Business Administration - Research Publications
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ItemCoping with Multilingualism: Internationalization and the Evolution of Language Strategy(Wiley, 2019)Research Summary: In this article, we explore the interaction between internationalization and language strategy. We identify a range of language coping mechanisms that internationalizing firms use in response to the multilingualism they encounter. Learning outcomes and strategy implications of each of these mechanisms are identified. We then build a conceptual model to depict how, over time, interaction and influence between internationalization and language strategy become a two‐way, co‐evolutionary process. A key aspect is the role of management in shifting the firm from a reactive to a more proactive stance on language strategy. A case study is used to contextualize and illustrate the co‐evolutionary process over the long term. Case data demonstrate the constant adoption and adaptation of coping mechanisms that feed into language strategy as internationalization unfolds. Managerial Summary: This article links the internationalization process of firms with the exposure to multilingualism and the development of language strategy. We outline how internationalizing firms may utilize a range of language coping mechanisms—such as the adoption of a common corporate language—to handle multilingualism. These feed into the development of language strategy. The case of Fazer, the Finnish bakery, confectionary, and catering firm, provides an illustration of how language strategy co‐evolves over time as internationalization proceeds—in Fazer's case, many decades. Fazer's experience also demonstrates the importance of management and changes in top management in ensuring a more proactive language strategy is adopted and enforced. Adequate allocation of resources and a link to performance management were found to be critical in supporting strategic implementation.
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ItemTime series copulas for heteroskedastic data(WILEY, 2018-04-01)
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ItemCollective action and market formation: An integrative framework(WILEY, 2018-01-01)
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ItemWork-life support practices and customer satisfaction: The role of TMT composition and country culture(Wiley, 2018-01)Despite the growing prevalence of work-life support (WLS) practices in companies, there is a lack of theoretical and empirical clarity on their benefits to organizational performance. It is also unclear if the organizational performance effects of WLS practices vary based on an organization's internal and external environments. The dual objective of this paper is to investigate whether WLS practices relate to customer-focused outcomes and, if so, under which conditions WLS practices yield benefits. Drawing on contingency theory, we examine how the boundary conditions of internal firm characteristics (e.g., percentage of top management team [TMT] members with children) and external environmental factors (e.g., gender egalitarianism of the country) moderate the relationship between WLS practices and customer satisfaction. We shed light on these issues by examining multisource, longitudinal data collected over three years from a multinational corporation operating in 27 countries. The results show that both percentage of TMT members with children and gender egalitarianism of the country strengthen the relationship between WLS practices and customer satisfaction. The findings provide insights into the circumstances when WLS practices provide performance benefits for firms and the translatability of these benefits from one country to another.
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ItemCognitive dissonance: how self-protective distortions can undermine clinical judgement.(Wiley, 2019-08-08)CONTEXT: When errors occur in clinical settings, it is important that they are recognised without defensiveness so that prompt corrective action can be taken and learning can occur. Cognitive dissonance - the uncomfortable tension we experience when we hold two or more inconsistent beliefs - can hinder our ability to respond optimally to error. OBJECTIVES: The aim of this paper is to describe the effects of cognitive dissonance, a construct developed and tested in social psychology. We discuss the circumstances under which dissonance is most likely to occur, provide examples of how it may influence clinical practice, discuss potential remedies and suggest future research to test these remedies in the clinical context. METHODS: We apply research on cognitive dissonance from social psychology to clinical settings. We examine the factors that make dissonance most likely to occur. We illustrate the power of cognitive dissonance through two medical examples: one from history and one that is ongoing. Finally, we explore moderators at various stages of the dissonance process to identify potential remedies. RESULTS: We show that there is great opportunity for cognitive dissonance to distort judgements, delay optimal responses and hinder learning in clinical settings. We present a model of the phases of cognitive dissonance, and suggestions for preventing dissonance, reducing the distortions that can arise from dissonance and inhibiting dissonance-induced escalation of commitment. CONCLUSIONS: Cognitive dissonance has been studied for decades in social psychology but has not had much influence on medical education research. We argue that the construct of cognitive dissonance is very relevant to the clinical context and to medical education. Dissonance has the potential to interfere with learning, to hinder the process of coping effectively with error, and to make the accepting of change difficult. Fortunately, there is the potential to reduce the negative impact of cognitive dissonance in clinical practice.
