Kaiserslautern - Fachbereich Wirtschaftswissenschaften
Refine
Year of publication
Document Type
- Doctoral Thesis (19)
- Article (12)
- Working Paper (2)
- Part of a Book (1)
- Other (1)
- Preprint (1)
Language
- English (36) (remove)
Has Fulltext
- yes (36)
Keywords
- Accountability (1)
- Actor Engagement (1)
- Actor Roles (1)
- Analogy (1)
- Business Model Innovation (1)
- Business Sustainability (1)
- Controlling (1)
- Coordination (1)
- Corporate Environmental Report (CER) (1)
- David Hume (1)
Faculty / Organisational entity
The aim of this dissertation is to explain processes in recruitment by gaining a better understanding of how perceptions evolve and how recruitment outcomes and perceptions are influenced. To do so, this dissertation takes a closer look at the formation of fit perceptions, the effects of top employer awards on pre-hire recruitment outcomes, and on how perceptions about external sources are influenced.
This thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter one elaborates on the principle of cognitive consistency and provides an overview of what extant research refers to as cognitive consistency theories (e.g., Abelson et al., 1968; Harmon-Jones & Harmon-Jones, 2007; Simon, Stenstrom, & Read, 2015). Moreover, it describes the most prominent theoretical representatives in this context, namely balance theory (Heider, 1946, 1958), congruity theory (Osgood & Tannenbaum, 1955), and cognitive dissonance theory (Festinger, 1957). Chapter one further outlines the role of individuals’ preference for cognitive consistency in the context of financial resource acquisition, the recruitment of employees and the acquisition of customers in the entrepreneurial context.
Chapter two is co-authored by Prof. Dr. Matthias Baum and presents two separate studies in which we empirically investigate the hypothesis that social entrepreneurs face a systematic disadvantage, compared to for-profit entrepreneurs, when seeking to acquire financial resources. Further, our work goes beyond existing research by introducing biased perceptions as a factor that may constrain social enterprise resource acquisition and therefore possibly stall the process of social value creation. On the foundation of role congruity theory (Eagly & Karau, 2002), we emphasize on the question whether social entrepreneurs provide signals which are less congruent with the stereotype of successful entrepreneurs and, in such, are perceived as less competent. We further test whether such biased competency perceptions feed forward into a lower probability to receive funding.
Chapter three is also co-authored by Prof. Dr. Matthias Baum as well as by Eva Henrich. The aim of this chapter is to further our understanding of the early recruitment phase and to contribute to the current debate about how firms should orchestrate their recruitment channels in order to enhance the creation of employer knowledge. We introduce the concept of integrated marketing communication into the recruitment field and examine how the level of consistency regarding job or organization information affects the recall and the recognition of that information. We additionally test whether information consistency among multiple recruitment channels influences information recognition failure quota. Answering this question is important as by failing to remember the source of recruitment information, job seekers may attribute job information to the wrong firm and thus create an incorrect employer knowledge.
Chapter four, which is co-authored by Prof. Dr. Matthias Baum, introduces customer congruity perceptions between a brand and a reward in the context of customer referral programs as an essential driver of the effectiveness of such programs. More precisely, we posit and empirically test a model according to which the decision-making process of the customer recommending a firm involves multiple mental steps and assumes reward perceptions to be an immediate antecedent of brand evaluation, which then, ultimately shapes the likelihood of recommendation. The level of congruity/incongruity is set up as an antecedent state and affects the perceived attractiveness of the reward. Our work contributes to the discussion on the optimal level of congruity between a prevailing schema in the mind of the customer and a stimulus presented. In addition, chapter four introduces customer referral programs as a strategic tool for brand managers. Chapter four is further published in Psychology & Marketing.
Chapter five first proposes that marketing strategies specifically designed to induce word-of-mouth (WOM) behavior are particular relevant for new ventures. Against the background that previous research suggests that customer perceptions of young firm age may influence customer behavior and the degree to which customers support new ventures (e.g., Choi & Shepherd, 2005; Stinchcombe, 1965), we secondly conduct an experiment to examine the causal mechanisms linking firm age and customer WOM. Chapter five, too, is co-authored by Prof. Dr. Matthias Baum.
