Welcome to the Radboud Educational Repository
Here, Radboud University presents theses written by students affiliated with various bachelor’s and master’s programmes at the university, as well as papers from students of the Radboud Honours Academy and publications in the Radboud journal Ex Tempore.
Recent Submissions
Item How do organizations contribute to social cohesion of local communities: developing an organizational strategy(2025-07-01)Organizations are increasingly expected to go beyond profit maximization and contribute to society, including local communities. While the importance of organizational contributions is acknowledged, limited research explains how organizations strategically integrate contributions to social cohesion in local communities. Drawing on a qualitative approach, this study introduced a novel four-dimensional framework comprising economic contributions, community learning and development, social contributions and trust-building, and contributions to community quality of life. The relevant data was collected through semistructured interviews with managers of organizations varying in size, sector, and geographic location, as well as with community members in the corresponding locations. Additionally, company reports and archival materials were analyzed for triangulation. The findings showed that while strategic approaches to social cohesion are largely consistent across organizations, community members reported feeling a stronger connection and greater trust toward locally oriented companies. The provided framework contributes to the academic literature by offering a structured model on how to include community contributions into the corporate strategy. Additionally, the framework offers practical guidance for managers aiming to strengthen local trust and social cohesion. Future research could expand on these findings by assessing how such strategies evolve over time and across contexts.Item THE EFFECT OF JOB-HOPPING ON INNOVATION EFFECTIVENESS(2025-07-01)Product innovation leads to improved firm performance, as it allows firms, amongst other benefits, to differentiate themselves from competitors, improve product quality and reduce production cost. However, the aspects of this relationship remain under-researched. This paper analyses the potential moderating effect of job-hopping board directors on the relationship between product innovation and firm performance. Findings indicate that product innovation and job-hopping board directors have no direct effect on firm performance, in addition to job-hopping board directors having no moderating effect on the relationship between product innovation and firm performance. These findings suggest that job-hopping board directors might not have a strong impact on how well a firm performs compared to non-job-hopping board directors, in addition to providing further insight into the effects of product innovationItem Experiencing Leadership in Bureaucracy: A Qualitative Study on Organizational Identification in Hierarchical Organizations(2025-06-24)This study investigates how different leadership styles influence organizational identification (OID) in bureaucratic organizations. Although bureaucracy often provides structure and stability, it also poses a challenge to employee engagement due to rigid hierarchies and limited autonomy. This qualitative case study examines how employees experience leadership and how these experiences influence their connection to the organization. Based on 21 semi-structured interviews with employees from various faculties and hierarchical levels, the study identifies a series of leadership behaviors that influence OID. The results indicate that leadership style has a strong influence on employee identification and motivation. Democratic and transformational leadership styles promote OID by encouraging autonomy, transparency, and relational safety. Authoritarian leadership, characterized by control and micromanagement, consistently undermines OID. Delegative leadership supports OID only when accompanied by adequate guidance. The findings are structured into four aggregate dimensions: identification and motivation states, leadership power configurations, process ownership signals, and relational safety climate. The study concludes that OID in bureaucratic organizations is most effectively strengthened under participatory and context-sensitive leadership. The results support both theoretical research and practical leadership training, particularly in hierarchical organizations that aim to expand employees’ involvement and organizational cohesionItem Timing the Transition: Strategic Restructuring as a Temporal Anchor for CEO Succession Examining the Impact of Timing on Internal and External CEO Transitions(2025-06-19)This study explores whether the aligning of a CEO transition with a strategic restructuring enhances firm performance. The study builds upon organizational entrainment theory by examining whether internally generated temporal anchors, such as restructuring events, can serve as effective moments for leadership transitions. Drawing on a sample of 8,956 CEO succession events in publicly listed European firms between 2009 and 2023, the research investigates the effect of timing in CEO transitions and considers the moderating role of CEO origin (internal vs. external). Using a linear regression analysis, the study finds no significant evidence that aligning CEO transitions with a restructuring leads to improved operational performance, nor that external CEOs benefit more from such alignment. The study suggests that the symbolic clarity and shared recognition of external temporal markers may be necessary for entrainment effects to materialize. It contributes to CEO succession literature by extending entrainment theory to internally timed events and provides practical insights for boards regarding the strategic planning of leadership transitions.Item Framing AI Governance: A Discourse and Rhetorical Analysis of Corporate Legitimation Strategies(2025-06-24)As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes increasingly central to organizational processes and public life, companies face growing pressure to legitimize their AI governance. This thesis examines how firms construct legitimacy for AI governance through corporate discourse and rhetorical strategies. Drawing on Legitimacy Theory (Suchman, 1995) and Rhetorical Legitimation Strategies (Erkama & Vaara, 2010), the study combines Critical Discourse Analysis and Rhetorical Analysis to analyze cor- porate documents from six multinational firms active in the AI domain. The findings show that all three types of legitimacy—pragmatic, cognitive and moral—are actively constructed, with pragmatic legiti- macy being most frequently observed. Companies used layered rhetorical strategies, most notably ethos and logos, to reinforce these claims. The empirical link between rhetorical strategy and legitimacy type forms the core contribution of this thesis. It demonstrates that AI legitimacy is not passively acquired but actively constructed through discourse. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how companies position AI governance as ethically sound, strategically valuable and institutionally appro- priate. It also shows that communication plays a central role in shaping how AI governance is perceived by regulators, stakeholders and the broader public.
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