Research Roundup
Awards
Monder Ram and Kiran Trehan, Centre for Research in Ethnic Minority Entrepreneurship (CREME), won the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) Celebrating Impact Prize 2017. This accolade, specifically for the Outstanding Impact in Business and Enterprise award in the ESRC Celebrating Impact Prize 2017, is due to their work with the Enterprise and Diversity Alliance (EDA). Find out more about the work of CREME on our website.
The College of Social Sciences was thrilled to host a presentation to recognise the outstanding contribution of our researchers to society on Wednesday 21 June 2017. With categories covering early career researchers, business and policy, there were a wide range of different projects acknowledged. Staff in the Business School were extremely successful, winning a total of 4 awards, and being highly commended a further three times. Full details of the Business School awards and projects are as follows:
Outstanding Impact in Business and Enterprise Prize
This prize recognises outstanding research which has brought about impact with business and enterprise.
Winner: Chris Lonsdale and Joe Sanderson, Facilitating International Innovation and Change at Rolls-Royce plc (Civil Aerospace Division)
Insightful application of research into buyer-supplier power and supplier behaviour in supply chains enabled Chris and Joe to develop a research-led competence development programme and provide business strategy support at Rolls-Royce. The improvements achieved through the programme have been felt across organisations, internationally, and can be valued in multiples of £100 million.
Highly commended: The Centre on Household Assets and Savings Management (CHASM), Financial inclusion
The advice and contributions that CHASM has provided to policy makers, national reviews, select committees, and media providers have shaped the debate and approaches taken in recommendations, party manifestos and industry guidelines around financial inclusion and responsible lending.
Outstanding Impact in Society Prize
This prize recognises research that has made a contribution benefitting a specific group of the public or society more widely.
Highly commended: Monder Ram and Kiran Trehan, Enterprise and Diversity Alliance (EDA)
The EDA is internationally-recognised for its work on promoting minority entrepreneurship and is the only nationally-recognised resource or entity that promotes good practice in respect of diversity and enterprise.
Outstanding Early Career Impact Prize
This prize recognises social scientists at the beginning of their academic careers who have achieved or show potential in achieving outstanding impacts in any of the above categories. Nominees in this category must be no more than five years post-PhD submission.
Winner: Andy Hodder, Union renewal in the UK
Andy’s research has led to him providing strategic advice leading to crucial strategy and structural changes across one of the UK’s largest Trades unions, the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS). This work has also informed the international debate around young people’s engagement with trade unions.
Outstanding ESRC Impact Acceleration Account Project Prize
This prize recognises a CoSS researcher/team that has made excellent use of funds provided by the ESRC IAA. This is a closed process restricted to existing IAA award holders and is sponsored by the ESRC IAA.
Highly commended: Monder Ram and Kiran Trehan, On A Different Scale: A New Era For The Enterprise And Diversity Alliance
Through developing a mentoring programme, securing high profile members and reaching new audiences, Monder and Kiran were able to raise the profile of the EDA and take advantage of the further policy and practice influence opportunities this offered them.
Outstanding Impact Judges’ Choice Prize
This prize recognises a researcher/team whose nomination in one of the above categories made a significant impression on the judging panel.
Winner: Monder Ram and Kiran Trehan, Enterprise and Diversity Alliance (EDA)
As shown by their strong nominations in two prize categories, Monder and Kiran’s commitment to developing the EDA and their astute use of funding has seen the EDA go from strength to strength, enabling it to bring about changes in attitude and practice nationally. The EDA fills a policy void, and is ensuring that social science research ‘makes a difference’ to a wide range of stakeholders.
Chloe Billing (Research Fellow at City-REDI) has been awarded the annual prize by the Economic Geography Research Group, Royal Geographical Society, for the best PhD thesis in the field of economic geography submitted at a UK institution during 2016. Chloe’s thesis (Satellite, Rockets and Services: a Place for Space in Geography?) explored the competiveness, organisation and governance of the UK space sector and was praised for the quality of the research, the novelty of the empirical context and the approach taken.
Simon Collinson has been awarded Fellow of the British Academy of Management (BAM Fellow) at the BAM Annual Conference awards ceremony at Warwick in September. He also presented at the plenary session at the Conference, invited by the Dean of Fellows on a panel to discuss “The Future of Business Schools and Management Research: Key Challenges for Difficult Times”.
John Gibney (Senior Fellow in the Department of Entrepreneurship & Local Economy) has been made a Fellow of the Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA).
