The KLU faculty, post-docs, and PhD candidates regularly publish the results of their research in scientific journals. You will find a complete overview of all KLU publications below (e.g. articles in peer-reviewed journals, professional journals, books, working papers, and conference proceedings). Search for relevant terms and keywords, or filter the list by name, year of publication or type of publication. The references include DOIs and abstracts where available, and you can download them to your own reference database or platform. We regularly update the database with new publications.
Journal Articles (Peer-Reviewed)
(In press): EXPRESS: Equity in Health and Humanitarian Logistics: a People-Centered Perspective, Production & Operations Management: .
Abstract: Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) are at the core of present-day health and humanitarian logistics. Aid organizations advocate inclusive people-centered approaches to ensure that affected communities receive appropriate aid in an effective and equitable way. Tensions and even conflicts can arise if affected communities perceive the distribution of aid as inequitable. These perceptions are driven by people’s so-called distributional preferences. These preferences are shaped by culture, social bonds, and experiences, and they describe how an individual’s well-being and behavior are impacted by potential inequalities. Their importance is increasingly recognized by aid organizations, but research on equity in health and humanitarian logistics remains focused on equal access and prioritizing needs. Using current examples from the Syrian and Rohingya refugee crises, we show the importance of recognizing and managing distributional preferences. Based on these examples and in line with DEI principles, we discuss several ways that we, as the operations community, can help conceptualize inclusive and people-centered approaches that account for distributional preferences.
(In Press): Diversity and inclusion under pressure: Building relational resilience into humanitarian operations, Production and Operations Management: .
Abstract: In this essay, our analysis takes important insights on diversity and inclusion from the behavioral literature but critically contextualizes them against the reality of humanitarian operations. Humanitarian operations are characterized by system immanent diversity, particularly between local and expatriate aid workers, who not only bring valuable different perspectives to the table but also differ along multiple dimensions of diversity into a so-called diversity faultline. Such a faultline, however, provides fertile ground for continued conflict resulting in relational fractures and, ultimately, inefficient collaboration. While, in theory, inclusion could help overcome the negative effects of faultlines, in practice, the time pressure for humanitarian organizations to quickly respond to disasters makes it effectively impossible to engage in it. Against this background, we argue, humanitarian organizations should take preemptive action before disaster strikes. Specifically, we posit that the pre-disaster phase presents an opportunity to engage in inclusion in order to cultivate relational resilience between local and expatriate aid workers. Such resilience would enable them to not only better weather the inevitable relational fractures during a disaster response (and thus stay more functional throughout), but also quickly realign with each other in the post-disaster phase. We conclude with a set of concrete recommendations for practicing inclusion in the pre-disaster phase.
(In press): Business Model Innovation for Ambulance Systems in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: “Coordination and Competition”, Production & Operations Management: .
Abstract: Several low- and middle-income countries’ emergency transportation systems (ETSs) do not have a centralized emergency number. Instead, they have many independent ambulance providers, each with a small number of ambulances. As a result, ETSs in these contexts lack coordination and ambulances. Using a free-entry equilibrium model, we show that in such decentralized systems, the probability that any given call can be served by at least one ambulance, that is, its coverage, is at most 71.54%, regardless of the ETS’s profitability. We examine three business models that can address the ETS’s lack of coordination and ambulances: (i) a competitor-only business model, where an entrepreneur enters the ETS and acquires ambulances to compete with existing providers; (ii) a platform business model, where an entrepreneur coordinates existing providers; and (iii) an innovative platform-plus business model, where an entrepreneur combines (i) and (ii): setting-up a platform and acquiring platform-owned ambulances. We also examine a government-run platform that takes no commissions from providers. Using a game-theoretic approach, we find that it is optimal for all platform models to incentivize all providers to join. However, only the government-run platform may incentivize providers to acquire additional ambulances. Furthermore, a government-run platform offers higher coverage than a platform-plus only when the platform’s power to coordinate ambulance providers is moderate. Our results can help entrepreneurs and policymakers in LMICs navigate various tradeoffs in improving their countries’ ETS.
