Begriff „Kundennutzen“ beinhaltet und welche Bedeutung dieser für Konsumenten und Unternehmen besitzt. Anschließend soll einführend vermittelt werden, warum ein Erlebnisnutzen bei Produkten in einer Form vorhanden sein muss und ein wesentliches Konsummotiv darstellt. Im Hauptteil der Arbeit werden drei verschiedene Konzepte einer Erlebnisökonomie vorgestellt. Gezeigt wird zum einen, welche Auffassung eines Erlebnisnutzens der Autor jeweils vertritt und zum anderen, inwiefern dieser Erlebnisnutzen an Bedeutung gewinnt, sodass von einer Erlebnisökonomie gesprochen werden kann. Außerdem soll gezeigt werden, wie die Entstehung der Erlebnisökonomie jeweils begründet wird. Im letzten Teil werden zunächst die drei Konzepte einer Erlebnisökonomie hinsichtlich ihrer Aussagekraft bewertet, um herauszustellen, welches Bild einer Erlebnisökonomie sich aufgrund der kritischen Betrachtung ergibt. Abschließend werden die Potentiale für die weitere wissenschaftliche Beschäftigung mit dem Thema basierend auf diesem Bild einer Erlebnisökonomie dargestellt.
Smartphones make intensive use of precious metals and so called conflict minerals in order to reach their high performance in a compact size. In recent times, sustainability challenges related to production, use and disposal of smartphones are increasingly a topic of public debate. Thus, established industry actors and newly emerging firms are driven to engage in more sustainable practices, such as sustainable sourcing of materials, maintenance services or take-back schemes for discarded mobile phones. Many of these latter efforts can be related to the concept of a circular economy (CE). This thesis explores how CE-related value creation architectures (VCAs) in the smartphone industry contribute to slowing and closing resource loops in a CE. In order to analyze these new industry arrangements, transaction cost theory (TCT) is used as a guiding theory for a make-or-buy analysis. Combining TCT with the concept of a CE is a novel research approach that enables the empirical analysis of relationships between focal actors (e.g. manufacturers) and newly emerging loop operators (e.g. recycling firms) in the smartphone industry. Case studies of such VCAs are conducted with case companies drawn from the Innovation Network on Sustainable Smartphones (INaS) at Leuphana Universtity of Lüneburg and analyzed regarding their involved actors, partnerships, circular activities, motivation and perceived barriers. Evidence from the conducted case studies suggests that asset specificity for circular practices increases for higher order CE-loops such as maintenance or reuse, therefore long-term partnerships between focal actors and loop operators or vertical integration of CE practices are beneficial strategies to reach a sophisticated CE. Similarly, circular practices that go beyond recycling require a strong motivation, either through integration in the focal firm´s quality commitment or through business model recognition. It is further suggested that the circular design of products and services could reduce necessary transaction costs and thus overall costs of a circular economy. Four different integration strategies for circular economy practices have been derived from the conducted case studies. These are: 1) vertically integrated loops, 2) cooperative loop-networks, 3) outsourcing to loop operators and 4) independent loop operators. This work thus provides evidence that circular economy activities do not necessarily have to be managed by focal actors in the value chain. Rather, circular practices can also be put forward by specialized loop operators or even independent actors such as repair shops.
Intelligent Product Design
(2012)
The aim of this thesis is to generate reality-based hypotheses about the opportunities and obstacles that create the implementation of Cradle to Cradle for the companies Jules Clarysse NV and Steelcase Inc. It discusses further which marketing-mix is appropriate for Cradle to Cradle products. Therefore exploratory expert interviews have been conducted with both companies. The empirical part is introduced by a literature study. From marketing perspective, the Cradle to Cradle approach for product design is investigated while taking into account that academic literature categorizes the concept on the one hand as consistent sustainability strategy, on the other hand as sustainable design. Moreover, the broad use of the expression design, within the literature of the Cradle to Cradle founders, is analyzed. Here, Cradle to Cradle design is holding out the prospect of Triple Top Line growth, rather than meeting only the economic bottom line. In regard of aesthetics, Cradle to Cradle aspires diversity in contrast to prevailing principles of Functionalism and universal design solutions. The ‘hidden‘ design assignment of Cradle to Cradle, service design, is highlighted as sphere that should be progressed. All these considerations form the interview guideline. The interviews serve as reality check whether there result Triple Top Lines and new service models for the companies and explore how aesthetics and tools of the marketing-mix are handled in Cradle to Cradle practice.
