Spotlight on new research publications in March

Abstract: Purpose: The present study evaluates the impact of special economic zones (SEZs) on poverty, both rural and urban with special reference to Andhra Pradesh in India, using household consumption expenditure data. In addition to estimating the effects of the SEZs on poverty, the authors explore some of the possible mechanisms generating these effects.
Design/methodology/approach: The authors apply a difference-in-differences (DID) technique on a pooled, cross-sectional, district-level dataset based on official annual household surveys for the period from 2001 to 2012 to estimate the average effects of SEZs on household expenditure per capita, a commonly used measure of household poverty.
Findings: The establishment of the SEZs constituted a major exogenous shock to rural economies by creating demand for large chunks of land, which had an immediate impact on the economic and social settings of these economies and aggravated rural poverty. However, over time the poverty aggravating effects of SEZs in rural areas dampened. The effects of SEZs on urban poverty are found to be different from those on rural poverty. It is also revealed that the districts with multiple SEZs experienced larger effects than those with only one or two SEZs. Overall, the SEZs did have positive expenditure effects, but this transition might have been accompanied by heightened inequality between the rural and urban areas.
Research limitations/implications: First, the authors did not have access to village or municipal-level consumption data. It is therefore assumed here that district level performance is a reliable proxy for the relevant impacts of SEZ operations. Second, panel data, which would allow more precise measurement of effects than the pooled cross section data used in this study, are not available. Third, the authors’ econometric analysis is essentially comparative statics in nature and does not capture possible spillover dynamics, issues of relocation of economic activity, or migration.
Practical implications: First, land acquisition is likely to emerge as a major political and social challenge for the localities that host SEZs. For effective policy implementation, it is necessary to establish legal institutions to address this challenge. Second, governments in developing countries often announce new SEZ programmes on a very large scale and insist that they be implemented over short periods of time. The authors recommend that the government should adopt an experimental approach in implementing the policy. Third, the authors provide evidence that in the long run, effects of SEZs hinge on the success of SEZs in attracting investment and generating additional employment. The policy must therefore be informed by rigorous analysis of the potential of SEZs in the country, as well as alternative policy options.
Social implications: The authors’ results show that large-scale land acquisitions to implement large industrial projects are likely to result in shocks to the rural economy exacerbating rural-urban inequalities: village communities lose their resource base, are marginalised in the process, and, as a result, face economic deprivations. It may lead to severe economic, social and political consequences. The authors’ study implies that any strategy for large-scale industrialisation should take cognisance of its effects on the affected communities and should be designed to include strategies to improve their economic opportunities and to ensure social inclusion.
Originality/value: SEZs are one of the most controversial topics within development policy discourse. Their regional development effects are subject to intense debate. Yet, there is surprisingly little systematic evaluation to inform the debate and to guide policymakers. This is one of the earliest studies to assess the poverty effects of SEZs and is the first for India, using household consumption data.

Abstract: Since no previous study assesses the relative efficacy of government versus private investment on energy consumption in South Asia under the reform initiatives, in this study, we try to fill this gap in a panel framework over the period 1980–2016. As the panel data shows cross-dependencies across the cross-sections, the Pesaran’s Cross-Sectionally Augmented Dickey–Fuller (CADF) and Cross-Sectionally Augmented IPS (CIPS) tests are used to check the stationary properties. Besides, a structural break augmented panel unit root is also done to find the stationary properties in the presence of structural breaks. The Durbin–Hausman test is further applied to identify the variables’ cointegrating relationship. The Dumitrescu–Hurlin panel causality test finds a one-way causality between energy consumption and private investment but no causality between government investment and energy consumption. According to Pool Mean Group (PMG) Panel Autoregressive-Distributive Lag (ARDL) estimation results, there is no significant linkage between government and private investments and energy consumption in the absence of the reform initiatives. On the contrary, in energy sector reform, private investment efficiently stimulates energy consumption in the selected South Asian countries; however, government investment is ineffective in promoting energy consumption. We recommend that policymakers find an optimal institutional reform policy to improve government investment efficiency in South Asia.

Abstract: In this introductory article we explore the relationship between statehood and governance, examining in more detail how non-state actors like MNCs, international NGOs, and indigenous authorities, often under conditions of extreme economic scarcity, ethnic diversity, social inequality and violence, take part in the making of rules and the provision of collective goods. Conceptually, we focus on the literature on Areas of Limited Statehood and discuss its usefulness in exploring how business-society relations are governed in the global South, and beyond. Building on insights from this literature, among others, the four articles included in this special issue provide rich illustrations and critical reflections on the multiple, complex and often ambiguous roles of state and non-state actors operating in contemporary Syria, Nigeria, India and Palestine, with implications for conventional understandings of CSR, stakeholders, and related conceptualizations.

Abstract: The Internet of things (IoT) is emerging as an integrated set of digital innovations with the potential to unleash unprecedented opportunities and create significant challenges from both technological and societal perspectives. The IoT’s emergence signals many valuable opportunities (particularly for information systems (IS) scholars) to conduct scholarly inquiries. We posit that, since the IS discipline operates at the intersection of information technologies’ (IT) social, business, and technical aspects, IS scholars have a unique capacity to understand and contribute to advancing research on this new topic and associated phenomena. We outline the IoT’s distinctive attributes and their implications for existing IS research traditions. Furthermore, we highlight some illustrative research perspectives from which IS scholars can study the IoT. We highlight a research agenda for IS in two different ways. First, we discuss four IS characteristics that change based on IoT elements: 1) the physio-digital continuum, 2) multi-level exploration of IS, 3) composite affordance, and 4) heterogeneity. Second, we discuss the ways in which the IoT opens up research opportunities based on its impact on four major thematic domains: 1) organizations, 2), technology, 3) individuals, and 4) society.