(In Press): How Identity Impacts Bystander Responses to Workplace Mistreatment, Journal of Management: .
Abstract: Integrating a social identity approach with Cortina's (2008) theorizing about selective incivility as modern discrimination, we examine how identification—with an organization, with one's gender, and as a feminist—shapes bystanders’ interpretations and responses to witnessed incivility (i.e., interpersonal acts of disrespect) and selective incivility (i.e., incivility motivated by targets’ social group membership) toward women at work. We propose that bystanders with stronger organizational identification are less likely to perceive incivility toward female colleagues as discrimination and intervene, but female bystanders with stronger gender identification are more likely to do so. Results from two-wave field data in a cross-lagged panel design (Study 1, N = 336) showed that organizational identification negatively predicted observed selective incivility 1 year later but revealed no evidence of an effect of female bystanders’ gender identification. We replicated and extended these results with a vignette experiment (Study 2, N = 410) and an experimental recall study (Study 3, N = 504). Findings revealed a “dark side” of organizational identification: strongly identified bystanders were less likely to perceive incivility as discrimination, but there were again no effects of women's gender identification. Study 3 also showed that bystander feminist identification increased intervention via perceived discrimination. These results raise doubts that female bystanders are more sensitive to recognizing other women's mistreatment as discrimination, but more strongly identified feminists (male or female) were more likely to intervene. Although strongly organizationally identified bystanders were more likely to overlook women's mistreatment, they were also more likely to intervene once discrimination was apparent.
(In Press): Does CEO extraversion pay off when in need? Evidence from the global financial crisis, The British Accounting Review: .
Abstract: We examine the effect of CEO extraversion on corporate performance during the Global Financial Crisis (GFC). Contrary to the expectation that extraverted CEOs should shield firms better from GFC adversities, we document that the extraversion characteristic of CEOs places a significant, though negative, effect on corporate performance during the financial crisis. Our findings are robust to controlling for other CEO personality traits. We also perform a battery of robustness tests and validate the underperformance of firms with extraverted CEOs during the GFC using stock returns and measures of operating performance. We argue that because extraverted CEOs are associated with heightened firm risk profile, this can hurt firms when the market disciplines excessive risk-taking during the crisis.
(In Press): Comparative Configurational Process Analysis: A New Set-Theoretic Technique for Longitudinal Case Analysis, Organizational Research Methods: .
Abstract: In the past 20 years, researchers have significantly advanced various management fields by examining organizational phenomena through a configurational lens, including competitive strategies, corporate governance mechanisms, and innovation systems. Qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) has emerged as a primary method for empirically investigating organizational configurations. However, QCA has traditionally struggled to capture the temporal aspects of configurational phenomena. In this paper, we present configurational comparative process analysis (C2PA), which merges QCA with sequence analysis. We introduce the concept of configurational themes—recognizable temporal patterns of recurring combinations of explanatory conditions—to identify and track the temporal dynamics among these phenomena. We also outline configurational matching—a method for empirically identifying these themes by distinguishing theme-defining from theme-supporting conditions. C2PA allows researchers to explore the temporal dynamics of configurational phenomena, such as their stability, emergence, and decline at critical junctures. We illustrate the application of C2PA through a study of shareholder value orientation and discuss its potential for addressing key questions in management research.
(In press): “I Just Don’t Fit There!” Anticipated Cultural Mismatch and Social Disparities in Students’ Intention to Enter Higher Education, Social Psychological and Personality Science: .