This PhD dissertation thesis aims to analyse and discuss how a company can interact with its supply chain stakeholders to facilitate the development of sustainable supply chains. The research is based on empirical and conceptual work and contributes to the field of corporate sustainability, supply chain management and its intersection. The thesis develops a conceptual framework to analyse four organisational spheres of interaction (inter, intra, supra and sub) in sustainable supply chain management (SSCM). Thereby, further insights into risk and opportunityoriented approaches of companies to SSCM are provided.
The dissertation consists of three scientific papers and a synopsis. The synopsis addresses the relevance of the dissertation and lists the key factors for the sustainability transition in the electricity system as a common denominator of the three papers. The relevance of the dissertation results, on the one hand, from the urgency of the sustainability transition in the electricity system and an insufficient transition willingness of the eastern European Member States. On the other hand, the Multi-Level-Perspective as one of the most important scientific frameworks to grasp transitions does not provide a sufficient explanation of its mechanisms. Moreover, Demand Response aggregators as new enterprises on the European electricity market and potential reform initiators are still under researched. The following key factors for the sustainability transition of the electricity system have been identified: supply security concerns, Europeanisation, policy making and the dominance of short-term oriented economic evaluation. Paper#1 sheds light on the roots of this problem in the context of Poland. It suggests that unfavorable regulation is symptomatic of the real, underlying barriers. In Poland, these barriers are coal dependence and political influence on energy enterprises. As main drivers, supply security concerns, EU regulatory pressure, and a positive cost-benefit profile of DR in comparison to alternatives, are revealed. A conceptual model of DR uptake in electricity systems is proposed. Applying a social mechanisms approach to the Multi-Level Perspective, paper#2 conceptualizes mechanisms of socio-technical transitions and of gaining legitimacy for transitions as co-evolutionary drivers and outcomes. Situational, action-formational, and transformational mechanisms that operate as drivers of change in a socio-technical transition require corresponding framing and framing contests to achieve legitimacy for that transition. The study illustrates the conceptual insight with the case of the coal dependent Polish electricity system. Paper #3, a qualitative study reveals Demand Response (DR) aggregators as institutional entrepreneurs that struggle to reform the still largely supply-oriented European electricity market. Unfavourable regulation, low value of flexibility, resource constraints, complexity, and customer acquisition are the key challenges DR aggregators face. To overcome them they apply a combination of strategies: lobbying, market education, technological proficiency, and upscaling the business. The study highlights DR aggregation as an architectural innovation that alters the interplay between key actors of the electricity system and provides policy recommendations including the necessity to assess the real value of DR in comparison to other flexibility sources by taking all externalities into account, a technology-neutral approach to market design and the need for simplification of DR programmes, and common standards to reduce complexity and uncertainty for DR providers.
The doctoral thesis deals with future challenges that the tourism market has to face on a global level. The problem is treated from different perspectives and with different thematic foci. Thematically, the thesis approaches both global changes in the tourism market and further developments of the research methodology. The methodological repertoire includes a Delphi survey in combination with a focus group, mobile ethnography in conjunction with participant observation and contextual interviews, and a quantitative online survey.
This dissertation offers three different perspectives on agency and institutional change. Within three different articles these perspectives are presented and discussed. In the following these three articles are introduced: Article I: Competing concepts of power in institutional theory make the analysis of institutional change challenging. On the one hand, the assumption of powerful institutions leaves little space for agency and institutional change; while on the other hand, the assumption of powerful actors allows for agency but contradicts the fundamental assumption of institutional theory as stated before. This article wishes to propose a concept of power that is consistent with institutional theory and preserves core institutionalist assumptions, but still offers an explanation for agency and institutional change. Article II: This study examines a case of embedded agency from the German accounting industry, which existing approaches of the paradox of embedded agency cannot explain. Based on an instrumental case study, this paper will provide a new explanation of embedded agency by highlighting the interaction between the different actors of an organizational field. Article III: Based on a dialectical perspective on institutional change, this paper studies the transformation of the German accounting industry covering the time period from 2000 to 2012. Corresponding to Seo and Creed (2002), this article identifies “intrainstitutional conformity that creates interinstitutional incompatibilities”, “legitimacy that undermines functional efficiency”, and “isomorphism that conflicts with divergent interests” (Seo & Creed, 2002, p. 226) as the drivers for recent change in this organizational field. The study provides an explanation of endogenous change that does not rely on institutional agency in explaining institutional change.
