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This dissertation concerns the question of how economics can contribute to the analysis of trade-offs between values (or normative objectives). The analysis is illustrated for the case of policies that pursue the goal of sustainability. Methodologically, this is done by reflecting economic concepts in light of philosophical theories and using generic models to analyze trade-offs between particular values. In sum, the work shows how economics can help in analyzing the factual relationships between values by clarifying the set of feasible acts and outcomes. The first paper of this cumulative dissertation concerns the question what a general definition of efficiency with respect to normative objective implies about relationships between two values. In order to conceptualize relationships between values carefully, the analysis distinguishes instrumental from intrinsic values and discusses the question whether there is one intrinsic value (value monism) or many intrinsic values (value pluralism). Next, a small economic model is used to show that there can be different relationships between values such as win-win relationships and trade-offs in value-efficient states if there are three or more values. Further, the distinction between Pareto-efficiency (based on individual preferences) and value-efficiency (which can also include non-preference values) is used to study relationships between values. The second paper uses the definition of sustainability as inter- and intragenerational justice to discuss the relationship between these two objectives. The general aim of this paper is to discuss what economic concepts can contribute to the discussion of tradeoffs between justices. For this, a syntax of the concept of justice is employed, different relationships between justices are defined and economic concepts such as scarcity, efficiency and opportunity costs are transferred to the justice context. One result from this analysis is that there must be a trade-off between these two justices in such respective efficient outcomes. The third paper concerns an intertemporal mechanism leading to the well-known equity-efficiency trade-off in an intergenerational setting. For this, two central characteristics of intergenerational policy making are taken into account: irreversibility and ignorance (or unawareness). A pertinent example is the irreversible use of fossil fuels before and after the discovery of the effect of CO2 emissions on climate change. The trade-off between Pareto-efficiency and intergenerational equity that results from these two characteristics is shown in a model with two non-overlapping generations which use a non-renewable resource. In the model there is initial unawareness about an intergenerational externality from resource use that is only discovered after the irreversible use of the resource. A central result of the paper is the trade-off between intergenerational equity and efficiency that emerges if initially unknown sustainability problems arise after irreversible policies have been enacted. The fourth paper concerns the question what the concept of merit goods can contribute to discussions of sustainability. For this, the history of the concept is discussed, then merit goods are defined and connected to the philosophical literature on different conceptions of well-being. In the next step different challenges and opportunities of merit good arguments are discussed for the sustainability context. For example, it becomes clear that merit good arguments concern conceptions of well-being and do not directly concern the aspect of intergenerational distribution in sustainability problems.
Many fewer women than men try the entrepreneurial way in Germany. Any explanation for this phenomenon must be complex, as many factors are relevant for its production. Among other things, it is possible to speculate on sexual/gender discrimination, on more or less voluntary decisions of women or on different starting conditions for potential entrepreneurs. We assume that these options are closely related. This paper will concentrate, though, on the third alternative. Its focus will be set on the “family field,” or more precisely, on the role of family law in hindering women from trying self-employment. The family field in Germany has not evolved in the sense of gender equality along with all other areas of society - e.g., entrepreneurship. No gender equality is possible if the family field is not part of it. This paper analyses causes and consequences for this phenomenon.
Key Words: Gender studies, Family Law, Entrepreneurship, chance equality, social sustainability
Audit quality is of crucial importance because it underpins the integrity of financial markets and thus enables complex international transactions. However, despite extensive research on audit quality, the interaction between structures, practices, and behaviors within accounting firms still remains a ´black box´. To open up the ´black box´ I draw on insights from the field of error management which has been highlighted to be central to gain a better understanding of audit quality. In this dissertation, I develop my arguments in three articles that build on each other. In the first paper, I systematically review the literature on the antecedents of audit quality and I suggest future research directions. In the second paper, I take an inductive case study approach to gain an in-depth understanding of error management in accounting firms. The resulting socio-cognitive model of error management informs both the field of error management, as well as the field of audit quality. In the third paper, I examine a crucial component of the socio-cognitive model: the individual. In a two-phase mixed methods study I investigate individual differences in error management and their implications for learning and performance. Taken together, the three articles of this dissertation contribute by providing an innovative approach to our understanding of both error management and audit quality.