Abstract: The purpose of this article was twofold. Firstly, to investigate the heterogeneity among artists as an occupational category and secondly, to define arts as a profession and thereby to make a distinction between professional artists and amateurs. Artists' income and working conditions have been the subject of several studies, and many different sampling criteria have been used. Scholars have not yet achieved consensus on who should be included in the profession. In this article, we make an innovative contribution to this conversation. By applying a finite mixture model, which combines latent profile and latent class analysis, we have been able to identify different segments of artists in terms of professionalism. Each of these mutually exclusive classes is characterized by a particular income and working situation. We also include a membership function, estimated through a logistic regression, which allows prediction of the probability that an individual will belong to each class, given his/her socioeconomic characteristics. The subject of our study is Danish visual artists. The dataset consists of a combination of register data from Statistics Denmark and data collected from a questionnaire survey with 892 respondents. Based on the artists’ civil registration numbers, the two sources have been merged into a unique dataset. Our finite mixture model shows the heterogeneity among artists. Combined with a theoretically definition of arts as a profession, our research propose a distinction between professional artists and amateurs that cuts across categories used in prior literature. The results can be beneficial to cultural policy.

Abstract: Creating more health-fostering environments is high on the agenda of public and private actors. The behavioral approach to nudge people towards healthier food choices is gaining popularity despite limited understanding about where, and for whom, which specific nudges work. This study contributes by reporting on three different nudging interventions in the same setting and presents effects on different sub-populations. We find overall small effects that are heterogeneous, ranging from robustly more to even less healthy choices. We discuss the importance of transparency and reactance to health interventions and the potential interplay of interventions with habitual behavior among different sub-populations.

Abstract: The link between regulations and innovation is puzzling. Some studies point to higher innovation performance as an effect of regulation, whereas other researchers disagree. A literature review shows empirical inquiries into various industries, with the financial sector attracting significant attention. The review also points to a company’s responses’ flexibility and complexity as variables mediating the relationship between regulation and innovation performance. These variables remain underexplored as empirical objects of analysis on a company level in the financial sector. By applying a case study research strategy, 100 launched financial service innovations’ performance is compared with qualitative data assessing flexibility and complexity in the project work, leading to the launch of these products into the marketplace by a major Danish financial company. Finally, these data are quantitatively tested with a multinomial logit model. The results contribute to the differing views on how regulations influence innovation by showing links between high flexibility and low complexity in firm response for improved innovation performance. Increased complexity, in turn, impedes performance. Hence, specific innovation efforts from management are critical for striking the right balance between flexibility and complexity to achieve success in connection with regulatory changes.

Abstract: Pending

Abstract: During recent decades, most Western European countries and the US have seen massive investments in culture houses designed to host cultural activities like theatre performances, concerts and exhibitions. They are often large with spectacular architectural design, and the main political purpose is often to attract the attention of potential tourists, investors and future residents who could contribute to the economic and demographic development of places. The existing literature contains mainly single case studies of successful places. There is a lack of comprehensive and systematic evidence of the causal effects of new culture houses on attraction and migration. This paper sets out to fill this gap by investigating the effect on migration of the opening of 52 culture houses in Norway in the period 2001–2014; the study uses a panel data structure and a difference-in-difference approach, and the impact of an architectural ‘wow factor’ is tested. The results show that no causal effect on migration of opening a culture house can be identified. The results contradict political rhetoric in many Western countries, and the results have relevance for local politicians who are responsible for planning of local culture and economic development.

Abstract: Financial contagion is often defined as the propagation of shocks among actors in markets, while excessive correlation and interconnectivity of markets, actors or investment strategies are seen as reasons for its spread. In this article, I examine uses of the concept of contagion across academic, practical and popular discourses on financial markets and speculation from the late nineteenth century through the first couple of decades of the twentieth: During this historical period the concept was frequently used about forms of allegedly irrational behaviour in financial markets. I argue that ‘contagion’ is used descriptively to capture behaviour and events that escape rational economic explanation and, more importantly, highlights problems of proximity and connectivity in financial markets. While the proximity and connectivity of actors enables market efficiency, they simultaneously increase the risk of contagion. In the latter part of the article, I use a contemporary example of liquidity contagion in model-driven financial investing – the so-called Quant Meltdown of August 2007 – to emphasise that problems of proximity and connectivity, described as instances of contagion, remain pertinent challenges for market actors to deal with.

Abstract: Digital platforms hold a central position in today's world economy and are said to offer a great potential for the economies and societies in the global South. Yet, to date, the scholarly literature on digital platforms has largely concentrated on business while their developmental implications remain understudied. In part, this is because digital platforms are a challenging research object due to their lack of conceptual definition, their spread across different regions and industries, and their intertwined nature with institutions, actors and digital technologies. The purpose of this article is to contribute to the ongoing debate in information systems and ICT4D research to understand what digital platforms mean for development. To do so, we first define what digital platforms are and differentiate between transaction and innovation platforms, and explain their key characteristics in terms of purpose, research foundations, material properties and business models. We add the socio‐technical context digital platforms operate and the linkages to developmental outcomes. We then conduct an extensive review to explore what current areas, developmental goals, tensions and issues emerge in the literature on platforms and development and identify relevant gaps in our knowledge. We later elaborate on six research questions to advance the studies on digital platforms for development: on indigenous innovation, digital platforms and institutions, on exacerbation of inequalities, on alternative forms of value, on the dark side of platforms and on the applicability of the platform typology for development.

Abstract: Pandemic—the global spread of an initially local disease like COVID-19—bluntly forces us to stop. How do we respond in higher education to such stopping? Whether at the government level, for our universities, or in our classrooms, no existing playbook prescribes the pathway for dealing with a global pandemic of this magnitude, even now as we emerge from total lockdown to the potential for a new tomorrow. What we have done at this juncture is to capture anecdotal responses within and across countries that may highlight trends for later consideration. Unlike a globalised response that would adopt one approach internationally, our study considers adaptations for local differences in a glocalised set of responses in an attempt to identify new paradigms that reconceptualise not only teaching and learning, but also assessment. Our responses to the pandemic require leadership—from all of us—to leverage a firm and steady presence, care and compassion for each other, and prudent decision-making. Moreover, identified issues indicate shared threads across the seven institutions of higher education in this research. From a localised perspective emerge responses at the curricular, institutional, and technological levels. First, changes to courses and curricula must respond to emotional needs of students when transitioning from face-to-face (or hybrid) to online delivery; nevertheless, faculty must ensure that academic rigour is not sacrificed in the process. Second, the mission and value of higher education must indicate that institutions will recommit to faculty support beyond emergency remote teaching; furthermore, a sense of campus community needs to be nurtured. Third, the needs of students and faculty must drive the choices of technology—not the reverse—when determining how to transition to online deliveries; in short, administrators must reprioritise factors used in decision-making. Moreover, a glocalised synthesis of responses across all institutions and levels identifies four clustered themes. First, the disruption of the pandemic may lead to innovations in higher education. Second, the role of faculty is becoming redefined beyond content-specific disciplines. Third, educational models must expand to include individuals other than traditional students. Fourth, rigorous pedagogical scholarship, including leadership, will point to new educational insights. Overall, we stand at the crossroads. Rather than being defined by the pandemic, let us seize the opportunity to transform higher education from a paradigm that has been to the paradigm of what might be.

