Esade

Causal complexity has long been recognized as a ubiquitous feature underlying organizational phenomena, yet current theories and methodologies in management are for the most part not well-suited to its direct study. The introduction of the Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA) configurational approach has led to a reinvigoration of configurational theory that embraces causal complexity explicitly. We argue that the burgeoning research using QCA represents more than a novel methodology; it constitutes the emergence of a neo-configurational perspective to the study of management and organizations that enables a fine-grained conceptualization and empirical investigation of causal complexity through the logic of set theory. In this article, we identify four foundational elements that characterize this emerging neo-configurational perspective: (a) conceptualizing cases as set theoretic configurations, (b) calibrating cases’ memberships into sets, (c) viewing causality in terms of necessity and sufficiency relations between sets, and (d) conducting counterfactual analysis of unobserved configurations. We then present a comprehensive review of the use of QCA in management studies that aims to capture the evolution of the neo-configurational perspective among management scholars. We close with a discussion of a research agenda that can further this neo-configurational approach and thereby shift the attention of management research away from a focus on net effects and towards examining causal complexity.

Management scholars study phenomena marked by complex interdependencies where multiple explanatory factors combine to bring about an outcome of interest. Yet, theorizing about causal complexity can prove challenging for the correlational theorizing that is predominant in the field of management, given its “net effects thinking” that emphasizes the unique contribution of individual explanatory factors. In contrast, configurational theories and thinking are well-suited to explaining causally complex phenomena. In this article, we seek to advance configurational theorizing by providing a model of the configurational theorizing process which consists of three iterative stages—scoping, linking and naming. In each stage, we develop and offer several heuristics aimed at stimulating configurational theorizing. That is, these theorizing heuristics are intended to help scholars discover configurations of explanatory factors, probe the connections among these factors, and articulate the orchestrating themes that underpin their coherence. We conclude with a discussion of how configurational theorizing advances theory development in the field of management and organizations, and beyond.

Corporate governance (CG) research has largely focused on internal governance mechanisms (i.e. the board of directors, controlling owners, and managerial incentives). However, much of this work ignores the role that external CG practices play in preventing managers from engaging in activities detrimental to the welfare of shareholders, and the overall firm. In this essay, we first review and organize current research on external governance mechanisms and integrate this siloed body of work within the broader CG equation. We explicitly focus on six external governance mechanisms: the legal environment, the market for corporate control, external auditors, stakeholder activism, rating organizations, and the media. We discuss findings showing how external governance mechanisms act both as independent forces and in conjunction with internal CG mechanisms. We conclude the review by mapping an agenda for future research on CG that better integrates internal and external governance mechanisms. Our review suggests that studying different configurations of external and internal governance mechanisms will help us to better understand what factors and conditions lead to effective CG.

We perform a comparative case analysis of four working Living Labs to identify their common functions. Theoretically, we ground our analysis in terms of how they function, their processes of exploration and exploitation, where they work in the innovation strata and how new socially negotiated meanings are negotiated and diffused. Our research highlights four novel insights: first, Living Labs function at the low- and mid-level innovation strata; second, Living Labs are technologically agnostic; third, Living Labs use context based experience to surface new, socially constructed meanings for products and services; and finally, Living Labs are equally focused on exploration and exploitation.

Importance: Existing therapeutic options are insufficient to tackle the disease burden of depression, and new treatments are sorely needed. Defining new psychotherapeutic targets is challenging given the paucity of coherent mechanistic explanations for depression. Objective: To assess whether mood homeostasis (ie, the stabilization of one's mood by engaging in mood-modifying activities) is a possible new therapeutic target by testing the hypothesis that people with low (vs high) mean mood and people with (vs without) a history of depression have impaired mood homeostasis. Design, Setting, and Participants: The quantitative association between mood and daily activities was computed in 2 large case-control studies based on the 58sec data set (collected from December 1, 2012, to May 31, 2014, and analyzed from April 1 to 30, 2019), and the World Health Organization Study on Global Aging and Adult Health (WHO SAGE) data set (collected from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2010, and analyzed from June 1 to 30, 2019). The 58sec data set consists of self-enrolled participants from high-income countries. The WHO SAGE data set consists of nationally representative participants in low- and middle-income countries recruited via cluster sampling. Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcome (defined before data analysis) was the difference in mood homeostasis between people with high vs low mean mood (58sec data) and between people with vs without a history of depression (WHO SAGE data). Results: A total of 28 212 participants from the 58sec data set (65.8% female; mean [SD] age, 28.1 [9.0] years) and 30 116 from the WHO SAGE data set (57.0% female; mean [SD] age, 57.8 [14.7] years) were included, for an overall study population of 58 328 participants. Mood homeostasis was significantly lower in people with low (vs high) mean mood (0.63 [95% CI, 0.45 to 0.79] vs 0.96 [95% CI, 0.96 to 0.98]; P < .001) and in people with (vs without) a history of depression (0.03 [95% CI, -0.26 to 0.24] vs 0.68 [95% CI, 0.55 to 0.75]; P < .001). In dynamic simulations, lower mood homeostasis led to more depressive episodes (11.8% vs 3.8% yearly risk; P < .001) that lasted longer (4.19 vs 2.90 weeks; P = .006). Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, mood homeostasis appeared to have been impaired in people with low mood and in those with a history of depression. Mood homeostasis may therefore provide new insights to guide the development of treatments for depression.