In spite of growing interest in companies’ contribution to sustainable development, the implementation of corporate sustainability, i.e. the integration of environmental, social, and economic issues, is not well understood. This cumulative PhD thesis aims to answer the research question whether sustainability management is only a transitory management fashion, or whether an effective implementation is actually taking place. The thesis consists of five papers, which are either published in refereed academic journals, accepted to be published, or planned to be resubmitted. The papers analyze three important elements of the implementation of corporate sustainability: motivation (why?), organizational units (who?) and management tools (how?). Combining these three elements supplies a framework for discussing the implementation of corporate sustainability management. The results, which are mostly based on surveys of large German companies, reveal that companies predominantly manage corporate sustainability because they seek legitimacy, rather than a competitive advantage, and because they follow acknowledged standards, guidelines, or ratings (institutional isomorphism) – possibly out of uncertainty on how to best handle a concept so complex and novel. Public relations is the organizational unit engaging in sustainability management most strongly, whereas accounting, finance, and management control engage the least. Hence, corporate sustainability is currently not implemented as a crossfunctional approach. Yet, there is indication of a growing strategic relevance of corporate sustainability. This is also reflected in the awareness and application of sustainability management tools, which have been increasing continuously between 2002 and 2010 – especially in terms of integrative tools serving to balance environmental, social, and economic issues. Furthermore, market incentives are gaining in importance over time. The thesis relates these results to management fashion theory. Although there is some indication that sustainability management might in fact be a transitory fashion, an analysis over time reveals an ongoing development of the elements analyzed. Thereby, the thesis demonstrates that corporate sustainability management can be considered more than a management fashion. One implication of the analysis is that both companies and researchers are called upon to foster the implementation of corporate sustainability, with positive incentives, e.g. by markets and consumers, turning out to be promising starting points. As opposed to pressure and expectations by stakeholders, focusing on opportunities might be more suitable to induce actual change of processes, products, services, or even business models in companies. In conclusion, the author hopes to make a significant contribution to the discussion on the implementation of corporate sustainability and to stimulate the development of new theoretical approaches.
The objective of the work described in this thesis is to improve our understanding of factors that affect the depletion of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM) from the atmosphere during the Arctic springtime. This was accomplished through research undertaken and described in three publications. Atmospheric mercury depletion events (AMDEs) are now an established phenomenon in the high Arctic whereby the long-lived GEM is oxidized in the air through a series of photochemically-initiated reactions involving halogens and ozone. This chemistry produces reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) and particulate bound mercury (PHg) which both have shorter atmospheric residence times than GEM and deposit more readily to the snow and ice surfaces. This is a means by which mercury can be transferred from the atmosphere to the Arctic environment that was unknown prior to 1995 when AMDEs were discovered. An extensive review paper was completed that summarizes mercury work in the high Arctic in the ten years following the discovery of AMDEs. This review was followed by two papers investigating the processes around atmospheric mercury in the Arctic springtime
Research in work and organizational psychology frequently conducts studies based on self-report questionnaires. Evidence of the reliability and validity of these measures has to be provided based on thorough research in order to be certain that meaningful conclusions can be reached. Recently, latent variable approaches have been introduced that provide new opportunities to examine the instruments and determine if they are suitable to obtain meaningful results. They also offer new approaches to investigate the relationships between constructs, particularly when assessed over time. The research conducted in this PhD thesis and reported in three papers aims at utilizing these opportunities to examine the measurement properties of a selection of self-report questionnaires and to address conceptual questions regarding the validity of these instruments. In the first paper, the structure of two five-factor personality inventories was examined using Confirmatory Factor Analyses (CFA) and Exploratory Structural Equation Modeling (ESEM). Both methods were applied to construct better-fitting, though more complex models based on data from two questionnaires (NEO PI-R and 16PF) completed by 620 respondents. The impact on the construct validity of the inventories was assessed. Generally, scores derived from either method did not differ substantially. When applying ESEM, convergent validity declined but discriminant validity improved. When applying CFA, convergent and discriminant validity decreased. We conclude that using current personality questionnaires that utilize a simple structure is appropriate. In the second paper, the nature of and reason for the relationship between a presence of a calling and three aspects of career preparation (career planning, decidedness, and self-efficacy) were investigated. Data were collected in three waves of a diverse sample of German university students (N = 846) over one year. Latent growth analyses revealed that calling was positively related with all career preparation measures. The slope of calling was positively related to those of decidedness and self-efficacy but not to planning. Cross-lagged analyses showed that calling predicted a subsequent increase in planning and self-efficacy. Planning and decidedness predicted an increase in the presence of a calling. In the third paper, the measurement properties of an adapted protean career orientation scale were examined. We present a series of studies that (1) establish the scale’s unidimensionality and measurement invariance across gender within separate samples of students and working professionals as well as measurement invariance between both samples; (2) demonstrate measurement invariance and differential stability over six months among students and professionals; (3) show that a protean career orientation partially mediates the relationship between personality dispositions (i.e., proactive personality, core self-evaluations) and proactive career behaviors and career satisfaction among students and employees; (4) demonstrate that a protean career orientation possesses incremental predictive validity regarding proactive career behaviors and career satisfaction beyond personality dispositions among students and employees; and (5) based on a cross-lagged study among employees, we show that career satisfaction predicts a protean career orientation but not vice versa. In summary, the research presented here provides researchers in the field of work and organizational psychology with a thorough assessment of the measurement properties and aspects of validity of these self-report questionnaires. The findings demonstrate their suitability for future research studies conducted in work and organizational psychology as well as for practical applications.