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Item'Remember that patient you saw ... ': Advice for trainees on coping after making an error(WILEY, 2019-08-01)There is much education and training devoted to the avoidance, early detection and mitigation of errors in the ED. Despite this, errors remain a common occurrence and at times contribute to adverse events. Patients bear the bulk of this burden, but staff also suffer. This article provides 12 tips to help trainees cope in a productive way after making an error.
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ItemTests for noninferiority trials with binomial endpoints: A guide to modern and quasi-exact methods for biomedical researchers(Wiley, 2019-05-01)Applied statisticians and pharmaceutical researchers are frequently involved in the design and analysis of clinical trials where at least one of the outcomes is binary. Treatments are judged by the probability of a positive binary response. A typical example is the noninferiority trial, where it is tested whether a new experimental treatment is practically not inferior to an active comparator with a prespecified margin δ. Except for the special case of δ = 0, no exact conditional test is available although approximate conditional methods (also called second‐order methods) can be applied. However, in some situations, the approximation can be poor and the logical argument for approximate conditioning is not compelling. The alternative is to consider an unconditional approach. Standard methods like the pooled z‐test are already unconditional although approximate. In this article, we review and illustrate unconditional methods with a heavy emphasis on modern methods that can deliver exact, or near exact, results. For noninferiority trials based on either rate difference or rate ratio, our recommendation is to use the so‐called E‐procedure, based on either the score or likelihood ratio statistic. This test is effectively exact, computationally efficient, and respects monotonicity constraints in practice. We support our assertions with a numerical study, and we illustrate the concepts developed in theory with a clinical example in pulmonary oncology; R code to conduct all these analyses is available from the authors.
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ItemLeader-follower guanxi: an invisible hand of cronyism in Chinese management(Wiley, 2019-07-01)Guanxi social networks are part of the fabric of Chinese society and central to every aspect of Chinese life including work. The relationship between guanxi and cronyism has been researched and discussed by scholars in supervisor–subordinate guanxi (SSG) studies. However, SSG cannot explain the full extent of cronyism in Chinese management, which usually encompasses a network of actors including a supervisor, a subordinate, a third party (called ‘leader’) who has a higher ranking than a subordinate, and possibly an intermediary between a leader and a supervisor in the same organization. Consequently, this paper develops a new construct leader–follower guanxi (LFG) to explain cronyism in Chinese management. LFG is defined as the existence of direct particularistic (ingroup) ties associated with a particular set of differentiated behavioral obligations based on social norms between a leader and a follower in the same organization. We examine the relationship between LFG and cronyism in Chinese organizations and propose that LFG will be positively associated with cronyism. We then use Chinese ‘face’ theory (mianzi and lian) to illustrate how LFG engenders cronyism in Chinese management. We assert that LFG serves as an invisible hand of cronyism in Chinese organizations. Finally, we consider how to develop leadership and HR practices that prevent cronyism in Chinese organizations.
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ItemReal-time forecast combinations for the oil price(Wiley, 2019-04-01)Baumeister and Kilian (Journal of Business and Economic Statistics, 2015, 33(3), 338–351) combine forecasts from six empirical models to predict real oil prices. In this paper, we broadly reproduce their main economic findings, employing their preferred measures of the real oil price and other real-time variables. Mindful of the importance of Brent crude oil as a global price benchmark, we extend consideration to the North Sea-based measure and update the evaluation sample to 2017:12. We model the oil price futures curve using a factor-based Nelson–Siegel specification estimated in real time to fill in missing values for oil price futures in the raw data. We find that the combined forecasts for Brent are as effective as for other oil price measures. The extended sample using the oil price measures adopted by Baumeister and Kilian yields similar results to those reported in their paper. Also, the futures-based model improves forecast accuracy at longer horizons.