Andy Hodder has been won a British Academy grant (£9,910) to carry out a project entitled ‘Understanding student attitudes towards trade unions: a study of Australia, Denmark, Sweden and the UK’. This project investigates the attitudes of higher education students towards trade unions. The position of young workers in the labour market is increasingly precarious, and yet levels of union membership are extremely low amongst young people worldwide. But how are unions viewed by young people in different countries? Using a mixed methods approach, the project will investigate: the difference (if any) in student attitudes towards unions in highly unionised counties (Denmark & Sweden) and poorly unionised countries (Australia & UK); the role of family socialisation and work beliefs in influencing attitudes to unions; the links between voting behaviour and involvement in wider social movements and attitudes to unions. The project will collect quantitative data from business school students in four institutions (one per country). Follow up interviews will also be conducted to pursue points of empirical significance. The study will advance previous research on this topic, which has overlooked the views and attitudes of a significant group of potential members - and future leaders.
Raquel Ortega-Argiles has been awarded an ESRC Brexit Priority Grant (£299,916.35) as PI to investigate “The Economic Consequences of Brexit in the UK, its regions, its cities and its sectors’. The project started in April 2017 and is part of a series of 25 projects funded by ESRC to support the initiative UK in a Changing Europe coordinated by Professor Anand Menon at King’s College London. Co-investigators on the project are Philip McCann (University of Sheffield); Bart Los (University of Groningen); Frank van Oort (Erasmus University Rotterdam) and Mark Thissen (Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency). For more information, see the website: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/business/research/research-projects/economic-impacts-of-brexit-on-the-uk.aspx
At the British Academy of Management's Annual Conference at Warwick University, Mark Saunders was awarded the Academy's Medal for Leadership. This award was for sustained and outstanding leadership and contribution to the management academic community. Alongside Mark's research into methods and methodology the Academy highlighted his leadership of capacity building, particularly in relation to research methods and his work with doctoral students. This has included developing and leading numerous events such as doctoral colloquiums and summer schools for the British Academy of Management, University Forum for Human Resource Development, and First International Network on Trust; editing Edward Elgar's "Handbooks of Research Methods" series and coediting (with Bill Lee and VK Narayanan) Sage's "Mastering Business Research Methods". In addition the Academy commended him for his co-authored textbook "Research Methods for Business Students", currently in its seventh edition, which has sold in excess of 350,000 copies worldwide since first published, being translated into Dutch, Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian and Greek.
Events and external engagement
On May 3, John Child gave a guest lecture at the Friedrich Schiller University in Jena, Germany. The title of the lecture was "A Political Action Perspective on Relations between International Firms and External Institutions". The previous day he presented a seminar at the university on his research into the international business models of SMEs.
On the invitation of the Mayor of Birmingham, Andy Street, Simon Collinson has joined the ‘West Midlands Funding for Growth Commission’ which met on Monday 4th Sept. and will continue to work on the challenges of fiscal devolution to promote economic growth for the region.
On 12 September, City-REDI colleagues including Simon Collinson and Rebecca Riley participated in an All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) at the House of Commons, with MP’s from the region to discuss the Midlands Engine.
The Financial Resilience Research Cluster and the Bank of England co-organised The Financial Services Indices, Liquidity and Economic Activity Conference, 23-24 May 2017. Over 80 of the world’s leading financial analysts, central bankers, industrialists and academics from all over the world met at the Bank of England to debate the key issues currently surrounding the Bank’s mission to promote monetary and financial stability. In line with the Bank of England’s “Bank One Research Agenda”, the meeting, held in honour of the world’s leading monetary economist, Oswald Distinguished Professor William Barnett from Kansas University, debated how to understand the creation, dissemination, measurement and management of liquidity, increasingly necessary since the 2008-2009 financial crisis.
At this conference, Eliana Lauretta (post-doctoral International Research Fellow, Department of Finance), and her co-authors Andrea Mazzocchetti (University of Genoa), Marco Raberto and Silvano Cincotti were awarded 2nd prize in the conference poster competition.
The poster, entitled Financial Innovation, Securitisation and Housing Market: an Agent-Based Approach, discusses how the securitisation propensity modifies indirectly the DSTI (debt-to-service-income ratio), which reflects the households’ creditworthiness conditions required by the banking system to grant a mortgage and mirrors what in the paper is identified as a core variable, the RoFIN (Rate of Financial Innovation – see Lauretta, 2017*) within the system. Banks become able to overcome the regulatory capital requirements. The interplay between securitisation and DSTI impact on the credit and business cycles.
The poster is available on the web page of the Center for Financial Stability, NY at the section “poster competition.” The Center of Financial Stability was one of the sponsors of the conference.
The fact that this poster has been awarded the prize shows the wide interest of the scientific community in the application of ABM (Agent-based modelling) for understanding macroeconomics and macro-finance dynamics. Eliana Lauretta strongly believes that it is a priority to develop a leading research group interested in applying this methodology at Birmingham Business School with a wide multidisciplinary flavour. This award gives her the further motivation to continue to work in this direction and contribute to the Birmingham Business School expansion on new research horizons.
* Lauretta, E. (2017). “The Hidden Soul of Financial Innovation: an Agent-Based Modelling of Home Mortgage Securitization and the Finance-Growth Nexus.” Economic Modelling (in press).