Abstract: Competing ecopolitical projects seek to deliver answers to one of the most central questions of our time: how can the escalating climate crisis be halted? The paper asks how we may meaningfully compare ecopolitical projects that originate in fundamentally different conceptions of the type of change necessary to reach a sustainable organization of society? Using Peter Hall's paradigm approach as a starting point, the paper employs extant political economy scholarship to develop a framework that sets out four key dimensions that work as points of comparison between ecopolitical projects. The framework is applied in a comparison of the competing ecopolitical projects of green growth and degrowth to elucidate the ways in which these projects differ profoundly in terms of the extensiveness of change they envision, the actors they consider pivotal for sustainability transitions, their scientific basis and their distributional consequences.

Abstract: In a recent article in Public Relations Inquiry, Jenny Hou has fittingly argued for a stronger focus on agency and actorhood in PR research. We point to two crucial aspects in which we think her arguments need to be extended, namely: (a) embracing the constitutive role of communication for organizational actorhood and agency, and (b) rethinking the role of PR in the constitution of organizational actors. We argue that such extension would allow for an important and radical twist in perspective that highlights a widely neglected question in PR research: What if the collective actorhood status of organizations is not treated as a given but rather arises from communicative attributions of such actorhood status to social entities? Finally, we develop key implications from this shift in perspective for PR scholarship, education, and practice.

Abstract: This article investigates the artistic Grand Tour of the nineteenth-century Danish theatre painter C.F. Christensen made between the spring of 1838 and the fall of 1839, and how it influenced his later scenographic work at the Royal Danish Theatre. Using a variety of archival sources, his Grand Tour is reconstructed. His travels through Germany, Bohemia, Moravia, Switzerland, France, Italy, and the Tyrol exposed him to some of the greatest art and most innovative theatre Europe had to offer. Through the sketches done on his trip, it is possible to see the seeds of inspiration that took root in his scenography upon his return to Copenhagen. Scenography for two August Bournonville ballets that Christensen created after his return will be analyzed: The Festival in Albano and Acts 2 and 3 of Napoli.

Abstract: This paper investigates the relation between yield curve and macroeconomic factors for ten emerging sovereign bond markets using the sample from January 2006 to April 2019. To this end, the diffusion indices obtained under four categories (global variables, inflation, domestic financial variables, and economic activity) are incorporated by estimating dynamic panel data regressions together with the yield curve factors. Besides, in order to capture dynamic interaction between yield curve and macroeconomic/financial factors, a panel VAR analysis based on the system GMM approach is utilized. Empirical results suggest that the level factor responds to shocks originated from inflation, domestic financial variables and global variables. Furthermore, the slope factor is affected by shocks in global variables, and the curvature factor appears to be influenced by domestic financial variables. We also show that macroeconomic/financial factors captures significant predictive information over yield curve factors by running individual country factor‐augmented predictive regressions and variable selection algorithms such ridge regression, LASSO and Elastic Net. Our findings have important implications for policymakers and fund managers by explaining the underlying forces of movements in the yield curve and forecasting accurately dynamics of yield curve factors.

Abstract: Both organizations and the information technology (IT) community have long worked to overcome the common problem of dissatisfaction with IT investments’ outcomes in multiple ways. Much attention has been on users’ involvement in IT design, while users’ engagement in later further utilization of IT is less explored. This paper reports on action research (AR) that sought to stimulate local learning processes and increase the exploitation of a case-handling system. The experiment is done in a county administration where the senior management has, for some time, felt that the IT is not fully utilized. The local intervention was based on an awareness of a need to overcome defensive routines to establish communicative spaces to facilitate communication between various units with strong local identities. The AR project was carried out in three local interventions and presented as an experimental approach. We could not guarantee that the design could overcome the issues identified after the first round of interviews with senior management and department managers. The intervention process espoused various defensive routines, even some that the communicative space approach could not overcome. The outcomes from the three experiments are, therefore, mixed. The results indicate that creating communicative spaces is a viable approach to engaging users in systems development. Nevertheless, defensive routines, reluctant managers, and communities of practices hamper the development of communicative spaces.

Abstract: This article presents an analysis of why it was possible to reach an agreement on the Next Generation EU (NGEU), the EU's fiscal and policy response to the COVID‐19 pandemic, since the deal breaks with the norms of no common debt issuance and will result in significant redistribution across Member States through grants. Based on an in‐depth case study analysis, we identify three main dimensions of conflict underlying the political negotiations: the fiscal dimension, the rule‐of‐law dimension and the policy dimension, especially the climate and digitalization agendas. Various coalitions of actors were able to negotiate on these aspects, keeping a balance between their main priorities, but also making concessions, to enable an agreement. Our analysis reveals that the Franco‐German alliance has been revived, enabling the grant instrument in the NGEU to be adopted; a new alliance of small rich northern states named the Frugals' has emerged as a surprisingly strong coalition, insisting on conditionality for accessing the grant; a clear Polish‐Hungarian front has appeared to be challenging the EU's commitment to the rule‐of‐law; and a weakly coordinated Spanish‐Italian front was successful in terms of securing grants as an instrument. The article also assesses that despite the agreement on the deal, there will continue to be battles in the NGEU, especially on the fiscal and rule‐of‐law dimensions. Yet, it could represent a ‘Hamiltonian moment,’ if the NGEU becomes a permanent fiscal instrument, which would advance European integration further.