In theory we pursue a sustainable development, but in reality we do not. An economy based on continuous growth, which evidently is not sustainable, is however the priority model almost everywhere. If we really aim at implementing sustainability, then we must radically change our economic model. Sufficiency - which calls for individuals mainly from so-called “developed countries” not to consume more than is really needed - may offer a useful alternative. We can still find some - last - examples of indigenous peoples living in a sufficient manner, all of them nowadays in those “developing countries”. We could learn at least from them that it is possible to live differently, i.e., in harmony with ourselves and our environment. This would pave the way for their - and for our all - protection, as well as the manner in which we understand at present development politics.
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.
Against the background of recent economic attempts to explain individual economic decisions by structural and institutional factors, this thesis examined to what extent cultural norms exhibit quantitatively important explanatory power for individual economic outcomes, namely individual’s savings and working choices. While an extensive literature deals with the relation between culture and aggregate economic outcomes, those results obtained may reveal distorted cultural effects due to unobserved omitted variables at the country level. Thus, for the purpose of this thesis, four empirical studies were conducted based on individual and household level data for the USA and Germany, respectively. Due to difficulties in defining a coherent concept of culture, Chapters 2 to 4 use individual religiosity, as measured by one’s religious affiliation and religious involvement, as a proxy for culture. Using individual survey data for the USA, namely the PSID, for the years 2003 to 2009, the aim of Chapter 2 was, firstly, to analyze the extent to which religious beliefs and religious commitment are associated with distinct individual savings behavior as a basis for culture-induced heterogeneity in aggregate economic outcomes. One’s religiosity was found in the cross-sectional analysis to be a robust determinant of individual savings choices, even once I control for differences in individual characteristics. To identify the causal effect of religion on individual savings choices, secondly, the results from the multivariate analysis were verified by using the longitudinal structure of the PSID and by an instrumental variable approach, where own individual religious belief were instrumented with the share of one’s religious tradition in the region of ancestry. Neither of these approaches was able to replicate the positive relation between religious affiliation and savings behavior found in the cross-sectional analysis Although the estimates are subject to inefficiencies due to data limitations, this paper mainly sheds light on the endogeneity bias inherent in the relation between cultural factors and economic outcomes. However, taking actively part in religious activities was found to affect the amount saved positively. Thus, one may argue that religious traditions impose religious rules and establish social networks that enhance an individual’s ability and willingness to save money. As opposed to the vital religious market in the USA, Chapters 3 and 4 analyzed the relationship between individual religiosity and risk-taking preferences as well as individual financial behavior within Germany. Using German micro-data, namely the GSOEP, for the years 2003 and 2004, while controlling for the overall level of general risk assessment, evidence is provided that different religious affiliations are associated with distinct financial risk taking attitudes as well as with distinct individual propensities to trust strangers, another central determinant of a household’s financial choices. Further, the extent to which religion-induced heterogeneity in risk-taking preferences actually influences investment and trusting decisions of households in Germany was examined. As compared to the results obtained for the relation between religiosity and savings behavior in the USA, the main differences in economic attitudes and behavior in Germany occur between Christian and Non-Christian religions. However, religious networks were found in both countries to be more important for economic outcomes than religious belief. Chapter 5 purposed to replicate epidemiological studies conducted for North America (Fernández, 2007; Fernández and Fogli, 2009; Gevrek et al., 2011) in Germany using a quite smaller sample which were drawn from data provided by the GSOEP for the years 2001 to 2011. Applying probit and Tobit estimation techniques the results contradict the findings obtained by these previous contributions. While cultural norms towards labor market behavior of women, as measured by past female LFP rates in the country of own or parental origin, were found to be negatively associated with labor market outcomes for first-generation immigrant women in Germany, no statistically significant relation was revealed for the second generation. However, in accordance with the findings from Chapters 2 to 4, religiosity, and especially the Islamic belief, was showed to be negatively related to labor market outcomes of both generations.