The Financial Resilience Cluster also held a ‘Four @ Four’ event on 28 June in the Business School. The event featured presentations on “Mandatory adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards, accounting quality and investment decision for Latin American firms” by Mark Chun, “Characteristics, determinants and predictability of multi-asset return comovements” by Anandadeep Mandal, “Risk-based supervision” by Paul Cox, and “Prediction of Consumer Spending from Social Media Data", by Viktor Pekar.
Anne Green spoke on ‘Employment, Skills and Productivity’ at a Westminster Social Policy Forum Keynote Seminar on ‘The future for the Midlands engine’ in Birmingham on 12th September 2017.
Andy Hodder was guest speaker at the 2017 Annual Delegate Conference of the Public and Commercial Services union in Brighton (May 23-25). Andy spoke at a meeting entitled ‘Organising the next generation: Young members and apprentices in PCS’ about his research into unions and young workers. The conference also saw the launch of the union’s 2017 National Organising Strategy, which Andy advised the union on.
Andy Hodder was guest speaker at the 2017 Young Members’ Seminar of the Public and Commercial Services union in Leeds, 16th-17th September. Andy presented his ongoing research into the relationship between young workers and trade unions.
Andy Hodder hosted a delegation of 20 senior Danish trade union officials from the national federation, LO in September, as part of their visit to the UK. The educational visit was co-ordinated by the FIU’s Udviklingsenhed and the group received lectures from Anne Green and Andy Hodder.
Paul Lewis is completing a project with the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) based in Vienna. Paul is an ‘expert group member’ of international academics and UNIDO researchers contributing to the flagship 2018 Industrial Development Report, working title - The Demand for Manufacturing. Inclusive and Sustainable Industrial Consumption in a Globalized Economy. Paul was contacted by UNIDO to produce a background chapter for the report after a pre-publication version of an article he wrote with Fei Peng, ‘Baumol and the post-industrial trilemma: examining the relationship between productivity, prices and wages’ was read by a UNIDO researcher via the IDEAS Economics and Finance repository. Paul and Fei have written the new background paper, “Manufacturing Productivity and real consumption wages” which feeds into several chapters of the report. Paul has participated in two Expert Group Meetings in November 2016 and April 2017 in Vienna.
On 5 July 2017 Andy Mullineux chaired a panel session on the impact of Brexit and The City. During the session, the panel debated whether a ‘soft’ or ‘hard’ Brexit is more likely given the current government’s position following the recent general election and the impact on the MFID, AFIMD and EMIR ‘passport’ systems and regulations. For more information, see here: http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/schools/business/news/2017/09/Brexit-and-the-City.aspx
Between 24-30 April 2017, Raquel Ortega Argiles visited the Centre for North South Economic Research (CRENOS), Universita degli studi di Sassari at Sassari, Italy. During her time there, she undertook research on the topic “Smart Specialisation and Tourism in Europe”.
Scott Taylor was invited to visit the University of Lapland/Lapin Yliopisto, 6 miles south of the Arctic Circle, in May 2017. Along with a number of academics including Janne Tienari, Hanken School of Economics and Emma Bell, OU, Scott contributed to a workshop on ‘Academic Writing: Publishing in ‘top’ journals and writing differently’.
Publications
Roger Backhouse has had a book published by Oxford University Press, the result of research supported by a Leverhulme Major Research Fellowship from 2011-2014. This book is the first of two major volumes on the life and work of Paul Samuelson, and the first biography of the revolutionary thinker in economics
Backhouse, R. (2017) Founder of Modern Economics: Paul A. Samuelson Volume 1: Becoming Samuelson, 1915-1948, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Jane Binner has had the following paper published:
Binner, J. and Kelly, L. (2017) ‘Modelling Money Shocks in a small open economy: The case of Taiwan’, The Manchester School, 85 (S1): 104–120
Abstract: This paper explores the relevance of the Divisia monetary aggregate in Taiwan over the period January, 1985 through to June, 2016. We apply a block recursive structural Vector Autoregressive (VAR) approach that is adapted to a small open economy by adding the New Taiwan Dollar/US Dollar exchange rate to the block of economic activity indicators. We test the hypothesis that measures of money constructed using the Divisia index number formulation are superior indicators of monetary conditions when compared to the central banks main policy rate, the Taiwanese discount rate. We find that using properly measured monetary data solves short-run price, output and exchange rate puzzles and leads to sensible long-run impulse responses to monetary shocks. Future work on the optimization of the construction of the Divisia index number formulation is recommended.
Holly Birkett, Fiona Carmichael and Jo Duberley have had the following paper published.
Birkett, H, Carmichael, F. and Duberley, J. (2017) ‘Activity in the third age: Examining the relationship between careers and retirement experiences’, Journal of Vocational Behavior. 103.