Abstract: Despite political and societal efforts to reduce social inequality in education, students from nonacademic households (no parent holds a university degree) are less likely to enter higher education than their peers from academic households. Drawing on Cultural Mismatch Theory, we tested whether social disparities in enrollment intentions are related to students’ anticipated mismatch between their self-construal and expected higher education culture. Experimental data (N = 264) revealed a corresponding mismatch effect between students’ self-construal and expected culture on their anticipated fit in a higher education program. In addition, field data (N = 574) from upper secondary school students revealed that students from nonacademic households more strongly anticipate a mismatch and, in turn, have a lower intention to enter higher education. Corroborating our theorizing, these social disparities are contingent on the expected culture in higher education. These findings highlight the role of students’ self-construal and anticipated fit for higher education enrollment.
(2024): Studying complex causal processes in technological innovation and entrepreneurship with set-theoretic mediation models, Technovation, 134 (6): 103015.
Abstract: Researchers often turn to linear mediation models to understand the complex causal processes inherent within innovation and entrepreneurship phenomena. However, these models are not always the most appropriate methods for increasing our understanding of these phenomena. This is because linear models depend on the principle of reductionism – which separates causal processes into their independent components – and overlooks systemwide attributes. To advance research findings that do not adequately address complex causal processes, we advocate using set-theoretic mediation models that offer analytical features better suited for holistically uncovering interdependent and intervening pathways. This method enables investigating complex causal processes associated with the conjunction, equifinality, and asymmetry that can occur with multiple interdependent variables. We provide researchers with practical guidance on constructing and testing set-theoretic mediation models using widely available software while demonstrating these procedures with an illustrative analysis. In doing so, we seek to guide researchers interested in integrating these models into their studies and recommend best practices for implementation. We argue that set-theoretic meditation models can be utilized in various contexts, as they offer new research opportunities for exploring unified necessity and sufficiency relational systems in ways existing methods have yet to address.
(2024): Automatically identifying customer needs in user-generated content using token classification, Decision Support Systems, 178: 1-11.
Abstract: Users generate tremendous amounts of data on the Internet every day. This so-called user-generated content (UGC) is valuable input for organizations since it may include individual experiences, opinions, and desires with respect to the products and services they offer. To automatically process UGC, automated techniques, typically referred to as Needmining, have been developed. Existing Needmining approaches extract customer needs from UGC by binarily classifying unstructured textual data into need-content and no-need content. However, they are not able to extract the specific needs. We address this research gap by developing a decision support artifact that re-conceptualizes Needmining from a binary classification problem to a token-classification problem to extract specific needs from informative content. To achieve this, we break down customer needs into components, i.e. attributes and characteristics and develop a token classification artifact. The artifact accurately identifies the need-components and, therefore, can identify specific customer needs in user-generated content. We organize and discuss the value of the artifact's output and further enrich the model with sentiment data to distinguish relevant needs. If applied, the artifact can realize efficiency gains for decisionmakers in the field of product development as it automatically and quickly identifies relevant consumer needs.
(2024): Understanding customers’ choice for digital D2C versus multi-brand operations, Journal of Retailing, 100 (2): .
Abstract: In recent years, the emergence of highly successful digital multi-brand retailers has facilitated an omnichannel distribution strategy to become the norm for brands. Rather than relying solely on these multi-brand retailers, it is necessary for companies’ omnichannel strategy to establish strong brand-owned direct-to-consumer (D2C) webstores. To help D2C brands make decisions regarding distribution channel choices, this paper investigates the circumstances under which customers prefer brands’ D2C webstores over digital multi-brand retailers and how these circumstances vary across phases of the customer journey. The results from an extensive experimental study demonstrate that, depending on the customer journey, brands’ D2C webstores can compete with digital multi-brand retailers, particularly in product categories characterized by deep assortments, the need for extensive product information, exclusive products, or a high degree of personalization.
(2024): When necessity is the mother of disruption: Users versus producers as sources of disruptive innovation, Journal of Product Innovation Management, 41 (1): 62-85.