Abstract: Designing utility regulation involves trade-offs between different goals of contract design. Prioritising one objective may come at the cost of assigning a lower priority to another objective. This study compares four regulatory frameworks in terms of how they each prioritise different goals of contract design. While revenue-cap regulation can be said to minimise transaction costs, it also assigns a lower priority to coordination of production. Conversely, the frameworks that explicitly incorporate stakeholder engagement or negotiation prioritise coordination of production while assigning a lower priority to minimisation of transaction costs.

Abstract: This paper examines how government investments in infrastructure affect new firms’ creation and location. We analyze two scenarios. With an optimizing government, optimal location is a function of government expenditures in infrastructure. With a passive government, optimal location is independent of government expenditures in infrastructure. Productivity effects in the formal sector, as contrasted with informal sector, yield a greater impact on the formation of capital stock, and shadow price of location. The impact of fees on informal firms and taxes of formal firms affect output and welfare. With an optimizing government, entrepreneurs in the formal sector will have higher output and welfare; with a passive government, it is likely that the welfare of informal entrepreneurs is smaller than the one of formal entrepreneurs.

Abstract: How and why has the formal policy development on PPPs in Denmark evolved? How and why do PPP projects develop in Danish healthcare sector? Despite limited policy guidelines and no PPP Act, a regional approach to PPPs has occurred in the healthcare sector. There are active projects in five hospital cases that use the PPP model. PPP projects in the Danish healthcare sector develop from a mixture of reasons, which include strategic interventions from finance institutions, change in specific formal rules on financing, and necessity for regional governments to find alternatives to public financing.

Abstract: Background: Telemedicine has been deployed to address issues in intensive care delivery, as well as to improve outcome and quality of care. Implementation of this technology has been characterized by high variability. Tele-intensive care unit (ICU) interventions involve the combination of multiple technological and organizational components, as well as interconnections of key stakeholders inside the hospital organization. The extensive literature on the benefits of tele-ICUs has been characterized as heterogeneous. On one hand, positive clinical and economical outcomes have been shown in multiple studies. On the other hand, no tangible benefits could be detected in several cases. This could be due to the diverse forms of organizations and the fact that tele-ICU interventions are complex to evaluate. The implementation context of tele-ICUs has been shown to play an important role in the success of the technology. The benefits derived from tele-ICUs depend on the organization where it is deployed and how the telemedicine systems are applied. There is therefore value in analyzing the benefits of tele-ICUs in relation to the characteristics of the organization where it is deployed. To date, research on the topic has not provided a comprehensive overview of literature taking both the technology setup and implementation context into account.
Objective: We present a protocol for a scoping review of the literature on telemedicine in the ICU and its benefits in intensive care. The purpose of this review is to map out evidence about telemedicine in critical care in light of the implementation context. This review could represent a valuable contribution to support the development of tele-ICU technologies and offer perspectives on possible configurations, based on the implementation context and use case.
Methods: We have followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR) checklist and the recommendations of the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews. The scoping review and subsequent systematic review will be completed by spring 2021.
Results: The preliminary search has been conducted. After removing all duplicates, we found 2530 results. The review can now be advanced to the next steps of the methodology, including literature database queries with appropriate keywords, retrieval of the results in a reference management tool, and screening of titles and abstracts.
Conclusions: The results of the search indicate that there is sufficient literature to complete the scoping review. Upon completion, the scoping review will provide a map of existing evidence on tele-ICU systems given the implementation context. Findings of this research could be used by researchers, clinicians, and implementation teams as they determine the appropriate setup of new or existing tele-ICU systems. The need for future research contributions and systematic reviews will be identified.

Abstract: The key elements of the Uppsala school paradigm of the internationalization process of the firm are the historical context to which it applies and the micro-foundations that shape firm internationalization. Technological, institutional, and political developments of recent decades have fundamentally changed both the context of international business activities and the managerial practices that guide firm behavior. Consequent revisions of the model shifted its focus from ‘internationalization’ to ‘evolution’ in firms more generally, thereby undermining its relevance and paradigmatic status. This calls for a new conceptual basis and a ‘paradigm shift’ in research on the internationalization process of the firm. To promote this endeavor, this Counterpoint advocates the explicit adoption of historical perspectives, such as that of the original Uppsala studies, and methodologies, especially ‘archeological’ discourse analysis, as originally developed by Michel Foucault. Its aim is to understand the process of knowledge creation in specific societal contexts. Combined with social constructivist approaches to the sociology of knowledge, it could fruitfully be applied to the analysis of the formation and content of beliefs and practices regarding the efficacy of different internationalization strategies, as they have evolved in business firms and other relevant epistemic communities, such as those of professional experts or industries.

Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether there are information leaks immediately before CEOs change and – if so – whether some investors take financial advantage of such prior knowledge. It thirdly investigates the ethical, practical and professional options for communication managers to deal with such situations. Design/methodology/approach: Working from sentiment theory of financial markets, the authors studied Internet search patterns for incoming CEO names and stock market movements immediately prior to the public mention or speculation of CEO change. Findings: The authors find that in nearly a quarter of CEO changes at Fortune 500 companies, the name of the future CEO seems to have been leaked. Additionally, nearly half of those companies also experience extreme, otherwise unexplainable movements in the stock market. Originality/value: This paper discovers the prevalence of extreme stock market movements for a company when the name of that company's next CEO has likely been leaked. Such leaks are an opportunity for unscrupulous investors, but they create ethical dilemmas for organizations. Communication managers typically respond by organizing tighter governance. However, to keep up with the speed of information and investments traveling through algorithms, organizing radical transparency could become an alternative instead.

Abstract: This article uses a paradox knotting perspective to study key leadership challenges among Danish manufacturing and crafting SMEs. As part of an action-learning development programme, 55 middle managers from 11 companies were asked to rate the topicality of 10 leadership paradoxes. Using exploratory factor analysis, three clusters of knotted paradoxes were identified concerning the management of 1) managing organisational flexibility, 2) balancing engagement and control, and 3) dealing with dispersion. Each identified knot consists of two paradoxes and shows how managers involved in one element of a knotted paradox are also likely to be involved in the tensions of the other. The article contributes to a better understanding of the complexity and interrelatedness of select management paradoxes by demonstrating that paradoxes appear knotted in practice. Furthermore, the empirical and quantitative approach to studying paradoxes and their interrelatedness serves as an important methodological contribution to a field characterised by a high reliance on indirect, qualitative studies.

