[article-cris] Kauppakorkeakoulu / BIZ

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Investigating Category Dynamics: An Archival Study Of The German Food Market
(2021-02-01) Gollnhofer, Johanna Franziska; Bhatnagar, Kushagra
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
The contemporary German food market is marked by a large number of food items on retail shelves?the choice and abundance of products stand in sharp contrast to the market of the 1950s. We conduct a qualitative, interpretive analysis of the archives of a food magazine from West Germany between 1949 and 2014 to understand the changes the German food market has undergone. Drawing on category research, we discover three inter-related category dynamics that contribute to the change in the market: category member proliferation, category member valorization, and category member entanglement. We then discuss the implications of category dynamics and theorize how they drive category change.
From structural to transition effects: Institutional dynamism as a deterrent to long-term investments by MNEs
(2023-06) Leymann, Gunnar; Lundan, Sarianna
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
The effect of institutional change on foreign direct investment is often conceptualized through the lens of an improving or deteriorating level of institutional quality that alters transaction costs. However, in the context of comprehensive government intervention in the past decades, this perspective ignores the potential uncertainties and costs associated with the process of institutional change. We propose that institutional change causes structural changes in transaction costs as well as accompanying transition effects due to uncertainty and learning costs. The extent of such transition effects is linked to the process characteristics of institutional change, e.g., institutional dynamism. In this paper, we examine the effects of institutional dynamism on foreign direct investment in long-term capital commitments and hypothesize a negative relationship between institutional dynamism and FDI, and a moderating effect of institutional dynamism on the relationship between institutional quality and FDI. Using investment data by US MNEs aggregated on the host country level, we find support for our hypotheses with some qualifications. We derive implications for the middle-income trap discussion as well as the ongoing fast-paced transition towards a sustainable global economy that is bound to shift attention from differences in the level of institutional quality towards differences in transition processes.
Do Deadlines Affect Project Completion? Experimental Evidence from Israeli Vocational Colleges
(2023-01) Gershoni, Naomi; Stryjan, Miri
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
We study a large-scale intervention aimed at increasing graduation rates in Israeli vocational colleges. In this context, the main reason for low graduation rates has been found to be the failure of students to complete the required final project. This may result from procrastination which is prevalent among students in many settings. To address procrastination, we introduce a deadline for final project defense in randomly selected departments while control group departments maintain the practice of scheduling defense dates on a rolling basis. We compare student performance over time in treated and control departments in a difference-in-differences framework and find no effect of deadlines on project defense or on graduation rates. A potential explanation for these findings is that there are other constraints faced by students, such as academic difficulties or a low perceived value of the diploma, which are not alleviated by the deadline. Using administrative and survey data, we find that deadlines have no effect even when the alternative constraints are not binding.
Chasing Storms: Temporal Work to Foster Group Engagement under Uncertainty
(2024-06-11) Kent, Derin; Granqvist, Nina
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Experiences of group engagement have a significant impact on members’ performance and satisfaction with work. In temporally uncertain settings, however, unpredictable transitions between idle and busy periods disrupt engagement. Through an ethnographic study of storm chasing teams in Tornado Alley, we investigate how groups foster engagement under uncertainty. We found that while efficient coordination helped teams get to storms, it could frustrate members’ engagement with tasks across unpredictable transitions. We develop a process model explaining how groups use temporal work to foster immersive episodes of engagement across transitions that are hard to control or predict. We show that broadening focus and compressing duration foster experiences of temporal control that enable engaging transitions into busy periods of work, whereas narrowing focus and extending duration foster experiences of immersive duration that enable satisfying transitions into idle periods. We develop a temporal perspective to engagement at work, showing how groups set the temporal context within which they encounter work episodes and how this context enables or constrains engagement. We also advance a durational perspective for organizational temporality research, elucidating how experiences of duration represent a key issue to be managed in organizations.