The concept of corporate entrepreneurship continues to occupy the minds of scholars and practitioners alike. This is not surprising as corporate entrepreneurship constitutes a major driver of organizational revitalization, learning, and growth within large and medium size organizations. However, despite extensive research on corporate entrepreneurship, there is still confusion about the interplay of its macro- and micro-level constituents. To unveil how the structures, practices, and behaviors, which constitute entrepreneurship in large, diversified firms, interact, I utilize a systemic reasoning and link the notion of corporate entrepreneurship to diverse theoretical positions in the strategic management field including intraorganizational ecology, institutional theory, and configuration theory - links that have been so far neglected in the literature on corporate entrepreneurship. I develop my arguments in three complementary articles. In the first article, I provide a review of the theoretical framework that to a large extent underpins my research: the Bower-Burgelman process model. In the second article, I take a qualitative case study approach to analyze how micro-level practices affect the intraorganizational and external environment in favor of an entrepreneurial initiative. In the third article, I identify four different design types on the basis of a qualitative meta-synthesis, which reflect coherent constellations of managerial interpretive-schemes, structures, and systems that cultivate entrepreneurial behavior. In sum, this dissertation contributes to a new understanding of corporate entrepreneurship as a system of entrepreneurially behaving actors who are constrained and simultaneously enabled by a set of social, cultural, political, and structural context factors.
In Zeiten, in denen die Gastronomie mit starken Umsatzeinbußen zu kämpfen hat, wie es in den vergangenen Jahren der Fall war, ist es für die Unternehmen von großer Bedeutung, ihre Konzepte so zu gestalten, daß sie den Erwartungen der Verbraucher soweit wie möglich entsprechen. Hierfür ist umfangreiche Kenntnis über die Gäste bzw. potentiellen Gäste erforderlich, um sich gegenüber den Mitbewerbern erfolgreich auf dem gastronomischen Markt zu positionieren bzw. zu profilieren.
Die Arbeit thematisiert die Erklärung der Wahrnehmung von Produkt-, Marken- und Preiseigenschaften und die Bildung von Produkt- und Markenpräferenzen bei Auswahlentscheidungen von Urlaubsreisenden in Bezug auf die Urlaubspauschalreise und deren Einzelleistungsträger Urlaubsdestination, Reiseveranstalter und Hotel mit Hilfe des Involvementkonzeptes. Im theoretischen Teil der Arbeit werden aufgrund konzeptioneller Vorüberlegungen und einer Bewertung bestehender Involvement-Konzepte und Involvementmessinstrumente die konzeptionellen Anforderungen an ein Involvement-Messmodell formuliert. Zum Abschluss des Theorieteils wird ein allgemeines theoretisches Modell, das Involvement-Präferenz-Modell entwickelt. Ziel des Erklärungsmodells ist die Erfassung und Systematisierung der relevanten Faktoren, die das Entscheidungsverhalten von Urlaubern abbilden unter Fokussierung auf das Involvement als zentraler Steuerungsgröße. Aufgrund der herausgehobenen Stellung des Reiseveranstalters bei der Buchungsentscheidung wurde dieser in den Mittelpunkt der empirischen Analyse gestellt. Dabei galt es insbesondere kausale Abhängigkeiten zwischen den Ursachen, Formen und Konsequenzen von Involvement zu untersuchen. Die Auswertung wurde mit LISREL durchgeführt. Die Untersuchung hat gezeigt, dass unterschiedliche Involvementzustände distinkte Wahrnehmungsmuster in Bezug auf Produktqualität, Marke und Preis erzeugen und damit Form und Intensität des Entscheiderinvolvements einen kausalen Einfluss auf die Wahrnehmungsstrukturen von Urlaubsentscheidern im Hinblick auf die Wahrnehmung von Produkt-, Marken- und Preiseigenschaften von Reiseveranstaltern besitzen. Die Implikationen für das touristische Marketing und die Einsatzmöglichkeiten des Modells für die Konsumentenforschung werden zum Abschluss der Arbeit diskutiert.