Abstract: This paper aims to enhance understanding of how career histories affect broader retirement experiences. Drawing on life course and resource-based perspectives, the study theorizes the mechanisms underlying the relationship between career trajectories, resource accumulation and retirement experiences. We utilise retrospective life course data and a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods to examine how the career histories of 50 older men and women are linked to their expectations and experiences of retirement. The approach enables the research focus to include older people's long working lives prior to retirement. The results suggest that there is a strong relationship between career trajectory, resource accumulation and experiences of retirement. One implication is that differential access to resources over life courses significantly affects how people experience and adjust to retirement. In addition, some resources had a more significant impact on retirement outcomes than others, namely, financial resources, health and, in some cases, social networks. The analysis also highlights the complex and varied nature of retirement and adds to current debates around retirement and the boundaryless career.
Charika Channuntapipat has had the following book chapter published:
Channuntapipat, C. (2018) ‘Problematising Sustainability Assurance Practice: Roles of Sustainability Assurance Providers’, in G. Gal, O, Aksisk and W. Wooldridge (eds.) Sustainability and Social Responsibility: Regulation and Reporting. Singapore: Springer Singapore.
Chris Collinge and John Gibney had the following paper published:
Horlings, L., Collinge, C., and Gibney, J. (2017) ‘Relational Knowledge Leadership and Local Economic Development’, Local Economy, 32 (2): 95–109.
Abstract: This paper concerns the role of spatial leadership in the development of the knowledge-based economy. It is argued within academic and practitioner circles that leadership of knowledge networks requires a particular non-hierarchical style that is required to establish an ambience conducive to networking and knowledge sharing across boundaries. In this paper, we explore this hypothesis at both theoretical and empirical levels. Theoretically, we propose a conceptualization of relational knowledge leadership, which is ‘nomadic’ in its capacity to travel across multiple scales and cross sectoral, thematic and geographical boundaries. We have operationalized this type of relational knowledge leadership along four key features, derived from literatures on regional learning, organizational leadership and place leadership. Two empirical case studies are then presented, one from Birmingham in the UK and one from Eindhoven in the Netherlands, exploring how these features are expressed on the sub-national level. Also conclusions are drawn regarding the status of relational knowledge leadership. It is argued that the concept of relational knowledge leadership as viewed through our analytical lens does accord with the experience of leadership in the two cases presented. The cases also show that this style of leadership is confronted with three types of tensions that play through knowledge networking. Furthermore, it is argued that the cases exhibit this style of leadership to different degrees, reflecting their different cultural and political contexts.
Tom Cuckston has had the following papers accepted for publication:
Cuckston, T. (2017) ‘Making extinction calculable’, Accounting, auditing and accountability journal, In press.
Abstract: Purpose: This paper examines the role of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species in achieving biodiversity conservation and preventing the extinction of species. The Red List is a calculative device that classifies species in terms of their exposure to risk of extinction.
Design/methodology/approach: The paper draws on theorising in the social studies of finance literature to analyse the Red List in terms of how it frames a space of calculability for species extinction. The analysis then traces the ways that this framing has overflowed, creating conditions for calculative innovations, such that assemblages of humans and calculative devices (i.e. agencements) are constructed with collective capabilities to act to conserve biodiversity and prevent species extinctions.
Findings: This paper has traced three ways that the Red List frame has overflowed, leading to calculative innovations and the construction of new agencements. The overflow of relations between the quality of “extinction risk”, produced by the Red List, and other qualities, such as location, has created opportunities for conservationists to develop agencements capable of formulating conservation strategies. The overflow of relations between the identity of the “threatened species”, produced by the Red List, and other features of evaluated species, has created opportunities for conservationists to develop agencements capable of impelling participation in conservation efforts. The overflow of ecological relations between species, discarded by the Red List’s hierarchical metrology of extinction risk classifications, has created opportunities for conservationists to develop agencements capable of confronting society with the reality of an extinction crisis.
Originality/value: The paper contributes to the accounting for biodiversity literature by addressing its fundamental challenge: explaining how accounting can create conditions within society in which biodiversity conservation is made possible.
Cuckston, T. (2017) ‘Ecology-centred accounting for biodiversity in the production of a blanket bog’, Accounting, auditing and accountability journal, In press.
Abstract: Purpose: This paper seeks to analyse the role of ecology-centred accounting for biodiversity in efforts to conserve biodiversity.
Design/methodology/approach: The paper examines a case study of biodiversity conservation efforts to restore a degraded blanket bog habitat. The analysis adopts a social nature perspective, which sees the social and the natural as inseparably intertwined in socio-ecological systems: complexes of relations between (human and non-human) actors, being perpetually produced by fluid interactions. Using a theoretical framework from the geography literature, consisting of four mutually constitutive dimensions of relations – territory, scale, network, and place (TSNP) – the analysis examines various forms of accounting for biodiversity that are centred on this blanket bog.