Workforce dissimilarity and job changes
(2025) Ilmakunnas, Pekka
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Purpose : This study examines the relationships between age, education or gender dissimilarity and movement from one workplace to another, examining different dissimilarity measures and asymmetries in these relationships. Design/methodology/approach : Large-scale employer–employee register data from Finland were used to estimate discrete time duration models for the probability of job-to-job exits from plants. The alternative dissimilarity measures were the Euclidean distances for age and education and the shares of opposite gender, age and education groups. Findings : When the Euclidean distance is used as the dissimilarity measure, age dissimilarity is negatively related to workplace exits; however, age dissimilarity is positively related to exits for young women. Educational dissimilarity, meanwhile, is positively related to exits. When the share of opposite groups is used, the results for age and educational dissimilarity depend on how the opposite age and educational groups are defined. The share of women is positively related to the probability of job change among men, but for women, the share of men negatively affects exits. Research limitations/implications : Identification relied on the assumption that unobservable individual characteristics can be sufficiently approximated using within-individual averages of the variables. Practical implications : Researchers should conduct extensive sensitivity analyses and allow for asymmetries in workplace relational demography research. Originality/value : Only a few previous studies used large-scale datasets to estimate the effects of dissimilarities on turnover, and those studies did not systematically compare different methods of measuring dissimilarities.
Routine dynamics : Organizing in a world in flux
(2024-07-22) Mahringer, Christian A.; Pentland, Brian T.; Renzl, Birgit; Sele, Kathrin; Spee, Paul
A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa
In this editorial, the authors present an overview of the papers featured in this volume, all centered around the theme of “Routine Dynamics: Organizing in a World in Flux.” Recognizing the omnipresence of flux in organizational life, the authors identify key themes that emerged across the papers. These encompass temporality, improvisation, process and multiplicity, power and political dynamics, and scale. The authors elucidate the significance of each theme in the context of routine dynamics, highlight the advancements made by the respective papers in this volume, and underscore questions that warrant further exploration.
Becoming response-able together in research fieldwork
(2024-10-04) Grünbaum, Leni; Wickström, Alice
A3 Kirjan tai muun kokoomateoksen osa
In this chapter, we explore response-ability – our embodied ability to respond to others – in research fieldwork. Building on materials from an immersive coaching process of a leadership team, we elaborate on how the researcher-coach and the team negotiated becoming ‘response-able-together’ over time and how that supported the development of collective leadership. We focus on the affective intensities during the process, particularly moments where differences in ideas, rhythms, priorities, and abilities led to uncertainty and vulnerability, necessitating an ongoing negotiation of response-ability. We illustrate how response-ability in fieldwork may nurture reciprocal relations that arise from tensions instead of privileging consensus and/or unity. We further argue that response-able research can support organizational processes and practices that enhance individual and collective capacities to act, while counter-acting forms of affective contagion that work in disciplining and diminishing ways.
Authoritarian and benevolent leadership: the role of follower homophily, power distance orientation and employability
(2023-02-20) Koveshnikov, Alexei; Ehrnrooth, Mats; Wechtler, Heidi
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Purpose: Drawing on follower-centric leadership theory, the study examines the role of perceived homophily between the leader and the follower, follower's individual-level power distance orientation (PDO) and follower's perceived employability in moderating the effects of authoritarian and benevolent paternalistic leadership (BPL) on followers' turnover intentions. Design/methodology/approach: The study analyzes a sample of 403 white-collar Russian employees. Findings: Whereas both leadership styles generally decrease followers' turnover intentions, they operate differently. Authoritarian leadership (AL) is more effective among followers with higher follower-leader homophily and PDO, whereas BPL is effective only among followers with low perceived homophily and PDO, and more effective among followers with higher perceived employability. Originality/value: The study extends research on non-participative styles of leadership, their effects and boundary conditions.
Reversal of language hierarchy and the politics of translation in a multinational corporation
(2023-01-05) Ristolainen, Jonna; Outila, Virpi; Piekkari, Rebecca
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explain the reversal of language hierarchy in a Finnish multinational corporation (MNC) from a political perspective. This paper situated the language hierarchy in the historical context of the colonial-style relationship between Finland and Russia. From a post-colonial perspective, the colonial legacy of Russia has had an influence on language strategy and everyday translation work in the Finnish multinational until the present day. Design/methodology/approach: This paper undertook a case study based on qualitative secondary analysis of existing data sets. These data sets originated from two previously conducted studies of the same Finnish MNC. Findings: The findings revealed a reversal of the traditional corporate language hierarchy. Russian, as the host country language of powerful local subsidiaries, rose to the top of the hierarchy at the expense of English, the common corporate language, and other languages. The colonial-style relationship was enacted by professional and paraprofessional translators who collaborated by using “the master’s language and imitating the master’s voice” to reap the strategic benefits of local responsiveness. Originality/value: In contrast to previous work drawing on post-colonial theory in the study of MNCs, this paper represents the headquarters in Finland as the “colonised” party and the Russian subsidiaries as the “coloniser.” Owing to its colonial legacy, Russian, the host country language, became very powerful and influenced the language strategy of the entire MNC. This paper conceptualized translation as a multilevel phenomenon and offers a holistic explanation of why the language hierarchy in the Finnish MNC was reversed.