The current paper was prepared for the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) Research Forum 2017 and evaluates the effects of introducing more principles of disclosure as part of the IASB Disclosure Initiative. We perform a literature review of academic research on how entities have complied with disclosure requirements in the past. The review shows high levels of non-compliance and high volatility across entities, including poor disclosers being far below the average. We find no clear pattern of higher compliance for International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) with more reliance on disclosure principles as compared to specific requirements (i.e. IFRS 7, IFRS 8), but note the methodological problem of measuring compliance with disclosure principles. Academic research suggests that the degree of compliance depends on entities’ incentives for providing or withholding information in combination with local conditions for primary users, auditors and regulators. Based on our review, we argue that increased reliance on entities to act in ‘good faith’ when complying with disclosure requirements, in capital-market contexts where entities may be in high-incentive situations and have low costs of non-compliance, is potentially risky in terms of how well the Standards protect primary users from poor disclosers. More emphasis is needed on ensuring that the disclosure requirements are enforceable and auditable in order to secure a certain minimum level of disclosure.

Managers are often required to respond in adaptive ways to the threats and opportunities presented by rare, extreme outcomes. Given these, management scholars frequently face a stark choice: say something useful to practitioners using narratives in which dramatic effects are often achieved at the expense of academic rigor or maintain the latter by sacrificing practitioner relevance. Recent developments in complexity science offer a new perspective. The article distinguishes between the simplicities achieved by reductionism (equilibrium, law-like equations, linearity, and predictability) and the complexity triggered by initiating “butterfly events”—nonlinearity, scale-free causes, and power laws (PLs). Schema formation and adaptation within Gaussian and PL ontologies are framed in terms of Ashby’s law of requisite variety. Variety perceived to be requisite is sensitive to the type of ontological assumptions that are made. PL approaches to management inquiry focusing on rank/frequency distributions, fractal structures, and scale-free dynamics are outlined.

There is a scarcity of empirical evidence surrounding the challenges and approaches to artificial intelligence deployment. Using data analytics, our study moves from speculation to gathering evidence. Our findings show that most challenges arise during implementation and relate to skills, culture, and resistance to share information driven by data challenges.

This book presents comparative, multi-disciplinary research (including public management, health, political science, sociology, economics, and law) that develops an explanatory framework for understanding how governments formulate and implement addiction policies in Europe. Through an in-depth analysis of the twenty-seven EU member states, plus Norway, this book presents four European models and visions of governance of addictions, based on two axes, strategy and structure. For this purpose, four substances are taken into account—heroin, cannabis, alcohol, and tobacco. The study focuses on public policies and governance practices from the beginning of 2005 to the end of 2011. Nonetheless, to provide a historical perspective and see the evolution of governance, documents from 1980 to 2012 have been taken into account. The four models are: (1) the trendsetters in illicit substances model; (2) the regulation of legal substances model; (3) the transitioning model; and (4) the traditional model. The results lead to the conclusion that strategy determines structure in the governance of addictions in Europe. So far, none of the four models in Europe has been able to maximize results for both legal and illicit substances, while pursuing societal well-being. If the final European models for the governance of addictions are compared with former studies classifying countries in Europe, the conclusion is that there is no exact match between them and the governance of addictions. The governance of addictions has its own levers, coming from the contingent combination of context (state factors) and the logistics of policy (strategy and structure).

Consumers incorrectly rely on their sense of understanding of what a company does to evaluate investment risk. In three correlational studies, greater sense of understanding was associated with lower risk ratings (Study 1) and with prediction distributions of future stock performance that had lower standard deviations and higher means (Studies 2 and 3). In all studies, sense of understanding was unassociated with objective risk measures. Risk perceptions increased when the authors degraded sense of understanding by presenting company information in an unstructured versus structured format (Study 4). Sense of understanding also influenced downstream investment decisions. In a portfolio construction task, both novices and seasoned investors allocated more money to hard-to-understand companies for a risk-tolerant client relative to a risk-averse one (Study 5). Study 3 ruled out an alternative explanation based on familiarity. The results may explain both the enduring popularity and common misinterpretation of the “invest in what you know” philosophy.

