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.
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Item Balancing art and commerce: How creative businesses use routines to navigate the paradox of artistic autonomy and commercial control(2025-06-19)This study explores how creative businesses use their routines to navigate the persistently conflicting tensions between artistic autonomy and commercial control. These conflicting tensions often coexist in creative businesses, yet little is known about how routines are used to navigate them. By combining routine dynamics theory and paradox theory, the research investigates how routines are adapted and performed in response to the conflicting goals. Through thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with twelve creative workers from various companies, industries and roles, both self-employed and employed within larger businesses, five different strategies are observed: co-creation, selectivity, expertise, side-projects and coordination. These strategies differ in their understanding of the routines (ostensive aspect) and their performances (performative aspect), which highlights the dynamic and contextual nature of routines. The findings show that routines are not only sources of stability, but also sources of change as they are used to navigate the paradox. This research contributes to our knowledge of routines and paradoxes by uncovering their interaction in the navigation of the paradox of artistic autonomy and commercial control.Item The Digitalization-Autonomy Paradox: Investigating the Moderating Role of Psychological Safety(2025-06-19)This research explores how digitalization influences autonomy, while specifically examining the moderating role of psychological safety. By applying work design theory alongside organizational learning theory, the study aims to contribute to conflicting findings in the existing literature on whether digitalization promotes or constrains autonomy. Utilizing cross-sectional data from the European Working Conditions Survey (EWCS), the analysis was carried out through hierarchical multiple regression. Contrary to the initial assumptions, the analysis identified a positive association between digitalization and autonomy. Psychological safety was also found to both have a significant and positive influence on autonomy; however, this influence weakened marginally at increased levels, suggesting the presence of a curvilinear effect. Additionally, psychological safety moderated the digitalization-autonomy relationship, though this moderation occurred only among employees exposed to the highest degrees of digitalization. Overall, the findings imply that digitalization has the potential to strengthen autonomy when managed effectively, while psychological safety remains a vital condition for preserving autonomy in digitally advances workplaces. This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of digital work environments and offers practical implications for organizations striving to align digital innovation with supportive workplace conditions.Item Exploring the Impact of Overconfidence on Fast Strategic Decision-making: Power as a Moderator(2025-07-01)This study investigates how CEO overconfidence influences the speed of strategic decision-making (SDM) in mergers and acquisitions and how CEO power moderates this relationship. Integrating behavioral strategy, dual-process theory and Upper Echelons Theory, this study contributes to the literature on executive cognition, decision speed and the interplay between individual biases and power structures. Overconfidence is measured through acquisition frequency and debt-to-equity ratio, while CEO power is captured via blockholding, tenure, and duality. Using multiple regression analyses on data from 2,110 North American publicly listed firms (2002–2024), the findings demonstrate that overconfident CEOs make faster decisions, particularly when overconfidence is based on acquisition behavior. Moreover, CEO power in the form of duality amplifies this effect, underscoring the role of decision authority in accelerating strategic decisions. This study aims to contribute to a deeper understanding of how executive cognition and power structures jointly shape the speed of strategic decisions, emphasizing the importance of awareness among managers, boards, and stakeholders regarding the role of CEO overconfidence in acquisition decision speed.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 innovation
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