Abstract: This study investigates the sources of disruptive innovation. The disruptive innovation literature suggests that these do not originate from existing customers, in contrast to what is predicted by the user innovation literature. We compile a unique content-analytical dataset based on 60 innovations identified as disruptive by the disruptive innovation literature. Using multinomial and binomial regression, we find that 43% of the sample disruptive innovations were originally developed by users. Disruptive innovations are more likely to originate from users (producers) if the environment has high turbulence in customer preferences (technology). Disruptive innovations that involve high functional (technological) novelty tend to be developed by users (producers). Users are also more likely to be the source of disruptive process innovations and to innovate in environments with weaker appropriability. Our article forges new links between the disruptive and the user innovation literatures, and offers guidance to managers on the likely source of disruptive threats.
(2024): A network design problem for upgrading decentrally produced biogas into biomethane, Journal of Cleaner Production, 452 (5): 1-15.
Abstract: In this paper, we explore the possibility of connecting decentralized biogas plants via a pipeline network to terminals that upgrade biogas into biomethane. We present a mixed-integer linear program that forms subnetworks of such plants, decides on suitable terminal locations, and establishes pipeline connections to maximize profit. We apply this model to a real-world scenario in Northern Germany. The results show a much higher total profit for the optimized network compared to the benchmark solutions where each plant upgrades biogas into biomethane on its own. Therefore, plants can increase their profitability by collaborating with other (neighboring) plants. However, the collaboration requires a fair profit-sharing model as network participation is not individually profitable for all plants, especially small ones.
(2024): Does bigger still mean better? How digital transformation affects the market share–profitability relationship, International Journal of Research in Marketing: .
Abstract: Extensive research has examined the effect of market share on profitability and, in general, has found a significantly positive relationship between the two metrics. However, this article demonstrates that the digital transformation of companies has substantially altered this relationship and its underlying mechanisms. The authors first theoretically develop the different influences of digital transformation on the traditional market share–profitability framework. Subsequently, they estimate a firm–profitability model based on a sample of 6,389 observations from 824 U.S. firms over 25 years that accounts for companies’ degree of digital transformation by text mining their financial statements using a self-developed and validated dictionary. The authors find a significantly negative interaction between the degree of digital transformation of a company and the impact of market share on profitability. However, they also show that this effect is moderated by i) a firm’s digital transformation emphasis (i.e., digital transformation of internal vs. external processes; digital transformation through platformization), ii) a firm’s general strategic emphasis (value appropriation relative to value creation), and iii) a firm’s general market environment (B2C versus B2B). The findings suggest that managers and investors of digital companies should exercise caution when relying on market share as a metric for performance.
(2024): Availability of essential, generic medicines before and during COVID-19 at selected public pharmaceutical supply agencies in Ethiopia: a comparative cross-sectional study, BMJ open, 14 (3): .
Abstract: OBJECTIVES Lockdowns and border closures impacted medicine availability during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess the availability of essential, generic medicines for chronic diseases at public pharmaceutical supply agencies in Ethiopia. DESIGN Comparative cross-sectional study. SETTING The availability of essential, generic medicines for chronic diseases was assessed at two public pharmaceutical supply agency hubs. PARTICIPANTS The current study included public supply agency hub managers, warehouse managers and forecasting officers at the study setting. OUTCOMES The assessment encompassed the availability of chronic medicines on the day of data collection, as well as records spanning 8 months before the outbreak and 1 year during the pandemic. A total of 22 medicines were selected based on their inclusion in the national essential drug list for public health facilities, including 17 medicines for cardiovascular disease and 5 for diabetes mellitus. RESULTS The results of the study indicate that the mean availability of the selected basket medicines was 43.3% (95% CI: 37.1 to 49.5) during COVID-19, which was significantly lower than the availability of 67.4% (95% CI: 62.2 to 72.6) before the outbreak (p<0.001). Prior to COVID-19, the overall average line-item fill rate for the selected products was 78%, but it dropped to 49% during the pandemic. Furthermore, the mean number of days out of stock per month was 11.7 (95% CI: 9.9 to 13.5) before the outbreak of COVID-19, which significantly increased to 15.7 (95% CI: 13.2 to 18.2) during the pandemic, indicating a statistically significant difference (p<0.001). Although the prices for some drugs remained relatively stable, there were significant price hikes for some products. For example, the unit price of insulin increased by more than 130%. CONCLUSION The COVID-19 pandemic worsened the availability of essential chronic medicines, including higher rates of stockouts and unit price hikes for some products in the study setting. The study's findings imply that the COVID-19 pandemic has aggravated already-existing medicine availability issues. Efforts should be made to develop contingency plans and establish mechanisms to monitor medicine availability and pricing during such crises.