Findings: The analysis finds that various forms of ecology-centred accounting for biodiversity have rendered this blanket bog visible and comprehensible in multiple ways, so as to contribute towards making this biodiversity conservation thinkable and possible.
Originality/value: This paper brings theorising from geography, concerning the social nature perspective and the TSNP framework, into the study of accounting for biodiversity. This has enabled a novel analysis that reveals the productive force of ecology-centred accounting for biodiversity, and the role of such accounting in organising the world so as to produce socio-ecological systems that aid biodiversity conservation.
John Gibney also published the following editorials and articles:
Sotarauta, M., Beer, A., and Gibney, J. (2017) ‘Making Sense of Leadership in City and Regional Development’, Regional Studies, 51 (2): 187-193.
Abstract: This editorial paves the way for the articles addressing several contemporary sub-national leadership experiences in England, Australia, Finland, China, the Netherlands, Norway, Estonia, Denmark and Sweden. It introduces place leadership as a mode of reflexive agency in urban and regional development, and discusses the value as well as the difficulties and limitations of studying it. Place leadership has the potential to provide an additional ‘agential’ lens through which issues and relationships of structure and agency can be explored in urban and regional development.
Nicholds, A., Gibney, J., Mabey, C. and Hart, D. (2017) ‘Making Sense of Variety in Place Leadership: The Case of England’s Smart Cities’, Regional Studies, 51 (2): 249-259.
Abstract: There is rising interest in cities becoming ‘smart’ knowledge-oriented economies by prioritizing more digitally enabled modes of production and service delivery. Whilst the prevalence of these new organizational forms is well understood, the way that leadership agency is exercised (i.e., the actors involved and their modalities of action) is not. Drawing on new empirical data and sense-making methodology, the paper reveals discursive patterns in how public agencies, private firms and communities ‘see’ and ‘do’ leadership within these place-based contexts, and concludes that success in exploiting the social and spatial dynamics of ‘smart’ development lies in understanding actors’ assumptions about commercial and social gain.
Anne Greene has had the following book chapter published:
Greene, A. (2017) ‘Understanding the Drivers of Internal Migration’, in T. Champion, T. Cooke and I Shuttleworth (eds.) Internal Migration in the Developed World, London: Routledge.
Andy Hodder has had the following paper published:
Geelan, T. and Hodder, A. (2017) ‘Enhancing Transnational Labour Solidarity: The Unfulfilled Promise of the Internet and Social Media’, Industrial Relations Journal, Online first - DOI: 10.1111/irj.12190
Abstract: This article examines the activities of Union Solidarity International (USI), a new UK-based organisation in the international union arena. USI seeks to encourage and support international solidarity between trade unions and other worker movements around the world by harnessing the dynamism of the Internet and social media. Drawing on a combination of in-depth semi-structured interviews, documentary analysis, Google Analytics and social media data, the findings of this case study suggest that USI is successfully developing an international audience in the United States, the UK and Ireland. However, USI's ability to reach beyond English-speaking countries and mobilise people to engage in collective action appears limited. The article makes an important contribution to the growing literature on social media in industrial relations through analysing the extent to which digital technologies can contribute to effective transnational labour solidarity.
Doğa İstanbulluoğlu, Sheena Leek and Isabelle Szmigin published the following paper:
Istanbulluoglu, D., Leek S, and Szmigin, I. (2017) ‘Beyond Exit and Voice: Developing an Integrated Typology of Consumer Complaining, European Journal of Marketing, 51 (5/6): 1109-1128
Abstract: Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to help researchers and practitioners to understand and respond to consumer complaining behaviour (CCB) by developing a taxonomy that addresses the inadequacies of previous consumer complaining taxonomies and models, simplifies the terminology and covers both traditional and new ways of complaining.
Design/methodology/approach: Based on a systematic review of 210 studies, a concept-centric analysis of CCB literature was conducted. Seminal taxonomies and models of CCB are revisited and a critical evaluation of these is presented.
Findings: An integrated taxonomy of CCB is proposed which enhances understanding of complaining in the 21st century by clarifying the ambiguities and overlapping constructs in the previous taxonomies.
Research implications: The integrated taxonomy of CCB eliminates the ambiguity of previous approaches and introduces more coherent constructs in relation to the theory of CCB. The taxonomy comprehensively defines and describes the range of complaining actions to provide a complete framework. As a result, our understanding of CCB is developed through a focus on complaining actions, their characteristics and what these actions afford companies in their attempts to deal with complaints (i.e. audience, amount of information available).
Practical implications: Practitioners can use the integrated taxonomy of CCB to structure their complaint handling processes in order to obtain maximum customer feedback to improve their product/service and to retain customers through satisfactorily addressing their complaints.