Abstract: Pending

Abstract: Pepper Culpepper’s seminal Quiet Politics and Business Power has revitalized the study of when business elites can shape policies away from public scrutiny. This article takes the concept of quiet politics to a new, and surprising, set of actors: trade union leaders. Focusing on the case of Denmark, it argues that quiet politics functions through political elite networks and that this way of doing politics favors a particular kind of corporatist coordination between the state, capital, and labor. Rather than showing macrocorporatist coordination between the two classes and governments, it identifies representatives of business and labor that hold privileged positions in political elite networks. Representatives of segments are found in industries important for the Danish economy, specifically, the exporting manufacturing sector. Being at the core of the network requires not only a key position in the Danish economy but also an understanding that politics is often done best without politicians and voters. The analysis shows that trade union and business association representatives work closely on a wide number of issues through quiet politics, using their extensive network to broker and foster agreement between different stakeholders.

Abstract: In its sustainable tourism agenda for 2030, the UN World Tourism Organization has embraced three United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. One of these, specifically SDG 8, highlights the need to pursue decent work and growth. Nevertheless, despite the growing recognition of this target and although there is a growing number of writings lamenting the precarity characterizing many tourism-related jobs, the topic of tourism-related work continues to receive sparse attention in the considerable volume of academic literature on tourism and sustainability. This paper attempts to redress this neglect. First, by providing a review of extant studies on tourism labor, we seek to explain why this research lacuna continues to exist. We then examine organizational and technological aspects of tourism governance, which hinder attempts to establish decent work and improve dignity in the tourism industry worldwide. By acknowledging the volatile and liminal status of tourism work and future labor market prospects, we arrive at the following question: what should sustainable tourism work look like? This leads us to suggest that the development of a human-centered research agenda, which focuses on workers’ agency and resources, offers a promising research avenue for expanding on the tourism and sustainability research agenda.

Abstract: Organizations are taking advantage of new technology to change the way they work in response to the increasing complexity and unpredictability of the business environment. Simply adopting new technology is not, however, enough to ensure the success of a digital workplace design. The technology itself is just one of four key elements that are vital to designing “smart” digital workplaces. The others are the workforce, new ways of working (NWW), and leadership. All four must be considered in terms of the overarching goal the organization is aiming to achieve with its digital workplace transformation. It is crucial to identify the current situation pertaining to each element and any changes required to bring about the desired transformation. Moreover, the four elements are not independent, but interact in various and sometimes unexpected ways; hence, successful digital workplace design must take into account the complementarities between the different elements and adapt accordingly.

Abstract: After hotels in many countries were forced to close in government-imposed lockdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an inherent need to communicate how they deal with the coronavirus to motivate guests to visit. However, lack of knowledge about how to persuasively communicate about hotels’ cleaning programs for COVID-19 can challenge the industry’s survival. We investigated how hotels that position their brand as a particular personality (sincere vs. exciting) could benefit from different communication styles (inclusion of numerical vs. verbal quantifiers) when presenting their COVID-19 cleaning procedures. Study 1 explored tourists’ central attitudinal responses toward hotels’ cleaning programs. Study 2 demonstrated that sincere hotel brands would benefit from using numerical and verbal quantifiers to communicate their cleaning policies, whereas exciting hotel brands would benefit only from numerical quantifiers. Our results invite hotel managers to use their brand personality positioning to influence tourists’ attitudes and intentions in a pandemic context.

Abstract: This special issue engages with the unsettling of the humanities to further explore its relevance for management learning and education. It explores how themes traditionally belonging to the humanities have spurred critical inquiry and raised theoretical issues within other disciplines, following the crisis of the classical humanist ideal as ‘the measure of all things’. It focuses on how the tensions resulting from this crisis can be constructively thematized in the field of management and organization studies, and how the unsettling of the humanities’ privileged access to studying the ‘especially human’ can be taken into the classroom. In this manner, the special issue engages with questions related to the Anthropocene, posthumanism and transhumanism, and raises issues concerning the human possibilities for knowing, learning and living in entangled ways. Additionally, it helps us understand the critical role of the humanities in making sense of the reciprocities between imagination, information and the human crafting of meaningful knowledge.

Abstract: In this introduction to the special issue on critical performativity and alternative organization we provide a brief historico-theoretical sketch of the key concepts involved and point to ongoing pertinent debates in the field of critical management studies. We also present the articles included in the issue, which all explore aspects of how critical performativity and alternative organization may cross-fertilize each other. In doing so, this collection of articles provides interesting critical vantage points outside of the usual empirical and theoretical haunts of organization and management studies.

Abstract: People mentally simulate future events, visualise themselves in these events, and then make predictions about how they would feel. This process is referred to as affective forecasting. Tourism lends itself toward affective forecasting because holiday experiences are not tangible and difficult to judge upfront. The authors conceptualise and empirically examine the mental simulation and affective forecasting in tourist decision-making. Using the COVID-19 pandemic as a proof of concept, they employ an experimental research design to demonstrate that affective forecasting can mitigate risk perceptions and travel decision-making in times of a pandemic. The findings highlight how affective forecasting can be leveraged to predict and change travel behaviour in the aftermath of pandemics, though implications reach beyond this context.