(2023): Supply chain risk management strategies in normal and abnormal times: policymakers' role in reducing generic medicine shortages, International Journal of Physical Distribution & Logistics Management, 53 (2): 206-230.
Abstract: Purpose This paper links supply chain risk management to medicine supply chains to explore the role of policymakers in employing supply chain risk management strategies (SCRMS) to reduce generic medicine shortages. Design/methodology/approach Using secondary data supplemented with primary data, the authors map and compare seven countries' SCRMS for handling shortage risks in their paracetamol supply chains before and during the first two waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. Findings Consistent with recent research, the study finds that policymakers had implemented few SCRMS specifically for responding to disruptions caused by COVID-19. However, shortages were largely avoided since multiple strategies for coping with business-as-usual disruptions had been implemented prior to the pandemic. The authors did find that SCRMS implemented during COVID-19 were not always aligned with those implemented pre-pandemic. The authors also found that policymakers played both direct and indirect roles. Research limitations/implications Combining longitudinal secondary data with interviews sheds light on how, regardless of the level of preparedness during normal times, SCRMS can be leveraged to avert shortages in abnormal times. However, the problem is highly complex, which warrants further research. Practical implications Supply chain professionals and policymakers in the healthcare sector can use the findings when developing preparedness and response plans. Social implications The insights developed can help policymakers improve the availability of high-volume generic medicines in (ab)normal times. Originality/value The authors contribute to prior SCRM research in two ways. First, the authors operationalize SCRMS in the medicine supply chain context in (ab)normal times, thereby opening avenues for future research on SCRM in this context. Second, the authors develop insights on the role policymakers play and how they directly implement and indirectly influence the adoption of SCRMS. Based on the study findings, the authors develop a framework that captures the diverse roles of policymakers in SCRM.
(2023): Digital transformation in operations management: Fundamental change through agency reversal, Journal of Operations Management, 69 (6): 876-889.
Abstract: The emergence of digital technologies across all aspects of operations management has enabled shifts in decision making, shaping new operational dynamics and business opportunities. The associated scholarly discussions in information systems and operations management span digital manufacturing, the digitalization of operations management and supply chain management, platform outcomes, and economies of collaboration. For such changes to be successful, however, there is a need for organizations to go beyond the mere adoption of digital technologies. Instead, successful changes are transformational, delving into digital transformation endeavors, which in turn can enable operational improvements in organizational performance, lead to structural changes in operations processes, and may result in new business models being deployed. Our aim here, thus, is to provide an epistemic platform to advance our understanding of how such endeavors, including the adoption of digital technologies, business model innovations, and innovations in collaboration mechanisms and methods of operations improvement, can affect various aspects of operations management.
(2023): Data, analytical techniques and collaboration between researchers and practitioners in humanitarian health supply chains: a challenging but necessary way forward, Journal of Humanitarian Logistics and Supply Chain Management, 13 (3): 237-248.
Abstract: This paper aims to provide a discussion on the interface and interactions between data, analytical techniques and impactful research in humanitarian health supply chains. New techniques for data capturing, processing and analytics, such as big data, blockchain technology and artificial intelligence, are increasingly put forward as potential “game changers” in the humanitarian field. Yet while they have potential to improve data analytics in the future, larger data sets and quantification per se are no “silver bullet” for complex and wicked problems in humanitarian health settings. Humanitarian health supply chains provide health care and medical aid to the most vulnerable in development and disaster relief settings alike. Unlike commercial supply chains, they often lack resources and long-term collaborations to enable learning from the past and to improve further.