Originality/value: Although the literature on consumer complaining is mature, this is the first paper that offers a comprehensive taxonomy that explains CCB while addressing new developments in computer-mediated-communications.
Doğa İstanbulluoğlu also had the following paper published:
Istanbulluoglu, D. (2017) ‘Complaint Handling on Social Media: The Impact of Multiple Response Times on Consumer Satisfaction’, Computers in Human Behavior, 74: 72-82
Abstract: With the increasing popularity of social media, understanding online consumer behaviors is becoming increasingly important for researchers in this field and practitioners who manage social media accounts. The focus of this study is one of the critical aspects of online complaint handling: response time. Using data collected from consumers who complained on Facebook or Twitter, the study explores how the response times of multiple company responses on social media influence consumer satisfaction. Specifically, the first response after the complaint and the conclusive response that closed the complaint file were investigated in regard to consumers’ objectives for complaining. Participants in the study stated that they expected companies to reply to their complaints within 1-3 hours on Twitter and within 3-6 hours on Facebook. The analysis reveals that both a quicker first response and a quicker conclusive response lead to higher satisfaction with complaint handling. Furthermore, in contrast to previous research on response time in offline redress-seeking situations, which has suggested that when consumers receive redress, response time does not have an effect on satisfaction, the findings of this study suggest that a speedy response increases satisfaction regardless of the consumers’ objectives. These findings provide implications for researchers and practitioners.
Pei Kuang has published the following papers:
Kuang, P. and Yao, Y. (2017) ‘Are Rational Explosive Solutions Learnable?’, Economics Letters, 157: 62 - 66.
Abstract: Fairness considerations in wage setting can improve the ability of the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides search and matching model to account for U.S. labor market dynamics. Firms' production is influenced by workers' effort input, which depends on whether workers consider the employment relation as fair. A typical worker's effort is determined in a comparison of individual current wage with wage norms, including the outside option, the individual past wage, and the wage level in the steady state. The fairness considerations in the search framework give rise to endogenous real wage rigidity, and realistic volatilities of unemployment, vacancies, and labor market tightness.
Kuang, P. and Wang, T. (2017) ‘Labour Market Dynamics with Searching Frictions and Fair Wage Considerations’, Economic Inquiry, 55(3): 1336-1349.
Abstract: Fairness considerations in wage setting can improve the ability of the Diamond-Mortensen-Pissarides search and matching model to account for U.S. labor market dynamics. Firms' production is influenced by workers' effort input, which depends on whether workers consider the employment relation as fair. A typical worker's effort is determined in a comparison of individual current wage with wage norms, including the outside option, the individual past wage, and the wage level in the steady state. The fairness considerations in the search framework give rise to endogenous real wage rigidity, and realistic volatilities of unemployment, vacancies, and labor market tightness.
Paul Lewis has had the following article accepted for publication:
Lewis, P. C. and Heyes, J. (2017) ‘The Changing Face of Youth Employment in Europe’, Economic and Industrial Democracy, In Press.
Abstract: This article examines trends in youth employment across the EU-15 countries during 2002-6 and 2007-11. Drawing upon microdata from the EU-Labour Force Survey it examines changes in contract-type, hours worked and occupation by level of education. Although the financial crisis creates a discontinuity in numbers employed, and despite certain country specificities, we observe common structural changes across the two periods. We find an increasing shift from permanent full-time to temporary part-time contracts, the ‘hollowing out’ of traditional mid-skill level occupations and evidence of ‘occupational filtering down’ whereby the higher-educated are substituted for the lower-educated in low-skilled occupations. We observe some growth in ‘professionals’ following the crisis, but little evidence of the rise of a new knowledge economy. This raises questions concerning the most appropriate policy approaches to education and training and labour market regulation if European nations are to provide high-quality employment opportunities for their young people.
Andy Lymer has had the following book published. This book explores a number of critical issues related to tax systems around the world. Drawing upon a wealth of literature, it compares and contrasts modern tax systems in developed and developing countries, identifying factors that suggest they are converging and others that continue to distinguish them.
Evans, C., Hasseldine, J., Lymer, A., Ricketts, R. and Sandford, C. (2017) Comparative Taxation: Why Tax Systems Differ, Fiscal Publications.
Michael Mol has had the following paper accepted for publication:
Brandl, K., Mol, M. and Petersen, B. (2017) ‘The reconfiguration of service production
systems in response to offshoring: A practice theory perspective’, International Journal of
Operations & Production Management, 37 (9): 1246-1264
Abstract: Purpose – A service production system has a structure composed of task execution, agents performing tasks and a resulting service output. The purpose of this paper is to understand how such a service production system changes as a consequence of offshoring.
Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on practice theory, the paper investigates how offshoring leads to reconfiguration of the service production system. Through a multiple case methodology, the authors demonstrate how agents and structures interact during reconfiguration.