La gobernanza es el conjunto de arreglos institucionales mediante los cuales se preparan, adoptan y ejecutan las decisiones publicas en un entorno social determinado. Esta nocion descriptiva es frecuentemente complementada por los estudiosos con aproximaciones normativas que enfatizan unos u otros aspectos de las interacciones que ocurren en la esfera publica. Indagar acerca de la calidad de la gobernanza obliga a aproximarse a la identificacion de aquellas instituciones, tanto formales como informales, que constituyen los atributos deseables del sistema. Este trabajo se propone realizar esa indagacion, identificando aquellos ejes de la gobernanza que permitirian comprobar la existencia de un sistema de democracia avanzada. La pretension es disponer de un marco de analisis util para aproximarse a la gobernanza realmente existente, en especial en los paises de America Latina. Asi, el documento propone y desarrolla, en su parte central, cinco ejes de contenido en torno a los cuales cabria sistematizar los arreglos institucionales basicos que enmarcan los procesos de decision en la esfera publica y que, conjuntamente considerados, ofrecerian el panorama completo de la gobernanza de un pais. Estos ejes son: 1) las instituciones politicas; 2) las instituciones de justicia; 3) las instituciones de mercado; 4) la gestion publica; y 5) la sociedad civil. Dentro de cada eje, se exploran aquellos elementos del marco institucional que deben ser considerados para evaluar el nivel de calidad del modelo de gobernanza. Finalmente, se afronta el problema de la medicion y mejora de la gobernanza, cuya primera dificultad es que no permite limitarse a medir outputs, esto es, el resultado inmediato obtenido por la actuacion de un actor determinado en un proceso

Abstract In exploring the leadership practices of chief executives of intergovernmental organizations ( IGO s), this article finds that IGO leaders recognize themselves as agents and as brokers. This article produces findings from a multiple‐case study of the executive leadership of NATO from 1995 to 1999 and of the EU Common Foreign and Security Policy from 1999 to 2009. The relationship between member states and the IGO leader can be conceived as a principal–agent relationship where the agent plays a central role in framing a common vision and strategies, facilitating member states’ involvement in the strategizing process, and mobilizing external and internal support. I depart from a restrictive principal–agent conceptualization of the relationship because I do not envision it as conflictive, but rather as collaborative.

Es cada vez una realidad mayor que los avances en gobierno electronico (gobierno-e) vienen de la mano de la interoperabilidad. En este campo, muchos paises han desarrollado sus marcos de interoperabilidad; existen “libros blancos” producidos por expertos regionales; la industria de tecnologia ayuda a varios gobiernos a avanzar; hay algunos incipientes proyectos internacionales para abordar esta tematica y la academia comienza a producir algunos trabajos sobre el tema. La mayoria de estas iniciativas tienen lugar a nivel nacional. Sin embargo, el panorama de interoperabilidad en Iberoamerica no es homogeneo y, en este sentido, los diversos paises han adoptado estrategias diferentes, lo que ha dado lugar a resultados solo parcialmente exitosos y, frecuentemente, desequilibrados. Dado este contexto, el objetivo de este articulo es exponer, a traves de diversas dimensiones, el nivel de implantacion de los proyectos de interoperabilidad de gobierno electronico en 16 paises de Iberoamerica para conocer cual es la situacion actual en la region. El documento que se presenta es consecuencia de la consulta a paises, realizada por los autores durante el ano 2010 como parte del trabajo exploratorio llevado a cabo como paso previo a la elaboracion de las denominadas Bases para una Estrategia Iberoamericana de Interoperabilidad, impulsadas por el Centro Latinoamericano de Administracion para el Desarrollo (CLAD), y conceptualizadas como un mecanismo que ordena la produccion de conocimiento en materia de interoperabilidad. Dichas Bases constituyen una guia en la que los paises iberoamericanos pueden apoyarse a la hora de tomar decisiones relacionadas con la colaboracion entre Estados en este ambito. La investigacion expone varios datos que permiten calibrar el nivel de implantacion de la interoperabilidad en los paises de la region iberoamericana. Se profundiza en cuestiones como el nivel de prioridad, el despliegue de estrategias, los

Corea del Norte juega peligrosamente con fuego. Sus amenazas externas enmascaran la inestabilidad politica y economica interna, en pleno proceso sucesorio del regimen. Beijing mantiene una posicion ambivalente, pero no monolitica. Las veleidades nucleares de Pyong­yang alimentan el rearme militar en Asia Oriental y refuerzan la alianza entre Seul, Tokio y Washington. ?Permitira China el colapso del Norte?