(2023): The importance of resource interaction in strategies for managing supply chain disruptions, Journal of Business Research, 154 (1): 1-10.
Abstract: The turbulent business environment highlights the need for strategies for mitigating, responding to, and recovering from (that is, managing) supply chain disruptions. Resources are central in these strategies but remain unspecified in the literature. This paper shows how the resource interaction approach (RIA) can help understanding resources in this setting by acknowledging their interactive and networked nature. Based on a conceptual discussion that compares key assumptions within the supply chain risk management (SCRM) and supply chain risk resilience (SCRes) literatures with the RIA, we propose an alternative approach to strategies for managing supply chain disruptions. We challenge the SCRM and SCRes literatures by emphasizing interdependence (as opposed to independence) and pointing to relationships as key resources in strategies for managing supply chain disruptions. Collaboration relying on an interplay between temporary and permanent organizing is suggested as a starting point instead of being just one of several alternative strategies.
(2023): Board cultural diversity and firm performance under competitive pressures, Financial Review, 59 (1): 89-111.
Abstract: We examine the impact of board cultural diversity, based on directors' ancestry, on firm performance conditional on product market competition. We argue that culturally diverse boards foster critical thinking and offer creative solutions that help firms thrive in competitive environments. We document that culturally diverse boards are associated with superior performance for firms operating in highly competitive industries. To address potential endogeneity issues, we use a quasi-natural experiment of the U.S. import tariff cuts. The positive impact of board cultural diversity on firm performance in competitive markets manifests itself in firms that innovate more, require creative inputs, and face heightened predation risk due to their high interdependence with industry rivals, in line with culturally diverse boards effectively performing their advisory role. Lastly, we find no evidence that board cultural diversity is associated with enhanced monitoring as its benefits fade in the presence of powerful CEOs.
(2023): Adherence to standard operating procedures for improving data quality: An empirical analysis in the postal service industry, Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review, 176: .
Abstract: Complete and accurate data is an important enabler of effective supply chain decision making. Despite the increasing efforts to fully automate data collection processes using advanced sensors and scanners, human operators are still in charge of data entry tasks in most industries. Unfortunately, operators do not often comply with the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and do not always exhibit the consistency and commitment required to collect high-quality data. In fact, data collection is often perceived as a non-value-adding activity that increases workloads and lowers productivity. We aim to empirically study the extent to which compliance with SOPs for data collection is affected by some of the key factors. Using a large dataset obtained from a leading postal service provider in Australia, we find that an operator’s workload, fatigue, and related work experience directly impact the compliance levels. We also find that a company’s compliance reinforcement intervention to improve compliance behavior can moderate these impacts.
(2023): Leadership science beyond questionnaires, The Leadership Quarterly, 34 (6): 1-9.
Abstract: Our field has lost its way. Leadership is what people do in order to influence others so that the others can and will contribute to the objectives of the collective. And yet, when looking at recent leadership research, the “what people do” – the behavioral elements as shown in true actions and choices – are almost completely absent. They have been replaced by evaluative surveys that tend to have tenuous links to reality and correspondingly limited policy implications. If our discipline is to advance as a science and achieve impact, we need to move beyond the ritualized use of questionnaires and become true behavioral scientists, with behaviors as the fundamental units of our understanding. Against this background, in this editorial we discuss the theoretical, operational, and empirical limitations of questionnaires for studying leadership. We then highlight examples of how researchers can better measure leadership as behaviors, as well as antecedents and consequences of those behaviors. We synthesize the discussion and offer concrete recommendations to help our discipline become what it is supposed to be: A science that people look to in order to find actionable guidance for improving their leadership.