Findings – The paper analyses the reconfiguration of components of a service production system in response to change ignited by offshoring. The authors find recurring effects between structures that enable and constrain agents and agents who shape the structure of the production system.
Research limitations/implications – The paper offers a novel contribution to the service operations management literature by applying practice theory. Moreover, the authors propose a detailed, activity-driven view of service production systems and service offshoring. The authors contribute to practice theory by extending its domain to operations management.
Practical implications – Service production systems have the ability to self-correct any changes inflicted through offshoring of the systems, which helps firms that offshore.
Originality/value – The paper is aimed at service professionals and offshoring managers and proposes a novel presentation of the service production system with a description of how it responds to offshoring. The authors contribute to theory by applying practice theory to the fields of service operations management and offshoring.
Raquel Ortega Argiles has had the following papers and chapters published:
Prenzel, P., Ortega-Argiles, R., Cozza, C. and Piva, M. (2017) ‘Interplay between regional and industrial aspects in the R&D–productivity link: evidence from Europe’, Regional Studies, In press.
Abstract: The paper tests the effect of the interplay between regional and sectoral dimensions in the firm-level research and development (R&D)–productivity link. Using a longitudinal database of innovative publicly traded European companies between 1991 and 2008, the following main results arise. First, the elasticity of value added with respect to R&D is larger in regions characterized by a higher innovation performance (knowledge hubs versus industrial zones). Second, in knowledge hubs, industry affiliation mediates the gains from R&D: high-tech manufacturing firms profit more from R&D than low-tech ones. This evidence suggests that an innovative regional environment increases the capacity to translate R&D investments into productivity for European high-tech industries. This virtuous circle is not at work in services and in low-tech manufacturing industries.
McCann, P. and Ortega-Argiles, R. (2017)‘The Intellectual and Practical Bases of the Application of RIS3 within EU Cohesion Policy’, in P. McCann, P., F. van Oort and J. Goddard (eds.) The Empirical and Institutional Dimensions of Smart Specialisation, Routledge: London.
Abstract: Rather than an in-depth discussion of the EU Cohesion Policy architecture and the role of smart specialization within this policy programming architecture, all of which is discussed in detail elsewhere (McCann, 2015), the aim of this chapter is to discuss exactly how and where the Regional Innovation and Smart Specialisation (RIS3) agenda sits within modern conceptual arguments regarding regional development. The paper discusses knowledge systems and the underlying intellectual basis for smart specialization and RIS3 thinking. This allows us to discuss the analytical basis for RIS3 policy frameworks, and the institutional and governance challenges arising out of the need to implement such an approach. The chapter finalizes by discussing the recent progress of the RIS3 agenda.
McCann, P. and Ortega-Argilés, R. (2017) ‘Regional Competitiveness, Policy Transfer and Smart Specialisation’, in R. Huggins and P. Thompson (eds.) Handbook of Regions and Competitiveness: Contemporary Theories and Perspectives on Economic Development, Edward Elgar: Cheltenham.
Abstract: In this chapter we examine the evolution of the concept of “competitiveness” and discuss its increasing application in thinking regarding the underlying economic performance of regions, and the appropriate and relevant policy settings which might be employed in order to enhance such performance.
McCann, P. and Ortega-Argilés, R. (2017) ‘Brexit and the Politics of the UK: Regional Implications’, in A. Menon and A. Wilson (eds.) EU Referendum One Year On, UK in a Changing Europe and the Political Studies Association, London http://ukandeu.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/One-year-on.pdf
Mark Saunders has had the following papers accepted for publication:
Terzidou, M., Scarles, C. and Saunders, M.N.K. (2017) ‘Religiousness As Tourist Performances: A Case Study Of Greek Orthodox Pilgrimage’ Annals of Tourism Research 66,116-129
Abstract:The aim of this paper is to decipher ways of experiencing religiousness through tourist performances, intersecting textual approaches with the essential embodiment and materiality of the tourist world. Exploring the diversity of religious tourists’ practices within the Greek Orthodox context, two dimensions underpinning religious tourist experience are highlighted: institutional performances and unconventional performances. Focussing on the embodied experience and drawing upon theories of performance, the paper critiques the interplays of body and place to re-conceptualise current understanding of the pilgrimage/tourism relationship. In doing so, the paper proposes that tourism and religion are not separate entities but linked through embodied notions of godliness sensed through touristic performances.
Saunders MNK, Gray DE and Bristow, A (2017, online first) ‘Beyond the single organization: Inside insights from gaining access for large multiorganization survey HRD research’ Human Resource Development Quarterly.