Die Innovationsfähigkeit von Unternehmen ist von zentraler Bedeutung für deren Wettbewerbsfähigkeit. Insbesondere kleine und mittelständische Unternehmen (KMU) bedürfen aufgrund ihrer in der Regel vergleichsweise geringen Ressourcennausstattungen und der marktmächtigen Konkurrenz von Großunternehmen einer besonderen Innovationsfähigkeit, um sich am Markt behaupten zu können. Wie mittelständische Unternehmen diese Fähigkeiten jedoch zur Generierung von Innovationen einsetzen, gilt in der Forschung weiterhin als ‚Black Box‘, über die viel zu wenig geforscht wird. Gerade dieser Prozess der Innovationsgenerierung muss jedoch verstanden werden, um Unterschiede in der Innovativität mittelständischer Unternehmen zu erklären. Auf Grundlage einer empirischen Analyse von 41 mittelständischen Innovationssystemen werden in dieser Studie Erfolgsfaktoren der Innovation identifiziert. Anhand von Fallstudien wird erörtert, wie diese Erfolgsfaktoren zusammenwirken und wie diese Faktoren gezielt durch das Management zur Verbesserung der Innovationsfähigkeiten beeinflusst werden können. Mit dieser Dissertation wird nicht nur ein umfassendes Bild von der Entstehung und Konfiguration der Innovationsfähigkeit in mittelständischen Unternehmen gezeichnet, sondern auch die Herausforderungen erörtert, die sich für das Management aus der Steuerung von Innovationsprozessen ergibt. Durch praxisnahe Handlungsempfehlungen bietet diese Dissertation konkrete Lösungsansätze die Innovationsfähigkeit durch eine zielgerichtete Konfiguration nachhaltig zu verbessern und somit einen nachhaltigen Wettbewerbsvorteil zu erzielen.
Understanding that entrepreneurship can be better modeled from a systemic point of view is a primordial aspect that determines the important role of universities in entrepreneurial ecosystems. What makes the ecosystem approach a valuable tool for understanding social systems is that, from a holistic perspective, their behavior seems to have emerging characteristics. This dissertation presents a dual scientific account of the entrepreneurship phenomenon in universities. The work is divided into two equal parts, each of which is composed of two research papers. The narrative of the first half takes on a macro perspective view, consisting of one theoretical and one empirically-based conceptual case study. This part conceptually depicts a systematic approach to entrepreneurialism in higher education, namely an ecosystems perspective. The second half concentrates on the meso- and micro levels of study from the university's point of view, comprising of a case study as historical account for the emergence of the entrepreneurial university, and of a metasynthesis of empirical case studies in entrepreneurial universities, which serves as the basis for the development of entrepreneurial university archetypes. This doctoral work contributes to an in-depth understanding of Entrepreneurship in universities regarding its systemic qualities and archetypal characteristics of entrepreneurial universities. It argues for an ecosystem's perspective on the phenomenon of entrepreneurial activity, highlighting the fundamental role that universities play as the heart of entrepreneurial ecosystems. Furthermore, this research expands on the novel concept of the entrepreneurial university by using extensive case study literature to empirically identify distinct archetypes that better reflect the diverse reality of how universities engage as entrepreneurial actors by way of differentiated entrepreneurial structures, systems, and strategies.
Personally meaningful tourist experiences foster subjective mental wellbeing. Modern, human-centred technologies such as gamified technology have been recognised as a promising means to support tourists in their co-creation of meaningful tourist experiences. However, a deeper understanding and conceptualisation of tourists' engagement with gamified technologies in the tourist experience has remained absent so far. This study draws on positive psychology as the guiding theoretical lens to conceptualise and explore tourists' underlying motives for engaging with gamified technology, as well as the gratifications thereof for the tourist experience. In doing so, this thesis identifies how tourists generate meaning through interacting with gamified technology in the tourist experience, thereby fostering the co-creation of meaningful tourist experiences and contributing to subjective mental wellbeing. Being among the first studies to link the concepts of positive psychology, gamified technology, and tourist experiences, the results of this thesis provide rich findings on the underlying motives for tourists to engage with gamified technology during vacation, as well as the gratifications of gamified technology for the creation of meaning in the tourist experience. Using the theoretical lens of positive psychology and achievement motivation theory as the main theoretical underpinning, this study is positioned at the intersection of social psychology, human-computer interaction, and tourism as the field of application. Conceptually, this thesis provides an in-depth understanding of tourists’ engagement with gamified technology, including the socio-psychological motivators for engagement and the outcomes thereof for the tourist experience.