Abstract: Marine protected areas (MPAs) are promoted as a tool to manage the world's ocean and coastal resources more sustainably. In recent years, the protected areas management paradigm - including MPA management - has started to promote inclusive and collaborative practices. At least on paper, this shift, and the multi-stakeholder engagement and partnerships that came along with it, should have led to better conservation outcomes - at the same time as ensuring that people affected by conservation measures have access to alternative or supplementary livelihood opportunities. In reality, the record of MPAs has been quite mixed. The aim of this study is to examine stakeholder engagement and collaboration in MPA management actions that have occurred in the Mnazi Bay-Ruvuma Estuary Marine Park (MBREMP) in southern Tanzania - in view of exploring whether existing collaborations have influenced conservation outcomes. Fieldwork results, arising from key informant interviews, participant observation, focus group discussions and a survey, show that contacts and interactions between stakeholders followed a bureaucratic process without clear and shared goals that could make conservation and livelihood objectives compatible. Unclear and poorly coordinated processes - both in relation to conservation activities, such as enforcement of the park's regulations, and in relation to livelihood projects - hampered the proper functioning of MBREMP and its actual and potential stakeholders. As a result, both conservation and socio-economic outcomes have been problematic. Future research needs to further investigate how dysfunctional stakeholder engagements and lack of collaborative arrangements affect environmental and socio-economic objectives in MPAs and how these can be addressed.

Abstract: The data moment, we argue, is not a single event, but a multiplicity of encounters that reveal what we call ‘data criticality’. Data criticality draws our attention to those moments of deciding whether and how data will exist, thus rendering data critically relevant to a societal context and imbuing data with ‘liveliness’ and agency. These encounters, we argue, also require our critical engagement. First, we develop and theorize our argument about data criticality. Second, by using predictive policing as an example, we present six moments of data criticality.

A description of how data is imagined, generated, stored, selected, processed, and reused invites our reflections about data criticality within a broader range of data practices.

Abstract: It is a common view that states in the developing world with substantial extractive natural resource discoveries may not have the capacity to tax and regulate multinational companies in the sector. In this article, we show that ruling elites in recently resource-rich Tanzania, and in Uganda – expected to become resource-rich in the foreseeable future - have learned from the resource curse: they seek to construct ‘pockets of effectiveness’ (POEs) to regulate and tax natural resources. We explain the political incentives to create such pockets by combining insights from the POE and the Political Settlement literatures. We argue that POEs are likely to be established in emerging resource-rich countries with three characteristics: some degree of competitive elections; widespread voter expectations of future natural resource prosperity; and absence of powerful domestic firms in the sector who can resist taxation. The political benefits of such POEs are higher revenues that can boost government spending power and, hence, political legitimacy. These outweigh the political costs of establishing POEs, namely rents and patronage foregone. This insight is missed in much of the writings on the impact of natural resource wealth in African countries.

Abstract: Pending

Abstract: In this paper, I discuss the concept of linguistic complexity, which has been high on the linguistic agenda during the last few decades (Merlini Barbaresi (ed.) 2003, Sampson et al. (eds.) 2009, Moretti 2018 and many others). I first cite the most important definitions of complexity proposed by different scholars, I then apply and compare particular elements of these definitions to linguistic phenomena found in two specific languages, Italian and Danish. I focus mainly on the number of propositions per sentence and on the degree of their subordination (as conveyed by verb implicitness and nominalisation), two manifestations of complexity that are numerically measurable and cross-linguistically comparable. I give both cross- and intralinguistic examples taken from comparable texts that exhibit differences in these kinds of complexity, and in this way I demonstrate that linguistic complexity is clearly linked to and dependent on the language type in question as well as the given uses and people. In the case of Italian, we might talk about a “language-internal multilingualism”. However, I conclude the paper by giving a positive answer to my question: Some languages are indeed more complex than others.

Abstract: This paper explores the interrelations between temporality and emotion in rhetorical argumentation. It argues that in situations of uncertainty argumentation affects action via appeals that invoke emotion and thereby translate the distant past and future into the situated present. Using practical inferences, a threefold model for the interrelation of emotion and time in argumentation outlines how argumentative action depends on whether speakers provide reasons for the exigence that makes a decision necessary, the contingency of the decision, and the confidence required to act. Experiences and choices from the past influence the emotions experienced in the present and inform two intertemporal mechanisms that allow speakers and audiences to take the leap of faith that defines decision-making under uncertainty: retrospective forecasting and prospective remembering. Retrospective forecasting establishes a past–future–present link, whereas prospective remembering establishes a future-past-present link, and, together, the two mechanisms provide a situated presence that transcends the temporal constraints of uncertainty. Finally, the applicability of the model is illustrated through an analysis of a speech delivered by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a time where the need for decisive, yet argumentative action was crucial.

Abstract: This paper argues that promoting and regulating cybersecurity insurance could solve a key problem: despite the well-publicized hacks of businesses across the world and numerous government awareness campaigns, many small- and medium-sized companies (SMEs) in Europe do not practise proper cybersecurity. Introducing compulsory cybersecurity insurance for SMEs would be the single most effective way to achieve cyber resilience in a modern digital economy and protect businesses from both cybercriminals and state-sponsored hackers. Besides setting minimum standards for company cybersecurity and ensuring that post-breach support services are included in every insurance policy, governments must also address significant issues in the emerging cyber insurance market such as removing false incentives regarding ransoms and fines and creating a backstop mechanism to address aggregate risk. Moreover, they should ensure that all claims are collected in one database since this data would transform our understanding of malware threats and the costs they are causing. Combining these measures could unleash the potential of cyber insurance for the protection of all businesses and their customers, especially if the EU adopts a coherent policy for all member states.

Abstract: We provide an integrative account of how springboarding emerging market multinational enterprises (EMNEs) traverse the distinct contexts of their home and host markets by synthesizing the composition-based view with the Springboard Perspective to offer a novel, holistic, and dynamic Compositional Springboarding Perspective of EMNE evolution. We argue that EMNE internationalization entails a meta-duality between a compositional logic (home market) and springboarding logic (host market), and that the capabilities associated with springboarding – amalgamation, ambidexterity, and adaptability – help balance these two logics’ interplay and integration. We elaborate on the differential roles that these capabilities play across the upward spiral’s five stages (the process of EMNE evolution), which have differing emphases in terms of these logics.

