Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen

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https://theses.ubn.ru.nl/handle/123456789/31

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    Framing by Sustainable Shareholder Activists
    (2024-08-29) Leijnse, Paul
    This thesis delves into uncharted territory, exploring how sustainable shareholders frame their messages to encourage companies to adopt more sustainable business practices. This thesis, which is abductive, ultimately identified ten different frames through a qualitative analysis of 180 shareholder resolutions from the period 2009-2023. Various dimensions have been discovered within these frames, and it has been established that the frames are adapted to changing contexts and external influences. This study significantly enriches the literature on sustainable shareholder activism by providing new insights into the dynamics of framing. In contrast to previous research that mainly focused on the effects of shareholder resolutions on corporate policies and performance, this thesis provides an in-depth analysis of how these resolutions are framed and how these framing strategies evolve. The results show that sustainable shareholder activists adapt their framing strategies to companies' internal dynamics, such as financial health and strategic priorities, and external factors, such as regulations and societal expectations.
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    Collaborative decision-making in Age-friendly Communities How power differentials between stakeholders influence the collaborative decision-making process
    (2024-08-24) Niessen, Marnix
    The ageing population and financial problems pressure the Dutch care system, resulting in a decline in quality of care. Age-friendly Communities, where people of different ages live together and take care of each other, can offer a solution to this problem. To create these communities, collaboration between stakeholders is important. However, power differentials between stakeholders can undermine collaboration and decision-making. There is a knowledge gap in how power impacts collaborative decision-making in the context of Age-friendly Communities. This leads to the following research question: “What is the perceived influence of power differentials between stakeholders in Age-friendly Communities on collaborative decision-making?”. In order to answer this research question, two Dutch Age-friendly Communities are investigated. This qualitative research uses semi-structured interviews with board members and representatives of the community for data generation which is then analysed by the Gioia method. This results in a description of how collaborative decision-making is exercised in AFCs, how power is distributed between stakeholders and which strategies are used to influence the collaborative decision-making. This research concludes that stakeholders with more power have more influence on the collaborative decision-making process. However, stakeholders incorporate strategies to increase their influence. These strategies are: Negotiating, Activism, Lobbying, Networking and Exclusion.
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    Analysing the form and structural design of network governance
    (2025-02-26) Wind, Dirkje van der
    A qualitative study into the impact of the structural design and form of governance on the extent to which governance of a health care network is desired. This study aims to explore whether the performed network governance of a health care network is in line with the structural design theory and the network theory. Therefore, a gap analysis is conducted. This was followed by a double cause analysis in which the adjusted governance form and structure of governance were studied as possible causes of (un)desired network governance. In order to perform the gap analysis, desired values regarding both theories were determined. In line with the structural design theory, desired governance should contain all regulatory activities; operational regulation, regulation by design and strategic regulation. In line with the network theory, desired governance contains allocating resources efficiently, coordinating and controlling joint action and addressing and solving conflicts. As the actual situation of the health care network was identified, the gap between the actual and desired situation could be determined. Thereafter, the desired values of the form and the structure of governance are determined in order to perform both cause analyses. A desired network governance form (shared governance, external lead organisation (NAO), internal lead organization) should align with certain values of included key network factors (level of trust, number of participants, goal consensus, network level skills). Besides, the structure of governance is desired when design parameters have the lowest value as possible given the circumstances. Directly related design parameters as well as indirectly related design parameters were included in this research (separation of operational and regulatory tasks, specialization of regulatory tasks, functional concentration, specialization of operational tasks). Within the health care network, medical professionals perform highly professionalized jobs. Besides, their time is really scarce. Considering these circumstances, regulatory support seems important for the medical specialists to be able to perform network tasks on top of their jobs. As a result, some undesired values regarding both cause analyses, were examined as appropriate, considering these circumstances. A desired governance form and a desired structure of governance seem to enable desired network governance of the health care network.
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    Perceived stress and work ability in primary schools: What is the role of life events.
    (2025-02-18) Klaassen, Niels
    Primary schools in the Netherlands face challenges related to sustainable employment, resulting in workforce shortages. One challenge related to sustainable employment is the amount of perceived stress that is reported in this occupation. Studies have shown that workrelated perceived stress induced by major life events and work ability are negatively related. However, those studies place employees solely in their work environment, which is incorrect because employees’ lives consist of both their work and non-work lives. It is the crossoverspillover model that suggests when major life events occur in an employee’s non-work life and cause perceived stress, this stress carries over to their work life. The relationship between major life events, both work-related and non-work-related, and their potential to induce perceived stress affecting work ability has received limited attention in the literature. This study addresses this gap by examining whether perceived stress, triggered by major life events in both domains, impacts work ability. To provide an answer to the research question this study collected questionnaires filled in by teachers in primary schools in the Netherlands. These questionnaires were based on the perceived stress scale (PSS10) and the work ability index (WAI). After data analysis, the results showed high scores on PSS10 are connected to lower scores on WAI. The data also showed that the control variables age, gender, and size of employment did not influence scores on WAI. These results answered the research question by accepting the hypothesis and concluding that perceived stress induced by major life events is connected to lower work ability.
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    Contextual factors influencing managers in AI-enabled product adoption
    (2024-08-23) Grotel, Martijn van
    One of the fastest growing technologies within industry 4.0 is artificial intelligence. Despite being such a fast-growing technology, managers face problems when implementing this technology within its firms, especially AI-enabled products. Current literature primarily focusses on the B2C side while research about the B2B side is lacking. Also, it remains unclear which factors are relevant for the adoption process. This leads to a gap and a limited understanding of the underlying factors that influence the decisions that managers make when it comes to AI-enabled product adoption. This thesis investigates the influence of contextual factors on managers in the Dutch B2B manufacturing industry for the adoption of AI-enabled products. Making use of the TOE framework, this study examines how factors from the technological, organizational and environmental dimension impact managerial decision-making. Seven different case studies with nine different interviews have been performed to gather the data for this research. In total, eleven different contextual factors have been found to be influential for the adoption process of AI-enabled products. Technological factors include relative advantage, complexity and compatibility; organizational factors include the top management support and the organizational readiness; and environmental factors include competitive pressures and regulatory environment. Also, some additional factors have been found to be influential, these include: acceptation within the firm, culture, data privacy and the ethical aspect. Based on these results, some theoretical and practical implications can be drawn. The results of this research will eventually be particularly useful for managers in manufacturing firms, policymakers and Fieldlab Industrial Robotics.