(2023): On the Drivers of Drug Shortages: Empirical Evidence from Germany, SSRN Electronic Journal: .
Abstract: Purpose - Disruptions and shortages of drugs have become severe problems in recent years, which has triggered strong media and public interest in the topic. However, little is known about the factors that can be associated with the increased frequency of shortages. In this paper, we analyze the drivers of drug shortages using empirical data for Germany, the fourth largest pharmaceutical market. Design/methodology/approach - We use a dataset provided by the German Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (Bundesinstitut für Arzneimittel und Medizinprodukte [BfArM]) with 425 reported shortages for drug substances (DSs) in the 24-month period between May 2017 and April 2019 and enrich the data with information from additional sources. Using logistic and negative binomial regression models, we analyze the impact of (1) market characteristics, (2) drug substance characteristics and (3) regulatory characteristics on the likelihood of a shortage. Findings - We find that factors like market concentration, patent situation, manufacturing processes or dosage form are significantly associated with the odds of a shortage. We discuss the implications of these findings to reduce the frequency and severity of shortages. Originality/value – We contribute to the empirical research on drug shortages by analyzing the impact of market characteristics, DS characteristics and regulatory characteristics on the reported shortages. Our analysis provides a starting point for better prioritizing efforts to strengthen drug supply as it is currently intensely discussed by healthcare authorities.
(2023): Sourcing and pricing decisions under upstream competition with a financially distressed supplier, endogenous bankcruptcy risk, and a backup supply option, Production and Operations Management, 32 (8): 2475-2490.
Abstract: To maintain future supplier competition, manufacturers may support financially distressed suppliers by sourcing from them, even if they are less efficient than competitors, and by procuring larger quantities from them at higher prices. We analyze these strategies in a model in which a manufacturer decides for one of two available suppliers, supplier bankruptcy risk is endogenous, and financial distress can lead to internal or external reorganization. Following bankruptcy, the remaining supplier may serve as a backup option. Our research identifies settings in which the manufacturer should support the distressed supplier. We also find that in some cases, a nondistressed supplier may charge price premiums due to its competitor's distress, while in other cases, it may use predatory pricing to drive its competitor into bankruptcy. We complement our results with a small case study and show how our model can explain patterns observed in industry.
(2023): Friend or Fiend? Disentangling Upward Humor's (De)Stabilizing Effects on Hierarchies, Current Opinion in Psychology, 53: .
Abstract: Humor research in organizations focuses on leaders’ humor, but we know far less about followers’ humor. Here, we review and synthesize the scattered work on this "upward humor," offering a novel framing of it as a strategy for followers to deal with hierarchies. We propose a continuum of upward humor from stabilizing (i.e., a friend who uses upward humor to reinforce hierarchies, make hierarchies more bearable or stable) to destabilizing (i.e., a fiend who uses upward humor to question or reshape existing hierarchies) depending on perceived intent (i.e., from benevolent to malicious, respectively) and outline key factors that shape these interpretations. We close with novel questions and methods for future research such as power plays, multi-modal data, and human-robot interactions.
(2023): Does familiarity with an idea bias its evaluation?, Plos one, 18 (7): .
Abstract: Although many organizations strive for radical or disruptive new ideas, many fall short of their goals. We propose that a primary reason for this failure is rooted in the individuals responsible for innovation: while they seek novel ideas, they prefer familiar ones. While prior research shows that individuals are biased against ideas with high objective novelty, it has overlooked the role of subjective novelty, i.e., the extent to which an idea is novel or unfamiliar to an individual idea evaluator. In this paper, we investigate how such subjective familiarity with an idea shapes idea evaluation in innovation. Drawing on research from psychology and marketing on the mere exposure effect, we argue that familiarity with an idea positively affects the evaluation’s outcome. We present two field studies and one laboratory study that support our hypothesis. This study contributes to the understanding of cognitive biases that affect innovation processes.