Abstract: Purpose: We discuss traditional assumptions about value creation and confront these with current views on sustainable value creation (SVC). Against this backdrop, the articles contained in the special issue ‘Sustainable Value Creation Through Business Models’ are introduced, and their contributions to the exploration of SVC are highlighted.
Methodology: Assumptions about value creation are summarised and turned into an initial theoretical framework concerning the what, who and how of value creation. This framework is used to structure and discuss current views on SVC that have been presented in the sustainable business model (SBM) litterature.
Findings: The proposed framework identifies cornerstones for theorising about SVC in regard to the what, who and how of value creation. A main finding is that, although value creation and SVC are widely discussed in the literature, there are huge gaps in terms of the who, what and how of value creation, particularly in the SBM field.
Research implications and limitations: The major implication is that the SBM discourse still lacks clear SVC concepts, and closing this gap may enable the creation of a new multi- and interdisciplinary research programme. A major limitation of this paper is the mainly theoretical and preliminary nature of the presented discussion and framework.
Originality and value: There is a surprising dearth of definitions and concepts of value creation in both the traditional business model and SBM research. The originality and value of this paper lie in its potential to stimulate further research on the theoretical foundations of SVC. Various theoretical propositions are developed, including notions such as stakeholder-responsive and relational interpretations of value creation.

Abstract: The article presents the main idea from my recently published book on Danes’ use of humour in professional relations with non-Danes. The key notion is humour socialisation. This notion contributes to describing the dynamic role played by language and society in moulding a person’s humour. It also brings the aspect of personal humour to the level of “national humour”, which again helps to explain why people from different countries who speak different languages do not always share the same kind of humour.

Abstract: In recent times, improvement in building designs has been on a steady upward trend, precipitated by large greenhouse gas emissions of energy draining outmoded construction materials. Global energy crisis exacerbated by climate change has motivated the design and construction of energy-efficient Net Zero Energy Buildings (NZEB). This paper proposes an energy management strategy for grid-connected Net Zero Energy Buildings that help to achieve a net zero balance of energy in Electrical Grid Photovoltaic-connected NZEB homes. The significance of NZEB was evaluated by providing insights into cost-savings for the consumer’s net energy consumption and reduced carbon footprint. The proffered energy management strategy uses a single-objective Differential Evolution (DE) optimization algorithm that prunes the demand for electrical energy through an efficacious appliance scheduling routine. A novel mathematical energy index is introduced that enables consumers to monitor the net energy imported from the electrical grid and maintain a zero energy index. The proposed net zero energy concept is validated using DE and Genetic Algorithm (GA)-based optimization techniques.

Abstract: The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by all UN Member States in 2015, provide a global platform that is increasingly being used by organizations to work strategically and take action in line with social responsibility. This study examines the case of a multinational corporation (MNC) that has moved from sustainability as a standalone business function to sustainability as a strategic orienting principal, in order to better understand how and why this transformation was possible. The paper re-frames and integrates insights and concepts from literature on organizational vision and corporate sustainability. In so doing, sustainable visioning is introduced as the 'glue' that holds together organizational commitments that are centered on social, economic and environmental principals. The Danish MNC Ørsted serves to demonstrate how sustainable visioning has provided the essential means to strategically reinvent an energy company primarily based on fossil fuels into what is today one of the largest renewable energy companies (by capacity) in the world. More specifically, the study shows how sustainable visioning has been used to (i) spur innovation and new technologies that have substantially reduced the cost of offshore wind production, (ii) grow the business and investment portfolio, and (iii) attract financing and increase the competitive positioning within the growing ecosystem for sustainable development. To conclude, the implications of sustainable visioning are discussed along with the opportunities for future research on the topic.

Abstract: Establishing IT governance arrangements is a deeply political process, where relationships of power play a crucial role. While the importance of power relationships is widely acknowledged in IS literature, specific mechanisms whereby the consequences of power relationships affect IT governance arrangements are still under‐researched. This study investigates the way power relationships are inscribed in the governance of digital identity systems in Denmark and the United Kingdom, where public and private actors are involved. Drawing on the theoretical lens of circuits of power, we contribute to research on the role of power in IT governance by identifying two distinct mechanisms of power inscription into IT governance: power cultivation and power limitation.

Abstract: Ten years ago, Stahl et al. (J Int Bus Stud 41:690–709, 2010) performed a meta-analysis of the literature on cultural diversity and team performance, aiming to improve our understanding of “the mechanisms and contextual conditions under which cultural diversity affects team processes” (p. 691). State-of-the-art studies still echo the article’s conclusion about the ‘double-edged sword’ of cultural diversity, referring to the trade-off between process losses and gains. In this commentary, we assess progress within the past decade on our understanding of this double-edged sword. We argue that in terms of adding new insights, IB, as a field, has made substantial progress with respect to understanding diversity within teams, moderate progress with respect to input-process-output logic, and minimal progress with respect to definitions of cultural diversity. Our recommendations for moving beyond the double-edged sword metaphor in the next decade include shifting focus from cultural diversity per se to how it is managed, moving away from simplicity towards unfolding complexity, and expanding diversity categories beyond culture, and mechanisms beyond knowledge or information.

Abstract: In this introduction to the special issue, we first provide an illustrative overview of how food has been approached in organization studies. We focus on the organizing of food, that is the organizational efforts that leverage, shape and transform food. Against this backdrop, we distinguish the agency of organizations and the agency of food and explore their intersection. We argue that the ‘biomateriality’ of food, i.e. its biomaterial qualities, plays a distinctive role in shaping and affecting organizing and organizations. To do so, we present a conceptual framework for analysing food organizing, which highlights the biomateriality of food and its agentic effects on organizational efforts. Thus, we provide researchers with an analytical toolkit to disentangle the different agents (people, organizations, food itself) and the associated processes and mechanisms that play a role in food organizing. We use this analytical toolkit to introduce the different articles in the special issue and put forward some lines of future research.

Abstract: Recent scholarship shows increasing interest in gender, ethnic or national representation within regional and international organizations. In contrast, language as a criterion of representation has rarely been scrutinized. We argue that this constitutes an important oversight for two reasons: (1) language is an important identity marker; and (2) language regimes in international public administrations can uniquely address representativeness relative to both member states and groups of citizens. Our article explores language representation in the Economic Community of West African States, and pursues a twofold objective: first, it extends the applicability of representative bureaucracy theory to the issue of language; and, second, it broadens the scope of representative bureaucracy studies by providing the first study on a prominent West African regional organization. As such, we develop avenues for future research on other regional and international organizations.