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to assess the impact of the interaction effect of work conditions including work overload, emotional demands, social support and self-development opportunities on work engagement within the framework of the job demands-resource model. Design/methodology/approach A total of 481 registered nurses in Uruguay participated in this study. A series of multiple structural equations modelling analyses were used to examine the interaction hypotheses and their effect on work engagement. Findings Three out of four two-way interactions presented significant effects, showing that social support mitigated the negative effects that emotional demands and work overload have on work engagement. However, self-development opportunities only moderated the effect of emotional demands on work engagement, but did not relieve the effects of work overload. Research limitations/implications The study only considered two demands and two resources to test for interactions. Inclusion of other work characteristics as well as personal resources could provide a better understanding of the relationships within an organisation. Practical implications The importance of developing a pool of resources in order to increase nurses’ work engagement and buffer the increasing demands of healthcare professionals is discussed. Originality/value The findings provide evidence of the impact of the interaction of job demands and job resources in the development of work engagement in Uruguay. Additionally, the results emphasise the importance of identifying relevant work conditions that contribute to sustaining work engagement in the nursing profession in Latin-American countries.

Abstract Research shows that transformational leadership trainings can be beneficial even in highly hierarchical organizations. However, little is known about their enduring effects on such organizations when operating under social and political pressure. This study aims to evaluate a 3-month transformational leadership training programme in the Catalan police force, a programme that was designed and implemented in a period of extreme social and political upheaval. This study follows a quasi-experimental single group pre–post design, with three non-equivalent dependent variables as proxy counterfactuals. The training was delivered to police inspectors (N = 30). Leader assessments from subordinates (N = 129) were collected through the MLQ-5X questionnaire before the training (pre-test) and one year after the training (post-test). The quantitative analysis revealed that the training had a positive impact on four transformational leadership dimensions and in all leadership performance indicators. Some counter-theoretical results are discussed in the light of the social and political context of the study.

This study seeks to untangle the impact of film festivals on the conception and action of industry actors. This study puts forward the argument that film festivals, seen as instances of tournament rituals and field configuring events, play a role in bridging art and commerce. It examines three instances of a particular tournament ritual, that of the three leading European premier film festivals, namely the Cannes Film Festival, the Berlin Film Festival, and the Venice International Film Festival, to untangle their role as mediators between art and commerce and their impact on the artistic classification system of the cinema field. For the purpose, it uses admissions data from 36 European countries for the period of 1996 to 2005. It examines the impact of festival participation and awards on admissions, and further artistic recognition at award ceremonies in the US. Based on the results of our study we argue that, similarly to the classification of art forms, there is a status ordering of tournament rituals (i.e. film festivals) with regard to their ability to act as a nexus of dichotomous categories for a particular cultural form (i.e. art and commerce in the case of film).

This chapter presents the genesis and evolution of the public patient portal called Carpeta Personal de Salut (CPS) of Catalonia, Spain from 2008 to 2015. The CPS started as a web-browser viewer of a subset of citizens’ health data stored in the systems of the public health system, and has gradually turned into an information infrastructure as new relations with other systems, services, actors, regulations, practices, and so on, have been established. This chapter suggests how in order to cope with the conditions of indeterminacy and uncertainty characterizing the building of patient-oriented information infrastructures, designs must always be open and connectable so as to be able to respond to new possibilities.

Resumen es: Durante las ultimas tres decadas se ha venido hablando de la crisis del Estado de bienestar. Un modelo de Estado que nacio a principios del siglo pasado ...

Abstract This study analyses the relationship between grant-making foundations (grantors) and operative nonprofit organizations (grantees) to determine whether a positive association exists between foundations’ intervention beyond the money and grantees’ organizational capacity development. Data are collected using a survey of grantees who received funding from a Foundation of Banking Origin (FOB) in the context of Italy. The analyses portray three capacity-building factors that FOBs can deploy in addition to the financial grant, namely, operative support, goal alignment, and performance oversight. The results endorse our hypotheses that both the amount of operative support provided by the foundation and the higher perception of goal congruence between grantor and grantees are positively correlated with the organizational capacity of the grantee. Our results also suggest that the benefits of increased oversight prevail over the drawbacks.