Information Technology, Improved Access, and Use of Prescription Drugs
(2025-02) Böckerman, Petri; Kortelainen, Mika; Laine, Liisa T.; Nurminen, Mikko; Saxell, Tanja
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
We estimate the effects of health information technology designed to improve access to medication while limiting overuse through easier prescription renewal and improved information provision. We focus on benzodiazepines, a commonly prescribed class of mental health and insomnia medications, which are highly effective but potentially addictive. We study the staggered rollout of a nationwide electronic prescribing system over four years in Finland and use population-wide, individual-level administrative data sets. We find that e-prescribing increases average benzodiazepine use due to increased prescription renewals. The increase is most pronounced for younger patients. E-prescribing can improve the health of elderly patients and may help to balance the access-overuse trade-off. Without additional monitoring for addiction in place, it may, however, also have unintended health consequences for younger patients, who are more likely to develop mental and behavioral health disorders.
In pursuit of impact : How psychological contract research can make the work-world a better place
(2024-12) Kraak, Johannes M.; Hansen, Samantha D.; Griep, Yannick; Bhattacharya, Sudeshna; Bojovic, Neva; Diehl, Marjo-Riitta; Evans, Kayla; Fenneman, Jesse; Ishaque Memon, Iqra; Fortin, Marion; Lau, Annica; Lee, Hugh; Lee, Junghyun; Lub, Xander; Meyer, Ines; Ohana, Marc; Peters, Pascale; Rousseau, Denise M.; Schalk, René; Searle, Rosalind H.; Sherman, Ultan; Tekleab, Amanuel
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
This paper is the result of the collective work undertaken by a group of Psychological Contract (PC) and Sustainability scholars from around the world, following the 2023 Bi-Annual PC Small Group Conference (Kedge Business School, Bordeaux, France). As part of the conference, scholars engaged in a workshop designed to generate expert guidance on how to aid the PC field to be better aligned with the needs of practice, and thus, impact the creation and maintenance of high-quality and sustainable exchange processes at work. In accordance with accreditation bodies for higher education, research impact is not limited to academic papers alone but also includes practitioners, policymakers, and students in its scope. This paper therefore incorporates elements from an impact measurement tool for higher education in management so as to explore how PC scholars can bolster the beneficial influence of PC knowledge on employment relationships through different stakeholders and means. Accordingly, our proposals for the pursuit of PC impact are organized in three parts: (1) research, (2) practice and society, and (3) students. Further, this paper contributes to the emerging debate on sustainable PCs by developing a construct definition and integrating PCs with an ‘ethics of care’ perspective.