Abstract: This study examines whether personal liability for corporate malfeasance deters individuals from serving as independent directors. After the introduction of personal liability in India, we find that individuals are deterred from serving on corporate boards. We find stronger deterrence among firms with greater litigation and regulatory risk, higher monitoring costs, and weak monetary incentives. Expert directors are more likely to exit, resulting in 1.16% lower firm value. We further evaluate whether contemporaneous corporate governance reforms and market developments contribute to this deterrence. Overall, our results suggest that personal liability deters individuals with high reputational costs from serving as independent directors.

Abstract: Real-world experiments have become a common method for testing and developing new technologies to decarbonize the energy system. The significance of the site of such experiments is evident yet elusive. A case in point is the Danish island Bornholm, test site for a smart grid experiment involving more than 800 private households. The object of intervention of this experiment is the so-called flexible electricity consumer; a means for countering radical increases in fluctuating, renewable energy that challenges the stability of the electricity system. A flexible consumer adjusts consumption to production rather than the other way. Accordingly, the experiment seeks to knit together the electricity system infrastructure and its users in new ways. The island provides the boundaries for this experiment, all the while it is endowed with multiple politics by its various participants. To the scientists running the experiment, Bornholm is their living laboratory: it provides a partly controllable electricity system upon which to test their reorganized energy system. To local participants, however, the experiment is above all a demonstration of their commitment to the island and its role in a green transition. Finally, during the experiment, the local energy supplier begins to frame the island’s energy system and its users as assets; a test island for future participatory experiments. Eventually, the site of this real-world experiment makes a flexible consumer possible as object of intervention, yet at the same time, it transforms the scientific results produced and the identity of the island.

Abstract: Why do highly skilled migrants encounter difficulties getting a skilled job? In this study, instead of searching for an answer in migrants’ characteristics, we turn to organizations and ask: why do organizations underemploy migrants? With an in-depth qualitative study of a program for highly-skilled migrants’ labour integration in Sweden, we show that highly skilled migrants are perceived as a potential threat to organizational norms and habits. Using the relational theory of risk – approaching risk as socially constructed – the study provides a novel explanation for highly-skilled migrants’ underemployment. It shows an organization logic protecting corporate practices seen as ‘normal’ from a perceived disruption that employing highly-skilled migrants could possibly cause. Theoretical contributions to the understanding of highly-skilled migrants’ employability are threefold: (1) the field assumption that organizations are favorable to hiring migrants is challenged, (2) highly-skilled migrants’ underemployment is explained through a protective organizational logic, and (3) we stress the necessity to problematize an implicit reference to organizational normality when recruiting.

Abstract: Pending

Abstract: This study discusses the relationship between inter-organizational paradox management, national business systems, and global value chains. Using case study evidence from a global value chain in the footwear industry (in Germany and China), we analyze how different businesses in the chain responded to the paradoxical tension arising from the competing demands to provide a living wage to workers and to uphold financial performance. Our findings highlight organizational responses to this paradox along the value chain, showing how these responses were shaped by the interplay of different types of pressures exerted by national business systems and the value chain itself. While these pressures were aligned in the German part of the chain, they were not aligned on the Chinese side. The study makes two contributions: (1) we develop a taxonomy outlining how the alignment of different types of pressures influences whether organizations choose either proactive or defensive paradox management; and (2) we argue that theorizing the impacts of cross-national distance on paradox management can be enhanced by adopting a multidimensional approach to institutional variety that extends beyond culture-based arguments.

Abstract: Pending

Abstract: Shifting an organization’s temporal order can be a key mechanism for accomplishing organizational change, but it is also fundamentally problematic: instead of helping an organization accomplish change, it may simply reinforce an already failing course of action. Our current understanding of the roles that temporal shifts play in enabling organizational change is inconclusive in terms of when and how temporal shifts contribute to the success of organizational change. We exploit an in-depth case study of a new digitalized design approach implemented at Advanced Construction to demonstrate how a temporal shift can increase temporal awareness, among organizational members, of the salient and differing temporalities involved. In this case, the increased temporal awareness facilitated improved temporal coordination, which in turn figured prominently in making actual change possible. Our study identifies three complementary roles of change-inducing temporal shifts—namely, in connection with past experience, current activities, and future directions. Thus, we develop a deeper understanding of the relation between temporal shifts and organizational change while offering a novel account of how the establishment of a temporal zone harbors those three roles of temporal shifts.

Abstract: Governments may unintentionally impose heavy administrative burdens on companies as they want to ensure the flow of tax revenue. Drawing on an engagement involving the Danish Business Authority and following a design science research (DSR) approach, this paper develops a prototype of a platform for value-added tax (VAT) settlement that is enabled by distributed ledger technology (DLT) and design principles for designing DLT platforms. The proposed prototype and design principles demonstrate how accounting information systems, DLT, and public governance may be interrelated to enhance social welfare. Regarding its practical implications, this paper provides a use case for governments seeking to reduce administrative burdens on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) while still ensuring the flow of tax revenue.

Abstract: Review essay.
The Polygamy Question / Janet Bennion and Lisa Fishbayn Joffe, Eds. (Logan: Utah State University Press, 2016)

Adultery: Infidelity and the Law / Deborah L. Rhode (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2016)

Undoing Monogamy: The Politics of Science and the Possibilities of Biology / Angela Willey (Durham: Duke University Press, 2016)

Abstract: Pending

Abstract: Pandemics are affecting tourism in many ways. Being a niche research field before, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic created a strong urgency to develop this topic. For researching pandemic-induced changes in tourist beliefs and travel behaviour, we developed a construct that measures the intra-personal anxiety of travellers (and non-travellers): the Pandemic (COVID-19) Anxiety Travel Scale (PATS), using two large online studies (N=2,180; N=2,062) and including two different cultural contexts (US; Denmark). In Study 1, explorative and confirmative factors analysis confirms a short and easy-to-use 5-item solution, while the presented model adds face validity. In Study 2, we confirmed the structure (reliability) and tested nomological validity, by putting PATS into the context of different constructs (xenophobia and prevention focus). Although the proposed scale arose from the coronavirus (COVID-19), it is not limited to this specific pandemic and will hopefully prove to be a valuable measurement tool for future pandemics as well.