This work investigates how managers/consultants (practitioners) of different ranks are engaged in patterns of behavior (practices) in socially situated contexts (practice) attempting to shape preferred shared interpretations of reality to achieve their goals. Following this line of inquiry, the work aims at (1) advancing our understanding of the role of practitioners in shaping managerial realities and (2) investigating how practitioners actually shape managerial realities, particularly focusing on "reality-shaping" practices and their content. The dissertation comprises a set of four complementary articles investigating these research questions empirically based on in-depth, empirical case studies and theoretically within various managerial contexts (client-consultant relationship, CEO post-succession strategic change process, evolutionary initiative development) and considering different actor perspectives (top managers, middle managers, consultants and clients). Resulting from this variety, the articles rely on and contribute to different, at times distant, research fields and therewith scholarly discussions. However, the literature on sensemaking and sensegiving offers a suitable overarching theoretical frame which is used in this work to synthesize the key contributions of the four articles.
Corporate irresponsibility is often the result of intentionally irresponsible strategies, decisions, or actions, which negatively affect an identifiable stakeholder or environment. For instance, these range from the violation of the human rights and labor standards to environmental damages. Organizations enacting irresponsible practices rely on different factors upon multiple levels (field, organizational, individual) and its interrelations as well as processes evolving within the organization leading to such behavior. However, reasons for the occurrence of and explanations for corporate irresponsibility so far have been limited, leaving a fragmented understanding of this phenomenon. This dissertation helps to improve the understanding and explanation of corporate irresponsibility by identifying driving patterns of corporate irresponsibility and showing how the interactions across multiple levels add to this phenomenon. Chapter 1 provides an overview of the topic of corporate irresponsibility, the theoretical approaches of this dissertation and an introduction to the chapters. The second chapter offers a review and analysis of the corporate irresponsibility literature. The chapter presents a variance model outlining the concept, antecedents, moderators and outcomes of recent corporate irresponsibility literature as well as the different factors across levels (field, organizational, individual). Chapter 2 offers a critical analysis of what we know by referring to current literature and offers insights on what we don't know by deriving main implications for future research on corporate irresponsibility. Chapter 3 enlarges the understanding of corporate irresponsibility introducing a process approach to explain how corporate irresponsibility evolves over time and under which conditions. Based on a qualitative meta-analysis findings converge around two distinct process paths of corporate irresponsibility, the opportunistic-proactive, and, the emerging-reactive, subdivided into three phases. Chapter 3 sheds different lights upon the phases of corporate irresponsibility and its underlying mechanisms. The final chapter 4 focuses on different underlying mechanisms driving the final downfall or demise of organizations, organizational failure. Chapter 4 offers an alternative explanation to the competing extremism and inertia mechanisms driving organizational failure in recent studies by suggesting that these explanations are rather complementary. In addition, chapter 4 enlarges the explanation of organizational failure identifying the role of conflict mechanisms and its interplay with rigidity mechanisms. In sum, this dissertation contributes to a better understanding of what causes and increases corporate irresponsibility, and a better explanation of how and why corporate irresponsibility and organizational failure emerges, develops, grows or terminates over time.
In this cumulative thesis, the author presents four manuscripts and two appendixes. In the manuscripts he discusses mindsets and their relation to the effectiveness of negotiation training. His general claim is that mindsets promise to be relevant for training effectiveness. Still, more research needs to be done and chapter 3 presents the Scale for the Integrative Mindset of Negotiators (SIM) that can be used for some of that research. In the appendixes, the author presents two negotiation training exercises. The first addresses an international refugee policy summit and the second a negotiation over the sale of a large solar pv park in Thailand.
Whereas the extant literature discusses what Sustainability-Oriented Innovations (SOIs) are and why firms develop them, little is known about how they are developed. To enable firms to innovate for sustainability, it is essential to know more about the processes underlying SOI development, which are considered as very difficult, with many firms failing. Drawing on several academic papers and relying on qualitative research methods, the thesis uses the Fireworks model to examine how innovation processes unfold at established small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The main contribution of the thesis is to advance the Fireworks model to the context of SOIs unfolding at SMEs. The findings reveal that SOIs unfold in an emergent, somewhat chaotic way, that duration and outcome are uncertain, that the overall journey is composed of multiple intertwined innovation paths, of which several will likely lead to setbacks. To manage this complex process, the thesis suggests to set four management foci: (1) to create a dedicated organizational unit for exploration, (2) to create conditions allowing intelligent learning for efficient exploration, (3) to carry out in-depth investigation of the related technological innovation systems, and (4) to plan carefully the re-integration of the innovation into the core business for commercialization.