This thesis aims to examine various determinants of perceived team diversity on the on hand, and, on the other hand, the individual consequences of perceived team diversity. To ensure a strong theoretical foundation, I integrate and discuss different conceptualizations of and theoretical approaches to team diversity, empirically examined in three independent studies. The first study investigates the relationship between objective team diversity and perceived team diversity, and as moderators individual attitudes toward diversity and perception of one’s own work team’s diversity. The second study answers the questions of why and when dirty-task frequency impairs employees’ work relations and the third study examines how different cognitive mechanisms mediate the relationships between employees’ perceptions of different types of subgroups and their elaboration of information and perspectives. Taken together, study results provide support for the selection-extraction-application model of people perception and the assumption that individuals can integrate objective team characteristics into their mental representation of teams, using them to judging the team. Moreover, results show that a fit between perceived supervisor support and perceived organizational value of diversity can buffer the effects of dirty-task frequency on perception of identity-based subgroups, as well as perceived relationship conflict and surface acting, through employees’ perceptions of identity-based subgroups. Also, perceived social-identity threat and perceived procedural fairness but not perceived distributive fairness and perceived transactive memory systems serve as cognitive mechanisms of the relationships between employees’ perceptions of different types of subgroups and their elaboration of information and perspectives. These results contribute to diversity literature, such as the theory of subgroups in work teams and the categorization-elaboration model. In addition, I propose the input-mediator-output-input model of perceived team diversity, based on the study results, and recommend practitioners to develop diversity mindsets in teams.
To foster sustainability pursuits, regulation by state-imposed legislation is often crucial, but self-regulation by corporations, associations, and other non-state actors increasingly exerts pressures
and provides incentives for sustainable practices. In order to shed more light on the complex interplay among sustainability regulations and self-regulation, this study focused on a highly regulated field:
the German wine industry. Using a social network analysis, this study identified the most central actors (e.g., associations, regulatory institutions) that need to be addressed in order to ensure the
enforcement of sustainability. By analyzing 15 semi-structured interviews with the key actors, we outlined their understanding of sustainability, and classified three distinctive governance patterns.
These mixed methods and in-depth analyses revealed that self-regulation by associations plays a crucial role in terms of enhancing sustainability, but regulation remains an important trigger in this
context. This article concludes with some lessons for regulation and self-regulation policies that can ensure sustainability within an organizational field.
Economics of Downside Risk
(2019)
Ever since establishment of portfolio selection theory by Markowitz (1952), the use of Standard deviation as a measure of risk has heavily been criticized. The aim of this thesis is to refine classical portfolio selection and asset pricing theory by using a downside deviation risk measure. It is defined as below-target semideviation and referred to as downside risk.
Downside efficient portfolios maximize expected payoff given a prescribed upper bound for downside risk and, thus, are analogs to mean-variance efficient portfolios in the sense of Markowitz. The present thesis provides an alternative proof of existence of downside efficient portfolios and identifies a sufficient criterion for their uniqueness. A specific representation of their form brings structural similarity to mean-variance efficient portfolios to light. Eventually, a separation theorem for the existence and uniqueness of portfolios that maximize the trade-off between downside risk and return is established.
The notion of a downside risk asset market equilibrium (DRAME) in an asset market with finitely many investors is introduced. This thesis addresses the existence and uniqueness Problem of such equilibria and specifies a DRAME pricing formula. In contrast to prices obtained from the mean-variance CAPM pricing formula, DRAME prices are arbitrage-free and strictly positive.
The final part of this thesis addresses practical issues. An algorithm that allows for an effective computation of downside efficient portfolios from simulated or historical financial data is outlined. In a simulation study, it is revealed in which scenarios downside efficient portfolios
outperform mean-variance efficient portfolios.
In an overall effort to contribute to the steadily expanding EO literature, this cumulative dissertation aims to help the literature to advance with greater clarity, comprehensive modeling, and more robust research designs. To achieve this, the first paper of this dissertation focuses on the consistency and coherence in variable choices and modeling considerations by conducting a systematic quantitative review of the EO-performance literature. Drawing on the plethora of previous EO studies, the second paper employs a comprehensive meta-analytic structural equation modeling approach (MASEM) to explore the potential for unique component-level relationships among EO’s three core dimensions in antecedent to outcome relationships. The third paper draws on these component-level insights and performs a finer-grained replication of the seminal MASEM of Rosenbusch, Rauch, and Bausch (2013) that proposes EO as a full mediator between the task environment and firm performance. The fourth and final paper of this cumulative dissertation illustrates exigent endogeneity concerns inherent in observational EO-performance research and provides guidance on how researchers can move towards establishing causal relationships.
Capital budgeting or investment decisions have an essential influence on companies’ performance. Instead of a rational choice, capital budgeting might be regarded as a process of reality construction. Research suggests that decision makers have only limited control over their own cognitive biases in this construction process. It is in this perspective that this paper intends to answer the following research question: What are behavioral determinants for a successful capital-budgeting decision process? The authors identify and discuss three behavioral success factors (reflective prudence, critical communication and outcome independence) for five stages of the capital budgeting process against the backdrop of the findings of the managerial and organizational cognition theory and cognitive psychology.
This thesis addresses challenges faced by small package shipping companies and investigates the integration of 1) service consistency and driver knowledge aspects and 2) the utilization of electric vehicles into the route planning of small package shippers. We use Operations Research models and solution methods to gain insights into the newly arising problems and thus support managerial decisions concerning these issues.