A Neo-Aristotelian Approach to a Unified Theory of Physics
(2025-02-04) Kakkuri-Knuuttila, Marja-Liisa
A4 Artikkeli konferenssijulkaisussa
The core task of this paper is to demonstrate the heuristic merits of the Aristotelian philosophy of science as compared with the strict empiricism in constructing and justifying a unified theory of physics. The impetus for the study was the question of whether the success of the Dynamic Universe (DU) theory as a candidate for such a unification could be explained by energy as its basic notion (Suntola, T. 2018a, 2018b, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2024), while the other unificatory attempts (string theories, inflation theory, and loop quantum gravity), all based on the notion of force, appear to fail. DU's reliance on Aristotle's methodology of first principles and his potentiality-actuality metaphysics soon invited to explore DU's Aristotelian presuppositions as an explanatory ground for its seeming success. A major weakness of empiricism is its rejection of metaphysical reflection, necessary for the revolutionary paradigm change in the unification project. While the empiricist negative stand towards metaphysics is based on its narrow conception of basis of knowledge and logical reasoning and the principle of methodological unity, Aristotelian solutions to these problems are difficult to refute. The Stagirite's methodology of Saving the Appearances (SA), little known outside Aristotle scholarship, exposes ways of expanding the knowledge basis to make room for metaphysical knowledge. SA is valuable to our purposes here also by yielding a heuristic model for the discovery and justification of a unified theory of physics. Aristotle's argument for the reality of potentiality in the form of an inference from a fact of life to its necessary presuppositions illustrates how to expand the empiricist premises-conclusion notion of logic. To specify the object of physics, the Aristotelian genus-species structure of reality exposes that the definition of the genus proximum constitutes the highest first principle of a theory. Applying Aristotle's metaphysical notions of change and motion (dunamis, substance–attribute, matter-form), the genus proximum in DU turns out to be mass as prime substance, mass defined as the substance for the expression of energy. To conclude, I shall point to the need for modifying the Aristotelian metaphysical categories to allow room for the holism in DU. Having studied the heuristic principles underlying the DU theory, the paper contributes both to the emerging studies of the Meta-Empirical argument forms in physics and the recent Neo-Aristotelian approach in the philosophy of physics.
Companies Operating in Conflict-Affected Environments Without Impacting the Conflict : Between Regular and Heightened Human Rights Due Diligence
(2024) Nagaivska, Daria; Uvarova, Olena
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
The concept of heightened human rights due diligence (hHRDD) is often used to address corporate responsibilities in situations of armed conflict. For companies in these contexts, the first step is to assess whether their activities impact the conflict and its dynamics, and, as a result, whether they are involved in conflict-related human rights abuses. However, companies often find that they have no impact on the conflict. Should companies in these scenarios just focus on regular human rights due diligence (HRDD)? This piece aims to illustrate, based on the example of Ukraine, the human rights challenges that emerge during a war which companies with no influence on the conflict still face and to respond to the question of whether in such situations companies should still engage in hHRDD or continue to conduct HRDD as usual.
Productization of carbon handprint – A product management perspective
(2025-03) Kunwar, Pukar Jung; Harkonen, Janne; Haapasalo, Harri; Khan, Iqra Sadaf; Majava, Jukka
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Despite its potential benefits, knowledge of the carbon handprint notion lacks the necessary means to address products and services in a structured manner, hindering appropriate methodological implementation and limiting support for firms' cleantech activities. Furthermore, an essential link to the product management perspective is lacking. To address this gap, this study details the components and features of products and their environmental impact to facilitate carbon handprint quantification and communication through productization. A conceptual research approach was adopted to develop a framework that links the carbon handprint to a broader product management perspective through productization. Selected theories provide a level of rationale for the productization of carbon handprints. This study presents illustrative examples involving motor vehicles and building construction and a generic approach to demonstrate how carbon handprints can be integrated into product structures over the engineering lifecycle. The productization approach enables businesses to effectively connect emissions and positive impacts on products. By broadening the understanding of carbon handprints through productization, companies can systematically utilize carbon emission information both internally and externally. This supports the overall product management perspective and enables effective analytics and reporting of carbon footprints and handprints.
Connecting Art, Maintenance, and Motherhood: How Ukeles’s Maintenance Art Shapes Understandings of Maintenance
(2025-03) Gulari, Nil; Dziuba, Anna; Huopalainen, Astrid
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
This paper proposes an alternative feminist understanding of maintenance by investigating the artistic practices and lived experiences of feminist artist Mierle Laderman Ukeles (b. 1939). Our main theoretical and empirical focus lies on maintenance, and we show how art and motherhood as productive connection points proffer different ways of perceiving, understanding, and practicing maintenance. By contextualizing our case within the historical backdrop of New York between the late 1960s and 1980s, we demonstrate how Ukeles’s maintenance art proposes novel ways of perceiving the value of maintenance, from the maintenance performed by mothers to considerations of the broader societal implications of maintenance. Such alternative political understanding aligns with critiques of postfeminist societal discourse. We contend that Ukeles’s art inspires a political shift in our thinking about maintenance, where maintenance is valued not solely for its indispensable and utilitarian attributes but also its relational, emotional, and embodied qualities. This nuanced understanding requests visibility for maintenance and foregrounds ‘more-than-I’, agency, and continuity of life, thereby acknowledging the inherent value of the political dimensions of maintenance.