Abstract:Gaining physical access to potential respondents is crucial to human resource development (HRD) survey research. Yet a review of the HRD, human resource management and bestselling business and management research methods texts in the USA and UK reveals that, even where the process of gaining access is discussed and its cruciality stressed, inside accounts and insights regarding the daunting and problematic nature and its impact upon data collected are rarely emphasized. More specialist methods literature, although outlining some potential issues, again offers few insights into the actual realities likely to be faced in the real world. Consideration of recent articles in HRD journals highlights also that, despite the widespread use of surveys, often via the Internet, such issues of physical access are rarely mentioned, reporting at best merely summarizing from whom and how data were obtained. We speak to this problem by offering two inside accounts of multi-organization research studies utilizing a survey strategy and Internet questionnaire, where gaining access to people across a large number of organizations threw up many challenges. These accounts offer clear insights into the issues and implications for rigor associated with gaining access when undertaking Internet surveys using both purchased lists (databases) and volunteer panels. In particular, they highlight the importance of recognizing that gaining access is often problematic, and provide a context for our recommendations for research practice, thereby assisting the mitigation of potential problems.
Vivek Soundararajan has published the following papers:
Jamali, D., Karam, C., Yin, C., and Soundararajan, V. (forthcoming) ‘CSR logics in developing countries: Translation, adaptation and stalled development’, Journal of World Business
Abstract: In this paper, we advance an analytic framework to help better trace the meaning and practice of CSR in developing countries, which draws from an institutional logics approach combined with the Scandinavian institutionalist perspective on the circulation of ideas. We suggest a two-step analytic framework where (1) circulated generalized assumptive logics relevant to mainstream CSR understanding are translated for applicability to developing countries generally and (2) through further circulation these translated logics are adapted toward a more context-specific relevant and meaningful application of CSR. Translation and adaptation form the basis of ongoing “editing processes” which we use to help tease out the multiplicity of institutional logics captured in the CSR literature pertaining to four specific countries of interest: China, India, Nigeria and Lebanon. The nuanced analysis presented helps provide relevant implications in relation to supranational, as well as culturally embedded and nuanced institutional logics shaping CSR in developing countries. It also highlights the existence of a hybridity of entangled institutional logics shaping not only CSR expressions in the four focal developing countries, but also ensuing patterns of development.
Khan, Z., Soundararajan, V., and Shoham, A. (forthcoming) ‘Global post-merger agility, transactive memory system and human resource management practices’, Human Resource Management Review
Abstract: In this article, a conceptual model is developed in the context of global mergers and acquisitions (M&As). The model integrates ability, motivation and opportunity (AMO)- enhancing human resource management (HRM) practices framework and transactive memory system (TMS). To date, AMO-enhancing HRM practices and TMS have not been brought together in a global context; in particular, their influence on post-merger agility (PMA) is neither well-known nor theorized in the extant literature on M&As. In this article, we theorize TMS as key mediator between AMO-enhancing HRM practices and PMA in the context of global M&As.
Ferran Vendrell-Herrero has had the following paper published:
Bustinza, O.F., Vendrell-Herrero, F. and Baines, T. (2017) ‘Service implementation in manufacturing: An organisational transformation perspective’, International Journal of Production Economics, 192, 1-8.
Abstract: The topic of servitization of manufacturing continues to gain attention from both the engineering and business research communities. As a consequence, the conceptual foundations of servitization are now becoming better established, and attention is focusing on the processes through which manufacturers go to develop innovative service capabilities that enable them to successfully compete through services. This Special Issue sets out to focus on these transformation processes. In this introductory article we review the selected articles that comprise this Special Issue. We provide a framework to contextualize and understand the research findings reported in the Special Issue and reflect on the contributions of the research to the theory and practice of servitization. Through this process we seek to consolidate the state-of-the-art in this area and identify important, challenging, but potentially fruitful topics for future studies.
Ferran Vendrell-Herrero and Simon Collinson have had the following paper published:
Vendrell-Herrero, F., Gomes, E., Collinson, S., Parry, G. and Bustinza, O.F. (In press). Selling digital services abroad: How do extrinsic attributes influence foreign consumers’ purchase intentions? International Business Review. http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0969593117304808
Abstract: This article investigates, through the country-of-origin effect and value-in-use lenses, how the implementation of digital services creates opportunities for cultural industries to expand internationally. We argue that intrinsic attributes of cultural content such as the capacity to entertain are difficult to parameterize because they are somewhat experiential and subjective. This means that extrinsic cues are essential to foreign consumers when making a decision to purchase digital services. We specifically evaluate the influence of Britishness, cultural distance, exoticness, brand image, and flag-brand congruence on the purchase intentions of consumers in foreign markets. This study employs a unique consumer dataset with information on the internationalization of British cultural digital services. The depth and breadth of the survey data collected through collaboration with a UK media industry partner with a globally recognised brand is significantly richer than data used in previous studies. In particular, the study exploits a survey with 5,200 usable data points from consumers residing in fourteen geographically dispersed countries. Findings support theoretical predictions that Britishness, cultural distance, exoticness, brand image and flag-brand congruence are positively linked to the purchasing decisions. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.