Rapid Urbanization and Infrastructure Pressure : Comparing the Sustainability Transition Potential of Water and Energy Regimes in Namibia
(2020-09) Savela, Nina; Levänen, Jarkko; Lindeman, Sara; Kgabi, Nnenesi; Koivisto, Heikki; Olenius, Meri; John, Samuel; Mashauri, Damas; Keinänen-Toivola, Minna M.
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
This article presents a comparative study of the urban water and energy sectors in the coastal city of Walvis Bay in Namibia, where the rapid urbanization places pressure on public infrastructure development. A multidata approach is used to study the ability of the energy and water sectors to adapt to this pressure. Theoretically, the analysis is guided by the systems transition framework. A comparison between the two regimes is made on four dimensions: (1) regime dynamics, (2) level of complexity, (3) level of coordination, and (4) multiplicity of perceptions. The energy regime was found to be more capable of transitioning towards more sustainable practices due to better outcomes in multi-stakeholder engagement, a higher level of transparency, and differing landscape and niche development. The energy regime is also more open for new service providers. The water regime, on the other hand, suffers from overlapping roles and practices as well as non-existent monitoring authorities, which together negatively affect the regime’s transition potential. Both regimes suffer from lack of funding and weak institutional capacities. In conclusion, the transition potential of the studied regimes is found to increase when cross-sectoral governance is strengthened.
Does high involvement management make you work longer? Insights from linked survey and register data
(2025-03) Böckerman, Petri; Bryson, Alex; Ilmakunnas, Ilari; Ilmakunnas, Pekka
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Management practices that employers implement can influence the utility that workers derive from their jobs significantly, potentially impacting their retirement decisions. Our study is among the first to investigate the effects of different combinations of high involvement management practices on workers’ retirement intentions. By analysing linked survey and register data, we find that information sharing and employer-provided training together, or both combined with teamwork lead to later expected retirement ages among those who are near the official retirement age in Finland.
Qualitative Restudies : Research Designs for Retheorizing
(2025-01) Köhler, Tine; Rumyantseva, Maria; Welch, Catherine
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
Qualitative research methods are deemed best suited to exploring novel phenomena and generating new concepts. Their potential to reevaluate existing theorizing, however, is underestimated. Qualitative restudies that return to the data and settings on which the original theories were built are a well-established tradition in other disciplines (e.g., history, sociology, and anthropology), but have received little recognition in management and organization studies. We introduce qualitative restudies as a powerful means to improve theorizing by revising or challenging theories that have become outdated or obsolete and establishing transferability and longevity of findings and interpretations. We provide a typology of qualitative restudy designs drawing on an integrative review of literature in management, strategy, and the social sciences and humanities. We highlight the main design and ethical considerations for researchers in undertaking a restudy. We argue for the strengths of restudies as lying in their possibilities for retheorizing, above and beyond verifying or updating prior studies. Restudies draw on the strengths of in-depth qualitative work to uncover how interpretations and theorizing are shaped by methodological traditions, historical contexts, existing societal structures, and researcher backgrounds.
Gradual learning from incremental actions
(2025-01) Laiho, Tuomas; Murto, Pauli; Salmi, Julia
A1 Alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä aikakauslehdessä
We introduce a collective experimentation problem where a continuum of agents choose the timing of irreversible actions under uncertainty and where public feedback from the actions arrives gradually over time. The leading application is the adoption of new technologies. The socially optimal expansion path entails an informational trade-off where acting today speeds up learning but postponing capitalizes on the option value of waiting. We contrast the social optimum to the decentralized equilibrium where agents ignore the social value of information they generate. We show that the equilibrium can be obtained by assuming that agents ignore the future actions of other agents, which lets us recast the complicated two-dimensional problem as a series of one-dimensional problems.
Global boundary spanners
(2024-02-29) Barner-Rasmussen, Wilhelm; Mäkelä, Kristiina
Entry for encyclopedia / dictionary

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